Other Half Brewing Thread (March 2016)

Totally agreed. On one hand people complain about a lack of information from OH, but they jump down Kanger's throat when he has provided so much great information over the last year or so. He doesn't own the brewery, he doesn't work there full time, he is not their spokesman. Just a guy who loves their beer and loves the brewery and provides useful information here.

Some of you make some good points. Could Other Half make the line more efficient, probably. Could they engage more with their customers, probably. But people's ire should be directed at the people who line-up every two weeks. The task rabbits, the traders, the mules, the people who can't get over FOMO, the line-cutters and the people who just show up for a morning block party. Many of you show up, don't do anything stupid and grab your beer, but there is a whole other element at those releases contributing to the lines people complain about.


The hype and hysteria of craft beer people has fueled this situation.Even if OH was operating that line at maximum efficiency, probably would only put a dent in it.

 

So does that mean they shouldn't bother? Is there some sort of efficiency percentage quota that needs to be met before a change is necessary? You can say it's not their fault, it's our fault until the end of time, but that isn't going to make it magically better. OH can release lines are an unfortunate reality of the times. It's just naive to ignore it and hope it goes away or sorts itself out.

 

Where's that monkey guy when we really need him?

 

Didn't say that. It is their business, up for them to decide on whether they think they have a problem and what resources they will invest to improve things. People vote with their wallet, if people don't want to deal with a line and perception brewery doesn't care, don't do business with them. You make valid points, but not a whole lot you can do about it.

Also, remember, OH didn't always do regular can releases. Because of customer demand and feedback they have been doing them like clock-work. So they did listen to the customers.

IMHO in general, this brewery does things right about 95% of the time.

 

Double Mosaic Dream was pretty awesome - had it at Cooper's Chelsea the other night. My immediate reaction was that it was a bit too harshly bitter on the finish, but that feeling quickly went away as I sipped. I wonder if we'll ever see this one in cans.

 

The multiple hour waits after the doors are open are bad, full stop. They're bad in comparison to how quickly other breweries manage to sell bottles/cans and the fact that people are trying to compare it to growler lines just shows why. Cans are super convenient! They're already filled and easy to move around. (also I'm paying $4-5 for each of them!) It is baffling how long it takes the lines to move because OH has already managed to do the hard parts very well, that is (i) make good beer and (ii) get that beer in cans. Selling virtually all of your beer through the brewery twice a month (and setting limits to ensure as much as possible that everything is sold out on those two days) is a conscious choice. There's pros and cons of that approach, but it's not out of their control.

I think a lot of us are willing to chalk this up to growing pains of what's still a small business. The interactions I've had with OH staff/ownership have been generally positive and shows that they care about top notch beer and the NYC beer community at large. But OH would be well served by bringing up the quality of their service on release days to the quality of their beer.

 

Can we just have a separate thread for Other Half line complaints? We all know it's long, slow, and filled with people who don't care about the neighborhood. How about keeping this thread related to useful information about their products.

 

Exactly. OH tap room has been there for less than 2 years. I am sure when they first started the business they would never in a million years anticipated this success and hysteria for their beer. They probably scraped up the money for their current space, made great beer and hoped for the best. That tap room had only handfuls of people for 7 or 8 months before things started to get nuts. Their success has clearly outgrown their current space. People need to give them some time to adjust.

 

I missed the can release cuz I was at a wedding out of town, but a friend of mine from Houston who was in town grabbed cans and shared when I was back in Houston last week, and I have to say, Citra is absurdly good this time.

I loved it the first time I had it too, but I don't remember it being as good as it is this time. I wish I had been in town to be able to get more than the one can he shared - just a stupidly good beer.

 

Anyone have any good guesses about how late I could show up and still get some of each beer? For the last citra/make it rain release I got there at 12, walked out in 30 mins with everything. Weekend before for AGE and Equinox I did the same thing and only got Equinox but no line. Any guesses?

 

my guess is this release will be worse crowd-wise (this is mostly speculation based on reading about recent releases)...citra is an extremely popular hop so to have "all citra everything" will probably get people fairly excited (especially based on the suparillo release), and having a 3 can release instead of 2 will also prob bring more people out than usual...my guess would be ACE will sell out quickly, with forever ever potentially lasting into late in the day/into sunday and GD selling out somewhere in between, but id probably get there by 12 the latest and probably expect to wait more than 30 min if you want ACE. just a guess though really.

 

This sounds pretty accurate. Should be noted though that I showed up to Suparillo at 11 and got shut out of Suparillo.

 

Went to beer street on Saturday for the Stillwater other half event wanted to hit up the brewery instead but went to Roberta's and beer street had double mosaic dream which is the only reason I wanted to go to the brewery.

Double mosaic dream is good, a little bit more heat then I would like but almost as great as the canned mosaic IPA.

Tried brettarillo really good and interesting.

 

Does anyone know what happened with this batch of small green everything? I remember when I had it at the taproom in the summer time it was hazy as fuck it looked like orange juice, had it the other night at as in and it reminded more of boat beer which I'm not really fan of, it was clear as day and abrasive

 

OH began using a centrifuge recently, that could explain the clearness you are now seeing

 

What's the point of the centrifuge? Doesn't seem like repeat batches since it's been used have been as well received. RE: Mosaic the crop could be an influence too but still - why fix what ain't broke? Especially since many enjoy "big hazy messes" (myself included)

 

increased yield

 

I dont know if the centrifuge is used on every beer. But Im really into Get Wheated and Double Mosaic Dream.