So I was having a friendly discussion at a local bar the other day, when I ordered a Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale(very tasty btw). He brought up his opinion when I got it that he didn't like the Sierra Nevada Brewery at all, which intrigued me, so I asked him why. He answered by saying that all styles they make you could get a better one for the same price, so why buy Sierra Nevada. Thing that got me though was that he mentioned the water quality of Sierra Nevada's beer being the main quality to him that degraded them.

During the discussion I failed to mention the documentary I watched just the other day "How Beer Saved the World", specifically the part where they make a beer out of duck pond water and let people taste it, and get generally good reactions from them about how it tastes.

My question is: How important is water quality to the overall taste? Did these people just not have sophisticated enough palates? Or is water quality before boiling really not that important? Also, is Sierra Nevada's water rumored to be of bad quality? Thanks!