New Tired Hands to open next week.....

Did they get new 32 oz growlers in yet that don't explode?

 

Likely because when they were filling crowlers they were being flung all over the world. It's their product, so guess we can deal with it.

Edit - or maybe the crowlers are filled differently and they dont like that.

 

I think they've been a lot better keeping the lists updated since Fermentaria opened. I know I have been dissuaded from going for growlers a couple of times when I couldn't find tap info online, so it's definitely good for business to keep them updated. And kind of inexcusable that they didn't used to post a taplist photo on FB or anything, which takes all of 15 seconds.

As for the carbing issues, I've only ever had two flat growlers out of a few dozen fills, and I've stashed some for 4-5 weeks before that never went flat. They seem to be more carbed now than they used to at both locations, so perhaps they've dialed in their system better for growler fills, or just started carbing the beer more.

 

They are the only brewery out of all the breweries available at Als that has this policy of no crowler fills. Is there some magic ingredient in TH beer that causes it to spoil in a crowler that no one else uses? It's also pretty arrogant to think that TH beer is so sought after that Als would become some international TH crowler clearing house if they put it in crowlers. I had HopHands and Virgins & Diamonds when I was down in PA. It was good brew for sure but no better than beer in California, Vermont, and even some brews in NYC. Just making it more difficult for people to try your beer just leads to frustration on the consumers part.

 

Well, there has to be something behind it and honestly there was a little snark in my response about crowlers around the world. Anyway, how are they making it more difficult? Can you still buy it to go?

 

If I had to guess, it's because TH has a specific level of carbonation on the tap lines that are different than other tap lines, and putting the beer into the crowler somehow affects that. Maybe because the crowler gets spun around right before capping, which maybe would affect the carb level? Who knows.

 

It may be arrogant, but an awful lot of TH beer gets shipped in growlers. Who knows, maybe they don't want to support non-reusable containers.

 

You can still get TH at Als to go in any 32 or 64 oz growler. I filled a 32 of their beer and enjoyed it. I've just never seen a brewery put limitations on a type of vessel but not another type. It's usually just been no growler/crowler at all or fill it in anything. If they said you can't fill any growlers I would totally understand that they just wanted more people to be able to try their beer. No one at Als could give me any specific reason other than the brewer doesn't want it in crowlers. I'm just looking for any other reason other than "because I said so" as to why a brewery would put limitations on one vessel but not another. I got 2 pizza boy brews (west shore IPA & murren river) both were fine carb wise 5 days later.

 

Growlers from new supplier arrived over the weekend. The back mentioned Fermentaria as well:



The bottom is also marked differently (I believe):


(Photo credits to Justin T. posted on Fermented in the Head FB group)

 

Thanks, Al; good to hear.

Now that the Five-Point-Palm Exploding-Growler-Technique dilemma is fixed, when the hell is the next bottle release?

 

I had to laugh in the dudes face when they tried to charge 30 for a 64oz grolwer of Extra Extra Knuckle.

 

Al's of Hampden has them for $14.

 

Wait, seriously? Not just TH in general, but Extra Extra Knuckle specifically? I'm starting the car now.

Anyhoo, just another chime-in on the Fermentaria, but the fried chicken that I had was literally 60% fried and 40% chicken. The tacos were excellent (had the carnitas, chicken, and cauliflower, all great and huge portions), but I don't get the fried chicken love at all. The waitress service was overbearing to say the least, but obviously I'm sure that varies table to table.

As for the bar, I got a 4 oz pour in about 30 seconds, but then took about 15 minutes to get a growler fill and 10 more minutes to cash out.

So overall, I think there are consistency issues that will hopefully get ironed out. But it still has amazing TH beers and some crafty food that they seem to be expanding on every month or so. Plus they are just cranking all the time. So I'm sure they'll be just fine.

 

I know Al's has incredibly reasonable prices on Tired Hands stuff but was it extra knuckle or extra extra knuckle @sj3324? I'll be even more pissed at my staff if I missed extra extra knuckle yesterday.

 

Odd you replied (poorly ) to his question and mine. I thought it was just extra knuckle. Consider me pissed.

 

I don't know what happened, but I tried to edit it 5 times and it wouldnt save the changes. Regardless, it was extra extra. And it is one of the best IPA's they have put out. Probably the best (battling ALien Church)

 

Kick me when I'm down! Alien church was awesome.

 

Gtfo

I knew their +8% beers are usually higher in price for a growler fill, but that's laughable. Had it yesterday at the Fermenteria and it's not even that good - compared to some one their other IPAs/DIPAs.

 

I don't think the price is that outrageous, but I do think it's kind of outrageous that they don't post the growler prices anywhere. I don't feel like going through the menu and asking the fill price of every single beer, forcing the poor bartender to then have to look it up, and it would be nice to know ahead of time what it's going to cost.