Sixpoint Beast Mode...in January!

Never can go wrong with six point. That is all. Beast on.

 

I really enjoyed it. Thanks for asking. Great to have you guys in AR.

 

First time posting on Beer Advocate. I live in Brooklyn, love beer and have thoroughly enjoyed all of Sixpoint's core beers, especially the Bengali (spectacular) and Crisp. Bought a sixer of the Beast Mode this week though and wham, what a colossal disappointment. I enjoy IPAs and other hoppy beers but am at the core a huge fan of traditional stouts and porters. Beast Mode, unfortunately, is just not what any person I know would think of when they think "porter". I probably don't have enough of the beer critic vocabulary to properly explain my disappointment, but in laymen's term, this beer basically tastes like a less crispy, staler Bengali Tiger with a browner color.

Someone else chimed in to this above similarly and the @Sixpoint dude asked, "will you concede that much of your review's criticism is based upon your expectations of what you think a porter should taste like, vs. what a porter could taste like?" It's not like Beast Mode tastes like an "inspired porter", like when they first started adding wackier ingredients to stouts to expand the traditional stout palette. It's tastes NOTHING LIKE any actual porter you'd ever taste, or want to taste because you are "in the mood for a porter". A great porter has that thick, usually sweet flavor that just lingers and satisfies and this... uh. None of that whatsoever!!

As an addendum, I felt pretty similar after drinking the Imperial Red, which rather than tasting like a red ale just tasted like another less great iterant of Bengali Tiger. With that one, I even poured a glass of both for my girlfriend and she couldn't tell which was which.

All of which makes me feel like saying: Sixpoint, I love the things you do great! But please either stick to making great hoppy beers, or else step out of the Hop Box and try something different.

End point: would not recommend to anyone to buy Beast Mode unless a) they are a Sixpoint obsessive and like trying everything they make, b) they don't actually like drinking real porters and love IPAs, c) they went to the store to buy an IPA, the store had none whatsoever but weirdly had Beast Mode.

 

ok, just drank a 2nd Beast Mode, this time from the can! I won't lie...it was a HUGE improvement. I'm actually enjoying this, because all those citrusy, hopped notes work here. I don't know how much of my improved perception is from not seeing the beer and thinking "that don't look like a porter," but my solution is to drink the rest of my sixer from the can haha

but honestly, it's not a porter, why you gotta mess with a guy?!

 

Thanks for the extended review here. Also thanks for having the courage and investing the time to write us a thoughtful review - you need not be a beer expert to have a valid opinion. Every fan/customer's opinion counts, so let's dive into this!

I think the issue here is with the statement, "I enjoy IPAs and other hoppy beers but am at the core a huge fan of traditional stouts and porters." The Beast Mode does not pretend to be, is not advertised as such, nor does it aspire to be anything like a traditional stout or porter. It is part of the next evolution of what was once considered a traditional American stout or porter, i.e. styles and iterations that were popular in 1988 or 1995 or 2012. But that was then, and its now 2015 and Sixpoint has made BEAST MODE.

You also wrote, "It's tastes NOTHING LIKE any actual porter you'd ever taste, or want to taste because you are "in the mood for a porter". A great porter has that thick, usually sweet flavor that just lingers and satisfies and this... uh. None of that whatsoever!!"

The flavor compounds you describe here are exactly the ones we decided to intentionally omit from the formulation! Those lingering, overly sweet, syrupy flavors of traditional porters we wanted to jettison, and instead have the beer taste with the all of the bite of a good pale ale/IPA but with the roasted and cacao flavor of a brown ale/porter. We weren't in the mood for a porter, we were in the mode for BEAST MODE.

If you go back and reread your review/commentary again, nearly 100% of your criticism is coming from the misalignment of what your expectations were based upon every other porter you've had, or what your understanding of what a porter "is" vs. what the Beast Mode actually tasted like. We simply did not produce what you were expecting.

All that being said - we do honor your feedback and look forward to improving this beer into 2016 and beyond.

Last, your comment: "But please either stick to making great hoppy beers, or else step out of the Hop Box and try something different."

Have you tried our Apollo? What about the Bolshoi? The Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Otis? Ever have our Gose? What about the Gruit? There's way, way more to Sixpoint than the typical beers you find on the shelf at your local deli. Drop us a line and we'll talk about it.

cheers!

 

we've been messing with heads since 2004 - we had an avalanche of concerns/criticisms/angry emails from people when they bought SWEET ACTION complaining when they said "it doesn't taste like a cream ale"

Recently, we've received a similar response from those drinking THE CRISP. "This is not a pilsner." Or stuff like "Great beer, but not a pilsner."

This is as old as the hills - people focusing on the taxonomy of the beer, and letting it detract from the overall user experience.

 

In another thread @Sixpoint posted:

“color: think of being in a classic English pub drinking porter on cask

IBU: think of a robust american porter

body/drinkability: think of a zesty pale ale

feeling: PURE BEAST MODE”

All of the above is ‘spot on’ as the British would say.

Beast Mode is like perfect symphony music where multiple disparate music instruments come together in balance. Lots of dark malt flavors (chocolate come to mind) with the proper accompaniment of hop aroma/flavor with a luscious mouthfeel with ….

IMO, the beer is representative of pure genius to go with the PURE BEAST MODE.

I really, really hope this beer is brewed again!

IMHO, there is no need for tweaking of this recipe. This may be a boring concept for Shane and others at Sixpoint but please rest on your laurels with respect to this particular beer brand.

Cheers to the Sixpoint team for being Beasts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

“…look forward to improving this beer into 2016 and beyond.”

PLEASE DON’T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I appreciate that @JeffreyBeaumont took the time out of his busy day to express his opinions but the fundamental issue here is not the qualities of Beast Mode but the education of what the beer intends to be.

Shane, I will frankly admit that I have personally been a ‘problem child’ since I have a personal preference to associate beer style names with beer but I will openly and honestly admit that I am wrooooooong (as Fonzie would say). Beast Mode is a ‘poster child’ for a beer which should not be classified. I fully understand why you felt ‘motivated’ to use a style descriptor like “Porter” on the packaging of Beast Mode but in this particular instance I will again admit that this was wroooooooong.

My personal suggestion for next year’s (or earlier) packaging of Beast Mode be “The best damn dark colored beer ever” or maybe a more pithy name.

Cheers!

Jack

 

right on Jack! suggestions are noted!

 

Shane I can't help but laugh at this whole thing, only @Sixpoint could make people this divisive about a beer so seemingly innocuous. The fact that some people like it so much and others are freaking out cuz its nothing like what they expected tells me you did something right. I agree with @JackHorzempa that maybe porter might not be the best verbage to throw on there.

Maybe you should take a page from New Glarus and just make up the style name. Spotted cow to them is a farmhouse ale, two women is a "country lager" the list goes on. Maybe you could call this an Atlantic Bitter or a NY dark ale. If your gonna abandon style guidelines might as well abandon the traditional names.

In any case I have to try this now just to see what everyone's panties are in a bunch for. I don't normally like hoppy dark beers but this sounds interesting enough to give it a shot.

 

I noted that @jRocco2021 suggested a few names/labels for Beast Mode (and he had some clever ideas). Let me throw one out there for consideration: Hoppy Brown Ale.

Cheers!

P.S. @Sixpoint. maybe you should conduct a naming contest!?! It would be a fun event plus it would drum up some good publicity.

P.S.S. You could give a Sixpoint can shaped glass to the winner of the naming contest!

P.S.S.S. Lightbulb!!I will drink my next Beast Mode from my can shaped glass!!

 

Jack, If Shane uses my suggestion does that mean I qualify for one of these can shaped glass's your referring to? cuz that sounds bad ass.

 

Why not!?!

Cheers!

 

"You don't feel in beast mode, it feels you." - Marshawn Lynch

 

Marshawn Lynch actually said something!?!

Cheers!

 

I found this thread because I purchased a sixer of Beast Mode, and upon trying it, for the life of me I can't pull any type of porter out of this beer and was wondering if I was alone.

I really like the beer, it's very tasty, but I think whatever motivated them to put styles on their beers' packaging should be reconsidered IMO. Abandoning style guidelines is perfectly cool in my book, but they really can't be redefined.

 

Check the above post by Shane (@Sixpoint) about the "style" of beast mode. Should answer your question fairly thoroughly

 

Did anyone notice the predicament that certain people complain and complain that there is no style guideline listed on the packages, and then once there is a style guideline listed on the packages, they complain that the beer does not conform to the style guideline? hah

you know what the solution is for this...to only brew according to classical style guideline definitions, without any real deviation from the norm

in other words, Sixpoint ceases to exist... :-)

 

Had this in the slim can, in South Florida. It's pretty good.

 

Not really a question, just an observation and a verification that I'm not alone on this apparently.

I hope you don't mean me because I have never had any issue with your packaging until now. Here's why it creates a bit of an issue for me and potentially other consumers.

I've gotten into to habit of buying a sixer of IPA and a sixer of stout/porter and generally have one or two of each when I decide to have a couple beers. So this time I bought Beast Mode for my "darker" selection knowing you make tasty beers and the fact the packaging was telling me it was a porter, which it just simply isn't...knowing a bit about you guys and reading this forum I'm not surprised I guess that it's not a middle of the road standard porter, but most of the characteristics that define the style aren't there. And no offense, but the next generation porter explanation is a bit of a stretch really.

I try to appreciate beers for what they are and not what I want them to be (in this case a porter), so I'm not unhappy with the purchase, but I could see someone else thinking you guys don't know what you're doing if you're calling it a porter and it may lead them not to try some of your other offerings...

Hey, I hope this doesn't come across as a whiney post, I'm just throwing my two cents out there that if you're going to pride yourself on not following style guidelines, truly abandon them. The people that were apparently complaining about there not being styles on the label were simply wrong IMO.