Troegs - Nimble Giant

Did you have the Lil' Blizzard? I thought that was like a light MBC "Lunch" and the best brew that I've had from them. Hoping it is a sign of things to come.

 

Had my first one. That beer is every bit as good as all the smaller local "line up for" breweries' 16 oz 4 pack DIPAs people are going crazy for.

 

The Double Blizzard was really good too.

 

Blah blah blah. Since they've hit their ceiling you won't be trying anything else from Troeg's? Especially since the last one you had was the best yet? What a dumb statement.

 

Certainly worth trying, I picked up a 4-pack tonight. I'll report back my thoughts in the next day or two.

 

tried it last night after picking up a 4pack tuesday. @PA-Michigander has an off palate when it comes to ipas, so take his previous post with a few grains of salt. nimble giant is pretty damn good.

 

Is this one of those new style yeasty malt free IPAs?

 

Had it last night. Didn't think it was anything special. Wasn't bad either, though.

 

Without researching it first, that'd be an accurate statement. Perpetual, Java Head, Mad Elf, Hopback, etc. I would never buy, and the majority of their Scratch Series (that I've had) have been a disappointment to me.

Nimble Giant is good, but I can assure you that Troeg's is not capable of producing a Tree House, Trillium, etc caliber, unfiltered, juice-like IPA/DIPA. If you think they can, you're sadly misguided. I wish I was wrong because it'd be extremely easy for me to obtain, and that'd be a great problem to have.

 

So you drive to Massachusetts all the time then?

 

Why does every IPA/DIPA have to be like Trillium or Tree House? Why can't breweries just make beer anymore without it being compared to Julius or Mettle? I really don't get this train of thought.

 

Exactly. When Treehouse and Trillium start distributing as widely as Troegs does and at a reasonable cost we can talk about comparing.

 

To me, that's essentially the gold standard for an IPA/DIPA production. Troeg's/Nimble Giant doesn't have to be like that, but that's the cream crop for me - so of course I'm going use that to base all other comparisons.

Production aside and basing quality purely on overall taste, there's no comparison.

 

This is an entirely different discussion. I'd actually agree with what you're implying, but the genesis of my comments regarding Nimble Giant were based essentially on taste.

 

This is stupidity at its finest. Structure your arguments with a little more thought.

So if I think PtE is better than Nimble Giant, do I have to drive to California all the time just to think that it's a better overall taste?

 

I appreciate the level headed response and I agree with you, the few TH and Trilliums I've had are undoubtedly world class. I guess comparison is something that will always exist in this world. Whether or not you prefer the Stones over Zeppelin or if you think Mike Schmidt is a better third baseman than Chipper Jones, etc.

My only point was, why can't a beer just stand out on its own? I'm not the hugest fan of Troegs myself. I do love a fresh Perpetual and I like Mad Elf with some age on it and Hopback is a good amber, Nugget Nectar is probably my favorite...but why can't Troegs just make it's version of a "hazy" IPA and just judge it on that merit alone? I think anyone who has drank long enough, hell, I think the guys that brew at Troegs will be the first to tell you, they're not trying to make a Trillium beer, they're trying to make a DIPA from Troegs. And, that's perfectly ok.

 

youve been hanging around nick too long .

 

I'm just curious where you buy your IPA's if you compare everything to world class beers that are only available in a state several hours from PA.

 

I'd agree with that. I guess whenever I try something new, my first thought is: "where do I put this in my wheelhouse of stuff that I've had?"

For Troeg's, NG is killer. I actually split a case of it with a buddy of mine - first time I've ever bought a Troeg's case. So I'd think that's a pretty good tip of the hat to them. If we'd get into the production discussion, I'd agree and say I would probably get a case of NG fairly often if this were produced year-round. I guess my comments were inflammatory because of where I put it on my personal sliding scale of IPAs.

 

Well for starters, I live 20 minutes from Tired Hands, and they're fairly high on that scale to me. So typically there if you must know.