Holy Mountain Midnight Still

I could have sworn my friend said he got one at de laurenti (which is what I actually meant, not Pear). Maybe he said Misere.

 

If you're there around an hour ahead of time you'll be fine. You'll probably spend less time in line than you would if you showed up 2-3 hours ahead of time. I've shown up to half the releases after they started and still gotten a full allotment, only time I didn't was Phosphene. The new format for their releases goes really smoothly and with a 4pp limit they're not going to sell out right away. I'm sure it will last more than a few hours. The line will have dissipated by the time they're running out.

While people do line up for HM releases, we're a different breed in Seattle than a lot of places. Muling isn't really an issue here, most people here are genuinely good beer folks not out to ruin it for others. We also don't just have one or two good breweries like some unfortunate areas of the country. As someone listed examples before, we have better beer sitting on shelves than most places have for ultra limited releases.

 

There's no glossary for beer nerd terminology. I think people use "shelf beer" in different ways. Sometimes loosely. "Hey, it got distro, I bought it at a beer store ... so it's a shelf beer." By this definition stuff like Rye Abyss or Goose Island Proprietors could be considered shelf beers I suppose. Sometimes people use it more tightly - as in a shelf beer is something produced in decent quantity, pretty regularly (maybe seasonally), that sits around for a while. In the latter sense, doesn't seem like Holy Mountain is really at the production level needed to have a lot of "shelf" beers.

Not that this definition really matters. The only thing that bothers me about the phrase is when it's used to undermine something's quality / value, when it's dismissive and implies inferiority. If BA KDS and B-Bomb are close to shelf beer status, more for me! Abundance in most other arenas is considered a good thing.

 

Who uses instagram? I'll tell you who, 15 year olds.

 

I thought Instagram was when you put your parents mothers on speed dial.

 

Holy Mountain is apparently popular with roughly 4,000 15 year olds. ;-)

There are roughly 100MM Instagram users between 25 and 49; it's a key marketing channel for breweries.

 

Someone really likes instagram...

 

Someone is a professional marketer that bases his statements on data, not assumptions!

 

I like Instagram.
Wait, what are we complaining about now?

 

I've always thought of you as an unfortunately hirsute 15 year old girl ...

 

This sounds fantastic. If the lines weren't so outrageous I would've driven up for a bottle. Is this bottle only or will the taproom see it?

 

Gonna be a keg on in the taproom.

 

For a couple hours.

 

We shouldn't have split that hotel room at Fresh Hop Fest in Yakima...

 

What happens in Yakima, stays in Yakima. Please.

 

easier said than done. it's the palm springs of Washington!

 

One of the reasons I'm excited about this beer is because it is a blend of 15 and 6 months. One of the things that I think makes the Fremont barrel aged beers so well balanced and delicious is the ability to blend from different stock to achieve the best flavor profile.

 

I was really impressed with the pour I had last month. Very flavorful, not one thing dominated the flavor profile and it sure didn't come off as 13%.

 

This is exactly right. Too often, it seems that a brewery will just stick a beer in some barrels, age it a certain amount of time, and then release that batch, whenever they think it's reached the point at which further ageing would only yield diminishing returns. They typically charge a lot, and it's supposed to be great; and sometimes it is, but sometimes (and maybe more often) it isn't.

The approach that Fremont and some others take (including HM, with this one) in blending different 'barrel-strength' beers helps elevate the finished product to a new level. There is both the old and the relatively new, and the virtues that come with each, without so much of the detractions. Balance and depth are the hallmarks of this tactic. I imagine that Midnight Still is a great beer, based on Holy Mountain's track record and this nuanced approach, but whether it's worth 2-3 hours of someone's life on a Saturday is another question.