Listening to various interviews and podcasts I have heard more than one professional brewer say they "dont really worry about their water" or "We havent really gotten into the whole water thing yet" Thats probably where some of this is coming from.
I think you could be right. I've heard that same lackadaisical attitude many times and wonder if the brewers really can taste the problems with their beers.
Wow. I've never brewed a tannic beer and I've made alt a couple times now on the 1bbl. I'm making it in a week or two.
I'd guess they don't have good temperature control on their sparge or they are over sparging the living hell out of the mash and trying to extract every last bit of sugar.
Small breweries should be about quality not quantity. That means slightly more expensive batches. I'm just trying to avoid having to buy more expensive equipment.
Like I said, I have to wonder how many brewers just never learn or are incapable of tasting certain problems with their beers. Look how many breweries regularly release beers with unpleasant levels of diacetyl.