Alpine Brewing Thread

Mike, can you satisfy paying customers by having Alpine's board indicate the origin of the beers? They are keg collared differently, the label. It is easy and should be no issue. If you are proud of the product, why not?

Oh and rehire Steve if he's willing.

 

Interesting about the filtering. That actually makes a ton of sense just on appearance of the beer alone. Thanks for the information.

 

Finally, some transparency to the situation. Was that so difficult? Thank you.

 

Your post almost exclusive references turbidity without addressing the fact that the GF version generally has more bitterness and is less aromatic than the Alpine version. Do you expect the centrifuge to bring those variables closer to the Alpine version or are you making other process adjustments at the same time?

Additionally, I hope to see you and/or Green Flash's official social media team take a more proactive stance in explaining some of these things, rather than leaving your staff (at both GF and Alpine) to answer tough questions. I understand your motives in not wanting to create product differentiation between a given beer brewed at Green Flash vs. that same beer brewed at Alpine, but pretending for months on end that it wasn't controversial and leaving employees out to dry while silently implementing policies preventing them from addressing a given keg's origin was rather disappointing to watch. I can't really fault Bobby or Pat Korn for some of their responses here, even if I didn't always agree with them, as they were having to dance around topics that GF management should've been willing to address head on.

 

filtering alters flavor profiles significantly. :X In the wine world filtering has a stigma around it

 

No plug, but has any one heard The Four Brewers show recently where they compare the Green Flash brews to Alpine made. Its a good listen if you're into podcast.
http://www.fourbrewers.com/green-flash-alpine

I tried the GF Nelson in a growler first prior to Alpine and thought it was pretty good. But, Nelson from a bottle was amazing.

 

I'd like to thank Mike for taking a moment and addressing this thread. Everyone understands obstacles but when there's silence it tends to lead people to believe either you don't care or you see no difference. Being honest and upfront makes your customers appreciate of your work and in the long run more dedicated. It really has been a long time since there was an update out of Green Flash/Alpine.

Nelson is an iconic IPA that people love and everyone just needs some reassurance that their beloved beer will one day be at the level they fell in love with.

Please keep Alpine's dedicated fans in the loop about the future of the beers they love with passion and will be buying for years to come.

 

Thanks to Mike from GF for posting. It would be great to see more updates like that. Like, is it true that GF-brewed bottles of Alpine beer will soon start being released? Will Alpine-brewed bottles still be sold? Will the GF versions be in half liters and the Alpine bottles be 22-oz?

And feel free to stop saying that Pat thought the beer was great back in November. Even if he really said that, it makes it seem like you've since backslid in quality given all the changes you're continuing to make.

You need to insert that post about 29 pages back.

 

Thank you Mike for taking the time to make that post, that is good insightful info for us.

 

Really? Am I missing something, or perhaps don't understand what constitutes a brewhouse?

 

Russian River has a 50 barrel brewhouse and per this article, Firestone Walker has a 60 barrel brewhouse. Adapting a 50bbl recipe to a 60bbl brewhouse is much, much easier than adapting Alpine's recipes to Green Flash's system. FW has way, way more fermentation capacity than RR, but that's largely irrelevant to recipe scaling (there's a certain amount of change in fermentation profile in bigger tanks but not enough to cause huge differences).

 

Turbidity is an interesting issue to me, because, Nelson aside, I don't recall Alpine brews being especially turbid. Pure Hoppiness, Duet -- those have always been fairly clear for me at the pub. Not crystal, DE-filtered or centrifuged levels of clear, but not at all what I'd call turbid. And I always thought the haze of Nelson was more a byproduct of the rye than the lack of filtering. Regardless, if the centrifuge helps get these brews dialed in, I'm all for it.

 

thanks for the clarification. Obviously, I'm not a brewer.

 

Over the last 7 years or so, I've seen Nelson go from clear to hazy, and I've seen it turbid/murky but I've never personally had a bottle or draught like that. Here is a pic I took of Nelson in 2008 which you could have mistaken it for a Pilsner.

 

The haziness/silky mouthfeel of Nelson has always been a hallmark for me, and I would welcome its return in GF batches.

 

I have lurked in this thread for quite a while. Here in Texas, the only Alpine beers we have received are almost assuredly the GF versions. I thought they were great.

For a long time I have had negative feelings about GF beers, but just yesterday (at the urging of a friend) I had a West Coast IPA on draught and surprised myself by enjoying it. (I also really enjoyed Green Bullet when it came around Houston.) I'm now going to make a point of having an open mind to GF beers and will definitely keep an open mind to GF brewed Alpine beers.

And then this morning I see that Mike came into this lion's den to let people know he cares and is trying to address the issues people have identified--that's pretty darn cool of him. My opinion of GF has gone up even more. Kudos.

 

This is such a great post. Just went back to look at my Untappd check-in from the Kiwi Herman-weekend Nelson, which IIRC was much ballyhooed, and my glass was, indeed, on the paler side, some light haze, but nothing like the tangerine cloudiness I've seen it at other times (and which seemingly is often described as "normal Nelson"). And, again, that was considered a killer batch!

The point isn't to dismiss the issues w/ GF Nelson. I've had enough of those to know they've often not been on point. But, as far as historical batch variation (and I'm talking pretty damn noticeable variation) goes, that's indisputable, and I think that informs my perception of the challenge of scaling up Nelson (and other Alpine brews).

 

It would have been cool of him about 6 months ago. Coming on here and talking about turbidity, not even mentioning flavor/aroma issues and the shitstorm employees have had to deal with..it's half-assed at best. I understand GF is doing everything they can to dial these beers in but the PR effort is just pathetic. I've honestly lost all respect for this brewery.

 

Our first visit to the new pub tonight and I think it's pretty clear it's exclusively about the money. Pushy service, petty upcharges on food and an emphasis on turnover when it wasn't even crowded. Not the Alpine I came to respect and admire. I'm sure the brand is strong enough to bring in folks for a few years and there's probably a mint to be made. Can't say I would have done it differently.

 

Can't say I'm a regular, but I went to the new pub for the first time at around noon. It wasn't too busy, but I found the service at the bar to be very pleasant. Everyone was really friendly and the beer was just as I remember. Then I went over to the brewery to pick up bottles and they were even nicer. I did overhear someone ask one of the brewers (maybe?) about changes since the acquisition and he mentioned the employees are getting health care now. Now I know there's more to it, but it made me think that there's more to all of this that we often forget.