Tree House Julius replacements?

Beers you can actually get in NY... (assuming Buffalo, but I don't know for sure)

Knee Deep Simtra
Lagunitas Sucks
Captain Lawrence Captain's Reserve
Jack's Abby Mass Rising or Hoponious Union
Maine Beer Co. Lunch or Another One
Ithaca Flower Power

These are not Julius, but all very good IPAs that should be pretty readily available. Start with those and see if you can find a go to....

My two cents.

 

Not every porter fan from Arizona has heard of Julius.

 

Julius isn't ranked where it is without cause, while I haven't had that particular brew I can speak for plenty of other highly ranked beers, particularly the ones that are "worth the hype" (as I hear Julius is). There's always a certain something that just makes that beer 'click' that others just don't have. Brewing absolutely is a science, but it's undeniable that it's also an art, and situations like that are where this is very evident; some things just can't be replicated.

My advice is that instead of trying to find a "suitable substitute", as there are none, you should do two things: trade for more Julius, and explore trying other things to appreciate on their own merit, rather than holding them all up against what you consider to be the gold standard.

Trading for Julius is not at all impossible (though yes, it is difficult), and it's not even out of the question that you could make the trip to get it for yourself. Once you get to have it again, I expect one of two things will happen; either you'll be incredibly satisfied having had the chance to have such a great beer when you can appreciate it for what it is, or it'll be a complete let down because you've built it up in your mind to be something it's not. Either way, then you'll know whether it's worth trading for it again in the future.

Trying other IPAs, especially with the relative difficulty in acquiring Julius, is also important to see what else is out there. Others have mentioned Trillium and Fiddlehead and I definitely recommend both of those breweries. You'll also probably enjoy Sip of Sunshine, and there's a ton of great IPAs coming out of California with a similar bright, juicy quality. If you're ever in Philadelphia, Tired Hands makes some amazing IPAs as well.

 

Does anyone know the hop bill for Julius?

 

I think he was responding to my somewhat rude post. I interpreted his comment about not knowing what he had as him later finding out it had good reviews and he therefore wanted more. His point was that he didn't appreciate/know at the time that it was a hard to get beer from out of his market and was bummed to find that out when he went to the beer store.

My assumption was based on my own experiences years ago of bringing Heady Topper to parties in NY and not having anyone drink them. Now those same people make treks to VT on weekends and ask me if I've ever had Heady (or Fiddlehead, Hill Farmstead, etc). My response is usually, 'Yes, and I gave you your first one at the track (Saratoga) 5 years ago and you hated it'. My latest is bringing Trillium growlers to picnics and getting the "It's OK, but it's no Heady Topper" response.

Did I go far enough on a tangent with that response?

 

Cool

 

Lecture Lehigh, Lecture! Dude just wants to know beers that are similar to Julius that he can get in his area. He didn't say it was a gold standard - and he didn't say he wasn't going to "appreciate other beers on their own merit".

 

I think you might have misinterpreted my tone, my advice was sincere. I didn't say he wouldn't appreciate other beers on their own merit, I was cautioning him against it. He mentioned that he's had other beers including Grapefruit Sculpin and hasn't been satisfied; as that is widely considered to be an exceptional beer, that does come across to me that he is "chasing the dragon" so to speak, and it would be a shame if he was underwhelmed with otherwise great beers because he was expecting more of them than is fair.

 

Thanks for clarifying -- sorry for my snarky note. Cheers!