Beer in the new era

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Are there any notable union shops in the craft beer world? I feel like there must be but I'm drawing a blank. I should probably just google.

I want to change my display name (dan m), Wednesday, 2 September 2020 19:45 (three years ago) link

That does seem pretty gross and like very suspicious timing. Tried to go there twice when I was in Minneapolis last summer, but the wait was ridiculous both times. It made sense the first time since we stupidly tried during a dinner rush, but the second time was 3:30 on like a Tuesday afternoon and there was still a two plus hour wait.

soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 2 September 2020 19:51 (three years ago) link

anchor has a union iirc

call all destroyer, Wednesday, 2 September 2020 19:55 (three years ago) link

While not a union, Modern Times is an employee-owned ESOP cooperative.

Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Wednesday, 2 September 2020 20:00 (three years ago) link

^^^I wondered about that, they've done a bunch of collaborations with Fair State

I want to change my display name (dan m), Wednesday, 2 September 2020 20:03 (three years ago) link

there's a new(ish) Brewer in Rhode Island, FOOLPROOF BREWING. I tried their IPA yesterday and really liked it. Good flavor, not syrupy, not over-hopped.
I love almost everything Foolproof has put out. Peanut Butter Raincloud!

TO BE A JAZZ SINGER YOU HAVE TO BE ABLE TO SCAT (Jazzbo), Friday, 4 September 2020 16:11 (three years ago) link

i think they are for sale if you are interested.

call all destroyer, Friday, 4 September 2020 17:28 (three years ago) link

makes the choice of twin cities beer even easier

https://fairstate.coop/news/we-are-americas-first-unionized-microbrewery/

I want to change my display name (dan m), Wednesday, 9 September 2020 21:40 (three years ago) link

three weeks pass...

One bottle of Sam Adams Utopias at my local, only $249. That seems too expensive for a pleb like me to contemplate.

I want to change my display name (dan m), Saturday, 3 October 2020 22:43 (three years ago) link

It would be one thing if that beer tasted good, it is absolutely not worth the price of admission imho.

Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Sunday, 4 October 2020 00:25 (three years ago) link

sam adams makes $250 bottle of beer?

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Sunday, 4 October 2020 08:10 (three years ago) link

The midwest (or at least Chicago) seems to like its beers on the sweet side, so while I think a lot of breweries are killing it when it comes to NEIPAs, the beers I find to be sometimes just a little too much. I do like it, then, when breweries try to emulate/replicate other regional beers, just to mess with different flavor profiles. Phase Three, for example, recently released an excellent beer called Terrazzo, which (as I understand it, based on the hops used) was kinda its take on a west coast IPA a a Pliny, and this week they released Blue Hour, a "Vermont-style double IPA," so you know what they're going for there. Drinking that one right now, though both were excellent, with more bitterness than a lot of the brews P3 and Hop Butcher (my other local fave these days) have been releasing. Revolution really seems to be doing great here, too, with tons of interesting one-offs and experiments along with their regulars. What a glorious time to drink beer.

Josh in Chicago, Friday, 9 October 2020 22:15 (three years ago) link

A buddy of mine sent me cans of MORE Morever IPA which was very well balanced plus some Revolution Ryeway To Heaven (have yet to open). Thank you Chicago!

Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Friday, 9 October 2020 22:20 (three years ago) link

Yeah, the old brewer from MORE moved on to found Phase Three, I think, but I've heard that More has kept it together in his wake. Revolution's barrel aged stouts are all great, btw, no stinkers.

Josh in Chicago, Friday, 9 October 2020 22:23 (three years ago) link

IIRC that was the brewer who was early on brewing thiccc stouts at RAR before getting poached to More?

Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Friday, 9 October 2020 22:50 (three years ago) link

i’ve got a local snooty beer bar with one of those can machines, it’s great. never seen them before! whatever they’ve got on tap that you want, they will put in a can, for about a pound cheaper than you’d pay to sit in. by the time i get home the condensation on the can has eroded whatever they’ve written on the can do i never remember what one bought and which ones i should buy again.

Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Friday, 9 October 2020 23:32 (three years ago) link

Man, Ryeway is so good. Just saying.

I want to change my display name (dan m), Saturday, 10 October 2020 00:28 (three years ago) link

Also, keep not buying Surly if it's an issue where you are.

I want to change my display name (dan m), Saturday, 10 October 2020 00:29 (three years ago) link

sam adams makes $250 bottle of beer?

It’s almost more of a spirit. Uncarbonated, served ambient temperature, close to 30% abv, and it ages well- even after opening. When I have a bottle in the house, I keep it tucked away and bring it out for special occasions or sharing a nip with friends. It lasts for months or even years that way, and it’s a delight to the very end. But, full disclosure, I work for the company.

epistantophus, Saturday, 10 October 2020 13:50 (three years ago) link

three weeks pass...

A lot of gossip flying around this weekend about The Bruery, essentially their equity partner couldn't make their loan payments to the bank, so the bank auctioned it off and it sold for $3M. The equity partner is out ~$40M, the bank is out ~$17M. Patrick Rue (founder) had the opportunity to outbid the $3M offer and he passed. In 2015 they were assessed at around $100M.

Reminds me of when Ballast Point was sold to PE in 2015 for $1B and then they bought back to a virtually unknown brewery in Chicago last year for $75M.

Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Sunday, 1 November 2020 06:58 (three years ago) link

Personal interjection... I've got some The Bruery coming next week or the week after - bought a couple of their 'I’ve got Friends in the Music Business' barrel aged blends (collaboration with Brouwerij Frontaal). I haven't bought much/any US stuff before as the prices can be fierce here in the UK, certainly for the well renowned stuff, but these were ok and seem like they should suit winter drinking well.

brain (krakow), Sunday, 1 November 2020 11:49 (three years ago) link

fwiw those fruited beers I bought over the summer never exploded, but at the same time, they were kind of gross, so they're just sitting around in the fridge.

Josh in Chicago, Monday, 2 November 2020 17:48 (three years ago) link

Some new info here plus some bits I've seen elsewhere

https://www.sapiens.org/archaeology/ancient-beer/

I want to change my display name (dan m), Thursday, 12 November 2020 16:22 (three years ago) link

Man I've really been slacking on beer this year, with brewery visits out and reduced shopping options. Still been supporting our locals, but since I haven't felt comfortable enough to actually go in any of them I've been limited to their (mostly) reduced offerings for to go and delivery.

Been really into Hop Butcher stuff that a store keeps getting in though.

soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 12 November 2020 16:25 (three years ago) link

You really can't wrong with Hop Butcher except when they go too far afield with some red flag brew (like, graham cracker blackberry banana apricot fruit punch milkshake double IPA, or some shit). Most of their stuff is variations on a really palatable NEIPA flavor profile. Been drinking some great stuff from Saint Errant, Pipeworks and Phase Three as well, locally, plus of course Revolution and Half Acre keep churning out great stuff. Rev's Deth's Tar has been popping up in stores, and for my money they've surpassed Goose Island on the barrel-aged front, plus selling it in four-packs of 12oz cans is a much better way to buy/drink that stuff. They have great curbside service, too.

Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 12 November 2020 16:32 (three years ago) link

Yeah I've had some awful milkshake stuff in the past, so I've been hesitant to try any of that from Hop Butcher.

soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 12 November 2020 16:34 (three years ago) link

If I lived in your fair city I would be supporting Off Color & Revolution as much as possible.

Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Thursday, 12 November 2020 16:38 (three years ago) link

I do support Rev as much as possible and Josh reminds me that I def need to go pick up some Deth's Tar before things clamp down again. I gotta admit that I find Off Color to be really hit and miss for me.

soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 12 November 2020 16:40 (three years ago) link

plz support Metropolitan Brewing as well, a v good friend of mine works there and they (the business) are in a very precarious spot

I want to change my display name (dan m), Thursday, 12 November 2020 16:41 (three years ago) link

(my opinion of Off Color is much the same, the price paid for being so experimental I guess)

I want to change my display name (dan m), Thursday, 12 November 2020 16:41 (three years ago) link

I use untappd religiously to track every unique beer I consume; I've added only five or six since march.

joygoat, Thursday, 12 November 2020 16:46 (three years ago) link

Same here joygoat, I started 2020 needing only about 20 more beers to get to 1,000 unique beers and I'm still 6 or 7 away.

soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 12 November 2020 16:47 (three years ago) link

i'm at 989 right now and THIS WAS GONNA BE THE YEAR

joygoat, Thursday, 12 November 2020 16:54 (three years ago) link

Just checked and I'm closer than I thought, but still 996.

soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 12 November 2020 16:58 (three years ago) link

two weeks pass...

I have trouble getting excited about Bourbon County Stout, since the regular seems to stick around for months now, the rare stuff vanishes in advance, and the rest of them that I come across always seem a little gross or unappealing (especially for the price). Meanwhile, Revolution's barrel-aged program keeps, well, barreling along. I'm not sure if it's an annual thing, but Deth By Cherries made another appearance this year, and I just scored a 4-pack at the local store for a pittance, since it hadn't been priced yet. "The rest of them are around $25, is that OK?" Yes please.

Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 29 November 2020 18:54 (three years ago) link

i got my one annul bottle of regular bcbs today. the tea/honey variant was still hanging around but for 24 bucks and in my least favorite bottle format on earth i had to pass.

call all destroyer, Sunday, 29 November 2020 23:49 (three years ago) link

Someone said the tea one "kinda tasted like boba" which was intriguing but my interest in chasing stouts is long gone

Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Monday, 30 November 2020 01:31 (three years ago) link

I bought a couple reg BC, $13 ea at Total Wine & More, and one from 2019 for the same. They even had 2018 and 2017 bottles there. The only other variant they had was the Caramella, which didn't sound like something I'd like (cinnamon), and it was $15, I think.

I also found a Russian River Supplicant sour for $13 in their back room.

nickn, Monday, 30 November 2020 02:53 (three years ago) link

Honestly I was more excited about the Schell's Oat Stout I had today than BCBS.

I want to change my display name (dan m), Monday, 30 November 2020 04:16 (three years ago) link

Huh, looks like they don't distribute in Illinois.

Josh in Chicago, Monday, 30 November 2020 04:29 (three years ago) link

And on a related note I drank a couple bottles of 2014 Firestone Parabola (not on the same day), and I couldn't tell if they had improved with the aging. Still very good, but seemingly not any different character than fresh BA beer, not that I remember what it tasted like in 2014.

nickn, Monday, 30 November 2020 04:58 (three years ago) link

Yeah, I had a 2012 BCS the other night, and it tasted fine. Luck of the draw, I guess, but for all the talk of "fresh" or "gushers" or "infected," I've never had a beer (of any type) that has gone bad, afaict. Not yet at least. And those beers I bought over the summer that were destined to blow up? I still have a few of them, and they have not exploded. I wonder if, when it comes to taste, it could be genetic, like the way some people think cilantro tastes like soap? For example, I've never tasted rancid peanuts or peanut oil, or rather I've never had peanuts or tasted peanut oil that I thought have gone rancid, but my wife is obsessed with the notion. Likewise, I've never had vermouth that has gone bad, either, but apparently that is a thing?

Josh in Chicago, Monday, 30 November 2020 14:22 (three years ago) link

Schell is a great brewery, second oldest family owned brewery in the U.S.

Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 30 November 2020 15:03 (three years ago) link

xp
I was hoping that the age would actually improve (or even alter in an interesting way) the flavor, but it doesn't seem to have.

And oddly enough I have a very old (> 10 yrs), opened bottle of sweet vermouth that I tasted (seemed OK) and then made a couple Manhattans with.

nickn, Monday, 30 November 2020 22:12 (three years ago) link

There's a funny conflation I see among beer nerds in particular that mixes up the properties of beer, whiskey and wine. Like, there will be a bourbon barrel aged beer that someone will say tastes like straight up bourbon (no it doesn't) and then other folks act like these big beers age like wine, but ... yeah, I dunno about that, either. For example, we had a coffee BCS a couple of weeks back that was I think 8 years old, and the coffee flavor was still strong and front and center, yet I've seen people complain of flavor profiles and properties fading after just a few months or whatever. Those might be the same folks that think beers taste best a few days after they're brewed, which ... maybe they do, but I can't tell. I think as with a lot of rarified things there's an element of magical thinking to it all.

Josh in Chicago, Monday, 30 November 2020 22:24 (three years ago) link

I think the problem with stouts from the early 2010s and earlier is that the bottle closure is a simple crimped cap which is a semipermeable seal allowing oxygen to come in and "age" the beer over time. Nowadays the big time stout producers use a special cap that has a polyseal ring on the inside to minimize oxidization and then coated with several coats of molten wax.

Storage conditions (a legit cellar/fridge vs. *ahem* the back of my wife's shoe closet), provenance (how many times a bottle has switched hands), shipping exposure, etc. can factor in to how a bottle will age.

Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Monday, 30 November 2020 22:40 (three years ago) link

When I had a modest collection of coffee stouts, I would store them in my kitchen refrigerator out of fear of the coffee note fading, or developing a bell-pepper note which was a big turnoff.

Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Monday, 30 November 2020 22:53 (three years ago) link

Yeah, it's kind of a paradox, I guess: I've never had a bad beer, afaik, but at the same time, there aren't many people or places that collect and store beers, so I wouldn't have come across one stored improperly. Mine are just in unheated (but warm enough not to freeze) closet in the basement. Doesn't make my beer cool enough, but brings any red wine to the perfect temp!

Josh in Chicago, Monday, 30 November 2020 23:45 (three years ago) link

I've never had a bad beer

A worrying lack of hiss on open, pouring dead flat and a dull flat stale cardboard off-flavor are my usual signs that a beer is much past its prime.

I did have a 1989 Bigfoot barleywine recently and it was much better than I thought it would be... OTOH I had a small taste of the 1994 Samuel Adams Triple Bock (small cobalt blue bottle) and that was like 25 year old soy sauce poured into a cigar ashtray.

Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Monday, 30 November 2020 23:55 (three years ago) link

I generally drink pilsner type beers that are supposed to be a bit fizzy and you can definitely tell when those are past their prime, because they start to get flat, and develop some off flavors.

o. nate, Tuesday, 1 December 2020 01:20 (three years ago) link


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