Are craft beers overrated? | The Tylt
Craft beer has seen a huge surge in popularity in recent years, thanks in part to the rise of microbreweries across the United States. Beer snobs say craft beers are hands-down better than the cheap swill you find at the supermarket. They actually taste like something, not just bland toilet water. Other people, like Momofuku's David Chang, think craft beers are overrated. Sure they may be tasty, but there's nothing like cracking open a can of Bud Light or Tecate. Down with fancy beer. What do you think? 🍻

It really comes down to a matter of taste. Some people just like their beers cold and cheap. They don't need much else from it. There's a time and place for the refined craft beers, but you can drink a cheap beer whenever you want. There's nothing snobbish about it. There's nothing to "understand." You don't need to develop a palette for it. Cheap beer is good beer.
Beer snobs are the worst of the bunch. You know the old joke about cheap beer being like having sex in a canoe? I will take a beer that’s "fucking near water" every night of the week over combing out my neck beard while arguing about hop varieties.
For all the debatability of my rant here, let me make one ironclad argument for shitty beer: It pairs really well with food. All food. Think about how well champagne pairs with almost anything. Champagne is not a flavor bomb! It’s bubbly and has a little hint of acid and tannin and is cool and crisp and refreshing. Cheap beer is, no joke, the champagne of beers. And cheap beer and spicy food go together like nothing else. Think about Natty Boh and Old Bay-smothered crabs. Or Asian lagers like Orion and Singha and Tiger, which are all perfect ways to wash down your mapo tofu.
Garrett Oliver responds to David Chang, saying there's nothing wrong with cheap beers—but craft beers are better. Not all craft beers are flavor bombs. There are plenty of lagers out there with similar flavor profiles to Bud Light. Why settle for less when you can have something that's objectively better?
Could I still murder a bag of White Castle cheeseburgers at midnight? Hells yeah! But I don’t go telling Danny Meyer about it every time I see him. White Castle is nostalgic, but Shake Shack burgers make me stupid with happiness. Now I can have a few nice things, and I like it that way. I respect industrial beer, but I don’t have to drink it anymore.
The beauty of craft beer is all of the choices available to you. Don't like the hoppiness of IPAs? Get a stout instead! Or get a lager, a sour, or anything else among the huge multitudes of beers. Why limit yourself to a small range of flavors when you can have it all?
Wow no one cares about your shitty craft beer
— Katie (@teenagenark) March 14, 2017
Lord in heaven above please smite these bearded hipsters and their shitty craft beer. In @SwearyJesus name, Amen.
— Antisocial Media (@VyvianBastard) March 29, 2017
My annual PSA: every time you drink a shitty green macro brew, someone kicks a puppy. Save the puppies. Drink craft beer. #StPatricksDay
— Scotchy McSinglemalt (@poguemahonebrew) March 17, 2017
Why do people waste their time and tastebuds on shitty macro beer? There's high quality local craft beer for every palate and taste.
— Michael Kras (@KrasMagic) March 16, 2017