I have a couple old 120" IPAs (2011 and 2014 I think), wonder if there's any chance they'll keep going up in value now.
Aside from the 120 I haven't been on the IPA bandwagon in general for the past few. But the New England IPA coming into its own as a style has really changed that. I had had Heady Topper and Cruncher from Alchemist about a year or two back and they were good, and in the interim it's been really interesting watching other breweries running with the idea. Really like the use of oats (I love saisons), and the emphasis on the non-bittering characteristics of the hops. Sloop BC/s Juice Bomb is probably my favorite that I've tried... also had Connecticut Valley BC's Trailblazer (excellent) West Kill BC's Moon Farmer (very good) one from Two Roads when I was in New Haven this winter, not sure if it was Two Juicy or not Free Will BC's Cloudy with a Chance of Charcuterie (very good) Sierra Nevada's cash-in Hazy Little Thing one of Tired Hands's limited release 'milkshakes,' I think it had mango in it or something. Very chewy, tasty.
Haven't been homebrewing in a few years :-/ kids going to bed too late now and complain about the smell.
Still drinking Boulevard BC's Tank 7 as house beer, getting pricey though. Also got somme Hennepin to compare recently.
Recent tastes: my beer shop guy threw in a gift pack of Ommegang dark beer bombers recently. Drank the Soothsayer, delicious as expected somewhere between a dubbel and a quad with perhaps a little hint in stout direction but not very roasty at all. Very nice. Still have a "belgian-style" stout and porter to try.
He told me basically the hazy NE style IPA was really made bigger on the west coast by Monkish, who obviously are close with the ultimate purveyors of all things NE IPA, Other Half.
He sent me Unfold the Scroll, 2-1 and Lewis, and Monk Magic Dynasty recently.
The last shipment he sent me had some great Mumford, Bottle Logic, and some Unsung.
The best one he sent me was San Francitra Treat, by Unsung, Artifex and Bottle Logic.
But for the Monkish cans this time around, I am sending him some Other Half and LIC Beer Project cans in return.
OH Do You Want More? All Medusa Everything All Citra Everything All Nelson Everything Triple Citra Daydream 99c Tea Southern Hopalistic
Might sub one or two of the above with a couple cans from LIC Beer Project
Local brewery front-wise, I've been sleeping on Interboro, Grimm, and Threes lately because I've just been on a Other Half kick, but summer is around the corner.
3. "Never hearda any of that stuff" In response to Reply # 2
just googled Other Half... mmm all the beers look great
was in the Catskills when I sampled the Sloop and West Kill beers.
Curious about how you guys are trading, I know it's illegal to mail (or was last I looked into it). I sent a batch of homebrew to a friend once via UPS labeled 'live yeast samples in suspension' or something and it got through okay, but made me nervous all the same.
4. "It's only illegal in certain states I think" In response to Reply # 3
Man... we did Fed Ex / UPS last time and it was STUPID expensive
This time he did USPS priority something or other for 3 days. Showed up still slightly chilled. As long as the cans don't get warm I am told the beer won't be compromised.
Cost him $20 to send the 8 cans, I'll see how much they charge me to send my 8 back tomorrow.
Yeah Catskills have great breweries. Next time you really gotta stop in to Suarez Family Brewery. It's a surreal taproom if you are a city boy like me.
19. "hmmm... USPS is a federal agency so i think it would apply" In response to Reply # 4
and when I went to mail the first UPS shop I went to shot me down.
Probably 7 or 8 years ago now though.
but then I know they have opened up a bit to catalogues and wine clubs and the like, so *shrug*
>Man... we did Fed Ex / UPS last time and it was STUPID >expensive > >This time he did USPS priority something or other for 3 days. >Showed up still slightly chilled. As long as the cans don't >get warm I am told the beer won't be compromised. > >Cost him $20 to send the 8 cans, I'll see how much they charge >me to send my 8 back tomorrow. > >Yeah Catskills have great breweries. Next time you really >gotta stop in to Suarez Family Brewery. It's a surreal taproom >if you are a city boy like me.
We randomly picked the Hunter Mountain Brewery, not far from Kaaterskill Falls where we had gone hiking that day.
They had one house-brewed beer on tap. One.
Bit of a letdown, esp. as it was a stout which is not my favorite style.
21. "Yeah you can kind of tell when it's a bunk brewery" In response to Reply # 19 Fri May-10-19 03:46 PM by T Reynolds
I stayed by Hunter Mountain several months ago and went up to Kingston a couple years back, and neither time did a lot of those breweries in the catskills stand out to me.
West Kill Brewery does look official though
But yeah, we always pack our stuff before we show up to ship though
20. "Ahhh... so I'm on an NEIPA kick, Belgian styles are still king. FRIDAY L..." In response to Reply # 2
met my wife out for lunch at a place with a great list.
Started off with the house blonde, brewed for them by Van Steenberge. 7%, spectacular.
Then tried -Pliny the Elder. 5 oz pour. Had never had it, they had it on tap. Can see why it was revolutionary, but at this point I feel like I've had plenty of other great beers that are similar. -Lawson's Finest Sip of Sunshine (Warren, VT) - surprisingly, not a 'NEIPA' in that it wasn't hazy and the bitterness was more accented. Still tasty. 5 oz. pour -Industrial Arts 'Wrench' (Garnerville, NY). Super hazy, creamy, a bit less strong, not too thick a mouthfeel. Really nice. -Hitachino Nest Real Ginger - love their White ale, so the Mrs. ordered a small taster of this. Quite nice, much preferable to a Crabbe's or similar. Strong ginger flavor without tasting like a soft drink.
22. "Yeah I love Industrial Arts" In response to Reply # 20
They had some great collabs I picked up at Threes Brewing, but sadly they don't have any of them onsite at the actual brewery. The bartender gave me some snarky shit about it defeating the whole purpose of the collaboration if you have it at the brewery, which I thought was dumb, unless so few people stop by, which is entirely possible because it's in bumfuck.
>-Industrial Arts 'Wrench' (Garnerville, NY). Super hazy, >creamy, a bit less strong, not too thick a mouthfeel. Really >nice.
>-Hitachino Nest Real Ginger - love their White ale, so the >Mrs. ordered a small taster of this. Quite nice, much >preferable to a Crabbe's or similar. Strong ginger flavor >without tasting like a soft drink.
I love some Hitachino beers but I'm not a fan of all of them.
5. "Where did milkshake IPAs come from?" In response to Reply # 0 Fri May-10-19 12:35 PM by Marauder21
That went from a curiosity ("A milkshake IPA? Sounds interesting, maybe I'll check it out") to something every single craft brewery has to put out in like 18 months.
I don't mind them, but I feel like they all kinda taste the same. Better for cold weather than warm.
Same for Brut IPA's (though those are better for summer,) they seemingly popped up out of nowhere.
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15. "The Tired Hands beers are in conunction with Omnipollo" In response to Reply # 6
see below about use of pectin
>I haven't seen milkshake specifically but a lot of combos of >lactose + fruit, in sour IPAs are common during summer > >edit: found some history, and yeah, Omnipollo is mentioned. >Never heard of Tired Hands >https://vinepair.com/articles/milkshake-ipa-guide/
I never even heard of Omnipollo before. So much good beer, so little time to drink. And I can actually drink less than previously because as of a month ago I have been formally diagnosed with atrial fibrillation.
9. "Easy way for brewers to smooth out beers they got the bill wrong on" In response to Reply # 5
Just pump a shit ton of lactose into it and call it a "milkshake". A little lactose is okay and actually normal for small batch IPAs, but those milky ones trigger something on my pallet that I can't get behind.
25. "I've never minded 'sweet' beers" In response to Reply # 17
>I'll take the bitter over mouthfeel/haze/"creamy" caused by >those over-sugared adjuncts.
the ones that taste like soda are definitely way over the top, but white ales, hefeweizens and the like that were my gateway into stronger beers and different styles have always been on the sweet side. Somme fo the NEIPAs are basically like farmhouse ales with extra hops added for a short part of the boil. My favorite beers today tend to be Belgian strong ales that have the same sweet/spicy counterpoints, and less of the bitter.
I still prefer a more balanced plain old double IPA, without all the adjuncts, to a hop bomb that's 4%.
11. "yeah, same happened w/ Ballast Point, post purchase by..." In response to Reply # 7
>Will Dogfish Head be allowed to use premium ingredients or >will they start cutting corners? > >For example, Flying Dog use to have really fantastic beer but >then they hired a former AmBev executive. Since, the beer has >taken a dip.
26. "Weird, I don't drink it enough to notice" In response to Reply # 24
wonder if they changed production somehow, or production location, or the hop or grain bill. With a brand name like that I wouldn't want to f** with it too much if I were the buyer.
28. "Severely upped production, over filtered it, and supply chain sucked" In response to Reply # 26
Grapefruit, right before the buyout, was pretty great when you got it two weeks or so off the line. Now, it’s warm shipped and just tastes really fake and cheap while still premium priced. Sad.
27. "Yeah, I agree with this as well. i'm happy for them" In response to Reply # 12
>To be getting that sort of payday.
l'm sure revenue has been steady over the years, tho def not the growth they envisaged say 5 years ago. I personally think they've been as innovative as ever, though I know a lot of folks disagree.
The market is just way too saturated from a business point of view, especially in places like the northeast, pacific NW, SoCal and Colorado.
That said, solely as a consumer, I think this is a good thing.
18. "Not always terrible" In response to Reply # 7
I still think Leffe is excellent for the price point, and that's owned by InBev Goose Island's flagship & specialty beers are still great, though it seems Sophia may be little more tart than it used to be, and they were bought by Anheuser Busch quite a few years ago now. Ommegang is part owned by Duvel Even Blue Moon's white ale is not a bad beer and is usually shat on just because BM is owned by Coors
and considering that I have a generally high opinion of the Sam Adams beers, I'm not opposed to this merger at all. If anything, if they can rub off on each other - I tend to think of Sam Adams as more conservative, which can get boring, but one of the worst beers I ever had was DFH's 'Black White and Red' or something similar that had berries and mint. Bad bad bad, should never have made it to production bad.
13. "Hmmm... my tastes lean very much toward higher ABV" In response to Reply # 8
>I've moved away from traditional IPA and beer in general. > >But now I'm kinda back but really into lower Alcohol pale ales >or session IPA's especially with a citrus flavor (not >overdone)
and most of these NEIPAs are in the 6-8% range, which is a little high for a session (I tend to think of as 4.5% or lower). hmmm a Google of 'Session NEIPA' turns up mostly homebrew forum chat stuff, so the ABV is likely a pretty significant component in the flavor profile.
>Highland Brewing Mandarina is an example and kind of my go-to. > Advice on others to check out that fit that mold?
There are plenty of blood orange IPAs out, so maybe some of those would work for you? Most are stronger than Mandarina's 5% ABv, but... DFH Flesh & Blood is 7% So is 21st Amendment's Brew Free or Die and Flying Dog's blood orange pale
Maybe something like Citradelic from New Belgium? 6% ABV, not a bad beer at all.
29. "Tried Victory's 'White Monkey' last night / Singlecut hype" In response to Reply # 0
very good... long-time fan of Golden Monkey, and have also been a fan of white wine barrel aging (old favorite was Evil Twin's '9th Symphony'). A bit brighter and just a little tarter than regular Golden Monkey but way preferable to Sour Monkey (which I can still drink but would not choose).
Got my first four pack of a Singlecut beer too (Weird & Gilly). They'd been recommended to me by my beer shop guy but I was a little off put that it's hard to figure out what kind of beer you're buying. Then there was a huge selection of their stuff at my supermarket - easily six or eight varieties, 75% of a whole end cap. The Weird & Gilly was good, wondering if anyone else has recs for particular beers of theirs.
30. "Singlecut is a brewery I always forget about, but whenever I see" In response to Reply # 29
their cans, I usually pick up
Walking distance from my barber alone (LIC area) has like 3 breweries, Fifth Hammer (they made one good thing and their other stuff sucks), Alewife (solid), Transmitter (solid), and LIC Beer Project. LIC is probably the best in the area. Singlecut would be a close second to them, and the beer shops I go to always carry them, but for some reason I never remember them in a beer convo. Not that they're not good.
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