Exhibit 'A' Brewing Company

When Hoponius 500ml singles first came thery were $3ish where I shop. When they did 4packs of them I paid between 10 and 12. Those prices aren't way out of line with where they are priced now. JA always were and still are big players wrt lower priced craft beer.

I have no problem paying for beer that's worth it to me and have no problem with exhibit a pricing. Complaints over price happen in every hobby. It's stupid but it happens.

 

Haven't been there to try the beer yet, but looking forward to it. I do however want to say that I am glad to see them coming out of the gate in cans vs. bombers/750s. They could easily charge those same prices (and likely more) with little to no complaining. I'll never understand how a $19 four pack is the end of the world, but a $9-10 750/bomber is just fine.

 

1. The beer is really good. The issue is, it's in Framingham. (Issue for me).
2. $19 is a lot of money for a 4 pack of any beer.
3. There are many of you on this thread that live in the Boston area and drive up to Portland Maine to spend $17 for a 4 pack at Bissell Brothers. Factor in gas and the wear and tear on your car and this beer then appears cheaper. Or the drive up to Freeport for those $9 per bottle Dinner releases.

 

If you're telling me that this beer is on Dinner/Bissell level then they can have my money. But I'm not one who makes that trip to Portland/Freeport anyway. But I will go to F'ham... soon.

 

Stopped by today based on the posts here, and was pleasantly surprised. Cats Meow was my favorite of those on tap, and the DIPA was solid as well. Really everything on tap was above average to very good and I can't wait to see where they go in the coming months!

 

Saw on their instagram they were putting a barleywine into whiskey barrels for a rest. Looking forward to that at some point.

 

Had a big problem with Cat's Meow in cans. Diacetyl bomb for me, hear it's better on tap. Demo 7 was great though, seems like they just need to iron out a couple kinks.

 

I'd personally make the argument that if you're driving to Portland and not hitting up Foundation for an epiphany release then you're an idiot. Bissell is good but not all of their beers are created equal. And while I think Dinner is good, I feel like a lot of Maine Beer Company's beers taste very similar.

 

I stopped by on Sunday and ended up with the porter, IPA, and DIPA mentioned in 1st post. Quality is awesome, at least at a level of the au courant Maine places mentioned in this thread, and beer by beer I prefer these to many from the heavy hitters in Mass. I'm very high on the porter in particular, which is drinkable, not too sweet and thus the best of any I've had in recent memory.

Do dislike the confusing "demo tape" naming convention, but once these guys are all settled and cranking out their best stuff I think Framingham might become a legit beer "destination," especially when Jack's Abby has good on-site offerings.

 

I haven't been to any of those releases. I've had all the beers you speak of. Epiphany is pretty damn good. But gimme Swish & Reciprocal over it all day.

 

Heard some chatter that Shawn Siegal (Marty's Liquors/Atlantic Distributing) is an owner of this brewery. Anyone know if this is true?

 

To be clear, this post concerns me for several reasons. One, I have not had any hint of Diacetyl in any of our beers, including The Cat's Meow. Not sure what your palate is tasting, and I am certainly not trying to question the validity of your claim. I happen to be super sensitive to Diacetyl and don't detect any in this beer. Second, and this happens a lot, but to be clear, the draft at the Tap Room is literally the same batch as the cans, so i find it tough to figure on how the draft vs can would be so different on your palate.

I welcome you @bla211 back to the brewery to do a tasting with me personally. Love to share thoughts and a beer.

Matthew

 

Hey Matt,

Thanks for the response! I am also very sensitive to Diacetyl and I was picking up some butterscotchy notes in the can that I had. When I mentioned this flavor to the person I was sharing the can with, they were able to pick up on it as well. This can was given to me by a friend who had been to the brewery the day before and he had mentioned that he didn't taste the butteryness in it it on draft (I have not had it on draft myself).

FWIW I loved Demo Tape 7, can't wait to try more releases!

I would love to stop by the brewery, will be in touch.

Brad

 

@konabrewer

I'm excited to make my first trip up next Friday, think there's a chance of Demo Tapes 5, 7 and the Cat's Meow still being available?

 

Weird that skilled, experienced, professional brewers bother to use expensive laboratory equipment to test for Diacetyl when so many beer drinkers can apparently easily and authoritatively tell you which of the cans in their four-pack had it and which ones didn't.

 

Weird how you clearly didn't read the OP and only one can of the beer was tasted.

Also, it is possible for diacetyl to form after packaging.

 

I was generalizing, not addressing the OP's complaints specifically. The point is that people are waaaaaaaaaaaay too confident in their ability to detect these specific flaws, and often say things that make no sense (can-to-can variation for example) when talking about them.

 

Bought a 4-pack of Cat's Meow Saturday and really loved it. Wondering if the diacetyl report may be misconstrued with the velvety light licorice notes I'm getting. Reminds me of a lighter version of Second Fiddle, which I find to be heavy on the licorice flavor (which I really enjoy).

 

I agree with the thrust of this post, that the best analog for Cat's Meow is FPPA with a bit more mixed blend of hops.