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Beer

So, what am I drinking?

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Waquoit said:
I'd like to throw this out here. Wasn't the great craft brewery consolidation supposed to happen by now? I haven't seen it. I've seen a few joints fold but more have come along to take their place. And places that have been open for awhile are expanding. It's remarkable to me. The beer in CT has never been better.
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I thought it was going to happen during the height of Covid. Instead, craft breweries quickly pivoted, offered delivery, increased production, and specialty craft beer sales skyrocketed in 2020 and 2021. I am hearing about small craft breweries opening in CT every other week and it blows me away.
 
Waquoit said:
I'd like to throw this out here. Wasn't the great craft brewery consolidation supposed to happen by now? I haven't seen it. I've seen a few joints fold but more have come along to take their place. And places that have been open for awhile are expanding. It's remarkable to me. The beer in CT has never been better.
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Waquoit said:
When it comes around here once in a blue moon I snap it up, I still love it. I remember I hated the first one I ever tried, I hadn't made the leap yet. The guy who got it for me took it as a personal insult.
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There's two markets out there. In the big, heavily distributed space, it has happened and continues to happen. Harpoon just bought Long Trail and Otter Creek, having already bought Catamount. They are selling the actual breweries to Whistle Pig (interested to see what they do with it). The same has happened all over. Ballast Point got acquired. Boulevard got acquired. Ommegang, the list goes on. Think about the brands you knew in the 90s and 00s. Magic Hat, Saranac, Red Hook, Anchor Steam, do you see those now?

There has been explosive growth in on premise brewery consumption along with local distribution of local beers. I see a massive selection at my local stores, but almost all of them are unfiltered, unpasteurized, local distributed beers. I barely even see any Connecticut beers here in Mass. Toppling Goliath and Cigar City recently showed up in the last two years but I don't see a lot of demand except maybe for King Sue. Jai Alai would have sold like crazy a decade ago, now it's not in the top 60 IPAs on the shelf. The market seems to have spoken and people are choosing to support local places. Increased quality and selection helped for sure but the bigger craft names used to work to prevent the small names from getting shelf space or tap handles. They have no leverage now. The pay to play lawsuits in Boston were only a few years ago.
 
If Toppling Goliath was available in Pgh, I'd buy it.

We have a glut of micro/nano brewers here, but only a handful are worth going out of one's way for, IMHO. I'd welcome any beer from a top 10 brewery.

Oh, and we still have plenty of Anchor Steam here.
 
At Harpoon pre-concert. Having a Catamount IPA. Not the old Catamount but it’s nice to see the name cone back.

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karstenkibbe said:
While I’m not a massive Treehouse fanboy like @HuskyHawk, I have immense respect for what Nate and the crew have done there. The customer experience is incredible, right down to the cleanliness of the bathrooms. Yes, there have been some bad batches over the last few years, but for the most part, their beers are consistently very good, they offer an abundance of styles at a level of quality few breweries can match. If you want to be honest, you have to say that a lot of breweries have actually sacrificed quality as they’ve expanded and dumped vast quantities into distribution. Equilibrium’s once-amazing IPAs are now overpriced shelf turds that collect dust. Other Half’s regular rotation beers are now average at best. The list goes on.
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Spot on about Equilibrium and I think you’re right about Other Half. Do you think they may be expanding too quickly to maintain quality? Their on-site experience hasn’t been quite as great during a couple of recent pick-ups, which is sad considering they are my favorite brewery. I think TH is the best in terms of consistency…esp across the breadth of styles they offer and on-site experience. Their coffee products are also very good in my opinion…
 
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brihman said:
Spot on about Equilibrium and I think you’re right about Other Half. Do you think they may be expanding too quickly to maintain quality? Their on-site experience hasn’t been quite as great during a couple of recent pick-ups, which is sad considering they are my favorite brewery. I think TH is the best in terms of consistency…esp across the breadth of styles they offer and on-site experience. Their coffee products are also very good in my opinion…
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I have no evidence (other than lack of flavor and body), but I believe in the case of EQ, they simply prioritized profit before product when they moved from the original location, expanded and decided to go the distro route. Amazing that their beers can now be found in about 30 states. I remember standing in a hundreds-deep line five years ago this month to get cans of Vulgar Display of Flower. Now, I wouldn’t drive a mile to my go-to to buy their IPAs. They still create scarcity for their stouts, which are exceptional.
 
Peanut butter. Vanilla. Cocao nibs. And coffee. An amazing brew from Tox Brewing in Waterford.
 

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Another Hudson Valley sour IPA… white chocolate, vanilla bean and cardamom. Smells like grandma’s apple pie. Tastes like a tart cold chai tea with a spritz of kefir lime. And it works.
 
karstenkibbe said:
I have no evidence (other than lack of flavor and body), but I believe in the case of EQ, they simply prioritized profit before product when they moved from the original location, expanded and decided to go the distro route. Amazing that their beers can now be found in about 30 states. I remember standing in a hundreds-deep line five years ago this month to get cans of Vulgar Display of Flower. Now, I wouldn’t drive a mile to my go-to to buy their IPAs. They still create scarcity for their stouts, which are exceptional.
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No beer that is great on site seems to survive the transition to wide distribution. Certainly not IPAs. I think stouts and some lagers are still great in distro, but NE IPAs just aren't the same.

Toppling Goliath is probably the top fairly wide disto IPA producer. But I've not had their stuff in Iowa, and it wouldn't surprise me if the TG stuff I get isn't as good. I check the dates every time, and I simply won't buy an IPA that isn't stored in a cooler.
 
Slight change in recommendation, @HuskyHawk … on Monday, I suggested you seek out Treehouse Wanderer helles, dry hopped with Palisades. This new Wanderer - dry hopped with Callista - is the best variant yet. Some serious tropical notes. Very unique for a helles lager. I am completely blown away that Treehouse is now pumping out such quality pils/lager variants on a regular basis. I envy your short drive to Charlton.

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karstenkibbe said:
Slight change in recommendation, @HuskyHawk … on Monday, I suggested you seek out Treehouse Wanderer helles, dry hopped with Palisades. This new Wanderer - dry hopped with Callista - is the best variant yet. Some serious tropical notes. Very unique for a helles lager. I am completely blown away that Treehouse is now pumping out such quality pils/lager variants on a regular basis. I envy your short drive to Charlton.

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I really think Treehouse and Hill Farmstead are the best breweries in the country. Treehouse May lag on sours. But I don’t car much for sours. They crust traditional English and German styles, even with hop variations.
 
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Stupid but serious question for the craft experts here. Yesterday while shopping for good local beers to bring to CT for gifts (no, not for you people!) I bought what may well be the last can of Albatross in Pittsburgh. They stopped canning it earlier this month. Best by date is today.

I don't feel like drinking it as I have an open bottle of wine to finish tonight. I suppose I could let that sit and use for cooking next week, but I feel like wine more than beer tonight.

So, do I let the Albatross sit in the fridge another six days, or do I pack it in the cooler and open it when I reach the hotel tomorrow? I will likely be drinking it out of a plastic cup if that's the case.
 
storrsroars said:
Stupid but serious question for the craft experts here. Yesterday while shopping for good local beers to bring to CT for gifts (no, not for you people!) I bought what may well be the last can of Albatross in Pittsburgh. They stopped canning it earlier this month. Best by date is today.

I don't feel like drinking it as I have an open bottle of wine to finish tonight. I suppose I could let that sit and use for cooking next week, but I feel like wine more than beer tonight.

So, do I let the Albatross sit in the fridge another six days, or do I pack it in the cooler and open it when I reach the hotel tomorrow? I will likely be drinking it out of a plastic cup if that's the case.
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I’ll be completely honest with you. A hop-forward beer like Albatross needs to be drank within a few weeks of canning. I dislike when breweries put a best-by date on a can and not the canning date. Best-by-date is useful for lagers, which can endure cold storage for half a year. That’s not the case with IPAs. At this point, the six day difference won’t matter much. Either way, you will likely get a strong hit of malty flavor. But I do suggest drinking that can sooner rather than later.
 
karstenkibbe said:
I’ll be completely honest with you. A hop-forward beer like Albatross needs to be drank within a few weeks of canning. I dislike when breweries put a best-by date on a can and not the canning date. Best-by-date is useful for lagers, which can endure cold storage for half a year. That’s not the case with IPAs. At this point, the six day difference won’t matter much. Either way, you will likely get a strong hit of malty flavor. But I do suggest drinking that can sooner rather than later.
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After 8.5 hours in the car, got to the hotel, unwrapped a plastic cup, and went for it.

The funny thing was, that while it was delicious and didn't seem to have deteriorated (no off flavors, still full of hoppiness and fruit and actually not too dissimilar to the General Braddock's I had last week), it simply wasn't the right beer for the situation. Pounding a ice cold crisp lager would've been the preferred call for my level of stiffness and soreness ;)

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storrsroars said:
After 8.5 hours in the car, got to the hotel, unwrapped a plastic cup, and went for it.

The funny thing was, that while it was delicious and didn't seem to have deteriorated (no off flavors, still full of hoppiness and fruit and actually not too dissimilar to the General Braddock's I had last week), it simply wasn't the right beer for the situation. Pounding a ice cold crisp lager would've been the preferred call for my level of stiffness and soreness ;)

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Lol. Stiff and sore calls for high abv. A double ipa is perfect. But you need three of them, or the scotch thread.
 
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Out in St. Louis seeing family. Niece took us to Perennial today. This was a nice pale ale. Realized these are the people who made Abraxis, which was a really popular stout back in the day.

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I don’t really drink beer anymore because it doesn’t sit well in my stomach, but Pilsners seem to treat me better so I got this to have on hand for guests while we are on vacation and decided to try one myself. Absolutely delicious:
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Given the number of Marlowe fans, I picked up a 4 pack at Caraluzzi's when I was in Danbury this past weekend. They only stocked two labels, and I'd kinda had my fill of hazys lately, so picked up this, which is more in my wheelhouse than typical citrus bombs, and which I'd best describe as a cross between a solid American IPA and a cream ale. Very nice.

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This is a beer where I'm scratching my head wondering what they were going for. One of Pgh's top breweries, have enjoyed other offerings I've had. This is a fairly high-rated wheat beer with passionfruit, orange, and guava. The three fruits combine to create one murky vaguely citrusry but flat note. Seems a case of Brew Gentlemen fanboys doing the ratings, or my personal taste preferences are completely out of vogue these days.

This is one of a handful of Pittsburgh beers I meant to leave at my brother's house for him and my godson to enjoy, but forgot to take out of the car, so I'll be reviewing a few in the coming couple of weeks as I'll have to drink them all myself, lol.

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storrsroars said:
Given the number of Marlowe fans, I picked up a 4 pack at Caraluzzi's when I was in Danbury this past weekend. They only stocked two labels, and I'd kinda had my fill of hazys lately, so picked up this, which is more in my wheelhouse than typical citrus bombs, and which I'd best describe as a cross between a solid American IPA and a cream ale. Very nice.

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The brewer tweaked his process for this one the last 2 times he made it. Upped the aromatic level and flavors. Total improvement over the excellent original version.
 
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