Asking others for their input.
What commercial beers were once OK, but are now terrible?
For me Anchor Steam Beer.
Once my go to favorite. Now, I must brew my own as the commercial product is horrible.
I know Anchor was bought out the Japanese company Sapporro. Maybe, this accounts for the awful current Anchor Steam?
Anchor Steam is not terrible. It was just never great. Same un-great flavor as ever.
I can’t really think of any terrible beers. I either avoid them subconsciously or they went out of circulation.
I drink so little commercial beer, so I cannot think of a single current example. The only one that came to mind was Pete’s Wicked Ale. When he had the company, I thought it was great. The last few times I bought it (about 20 yrs ago?), I thought it was crap. I think Gambrinus destroyed a great beer. Maybe my taste changed or maybe I was just being sentimental for for the Pete’s I remembered.
I agree, i feel like a lot of it was simply the fact that it was an original craft beer and very different in taste than what was mostly available for a long time. i haven’t seen any anchor stuff in a long time, but i do remember never loving it, but simply enjoying it on rare occasions for its strange, harsh taste.
I’m sure that there are beers that have changes for the worse over the years, but our palates also change. I attribute most changes I perceive in commercial beers, for the better or worse, to changes in my palate.