Alpine Brewing Thread

Pretty sure Green Flash was around before Alpine, too.

 

Nope, Pat started contract brewing at Alesmith in 1999 and opened ABC in fall of 2002. Green Flash opened in 2002 (unsure what month).

 

Maybe they should have been bought by AB Inbev instead

 

I stand corrected by the experts, then.

 

In a blind taste test, how many of you guys think you could truly taste the difference between say 4 week old Nelson served from a original Alpine bottle versus a glass of Nelson from a keg by GF?

 

I don’t think I know anybody here who sits on a bottle of Nelson for 4 weeks. =p My 3 bottle allocation rarely lasts longer than a week.

 

I had to make my last bottle of Nelson last almost 2.5 weeks since the pub was out and a new bottling was going to happen....tough looking at it everyday when I come home from the office and tell myself I "can't have it yet because then I would be out..they will bottle more soon, just be patient"

 

Have you had both versions? I have. They're different. Lots of people who drink lots of Alpine have already agreed on this.

Maybe (hopefully) they're getting closer to duplicating the aroma, mouthfeel, and flavor of Alpine's IPAs but the early results were absolutely noticeable and subpar. I don't really think this is still an open debate.

 

And yet it's been going in circles for like 20 pages now...

 

We actually did this. When you get a bunch of wine drinkers that also drink beer, all we love doing is blind tasting everything to hopefully eliminate bias.

We had 5 people testing a growler from the pub (the next day after getting it filled) and a tap at a local store (thank you 38 degrees for letting us pop the growler!). I poured it, asked them each to write their opinion on which was which and gave it to me. Not a single person picked wrong. Granted, this was roughly 6 months ago or so but from my recent tastes, the Nelson hasn't changed much from GF. I keep on beating the same drum, GF can't seem to get the texture right on the beer.

 

@clayfu Do you drink Alpine stuff often at 38deg? I have had some of the foulest tasting batches there...way worse than other bars in the LA area. They also served Nelson in a snifter...

 

It's not suprising they can't get the texture right. They can't even figure out how to bottle date their beers properly or make a label that a 10 year old couldn't knock out in an evening after her piano lessons.

 

Agreed, skunk.

I had some Hoppy Birthday there and it tasted like gutter water. It was vile.

 

off and on, I just find myself there more often than not since it's local. I typically ask them for a long tulip. I've probably had Alpine at a good number of the LA bars.

I think the issue with 38 is that sometimes those kegs stay on tap for awhile. But I haven't noticed a noticeable difference between their Nelson and say Lucky Baldwin, Far Bar or Barbaras. The worst alpine I had was a duet at slaters 50/50 in pasadena a few months ago. Belch.

 

Funny thing was when I went to 38, the bartender told me that they had just put them on the day before. Maybe holding kegs back? Not sure... But ya, Slaters Pasadena is garbage...not sure if its dirty lines or what.

 

Maybe their beer lines are contaminated with bacon fat.

 

I actually had some Duet at Stone (a place that usually keeps their lines incredibly clean) on Saturday and was oddly underwhelmed. I was resisting the "it's different" crowd for a while, if only because I didn't have Alpine often enough to make a TRUE 1:1 comparison. But after that, I'm sold. Significant difference, and not for the better at all.

 

I was in that camp as well until I went to the brewery and had my fill of alpine beers and fairly recently had a GF version. Also when I see "friends" posting meh of duet on untapped and they are in New Jersey or wherever I know they can't be drinking the same beer.

 

Duet has definitely seemed the most "off" to me, though I had one recently that felt like it was getting closer. I think the reason that some of the debate persists is because of the confusion about what's being served out of the brewpub. If they really are serving GF stuff out of there (sometimes), and if people are still coming back from the brewpub raving about the beer like usual, I don't think it's unreasonable to ask the question, "Is there really a difference, or is there just some selection bias going on here?"

 

Has anyone tried the Red or Stout that is out there. Curious how "off" it is compared to the beers brewed at Alpine in everyones opinion.