GUD BLOG: SINGLE POST
Pssst. I Don’t Like Oberon.
Not the King of the Faeries. The beer. I don’t like the beer.
Today, Monday the 28th, marked the release of Bell’s Oberon, which has become such an event that bars in Michigan hold Oberon parties, tapping the kegs at midnight — almost as though beer geeks were waiting in line for the latest Justin Beiber album.
I imagine it might seem needlessly contrarian to pick on such a widely loved beer on such a widely loved day, but someone has to mention the obvious: Oberon is one of Bell’s worst beers.
Yes, it’s citrusy. Yes, you can put an orange peel in it. Yes, it’s a wheat beer with a summery flair.
I care not a lick.
Because Oberon isn’t actually refreshing or subtle or graceful or any of the things I look for in a summer beer. It’s rather the opposite: heavy, sweet, overly hopped, yeasty on the finish. Give me a Kapuziner Weissbier or a Ayinger Weisse over Oberon any day of the week. These are beers that have stood the test of time, recipes refined to be more elegant platforms for the esters and phenols that make that uniquely fruity, spicy flavor that I enjoy in a real wheat beer.
Oberon has none of that. It’s simply better than most bad beer.
Of course, you’d never know that from the excitement over today’s release and the catchy signs that Bell’s has printed over the last half decade. Watching the hysteria, you’d think each bottle contained a personal invitation to come party with Beyonce and Jay-Z. But it doesn’t. It’s just beer. And not even great beer. As Todd pointed out on Twitter earlier today, Oberon is generally occupying a tap handle that could be occupied by a better Bell’s product — anything from the Amber to Two-Hearted would be preferable in my book — and that’s a shame, because Bell’s makes some fine beer. Just not this one.
I’m anti-hype, and I’m anti-Oberon. But not the King of the Faeries. Just the beer.
2011.03.28 Evan Hansen at 10:10 pm
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11 Responses to Pssst. I Don’t Like Oberon.
Aww, someone has a case of the too cool for school.
Everyone likes what they like, but insulting the taste of those who do enjoy Oberon and calling it a bad beer puts you firmly into the “contrarian jackass” camp. Oberon is an incredibly well-crafted beer, and by offering up two Weisse beers as alternatives, you show just how out of touch you are with both the masses and the those knowledgeable about beer.
If we’re going to talk beer styles, Oberon is what you’d call an American Wheat – The fact that it is “heavy, sweet, [overly - subjective] hopped, yeasty on the finish” – All of that is characteristic of the style. It’s a style that it’s well-rated within, both on Beeradvocate and Ratebeer, two sites where people happily slam anything that remotely resembles macro junk and sometimes (unfairly) anything that isn’t a bourbon aged imperial stout. Oberon, however, ranks in the top 10 on Ratebeer for American Wheats, and the top 10 on Beeradvocate for American Pale Wheat Ales.
If you were to compared it to Three Floyds Gumballhead or New Glarus Crack’d Wheat, and say that you preferred their takes on the style better, then I would say, “I disagree, but that’s a fair assessment.” However, you’re comparing this beer to Hefeweizens, which yes, are going to be milder, less hoppy, and more subtle. You’re not saying you don’t like Oberon, to me you’re saying you don’t like American Wheats.
But then, “I don’t like American Wheat Ales” doesn’t give you the opportunity to show how cool you are by hating on something that other people love, so I can see how you came to the ignorant conclusion you did.
Everyone likes what they like. Either respect them and try and educate them on alternatives, or ignore them, but don’t sit there acting like your tastebuds are the end-all-be-all.
Troll harder next time.
Fair points on the comparison to Gumballhead, et cetera. In fact, I’d prefer Gumballhead to Oberon. But you’re right – as a style, I find American Wheat Ales flawed as a concept. They take an ingredient that’s inclined toward one type of flavor and then try and contrast it in a way that I think is jarring. Much like porters that are dry hopped or other riffs on existing styles.
You’ll also note that while I did hint that people waiting in line at midnight for ANY beer available half the year strikes me as a little silly, I DID NOT say anything about people who enjoy those beers. I don’t like Arrogant Bastard or 120 Minute IPA or Oberon or a whole host of popular brews, but if others do like them, so be it. I’m glad they’ve found something that works for them, though I’ll continue to explain why they don’t work for me.
But Bell’s and Oberon drinkers can’t possibly expect to create a massive hype machine around a beer and then be surprised when people take shots at it.
People are welcome to disagree with my taste buds or my opinions — I imagine most people do, actually, in one way or another — but to throw out an opinion that a beer is too overdone on its much hyped release day doesn’t strike me as trolling.
As usual I’ve read into your initial post more than I should’ve. You’re right, you never insulted the beer drinkers themselves, although comparing them to Bieber fans is unfair to everyone involved.
You weren’t trolling in the modern sense of the word, but you did catch my attention and elicit my comment, which is trolling of the classical kind.
For what it’s worth, I don’t consider the hoppiness of Oberon to be in any way jarring, and I say that as someone who isn’t a fan of most dry-hopped porters or Arrogant Bastard. Oberon’s balance of thick, sweet wheatiness and moderate citrus hops is a precarious one but I personally think it ends up on the brilliant end of the spectrum as a whole.
I know I’ll be looking forward to having one with my next Emory burger, even if the weather isn’t cooperating with Oberon season yet.
Cheers.
Ryan, Evan knows more about beer than 99.9% percent of the population. He’s even had a part time gig for Shelton Brothers (I assume you know this importer). He certainly has earned the right to express his opinion without being called a jackass.
I don’t want to go into all the reasons why I believe that the baseball-like statistics from BA and Ratebeer are generally meaningless but the argument that a lot of people like it so it must be good doesn’t stand up for any subject.
@ Todd – You’re right that lending too much credence to any rating system is a bad idea. In context, though, BA and Ratebeer have their place. And you’re absolutely correct, popularity is no gauge of quality; if it was, that would mean Transformers is a better movie than anything that hit the box office in 2007. That thought makes me weep.
I look at ratings sites like Ratebeer, BA, Yelp, and others to get an idea about how the subset of the population who likes to slap a number on things thinks of something. If a restaurant on Yelp has 2 stars, it might not be horrible, but there’s a good chance it’s not great either. I can get an idea of where I might want to avoid based on those Yelp reviews.
On the flip side, if a place has 4 stars, I might not like it, but there’s a good chance it’s not horrible either.
The same goes for beer reviews. Oberon’s rating doesn’t mean it’s a great beer, it doesn’t mean anyone should have to like it, but it does show that the subset of the population that likes to make judgments about beer haven’t deemed it crap. You correlate that with the wide popularity that Oberon enjoys, and that’s enough data to tell me it’s at the very least a decent beer.
I shouldn’t have played the jackass card though. Re-reading the blog post, he didn’t earn it.
There is no doubt that consumer rating sites can be useful in certain circumstances. That said, I was on BA long enough to recognize when ratings were being pushed up or down based either on a vocal minority or a widely held perception.
There’s a local Thai place that’s highly rated on Yelp that I reviewed for Metro Times. If you actually read through all of the reviews you’ll see that one specific person was driving these ratings up because she is a prolific and seemingly knowledgeable reviewer (She is cited in a good portion of the reviews). When I checked it out myself, I discovered she was only half right. This shit happens all the time on these sites.
While I don’t think these sites are worthless, BA and Ratebeer serve an important role in getting people together offline, I do believe that they are less useful for the novice than people make them out to be.
Cheers!
Ryan, it’ll be a balmy 51 degrees and sunny this weekend! Grab a hoodie, a winter hat, and a patio chair and rock the Oberon as only we can in Michigan.
Todd, thanks for the defense, and I concur with the BA and RateBeer critiques… Though I think you and I both know regardless of this post not being all that offensive that I’m a jackass.
I’m strictly a one six pack a year Oberon man. I too am not a fan of a thick-ish 6% beer as a Summer refresher. For opening day, when there’s still a chill (or snow!) in the air, it’s a delightful hint of the warmer weather to come for me, and a nice reminder of my early beer geek days when grabbing a bomber of Sol Sun was a splurge.
As to the mania, we don’t have that down here in St. Louis – just a few hyperbolic retailer e-mails. I can see that getting annoying.
There’s also still a part of me that smiles when I see a not-usually-craft-beer-drinker pick up a six pack from a quality brewer, even if I’m not a fan of the beer in question.
Happens all the time down here with our biggest local brewer, Schlafly, who can best be described as “solid” – not that there’s anything wrong with that. But, to see the growth that they’ve experience over the 17 years that I’ve been down here has been terrific, and it’s had the carryover effect that we now have a great selection of craft beer in grocery stores, let alone the specialty beer shops.
I like Oberon.
I like that you’re concise. And your beard.
I like Oberon as well. And more so this year than last. It isn’t quite as thick as it was – and seems a touch sweeter as well.