Was wondering what sort of fish I'd catch on the first cast....
You sell what people will buy, yes. It's a symbiotic pathology here: drinkers demand one thing, and the breweries give it to them. But, the breweries hooked them on it at the beginning. "The first rock is free."
Sure there are. I didn't mean to say the WC is devoid of such things. You can find those sorts of exceptions pretty much anywhere if you look hard enough (like American-style ales brewed in the Netherlands). The phrase "exception that proves the rule" is bullshit, but finding stray exceptions hardly makes the case against the idea that the West Coast is awash in ales fitting a fairly narrow profile.
I almost feel that, for the purposes of this discussion, brewpubs need to be left out. By their very nature, their sales area is highly limited, and don't have an enormous effect on the prevelance of beer styles of any sort in a given area.
Sales figures woudl certainly bear that out, yes. Although, I will say that WC breweries in the last five years or so do seem to be more willing to break the mold in styles and profiles.
Take a count of all the WC labels, and see how many are lagers. I'm guessing the percentage is extremely low.
With scattered exceptions at some pubs, hardly great examples of lagers, either one of them.
They definitely are a good exception to the pattern.
I only know of the Pine Mountain Pils, which, while good, is not great.
With a couple exceptions, they each have one or two lagers out of a 10-12 beer (or more) portfolio, and that's what, 15 breweries out of several hundred on the West Coast? "Virtually no" might be a bit of an exaggeration, but it's not like they're leaping off the shelves.
And, sadly, other than Deschutes and Lagunitas, every single one of those is nowhere to be found in southern California. Northern California probalby gets a better selection, but the lager-brewing breweries tend to have very narrow distribution out here.
Agreed they need to be better-known. Of the ones I've had, though, only LaConner leaps to mind as first-rate, however. If by "first-rate," one means that they would hold them up against any similar beer brewed anywhere.
Deschutes have always been good at brewing well-balanced, flavorful beers that remind you that there are malt *and* hops in beer. Full Sail, a little bit less so, but they also have a good track record on that count. There are a couple rather nice Kölsch-style beers down here in SoCal.
They're there. But there could be more. And consider that what gets all the attention are things like Stone hopfests.
Haven't given that one a shot yet. I'm off beer again for a while, so haven't visited a beer shop for a while. And, as I mentioned a few paragraphs ago, it does seem that breweries out here are broadening their perspectives. Had a nice pre-pro pils from Craftsman (Pasadena) several weeks ago, for instance, Port Brewing has been experimenting with some lagers that are at times pretty well-done. My local G-B, which sadly is being replaced by yet another BJ's, brewed some excellent lagers. There are other breweries that are stepping out in the ale arena and coming up with beers that are surprising, and welcome, departures from the hopfests that typically prevail.
But, I'll stand by my original point: On balance, the East Coast (IOW, east of the Mississippi) offers greater variety both in styles and execution of styles than the West.
Well, that ain't happening till the next time I find myself in Washington again.
-Steve