Does anyone else here from the Northeast find that Magic Hat Brewery's products have declined in quality since the early 2000s? I used to drink it when I actually lived in Burlington, Vermont, and I swear all of their beers tasted crisper and fuller there and then. Either the place has grown into a bigger operation and has payed the price in attention to detail, or I just was drinking fresher product closer to the source.
This will probably be blasphemy to some, but here goes.
When we finally got Magic Hat out this way after hearing about it for so many years all I experienced was epic disappointment. I wouldn't go out of my way to drink any of their beers (I've probably tried four styles).
#9 is a horrible, abomination of a pale ale
The hefeweizen is terrible
Jinx was ok at best
Wacko was also ok at best
Definitely not even close to some of the heavy hitting breweries I like.
Saranac is pretty meh overall too. Wouldn't trouble myself to pick up any when I'm back east again.
One thing is for certain though, even though I am super snobby, there are very, very few brews I would turn down being offered by someone. A free beer is a beer I didn't have before, after all. :D
Ryan, I think you should embrace people whose pallets have finally grown up enough to move away from the big macro brew bullshit beer.
