Kc,

I don't follow th enough to know which of the things today was the whale.

I had old man this summer and enjoyed it but not nearly as much as Julius or lights on. Though obviously not a similar beer and where I'm at in the country we have far less access to neipa. Old man is definitely not as bitter as other esbs. Much more drinkable.

FWIW I had one of the cans I grabbed today (Cactus) and definitely liked it as much as the pour I had, if not a little bit more. I had read somewhere over the summer that you wanted to be there by open to be guaranteed cans but based on their social media it looks like their cans are lasting about an hour and a half after they open, with pretty short lines after a half hour.

These were actually the first beers I've lined up for in a minute, I've been drinking a fair amount of shelfies and hitting up Counter Weight brewing outside New Haven pretty regularly. The owner used to be the head brewer at NEBCO, and they do a bunch of great beers including an amazing pilsner that I'm hooked on. Solid prices as well, their flagship IPA is 10/4 pack pounders with DIPA's getting up to 14. No lines, but almost always a decent crowd hanging out with pours.

Cit,

Doubleganger, which is basically a DDH version of Doppelganger, which is the DIPA version of Alter Ego. I like alter ego, quite a hit actually, despite it being heavily mosaic which is usually a nope for me. But doppelganger is prob the worst beer I've had from TH. Tasted like toothpaste to me. We'll see on Old Man. Not as bitter could be a negative. Medusa Brewing, not too far from TH, does a superb esb.

Fed,

Good to know. Tomorrow's supposed to be awesome out, so might just do outdoors ****, but if by chance I decide to go to foxwoods and play some STUD, I'll plan to go early and stop in Exeter to pick up some tilted suds.

In other Rhode Island beer news, proclamation is about to move to Warwick.

I went to TB a couple Saturdays ago for Chosen One/Other One. The pours while in line definitely makes a huge difference but yeah it feels like Monson did. I actually showed up over an hour early and there waa a line of cars on the shoulder of the main road about 30 deep waiting to be let into the dirt road running into the brewery. By the time we got there and parked and went to stand in line there was well over a hundred people.I would speculate that people who showed up at open probably went home empty handed. This craze is definitely still growing, pretty insane.

Definitely like Chosen one/Other One a whole lot, they somehow manages to squeeze itself in the tight space between say DDH Congress Street and Julius in my mind. Seems slightly sweeter and more sticky than most other neipa offerings I've had with a unique yeast taste similar to TH.

On a side note I was lucky enough to grab a Cantillon bottle from Fort Point Market today and it seems like there's a bunch of stuff in the area due to Zwanze/CBC to be in the look out for.

Any New England bros try Hold on To Sunshine? Sounds incredible but hard to tell with all the hype.

Hold on To Sunshine was great, but tbh I think That's What She Said and All That Is... are better. You get a good amount of peanut butter and roast without it feeling artificial. That said, I prefer their regular milk stouts more.

Damn, some people in the thread with really good TH connections it seems. I do put them up there on that level like HF where the beers are pretty consistently amazing. At least the ones I've had. Would love to try Doubleganger and HOTS but the way they're trading I just don't feel like dealing with that.

Went to the NG R&D release this weekend. They do 3 a year, and this weekend (Oktoberfest) is the last. The really nice they is they had extra bottles of a lot of their old R&D releases as well for sale. So I got a couple extra of Vintage 2015, 2016, and Champ du Blanc.

I think TH is amazing, and the consistently best of the bunch for hops out of the non HF breweries, but they are clearly overrated. I've had many other beers in the New England area that are at least in the ballpark in TH such that I don't feel the need to drive there too often.

Someone brought me a Tilted Barn Chosen One this weekend and it was very good. Tasted and looked like hopped oj. Apparently a regular has a friend who is one of like 4 full time employees there, so I hope to see more of it soon. Breweries like this, Equilibrium, Fox Farm and New Park are reasons I don't lose sleep over not having every Treehouse ever made.

I wouldn’t say they’re overrated, though I’ve heard they’re having issues with the new space. I’ve only had Equilibrium of those you mentioned and while I like their beer TH is quite clearly better and I don’t think it’s that close. Now if you have easy access to other great beers and don’t think a TH trip is worth it, I get that (I do the same thing) but that doesn’t make it overrated imo

I used to think Treehouse was so good bc of their breadth of quality: they do lots of styles very well. And that's still true - Good Morning is right there with Vanilla Rye as my favorite beers (non sour).

but I'll say Affogato from Trillium was amazing. easily easily the best non IPA I've had from them.

That's still on tap tons of places, though maybe last weekend killed it. I should seek it out.

I actually think they do stouts and porters better than IPAs, generally. Pot & Kettle and PM Dawn both excellent beers. P&K specifically something I'd always have in my fridge if I could.

Hazy beer fans,

Was at mikkeler for lunch and had to give it a try.



It was weird. Not terrible, but weird. Didn't buy any cans to go.

I should try Pot & Kettle again - it's been years since I had it. someone actually brought PM Dawn to a party I was at this weekend and I agree it was great. I'm a huge coffee stout lover so loved that one.

Any TR for this? Heard it was a bit of a **** show.

When I say overrated I more mean relatively. TH imo is a top 2-3 IPA producer right now, and top 10 overall. That said, if you can trade a 4pk of TH for most limited beers, then it is overrated. Is it the one of the best breweries in the world? Potentially. Is it's trade value too high? Certainly.

Yeah it was pretty meh, but not as bad for me as some others. I came in with a gameplan, had a list of beers and an order (based on reports from friday that Bokkereyder sold out immediately) so I was able to hit everything I wanted except one. Also I had VIP tickets again which was basically make or break for this.

But I also left 2 hours early because I was standing around and there was nothing left I wanted to drink. They definitely ****ed this up, there just wasn't enough beer and the organizers apparently didn't make any attempt to anticipate that certain breweries would be more popular than others. I was a complete beer noob for this last year (dig up my posts from when I found out I was going if you want to cringe), but I don't recall anything running out from any of the hyped breweries (HF etc).

JC Tetrault has come in to defend the breweries, which seems reasonable:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/communi...3#post-5653178

But there was just too many customers and not enough beer. I'm not sure how to do it better next year, nor do I know the economics of it obv, but if they do it again there needs to be more of a balance between the VIPs and GAs and maybe less sessions? Also the venue was not as good as city hall.

Anyway, I did have a list and made some notes:

Bokkereyder - Frambois and Noble Ghost both awesome. I'm not well versed enough in Frambois to accurately describe how good it was to others but they were the most hyped brewery by far going in, and sold out first in all sessions. I knew this and so did everyone else so about 90% of VIPs went right to them as soon as they were let in. I definitely wasn't disappointed at all.

Other Half - Daydream in Green and Down to the Socks -DiG was smooth and soft, tons of citra aroma, delicious as expected and on par with most OH beers. DttS was good but with slightly more bitterness than I'm used to with them.

Cloudwater - session IPA - solid aroma and good mouthfeel but not very flavorful, a good amount of up front and lingering bitterness, very solid overall for a session IPA.

Veil - We Ded Mon - this was an amazing triple ipa, super smooth and not sugary at all, I couldn't believe how well the 11% alcohol was hidden, one of the dankest and aromatic beers I've ever had, smooth as hell and all around amazing. They had a gose that was also extremely good, best brewery of the day I thought.

Tired Hands - Alien Church - good neipa, big mouthfeel and very smooth, medium hop aroma and a bit of a lingering bitterness. Would have preferred to try one of their milkshakes which they didnt bring this weekend so may have been a little biased but it wasn't on Other Half or Veil's level imo

Bottle logic - Number Crunch - amazing, straight chocolate and a huge mouthfeel. Was really excited to try this coming in and it was every bit as good as i thought it would be. Recursion IPA - a sort of mixed east west ipa with a huge aroma. Was solid but not in this crowd of breweries it's nothing special. Another annoying theme to this festival is breweries known for crushing stouts bringing one stout that runs out instantly and some other thing that no one wants.

Kane - really pissed about this, I missed the Sunday Brunch porter by one person in line and all they had left was something that I can't even remember but I had zero interest in. Only beer on my list I whiffed on.

Abnormal - M3 - Imperial Stout w/ Coffee, Vanilla, Cacao Nibs aged in Rye
Whiskey barrels - was solid but a bit disappointing, I had this on my list to try after not being able to get out to them when I was in SD but it was slightly too bitter an aftertaste compared to other stouts. It was good overall though, like standard bcbs basically.

3 Floyds - Zombie Dust, awesome west coast ipa very drinkable, bitterness falls off quicker than expected. This is probably nothing new for people outside of NE though.

Mikkeller SD -Rumple Milkskin - this was another stout on my list and I thought it was terrible, huge fusel alcohol taste, it was like a standard stout with rubbing alcohol.

Arizona wilderness - American Presidential imp stout 11% - this was very good, coffee forward, a bit thin on the mouthfeel but definitely good overall.

I had a few other forgettables after this and stopped taking notes. I don't regret going but I'd pick Zwanze over this if I knew going in. Also ran into this Swedish guy from Brewski who had tattoos of all the breweries (including Lord Hobo) on his arms which was...interesting:

I was on hand at the Copenhagen Boston fest for Bottle Logic (though not pouring.) There's a fine line between the beer we want to bring, and what an event organizer is willing to pay for, both in volume and in product mix. I know JC from Trillium addressed some of those concerns on Beer Advocate.

We were asked to bring a certain volume of beer, so I'm not sure what would have happened if we had asked to bring more. I recall hearing a little concern about the keg cost a few months ago, but we make very few draft kegs of our barrel aged products, and they're priced accordingly. (We still lose money on them vs. selling bottles, so the BA kegs mostly go to local valued accounts.)

We had a hazy IPA ready to go, but it just wouldn't ferment out in time to ship for the fest. It was supposed to, based on past fermentations, but it just didn't. We ended up sending a core IPA which is one of the higher rated core IPA's in our local market though I can certainly understand people wanting additional stouts from us. We had brought a few cases of bottles to give away to Boston brewers that we ended up pouring from at session 3 because we could see the demand.

We were humbled to see the support in Boston. I always assume that 3,000 miles away is a whole different world. We're committed to the Beer Advocate Extreme fest in February in Boston and plan to come loaded for bear.

Jelly of that Bokkereyder! I tried to get my friend who I've sent sour beers to go to that Copenhagen fest, but he's more of a drink on the floor kinda guy.

Anyone else do a Zwanze Day? I got lucky and got a ticket to Side Project's, which was GOATish in the beer lineup. I didn't quite get to try everything I wanted, because of possible death. But close...

Mostly a brag list to be honest, my notes were terrible after the first few bc drunk:

SP Derevation b6 - basically the best dark chocolate flavors in a beer, ever. Not much cinnamon imo. Really well balanced, just the best ba stout possible imo. Went back for seconds.

3 Floyds - Dark Lord - French Vanilla Militia (2016) - barely edged by the Db6. A little vanilla, also GOATish.

SP Tête De Cuvée (Blend #1) - My fav all day, being a sour guy. Could stand up to all the great gueuzes imo (oh sorry, methode traditionalle 3 year blends based on the gueuze beer from the region of lols).

Funk Factory Frampaars - idk how old, but berry was nice and light but not overpowering... really liked it.

Cantillon St. Lam - prob one of my overall fav beers, but not as great on this specific day. My overall experience with Cantillon is bottles >> kegs, but idk if there's anything to this. (Not a brewer or a beer science dude. Just like tasty things.)

SP Anabasis (Blend #2) - Good god this was a big beer. Got a ton of barrel, molassesey almost stout more than bw.

SP Fuzzy (Blend #2) - Palate cleanser after the babw... nice and light, nothing special on this particular day but overall really k.

SP Black & Wild (Blend #2) - Liked this a good deal more than the Fuzzy - totally different style, nice, dark, cherry. I think I had a couple of these later too, when I was just trying to settle down.

SP/Oxbow Nocturnalist (nocturnality?) - Like the above, dark and delicious. No fruit iirc, just a good BA dark saison.

Cantillon Vig - on this day, the best Cantillon... again, idk kegs or what. The muscat grapes really shined through very nicely. Also there was no line. Not a fan of lines. Mostly I just sit on the floor and drink.

Rare Barrel Sloe Daze - really got a lot of juniper and grapefruity flavor, basically perfect for a hot day, and it was super hot that day.

SP - Pulling Nails (Blend #7) - I think the Chardonnay barrels overwhelmed this beer, it was good, but could have been more and I was kinda disappointed with this one, all things considered. Maybe it chills out over time I could see it being good in a while.

Funk Factory Framrood - bigger bite than the Frampaars, more tart and sour.

de Garde Brewing/Fonta Flora The Florist - also gin barrels, prob slightly preferred the Rare Barrel gin barrel aged one, but we are splitting hairs.

Cantillon Zwanze 2017 - I'm not a big tea-in-beer guy, but it was balanced and pretty nice. I mean, I'm not gonna teabag my gueuze anytime soon in either sense of the word, so idk really why they did this, but I mean I guess you gotta do something.

Casey Saison - a really good saison, that's all. Had an Arthur later that was better, and the we are you (next one) was my fav... but this was close.

SARA/SP/Jackie O's/Tired Hands We Are You - this beer was awesome, under the radar hit for me. Just a straight up awesome saison. I could drink this for days.

Le Trou du Diable/Brasserie de la Senne Schieve Tabarnak - didn't care for this

SP Reflections 4/27/2015 - pretty light compared to their other stuff, not as memorable imo

Casey Family Preserves Apricot - I'd had this before, and it's one of my favorite beers. Huge apricot and I'm a huge fan of apricot. This fest was kind of amazing, because there were no lines and I could just stand there and drink a few of these... and I did.

deGarde The Vigne - I may have actually slightly preferred this over the St. Lam. Sacrilege. I'll still take Vig tho... all different grapes though, I think. Splitting hairs, all were great. This was really well done. I gotta get out to deGarde.

SP - Merci (Blend #3) - what a ****ing amazing blend. I had this before and I'll seek it out again. Another one that I could drink bottle after bottle.

HF Arthur - Just a really solid saison standard imo.

Then I just chilled, had another Black and Wild and called it a day. Everything was really nice and spread out here. It was not oversold, and most of the lines were at the beginning and then for some great SP beers. If you wanted to try anything specific, you definitely could. I missed a couple of SP greats, but I wanted to explore and just sit inside for a bit. There was plenty of space to just kick back and relax. What an amazing event, felt really lucky to get to try it. ETA: Also they sold 1pp Tête b2 at the end. How cool is that? Pretty cool.

wow

nice dude! when you get out here in Feb I'd love to buy you a beer. yes, that's me offering a professional brewer a beer, but you do like beer, right?

I've been going to the extreme fest for years. it's a fun one. as a consumer, here's what I'd say: as much as I love massive stouts and crazy sours, after a while I just wanted, like, a beer. it gets to a point where I'd just love a Bud Light instead of that 18% cinnamon guava stout. so don't be afraid to bring a "comfort beer"

Haha, yes I love beer! We'll have one of our senior brewers and our brand manager out there - I was already committed to another event for February.

I'll make a note of the "comfort" beer idea.

Cheers.

Downtown,

Now I have a good feeling of what I sound like when talking to my "normal" friends about beer and whiskey!

I'm familiar with cantillon, rare barrel, and SARA, most of the other stuff was completely foreign to me. But it sounded incredible!

I highly recommend anything from Rare Barrel. Don't think I've had a miss from them yet.

It's basically a who's who of sours. Funk Factory for my money makes better sours than SP, but SP is awesome and I love them too. But yeah, Funk Factory, de Garde, and Casey are known for making incredible, incredible sours.

I've not had any Casey. Or dG, though I got Kriek Premiere in a trade, and will have to drink. I probably should have gotten a bottle of a Casey cherry beer in a trade, but I got a second bottle of a Fremont BA beer because damn it I needed to know where they stack against CW.

Edit: The hype train doesn't always follow quality perfectly, but I think all of these guys are generally considered to be a bit of a cut above Rare Barrel. Someone can shout me down, but based on what I've seen for trades, that seems true.

Also, damn it, I wish I'd gone to the SP event now, though it would have been hard-ish to really try to swing tickets. I've had the Tete b2 and it's really good. I will go ahead and say I think a lot of the SP beers are pretty "samey" to me. I just don't see a big difference in something like Tete b2 and La Ruche or Merci b3. Now, those last two beers are really damn good, but don't have the hype train.

Yeah was also at Zwanze day (at Moor Brewery in Bristol). They accidentally poured an hour earlier than everyone else. The other Cantillons on were the Gueuze, RdG, Nath and Fou'Foune - the really exceptional thing there was that, unlike most places, I imagine, they'd underestimated the size of the keg so extra pours of the Zwanze were available (I ended up having a [UK] pint in total).

I think I've posted this before but I think Fou is top 2 or 3 beers I've ever had. I try to have it once a year or so and every time it brings a smile to my face. A trip to Belgium is on the bucket list specifically to check out Cantillon, among others. I missed out on Zwanze this time but plan on letting a couple beer buddies open some 3F and Cantillon for me next time I visit them.