Alpine Brewing Thread

*

gone

 

Did Steve also get tired of answering the "Alpine or GF?" questions? Is that why he left?

Kidding!

 

Bummer, Steve even had a profile on the website as the first non family member employed at Abc. Hope he is alright always was willing to answer any of my alpine beer questions, maybe he thought the beer sucked after the sale too. Anyhow , I wonder if Pat is still allowed to send out his blog/ newsletter , I haven't seen one since the sale.

 

baby...face.....mmmmmmm

 

How's the tap list looking right now? I can't see the full thing on the website.

I'll be making the drive down to Alpine Sunday. It'll be my first time checking out the updated pub. Though I'm sure I'll miss the charm of the old one.

 

I find the Green Flash Nelson to be far superior to Alpine brewed Nelson. Why is everyone so worked up? I drank the bottles I had and they just weren't up to par with that magical liquid that was on tap for my growlers.

 

i guess i will keep beating the shit out of this dead horse...
Someone had a a good point, the GF brewed alpine beers suck compared to alpine standards. If a subpar or mediocre brewery such as Manzanita released a beer the same quality as GF Nelson, i admit i would be impressed and would have thought it was a solid beer. I think if you are going to slap the Alpine label on something the consumer has the right to expect quality. Example, If i order a Coke at a restaurant and the waitress asks if Pepsi is okay? My answer is no thanks, i ll take a glass of water instead.

 

Bottles still look to be the same as before, although their location on the board has changed.

 

Just opened a growler of Nelson I picked up exactly two weeks ago. Beautiful hazy orange, madarine orange, white wine and pineapple, soft creamy palette……classic Nelson.

Cheers……..

 

To cut the negativity - I picked up mine last Saturday. I would describe it very closely to your review

 

Does anybody know what happened to Steve? A Steve sighting? Good person.

 

he asked pat if the nelson was from gf or alpine, and got canned

 

He is the best growler filler in the game! But seriously I am curious what happened to him too.

 

He's doing fine. Maybe a little shocked and upset that he is no longer with Alpine. But doing okay. Good things will always happen to good people.

 

Steve went to bed...

 

By the way. Your good buddy Bobby was the one who came in here saying that people shouldn't ask people at Alpine where the beer was brewed. He said it was rude. Whatever one thinks about asking the question, your buddy is the one who came in here and got defensive about it. To then say people shouldn't talk shit to him while technically correct as my child would say "he started it"

 

Glad to see that the Internet should be held to the standard of a 6 year old. Not sure how old your child is but a general guess

 

I agree with PatKorn about this: Bobby is a nice guy. I also understand Bobby's frustration- probably better than most people do. While I don't agree with him that it's rude for customers to ask where the beer you might want to buy was brewed, he is obviously in a tough spot. For whatever reason(s), the company he now works for doesn't seem to want to take credit for the beer they're trying to sell. They also seem to think that employees being honest with their customers about it is a problem.

It is my opinion (and that's all it is) that GF brought this problem on themselves. They could have taken the recipe for Nelson, (or Duet, Hoppy Birthday, or any of the others) called it something else, put the Alpine name on it, and people would have lined up to buy it. By using the same names, they invited the inevitable comparisons. Like someone said, if their versions had been brewed by a different brewery, they probably would have been accepted as pretty good.

Instead, after 2 years of trying, they still haven't been able to match the quality of the beer from Alpine that they set out to replicate. This, despite the talented people they employ, the money and equipment they possess, and all the other resources at their disposal. Their results have varied widely. Some have been pretty close, some virtually unrecognizable. While it's true that the beer Shawn McIlhenney brews at Alpine has some batch variation also (after all, it's a small system, and they don't have a lab for analyzing anything) I think he has done, and continues to do, an amazing job of consistently brewing great beer. Judging by the majority of comments here, and on other sites, GF has not.

If deception and secrecy is a part of GF's marketing strategy, then they must have their reasons. If PatKorn wants to tell people to spend their money elsewhere, well, he's as entitled to free speech as any of us. He can call the opinions stated here "disinformation" and claim to know the meaning of the word (intentional spreading of misinformation, which I haven't seen evidence of) but by avoiding clarification, I think he's as guilty as anyone of causing and/or condoning confusion. If Bobby wants to imply that an attitude of honesty and transparency is "a mentality that left a few months ago" I'll try not to be offended. Like I said, I think he is a nice guy in a tough spot. I hope he doesn't consider this post to be "talking trash."

I also hope this all works out for him, and the other employees at Alpine Beer Company, who no doubt face the same * issue- "Don't ask, don't tell."

 

I think the point Bobby was making you made in your dtatement. Yes some batches are very different but some are unrecognizable from the origional. So discounting it just because of where it was made before trying it is annoying. Try it. If it's good get some. If you don't like the way it tastes don't. Simple as that.

 

I think you're confusing the word "unrecognizable" with "indistinguishable." Very different meanings, and changing them out alters that paragraph quite a bit