Of course I am familiar with the microbrewery industry. And I thank god for it regularly. Yes, I was referring to the mass marketed swill the mega-conglomerates push and that a huge percentage of Americans consider beer. Whether you know or not, our friend Pat (aka Dinqua), is not the single representative on this site of homebrewers. I started doing that as I left grad school in answer to the comparatively lacking "real" beer market at the time.
It has been my opinion that the microbrewery industry has done wonders to bring back the great heritage of the American brewing craft. However, I do find it typical that most of the standard offerings done by these smaller endeavours follow the beer style guidelines but the flavoring is usually, let us say, is mellowed a bit. I go in to these places and almost as a rule try to find out what the seasonal or the brewmaster's specials are. Now that is usually some tasty shite.
I was just in Vancouver and found a great local microbrewery called The Steamworks. Pretty much all this guy's beers were good but, man, was his stout divine. Needless to say, I spent both time and $$$ in this place while I was visiting.
Prost!
