If they tell you a beer is too sweet or too bitter, you tweak your recipe. You brew what people like. I guess it's like being a musician, and you perform music that people enjoy. Then, people say that when you become successful, you're a sellout, because you've changed what you do based on what other people like. But I don't agree.
Fads change, and brewers react.
When I started full time in '95, everybody was making an effort to increase the body in their beer. More alcohol, more bitterness. Everybody turned up the volume. Now, people are scaling back, trying to focus on what it is that makes a truly good beer. The trend is much more conservative.