Alpine Brewing Thread

If irishpride really is the guy I am used to buying bottles from I am not surprised he said all he did. I have often found you a little rude and he acted like I was beneath him. I'm talking about the guy who always wear an alpine hat, olive skin, probably in his 40-50's, dark hair.
Regarding the beer. I have only had 1 or 2 batches of what are likely GF Nelson, and I didn't think they were bad. I would rather get that beer on the regular then never get Nelson. I can't say the same for the Duet and Hoppy Birthday I have had though. Those two beers were horrible and I have had them 5+ times, they were bitter and tasted like they had been sitting around for months. I have reached the point that I won't order those two beers if I see them.
With so many great beers out there I also don't make the trek out to Alpine as often.

 

Different guy. You're talking about someone else who is no longer employed there. Bobby is definitely a stand up guy and has always been very helpful at the brewery.

 

No craft brewery is that exacting. I understand the point you're making entirely, and agree with the logic, but it doesn't fit within the beer world. Aside from perhaps Boston Beer Co and Sierra Nevada, every brewery deals with batch variation even on their regular portfolio, so you're asking Green Flash to exceed the standards of all of their peers, and probably asking them to exceed the standards of similar sized breweries that you're a fan of.

Because they bought the Alpine brand to use as leverage to sell more Green Flash - not using the Alpine brand would render that investment useless until they've perfected the beers, which at the current pace, would be quite a while to wait. I again agree with your logic on a personal level, but it's unrealistic at the business level.

We're mostly arguing two sides of the same coin and agree more than not - we both think Green Flash isn't executing the beers correctly and hasn't handled Alpine's brand particularly well - so it comes down to the semantics of what GF should be criticized for. Either way, I hope they eventually figure it out.

 

@patkorn posted in this thread about GF getting a hop back in response to someone saying Nelson was off. That seems to imply they'll be using it for the other Alpine beers, no?

And brewing is an organic process; there's always going to be some degree of batch variation. Especially considering how widely alpha acids and beta acids can vary within the same varietal. Even Stone has batch variation (though that's a slightly different situation as, in Greg Koch's words, it varies between really good and awesome).

I also think a lot of people aren't taking into account how much age affects Alpine's IPA. 2 month old Nelson has rarely been served before now, and while there's an argument saying they probably shouldn't hold onto it so long if it falls off so quick, there's also an argument to be made that having faded Nelson is better than having no Nelson. And I'm not actually sure which I'd prefer.

Anyway, enough rambling. Here's Wonderwall

 

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Bobby - any word if baby face is going to make an appearance this summer?

 

Well that is good, I could not stand him and his rude comments and making me feel like I should thank him for being able to buy their product.

 

That's odd - he was never anything but nice to me (as has been the case with anybody up there). Maybe my 20 dollar handshakes were the reason?

 

Your beer clock is right on time. The alarm is about to go off

 

If baby face goes on and then later in the day a new batch of KI and Great goes on I will need new pants.

 

Bad boy was on tap when I was at the pub last week. So sad I was just doing a day trip from la cause I would have crushed the shit out of that beer

 

Ok Guys, There's only one way to settle this. An epic double blind gigantic taste test bottle/growler share extravaganza. Everyone, get as many bottles and growlers of this stuff from as many different places as possible and then we all meet somewhere in San Diego (I propose Shamu stadium at sea world or the cheetah exhibit at the wild animal park) Then we all proceeded to get hammered and attempt to vote on the best batch.

Joking aside, it seems like the best way to be truly happy with your alpine purchase is to visit the pub and grab a taste. If it's good, go ahead and ill your growler. If it's bad, leave empty handed.

 

I actually encourage anyone who has an opinion one way or another about Nelson to do a blind taste of bottle vs. growler from Green Flash. I haven't done it recently (probably three months ago at this point), but when I did it with a couple friends, it was clear what the differences were. The GF batch was still a solid IPA but seeing, smelling, and tasting them side by side will either drive home the reason people say they're different, or if you find them to be the same, allow you to blissfully order Nelson anywhere and anytime.

Tasting it at the pub is not productive for the sake of growler fills, as they don't do fills there and what's pouring at the pub is not guaranteed to be the same as what's pouring at the brewery. Go to the brewery, get a taster, fill growler as you see fit.

 

I am really glad you got to do a blind taste test, but really upset with the results. I hope this does not last long.
(I also meant to say "old pub" as in brewery not new fancy pub)

 

Warning: Essay below

I know I’m a little late to the party here after Bobby chimed in, but man I hope after that somebody at Alpine sees this. I’m one of the ones that has asked where the beer is coming from. Please don’t interpret that as rude. Does it feel awkward having to ask that? Yeah, it does, but it also is a pretty big letdown to order, say, Hoppy Birthday and get served a pint of something else that is just titled “Hoppy Birthday.” If that is going to keep happening with the beers, it might as well just say “IPA” up on the board so at least there aren’t any expectations or it might as well be like Pizza Port and be Alpine, Alpine and Alpine, San Diego.

I, and many others, could order tasters of all the beers and sit there in front of 20 people at the brewery or crammed up to the bar on a Friday as we play “which beer is our favorite tonight” before we order, but come on, that isn’t the correct answer to this. I (I will use “I” from now on, but I’m sure I’m not alone) have supported Alpine for a while, I have downed plenty of pints and dedicated plenty of paychecks to Alpine before the GF takeover and I know which of the usual offerings are my favorite. It is a dead horse, yes, but it is a real, KNOWN issue by both GF and Alpine and the customers should at least be tolerated with regarding the issue until it isn’t an issue anymore. I get it, it is bad business to blatantly advertise that the “new” brewery is pushing out a subpar product (and by subpar, I don’t mean it is BAD, Alpine just sets a really high standard) and that a division would create an odd image in the minds of the customers who aren’t as quite “in the loop.” At the end of the day though, there are those of us who know about the issue BECAUSE we can taste a difference, and are one or more of those 20+ people in line.

That brings me to the point that really matters. This massive discussion is happening here with people upset from all angles because we LOVE Alpine beer. If this would have happened to almost any other brewery I would have just counted it as a loss and kept on. You have a customer base that is beyond passionate about your product because Alpine truly does offer the BEST IPA’s. Trust me, it would be fantastic if the GF beers were indistinguishable from Alpine beers (and yes, we all need to realize there is always a small tolerance band). I keep making the 30 minute trip up the hill though even when I know about the problem, because when the beers are RIGHT, it is the best beer I have ever had. Until the time it takes to get everything perfect has passed, it shouldn’t be too much to ask to be able to make the trip to Alpine, show up at the pub and say “Hey, I love what you guys are and always have been doing in Alpine, what do you have right now that was made right up the street?” Otherwise, it is a much shorter trip to GF, but I’ve made that trip multiple times, and it still hasn’t proven to be as successful as it has been for me to get in the car and exit Tavern Rd.

 

What's so damn hard about telling your customers "Hey guys, we're working on perfecting the brewing process for your favorite Alpine brews. We are tinkering and hoping to get out an indistinguishable scale up of your favorite ipas. We sincerely appreciate your patience during this transition and we promise to get it right. Please feel free to give us feedback. - Green Flash"

 

You've obviously not met some of the characters involved.

 

As mentioned earlier, it will be fun to see Societe establish themselves as the clear top IPA brewery in San Diego thanks to Alpine blowing the simple PR moves.

 

Probably because it's been two fucking years, and they obviously can't do it. No reason to call it out.

 

Not to sound snooty, but I'm not sure you have a good handle on the sd beer scene if you view it as a linear hierarchy.

 

Sorry for the offtopic (or maybe soon it won't be?), the reason why I don't really drink Society is no bottles and not really available very often up in LA/IE/OC. Are there any news on possible bottling line?