Blake, it hasn't gotten that bad.................. it's worse.
If you can name the beer, I have most likely tried it. I make my living in the beer industry and between trade association conventions, industry conferences, and just in general knowing a lot of the people in the industry, I have tried about everything at one time or another.
Last year in Las Vegas, there were probably in the neighborhood of 500 different individual brews available for sample. Of the ones I tried, and I tried a lot, two caught my attention for being very good, and I can only remember the name of one of them.
Most of the better exotic beers come from small shops, whether they be in the U.S. or Europe. The Belgian monks make some GREAT beers, including the Chimay family, Grimbergen, Tripel Karmelit, and Kwak.
There are lots of people that can make a decent beer, but most are technically proorly done, and the mistakes are covered by the hoppiness or maltiness. A lot of people will bemoan the large brewers for putting out "boring" beers, but I can guarantee you that there is not one single craft brewer in America that has the skill, resources, and equipment to brew Buidweiser, Coors, or MGD to the level of quality and consistency that the big guys do. It is much more difficult to brew a beer like Budweiser, that has very little bitterness or malt to cover mistakes than it is to brew any stout or porter.
