Alpine Brewing Thread

I had a GF Hoppy Birthday recently at Whole Foods in Laguna Niguel. Was freaking delicious. GF Duet as well, and that was a clear step below Alpine brewed Duet. The whole thing leads me to believe GF is still ironing out the kinks and that there will be inconsistency until they do.

 

I was at alpine this past Friday as well and I agree all their beers for amazing. I've mostly had GF Alpine kegs because they are what can be found in OC and they seemed different from what I had before, particularly duet. Almost a different beer.

 

I was at the Yardhouse at LA Live for the Penguins game on Saturday and they had Hoppy Birthday on tap. Tasted good to me!

Also, how crazy is it that Alpine is in a Yardhouse!

 

I was able to try my first GF Nelson this weekend at Sublime Ale House. While discussing it with a guy that was sitting at the bar next to me, we both came up with the same conclusion. It was missing the crispness and clean taste that you get from a Nelson at Alpine brewery. I have heard some say it is the water out in Alpine that makes it better. I've heard others say its because GF can't duplicate it because of mass production. Whatever it might be, it is not the same and not as good. GF should be doing better. They are putting out an inferior version of the beer.

 

I saw alpine at Buffalo Wild Wings. I thought this has gone too far.

 

I posted about how GF was making inferior beer for Alpine. Got downvoted to oblivion on reddit.

 

talk about diluting the brand to oblivion. It's one thing to expand and keep up quality, it's another thing to rapidly expand before quality matches up with the expansion.

 

Reddit has its purposes, but quality beer discussion ain't one of them. LOL

 

Im sure they will figure it out.

As an Alpine fan, and as a person who rarely saw it, I welcome it being more available. Why wouldn't we want it everywhere?

 

Because it's not the same product. If they could deliver the same product and scale it up, that would be wonderful. Being able to get a moderately similar version of Alpine isn't particularly exciting unless you're a fan of the brand and can't taste the difference.

 

Let me put this another way - imagine you're a huge Iron Maiden fan. Great band, great music, you wish you could see them live more often. Would seeing an Iron Maiden tribute band (that only nails some of their songs and butchers others, to keep the analogy accurate) scratch that itch? Or would it just remind you how much you appreciate Iron Maiden for what they are?

if it scratches that itch for you, great, but it damn sure isn't the real thing.

 

It's like getting a pint of Hydrox cookies when what you really wanted were Oreos. Pretty close, but damnit, that's not what I ordered.

 

I think GF still has time to get it right, but what do I know. Until then, I'll continue to make the drive down to Alpine.

 

On the other hand, if what you got were Joe-Joe's, you might end up liking it even more than the original.

 

Mmmmm Joe-Joe's!

 

It's one thing to experiment to get it right and release limited kegs here and there along CA. But it's another thing to still not have it right but go nationwide with kegs O_O. I feel like they've been at this for almost a year already

 

Crazy how often that happens isn't it? Power of suggestion+Group think = a powerful thing.

 

Not always true, though - I could assemble a group of San Diego beer geeks that would never group think together, and would be more likely to get in a big rumble.

 

I think you've got your analogy backwards. Hydrox came along long before Oreos ever did.

 

Have they even started bottling anything yet?
If they have, I haven't seen 'em.