Forest and Main thread

[pythonhgr]

Peach, plum, cherry Marius today!

wish I could've made it but had to work. Gotta try getting my hands on some

 

[Coffygrinder1]

Solaire released today

 

[Treebs]

Bump. Received a Moeder Seizeon with a date stamp of Nov. 20 2014. Is that Batch 2?

 

[WhalezB4Rarez]

whoa a Forest & Main thread.

Let me just say that I love these guys and all that they're doing. They may have dipped a little into "trend creep" with them doing Crowlers of hazy-ish IPAs...but then again that's what people usually get in Crowlers. But they seem to have stayed true to the English + Belgian inspirations and I hope that continues.

Cheers to their 5 years!

 

[Dunt1]

Does F&M have anything to go right now? Going to be in the area next week and would like to stop by if they do.

 

[SecretSquirrel]

Does F&M have anything to go right now? Going to be in the area next week and would like to stop by if they do.

It's always a crap shoot if they do, go anyways my favorite Philly (area) spot..

 

[SecretSquirrel]

Didn't realize they had a thread here as well, lol.. Been a few times in the last year love hanging on the porch and wish I could of made the 5th Anniversary party last weekend. Will be around Memorial Day weekend it looks like so you'll find me on the porch, lol.

 

[WhalezB4Rarez]

Does F&M have anything to go right now? Going to be in the area next week and would like to stop by if they do.

Aside from their 5th Anniversary crowler (most likely gone) they haven't had a crowler release since April 1. But by next week they could have something new available.

 

[SecretSquirrel]

Looks like something is dropping this Sat.

 

[STropio]

Looks like something is dropping this Sat.

Apparently the saison that dropped was the one Craig Laban called the best beer of Philadelphia this year. I had a friend grab me a bottle of it and the cherry varient. Interested to try.

 

[holldy01]

Anyone have this year's Marius? Opened a bottle recently and was underwhelmed. By far my least favorite bottle from them (not counting that waves b2). It just was buttery and kind of meh. There were some canned peach notes but otherwise flat.

 

[skrip]

Anyone have this year's Marius? Opened a bottle recently and was underwhelmed. By far my least favorite bottle from them (not counting that waves b2). It just was buttery and kind of meh. There were some canned peach notes but otherwise flat.

ahh damn thats really sad to hear!! my buddy has a bottle for me but i haven't gotten around to picking it up yet. anyone else pop one?

 

[WhalezB4Rarez]

I feel like maybe I helped push them in the right direction a while ago when I bitched at them for turning into Tired Hands 2.0 as just an IPA and Saison house and forgetting their roots. Seems like they are trying to coerce their customers into drinking something other than those two styles. (although IPA and Saison still dominate their taps)

 

[holldy01]

I feel like maybe I helped push them in the right direction a while ago when I bitched at them for turning into Tired Hands 2.0 as just an IPA and Saison house and forgetting their roots. Seems like they are trying to coerce their customers into drinking something other than those two styles. (although IPA and Saison still dominate their taps)

I mean they kind of are Tired hands 2.0...

 

[WhalezB4Rarez]

I mean they kind of are Tired hands 2.0...

They didn't start that way though! They started out as "British and Belgium" inspired. (even had their beer list categorized that way) Then it became IPA & Saison with maybe a bitter. Right now they have a Mild and Stout on cask which is nice. I think they are trying to get back to their roots a bit but those offerings are mainly on cask.

(I forgot to mention this Instagram too)



Oh, and while I applaud them for making a barleywine the one I got in cans from them in December (Destroyed by Fire) kinda blows.

 

[holldy01]

They didn't start that way though! They started out as "British and Belgium" inspired. (even had their beer list categorized that way) Then it became IPA & Saison with maybe a bitter. Right now they have a Mild and Stout on cask which is nice. I think they are trying to get back to their roots a bit but those offerings are mainly on cask.

(I forgot to mention this Instagram too)



Oh, and while I applaud them for making a barleywine the one I got in cans from them in December (Destroyed by Fire) kinda blows.

I mean small brewery in Philly burbs doing experimental takes on traditional styles in a homey space. Could either be Forest and Main or TH Brew Cafe. But I do understand what you're sentiment and agree with them becoming TH 2.0 recently so I am glad to see them going back to their roots. Their bottled saisons have always been world class but I thought their draft offerings have been not been good enough recently to warrant making the trip to visit the brewery outside of bottle releases. Before they expanded they sent a few kegs out to Lancaster and 2 out of the 3 were pure green trub kegs that had to get sent back. That plus a few lackluster draft offerings have kept me from making the drive.

 

[WhalezB4Rarez]

I mean small brewery in Philly burbs doing experimental takes on traditional styles in a homey space. Could either be Forest and Main or TH Brew Cafe. But I do understand what you're sentiment and agree with them becoming TH 2.0 recently so I am glad to see them going back to their roots. Their bottled saisons have always been world class but I thought their draft offerings have been not been good enough recently to warrant making the trip to visit the brewery outside of bottle releases. Before they expanded they sent a few kegs out to Lancaster and 2 out of the 3 were pure green trub kegs that had to get sent back. That plus a few lackluster draft offerings have kept me from making the drive.

I live not far away where a around trip to get a growler or some cans could be roughly 30 minutes. But the last few times I've had beer from them I haven't enjoyed it. Going into the new space does seem like a demarcation from good/not good but maybe also an assistant brewer left or something. Or maybe they are putting out too many recipes instead of honing in a few.

 

[holldy01]

I live not far away where a around trip to get a growler or some cans could be roughly 30 minutes. But the last few times I've had beer from them I haven't enjoyed it. Going into the new space does seem like a demarcation from good/not good but maybe also an assistant brewer left or something. Or maybe they are putting out too many recipes instead of honing in a few.

Yeah, I used to make pretty regular trips but the Marius/vintage release was the only time I’ve gone since late 2017. It seemed like they got distracted while trying to open the new space and their quality just fell off.

 

[Evahflow]

I feel quite the opposite. It's about a 40 minute drive from me and I go pretty often. I love the can conditioned saisons/draft saisons better than the longer aged bottled stuff they have put out recently. I also prefer their IPA's over any other PA brewers by a decent amount. They use a lot of weird hops not a lot of other places are using and it makes them stand out. Plus nothing beats getting a mild or a bitter on cask there. Everyone is looking for something different though I guess. I'd probably say they are my favorite brewery right now.

 

[holldy01]

I feel quite the opposite. It's about a 40 minute drive from me and I go pretty often. I love the can conditioned saisons/draft saisons better than the longer aged bottled stuff they have put out recently. I also prefer their IPA's over any other PA brewers by a decent amount. They use a lot of weird hops not a lot of other places are using and it makes them stand out. Plus nothing beats getting a mild or a bitter on cask there. Everyone is looking for something different though I guess. I'd probably say they are my favorite brewery right now.

Fair enough. I tend to like brighter, more tart saisons over floral/biscuity saisons which is why I prefer their bottles over their draft. That being said, recent Marius was definitely a let down. However, the last bottle i had bought from them before that was Feurald Tinferres which was surprisingly good. The ginger scared me but when I tried it I kicked myself for not getting more bottles. I thought it was great.
As far as IPAs go, they were always fine but not something I’d drive an hour and a half for. Plus after tapping 2 kegs that had to get sent back, i lost a little faith and it made it a little hard to justify the drive. But like I said, I haven’t had any in a while so I can’t speak on their recent IPAs.

 

[WhalezB4Rarez]

Forest and Main is being featured on some new series on Amazon video. Granted the episode is only 4 minutes long. But I guess there are more coming?

https://www.hopculture.com/forest-main-amazon-prime-show-not-your-fathers-beer/

 

[holldy01]

Forest and Main is being featured on some new series on Amazon video. Granted the episode is only 4 minutes long. But I guess there are more coming?

https://www.hopculture.com/forest-main-amazon-prime-show-not-your-fathers-beer/

Why can’t they just do tired hands and keep F&M below the radar?

 

[WhalezB4Rarez]

Why can’t they just do tired hands and keep F&M below the radar?

hahahaha. solid point. But so far I don't think it's doing much help to promote F&M.

I watched the first 4 minute episode last night. I am scratching my head at a few things. Like "why four minutes?" The episode is titled "The Recipe" which gives us an introduction to F&M and a little bit more. I guess I'll throw in a "spoiler" tag?

Spoiler

I don't know how familiar some of you are with the owners of Forest & Main but I never got much of a vibe that they would be "good for TV". (not that someone like Shaun Hill is either but whatever) This first episode features mainly Gerard talking about cultivating yeast on the property. Which I think is a really cool topic! But Gerard has such a manner of speaking that is rather subdued and the backing music track almost overtakes him. Not that this show is going to be a science project but I would have liked to learn a little bit more about how they cultivate the yeast. But according to Gerard it apparently also has to do with burning some sage on the front yard. And for an episode titled "The Recipe" the only ingredient discussed was yeast!

So for me I think releasing these videos once at a time at 4 minutes a piece is kind of a waste. They should either be longer episodes, have released the whole thing at once or just put it out on YouTube. Four minutes a piece (if that's how all episodes are going to be) seems like a waste of the Amazon Video platform.