Random Beer Thoughts

[FoudreGuy]

I went through 50-26 and had drank:

Zombie Dust
pFriem Bright Pale
Citrus Maxima
A Tiny Beautiful Something
.394
Pacific Rain
Hop Streaker

 

[Sam Fu]

I’m on the fence about how I feel about Brett Mon by Steel String being #3. Last time I had it it had a slight tart aspect, pretty straightforward Brett funk, and then hops. The base is also Big Mon, one of their primary IPAs, so I’m not sure that it fits the entire “pale ale category”.



But then again I’m not gonna get too critical of a Paste magazine article...

 

[stakem1]

4 outta the last 5 posts ITT have been about beer lists

the **** have we become




im so sorry for ruining TB

 

[FoudreGuy]

But then again I’m not gonna get too critical of a Paste magazine article...

List wars are pretty dumb but I like Paste's tasting articles. They try to be objective with the blind set up that removes a lot of the hype, and often things you'd never expect do really well.

This one is legitimately awesome. And terrible.

https://www.pastemagazine.com/artic...best-cheap-macro-lagers-blind-tasted-and.html

Plus the comments from people who just like to bitch are entertaining.

edit: Looks like they removed comments. Damn.

 

[ChairmanHoltz1]

So Saturday night I went out with some guys around downtown for hopping around the whiskey focused bars. Winding down near last call, we went to a new place that apparently has a retail component as well as a beer bar. Being the way I am, I don't like winding down so I bought a Vanilla Eclipse for the four of us to share (brilliant idea after 5 hours of drinking whiskey at 4 different bars).

Apparently I was charged for the bottle from the retail side as opposed to the service side. Which I didn't even know was possible.

So when the bartender opens it, he lines up 5 glasses and pours 5 equal pours, one for himself, without asking... And was pretty cavalier about it. This rubbed me the wrong way but I didn't confront him about it. I should have.

So, when the bill comes since the bottle was "bought" from the retail side, this incurred a $5 corkage fee that was undisclosed at the time. A corkage fee, for opening a bottle that was purchased in this bar, at this bar.

Granted I was barely able to operate Uber messed up, but the whole experience just didn't sit well and I won't be returning.

This isn't normal for beer bars now, right? After having kids and realizing that the hundreds of beers at my house aren't getting drank, I kinda stopped going to craft beer centered bars and just drink at home or with friends in their homes. Things have changed with the popularity and number of craft beer bars dramatically in the last three years, so I'm not sure what's normal now.

I've never experienced the whole bartender-taking-a-pour-thing, but every place I've been to that is part bar/part retail always charges you a few dollars to open the retail stuff on-site.

 

[jivex5k1]

So there's a new IPA release.

A sour IPA with lactose conditioned on raspberry puree and vanilla beans.


People are surprised it's bad...

 

[2plums4one]

So there's a new IPA release.

A sour IPA with lactose conditioned on raspberry puree and vanilla beans.


People are surprised it's bad...

Who was the bold brewery behind such a beautiful......concept?

 

[JulianB1]

So there's a new IPA release.

A sour IPA with lactose conditioned on raspberry puree and vanilla beans.


People are surprised it's bad...

I just had a thought about some of these trends, although it's nothing profound and I imagine someone has made the exact same point before.

In almost every instance where some new "style" becomes popular, you've got a bunch of imitators that can't produce a version of the product as good as whoever started the trend. And in the past that was usually okay because the style itself was relatively uncomplicated and perhaps decently forgiving. No one makes a west coast DIPA as good as Pliny the Elder, and a lot of them aren't even close, but even the middling ones are often passable because "a bunch of amarillo, simcoe, centennial, and columbus hops into a clean pale base wort with a neutral American ale strain" is hard to totally **** up (but certainly not impossible, as plenty of breweries have shown). Then you go to a trend like Mexican-spiced imperial stouts along the lines of Hunahpu and there's more duds, but still plenty of good efforts (some just as good if not better than Huna), because it's not -too- hard to brew a good base imperial stout and then it's mostly a matter of figuring out the adjunct ratios. But as these beers get more complicated - NE-style IPAs which are improved significantly through careful water chemistry and hopping schedules; milkshake IPAs; sour fruited milkshake IPAs, and so on - the number of tricky variables grows and as such so does the number of places that a brewery can **** up, where these ****-ups reinforce each other until the end result is a totally vile, undrinkable product.

The reason this came to mind here for me, replying to your specific post, is that Hudson Valley has done some really good sour, fruited IPAs along the lines you just described. Really good as in, "wow, this could inspire the next hot imitator style" good, which apparently they have. Before that, you have the Tired Hands/Omnipollo collab milkshake IPAs, most of which that I've had having been legitimately excellent beers and most of the copycats being on the "meh" to "gross" axis. I don't really know if I have a conclusion here, other than to note that when evaluating a new "style" it's always probably best to consider the defining examples/breweries, rather than whatever local place decided to rip it off and pump out a half-assed version.

Now watch the beer you're talking about be one from Hudson Valley...

 

[nathanmiller]

NE-style IPAs which are improved significantly through careful water chemistry and hopping schedules

Then explain why seemingly every previously-****** brewery has been able to make at minimum a passable NEIPA, if not a damn good one in many cases?

I can think of a lot of breweries whose other beers are near-undrinkable but I'll be damned if their joose isn't fantastic.

 

[stupac2]

Then explain why seemingly every previously-****** brewery has been able to make at minimum a passable NEIPA, if not a damn good one in many cases?

I can think of a lot of breweries whose other beers are near-undrinkable but I'll be damned if their joose isn't fantastic.

Yeah I dunno what he's smoking, it seems like it's way easier to make a passable NEIPA than a WCIPA, at least based on the end results. It's like how most craft breweries couldn't possibly brew Budweiser because you need to get it exactly right, there's nothing to hide the flaws. The less there is going on the harder it is to get something passable, and NEIPAs have a lot going on.

 

[JulianB1]

Yeah I dunno what he's smoking, it seems like it's way easier to make a passable NEIPA than a WCIPA, at least based on the end results. It's like how most craft breweries couldn't possibly brew Budweiser because you need to get it exactly right, there's nothing to hide the flaws. The less there is going on the harder it is to get something passable, and NEIPAs have a lot going on.

Maybe it's just based on what I drink (or more to the point, what I don't), but when I have a mediocre "traditional" IPA it's usually because it's too bitter or has too much caramel malt or whatever, but I can tend to drink those kinds of beers even if I'm not particularly enjoying it. At this point bad NEIPAs are actually difficult to consume because the badness comes from things like too much yeast left in suspension or overuse of dry-hopping to the point of having a physically harsh quality. I've mentioned in the past that some examples I don't like give me the "hop burps" in an almost indigestion way.

I suppose there's a middle ground I'll meet at here though: if you basically ignore the difficult aspects that -should- define the style (but don't, because dumb beer drinkers and brewers have decided the style means "hazy and juicy"), it's not hard to brew a pale beer with English ale yeast and throw in a bunch of "modern" hops and have something drinkable come out. Maybe what I'm getting at is the more process components there are to **** up, the more likely it is something really nasty of the type I just described is the result.

Some of this might be colored from my recent experience with a "guava milkshake IPA" that tasted like celery sticks.

 

[MrPoopyButthole]

Any one have any experience with this uh "beer"..... DIPA with maple syrup and cinnamon

 

[quirk6]

Any one have any experience with this uh "beer"..... DIPA with maple syrup and cinnamon

Kent Falls made a beer called Pancaketown, a blueberry maple buckwheat IPA. I don't remember it being gross, but I don't remember it being good either.

 

[caaam]

Any one have any experience with this uh "beer"..... DIPA with maple syrup and cinnamon

Tried this one last fall or so. Memorably awful

 

[MrPoopyButthole]

Tried this one last fall or so. Memorably awful

Sounds so bad.

Call me old fashioned, but putting maple in an IPA, that's a paddlin'

 

[TommyShitt]

Any one have any experience with this uh "beer"..... DIPA with maple syrup and cinnamon

Reading a review on da udder site

“Medium bodied and drying to a creamy crispness, the IPA holds serve with a long, bitter and fruity afterglow. But the rise of maple brings a cinnamon spice to the after palate and layers on the lingering graham cracker malts for one last visit of true french toast before the next sip beckons.”

Lmaooooo

 

[stupac2]

Maybe it's just based on what I drink (or more to the point, what I don't), but when I have a mediocre "traditional" IPA it's usually because it's too bitter or has too much caramel malt or whatever, but I can tend to drink those kinds of beers even if I'm not particularly enjoying it. At this point bad NEIPAs are actually difficult to consume because the badness comes from things like too much yeast left in suspension or overuse of dry-hopping to the point of having a physically harsh quality. I've mentioned in the past that some examples I don't like give me the "hop burps" in an almost indigestion way.

I suppose there's a middle ground I'll meet at here though: if you basically ignore the difficult aspects that -should- define the style (but don't, because dumb beer drinkers and brewers have decided the style means "hazy and juicy"), it's not hard to brew a pale beer with English ale yeast and throw in a bunch of "modern" hops and have something drinkable come out. Maybe what I'm getting at is the more process components there are to **** up, the more likely it is something really nasty of the type I just described is the result.

Some of this might be colored from my recent experience with a "guava milkshake IPA" that tasted like celery sticks.

My view may definitely be colored by being in the bay area where everyone, literally everyone, makes 20 different WC IPAs but until pretty recently no one was attempting the hazy stuff. The ones to jump on the haze craze might just be getting it right, I dunno. But I've found so, so many WC IPAs that were undrinkably bitter, or cloying sweet, or just foul, and hardly any NE IPAs that are that bad (though, full disclosure, did have a pretty bad one at a fest this weekend, but it was from a terrible brewery and my wife got it not realizing that it was virtually guaranteed to be bad). Maybe it's more that I avoid the bad ones? I dunno.

I generally stand by the opinion that NE IPAs are going to be somewhat more difficult to truly **** up because they have more ways to hide flaws than a prototypical WC IPA, but it's fully possible that they're also harder to get right (I sort of doubt it, but IANAB).

 

[YungCoolship]

I generally stand by the opinion that NE IPAs are going to be somewhat more difficult to truly **** up because they have more ways to hide flaws than a prototypical WC IPA, but it's fully possible that they're also harder to get right (I sort of doubt it, but IANAB).

I think they're one of the easiest styles to replicate... but it's a double edge sword in regards to the beer's shelf life and how it is packaged. NEIPA heavily relies on aroma and mouthfeel, the former falls off if you can't limit oxygen exposure, the later is ****** regardless after a month.

 

[sacrelicio]

I bought one of those awkward ******** Dogfish IPA glasses awhile back, and never used it. But it's nice for the 16 ounce haze cans.

 

[sacrelicio]

I think they're one of the easiest styles to replicate... but it's a double edge sword in regards to the beer's shelf life and how it is packaged. NEIPA heavily relies on aroma and mouthfeel, the former falls off if you can't limit oxygen exposure, the later is ****** regardless after a month.

A really good example of any style is difficult to pull off. I've had some mediocre NEIPAs. But I've had some that are just addictive.

 

[Josh2]

Kent Falls made a beer called Pancaketown, a blueberry maple buckwheat IPA. I don't remember it being gross, but I don't remember it being good either.

How are Kent Falls beers? I follow one of the partners, or whatever he is on his YouTube channel. He doesn't really involve much of the brewery though so I've always been curious.

 

[JulianB1]

How are Kent Falls beers? I follow one of the partners, or whatever he is on his YouTube channel. He doesn't really involve much of the brewery though so I've always been curious.

The farmhouse/saison/mixed fermentation beers from them I've had have all been solid, and they've been showing up in the Carolinas as shelf beers.

 

[JCastle1]

How are Kent Falls beers? I follow one of the partners, or whatever he is on his YouTube channel. He doesn't really involve much of the brewery though so I've always been curious.

The brett stuff is tasty. I like them.

 

[purephase]

How are Kent Falls beers? I follow one of the partners, or whatever he is on his YouTube channel. He doesn't really involve much of the brewery though so I've always been curious.

They were amazing the first 6 months or so they were open to such an extent that I thought they were top 3 in Connecticut that quickly. Unfortunately though their consistency went off the rails, with many of their clean beers tasting like they had Brett or Belgian yeast when they shouldn't have and at least some of their wild beers being undrinkable.

I feel like their QC has improved but they haven't consistently returned to the highs of their launch and I'm still not able to recommend them as enthusiastically as I would have in late 2015/early 2016.

 

[FoudreGuy]

Reading a review on da udder site

“Medium bodied and drying to a creamy crispness, the IPA holds serve with a long, bitter and fruity afterglow. But the rise of maple brings a cinnamon spice to the after palate and layers on the lingering graham cracker malts for one last visit of true french toast before the next sip beckons.”

Lmaooooo

LOL WUT

 

[tosh1]

Any one have any experience with this uh "beer"..... DIPA with maple syrup and cinnamon

Have walked past this beer the last few weeks. Sounds horrendous.

 

[JulianB1]

LOL WUT

I've read "drying to a creamy crispness" several times and I'm still trying to figure out what it means. How can something be both drying/crisp and creamy at the same time?

 

[JCastle1]

They were amazing the first 6 months or so they were open to such an extent that I thought they were top 3 in Connecticut that quickly. Unfortunately though their consistency went off the rails, with many of their clean beers tasting like they had Brett or Belgian yeast when they shouldn't have and at least some of their wild beers being undrinkable.

I feel like their QC has improved but they haven't consistently returned to the highs of their launch and I'm still not able to recommend them as enthusiastically as I would have in late 2015/early 2016.

Well that's a shame. I haven't had them since early 2015 but the stuff I've had was great.

 

[Gonzoillini1]

I've read "drying to a creamy crispness" several times and I'm still trying to figure out what it means. How can something be both drying/crisp and creamy at the same time?

Serving it on nitro?

Reading reviews of folks you don't know is asinine and pretty much useless, but I also hate Yelp / Trip Advisor / etc... so maybe I'm wrong?

 

[NeedsMoreDog]

Reading a review on da udder site

“Medium bodied and drying to a creamy crispness, the IPA holds serve with a long, bitter and fruity afterglow. But the rise of maple brings a cinnamon spice to the after palate and layers on the lingering graham cracker malts for one last visit of true french toast before the next sip beckons.”

Lmaooooo

it's also a shame that site has so much exposure that a newcomer to craft beer reads that dribble