When I have a brew in Athens I have one from DK. Devil's Kettle is by far the best brewery/brew pub in Athens. I realize its just my opinion, but I personally don't think Jackie O's or Little Fish are on the same level as DK. Sure, DK will never be as big as JO's because Cameron (owner/brewer) hasn't set DK up to be a big player, but that doesn't diminish the quality he puts out.

Jackie O's is an incredible business and they're marketing is unmatched, but their beers are like a high school chemistry experiment. How many "sustainable" ingredients can we put together in a series of concoctions with progressive names? Answer: Look at the board at Jackie O's. The reality is if you can't make a decent traditional lager, you're really just kidding yourself about being a brewery. And while Art is a great guy, a great supporter of Athens and OU as well as a great businessman, he's not regularly making quality lagers. The same goes for Sean at Little Fish. Great guy, but the brews are just fluff and designed to appeal to people's feel good nature. If you can't make a decent Irish stout on nitro, an English ale or a German lager you're just kidding yourself. DK makes all three on a regular basis.

The other thing about DK that's great is they have an incredible and growing vinyl album collection. And the folks behind the bar know music and play some great stuff. And yes, you can request something, and if they have it, you'll hear it.

The sound is not too loud, so its very much a conversation bar. And they're not too cool to ignore a good baseball, football or hockey match that my be televised. They'll put the game on.

My comment was just my personal opinion. I'm going to guess that many don't agree with my view. I do feel Athenians have a 1970's like Pravda mentality about the JO and LF breweries. "It has to be good because its JO's or LF." Sorry, I have a different opinion. Also, I'm not a former employee of either. Look, I wish them all well. I was just offering one opinion. Perhaps it was unfaily harsh, but it was just one opinion.

I'll let him speak for himself, but it was clear to me what he was saying, if you read the quote extract you used in its complete context. He's talking about the beer names and ingredients, and they these are designed to make you "feel good" about buying and consuming a brew that sounds hip and has some trendy ingredients. And, BTW, some of us greatly prefer lagers to the IPA of the Minute, Day, or Month. Further, for the record, I like Jackie O's, but I tend to go for their more traditional brews like Ricky and Chomolungma. The latter has a strange name, but tastes a lot like Newcastle Nut Brown Ale.

I'm not faulting you for your opinion. Just seems a little out of left field and in the extreme minority. By the way, Little Fish is co-owned by Sean AND Jimmy. Both good dudes who are obviously doing an exceptional job at their wide array of brews.

It's here. https://www.athensnews.com/news/local/distillery-moves-to...

They make a young but really tasty bourbon (if you can get your paws on it).

This is a bit pedantic, but the amount of hops in a beer has nothing to do with ABV. That said, hoppy IPA recipes tend to have a higher specific gravity and often a lot more grain (more sugars = more alcohol). This is in part because you need that big amount of malt to theoretically balance out the huge hop notes.

I'm with Alan on this one. I think the IPA craze probably peaked a coupled of years ago, and I see more and more craft breweries trying to dial in quality lagers and lighter ales like kolsch and cream ale.

I actually think one of the next craft brew trends will be lower ABV table beers.

Extreme minority was referring to the dislike of those two breweries for whatever reasons, not necessarily about beer preferences.

In terms of the relationship between hoppiness and high alcohol content, I find that to be curious. Are high alcohol saisons, sours, and stouts hoppy?

if people fear the ramifications of consuming high alcohol beverages, there are these great services called Lyft and Uber. Problem solved.

Like I said, ABV has nothing to do with hops, which only bring aroma and flavor to the mix. You don't even need hops to make beer, and ancient beer was bittered by other herbs. ABV is all about the grain bill, the starting potential sugars and how effectively the yeast eat those sugars, thereby converting them into alcohol. Some recipes have more efficient yeast, some have more grain, etc.

As to Lyfting away from a DUI, the desire for lower ABV beers is being driven (ha) by a lot more than that. People like drinking beer and want to be able to have more than one without getting drunk. Craft beer is finally graduating from the notion that more alcohol and more hops = better beer. We should all be happy about that, no matter what styles we like.

RJ, my comment was not directed towards you but some of the others that lack your knowledge. I do think my Lyft comment is appropriate, especially for people like rpbobcat who are putting others in danger by getting behind the wheel instead of utilizing ride share services or a cab.

I really wish you would explain where this came from.

You must have mis-read my 6/4 post about DUI in N.J.and people cutting back
on drinking because of the high % of alcohol in craft beers.

Having an alcoholic brother,who has had DUI's,I really resent the implication that my posts somehow encourage someone to drive when they shouldn't.

And he doesn't like them because of their political position.

First off,I've never heard of 1 craft beer resulting in an average size man's Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) approaching the 0.08% allowed in N.J.

I worked with local police to do a demonstration of just how much (little) you have to drink of a variety of beers and other alcoholic beverages to get to a BAC that exceeds N.J.'s legal limit.

None of the men who participated approached 0.08% after 1 beer.
Even beers with ABV about 8%.

I also check the ABV of any beer I drink.
Anything above 6% ABV,I stop at 1.

The poor choices made by my brother made me extremely sensitive to the issue of drinking and driving.
Having to go to the E.R.,when your brother passes out behind the wheel,crashes his car and spends a couple of days in a coma,that they didn't know if he'd come out of, is not something I'd wish on anyone.

I'm not going to get into a silly argument about what is rural and what is not. Athens County is rural yet these ride share apps along with delivery apps are now available in this area and others. Really no excuse to get behind the wheel under the influence but I guess that's the chance some people will consciously decide to make. Seems like a selfish decision to me to endanger the lives of others.