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There seems to be a mix of: Started great, still going great; started okay, but got better; and still as poor as they were from day one. I can't think of any that were good but have gone downhill. Some of our great beers do go toe-to-toe with the best in the world though.

I'm not going to vote as I'm on the fence. Having spent the summer in the US the traditional styles they do (read: hoppy) blow away anything else. Hiring a US brewer is one thing, but you need access to the freshest ingredients too. None of my beer snob friends even in Utah would drink an IPA older than 6 weeks old, and were reluctant to drink anything made from the 2015 harvest.

Mixed fermentation doesn't exist so the Belgians are safe in that regard. Kettle sours, which are not far off Berliners, are a mixed bag.

So what is good enough? Stouts and porters, yes we do those very well. Even twists like Belgian style porters (aka Mescan) come out well.

In summary if you want to produce world class beer, you need to look at the bigger picture. Half measures and short cuts don't work.

"Tube":3l47mccs wrote: So what is good enough?[/quote:3l47mccs]In the hope it gets a vote out of you, IMO it's beer that isn't technically flawed; ie brewed by someone who is in control of their processes and has effective QA.

From a very broad point of view (something like "pick 3 craft beers randomly in a well furnished off-license, are they all good?") I would say no, mostly for consistency across the market. But there's some really good beers, consistent and well brewed, which help bridging the gap. And since it's going to be more or less the same thing in other countries too, I would say nes, or yeo <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) -->

Feel like I have to vote even though the question is way too ... everything.
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Done!

Over 50% for me isn't cutting it in an international context today and so why I voted no.
Market [b:28epd3my]is[/b:28epd3my] [b:28epd3my]way too[/b:28epd3my] young to make that sort of call but rising fast, same question in 5-10 years time when the market is more established and we have caught up with more established international markets and answer will almost certainly be yes.