Chicagoland NE IPAs (2018)

Having a job and actually drinking good beer is so passe

 

I may be going against the thread title here, but I think Hoppy Days are Here Again by Hop Butcher is also getting put out today along with Galaxy Bowl. I don't know that it's NE style, but I'm very intrigued to try that one...which means I'd be picking up 2 4-packs of beer if I go somewhere tonight.

 

Hop Butcher made the choice to explicitly label Galaxy Bowl as "NE style" on the can, and omitted the same from Hoppy Days, so I've gotta figure that it's deliberate and the latter is more of a classic American IPA. Either way, I'll be finding out soon!

 

BT going strong with about 20 cases left of Galaxy Bowl

 

Tweeted at Hop Butcher asking if Lakeview Binnys received it. They confirmed it did. Went there at 6pm and they said they didn't get it. Same thing happened last batch around and that's why I missed it. Damn you beer God.

 

Was going to do the same, but called over around 3:00 pm and they said it was sold out. Must not have had very much, I know Beer Temple got a good amount and so did a few others. I've gone to lakeview binnys before and they didn't know it had arrived and it was sitting in the back.

 

Why must beer temple be so far from me...oh well maybe I'll catch the next batch.

 

Still plenty at Beer Temple

 

Should be available tomorrow then.

 

Capone's still had both hoppy days and GB

 

I drank it straight from the can, so I couldn't do a "haze check", but Hoppy Days is NOT a NE IPA.

 

Was it good, though? I'm wondering if it'll be more up my alley.

Interesting. I was in there a little after 5 and didn't even bother asking because I didn't think they'd have it. That store seems to get some strange allocations of certain beers. Sometimes it's really easy to get stuff (e.g. Black Note earlier this year lasted quite awhile...relatively), but then something like this is gone in a flash.

 

I was disappointed. Mild & a bit piney to this palate, I found it kinda forgettable.

 

Tons of Galaxy Bowl just dropped at the Beer Cellar in Glen Ellyn around 8:50 PM. I grabbed my allotment at about 9:20 and they still had a bunch of cases.

 

This batch of Galaxy Bowl is even better than the first. In my opinion it's a pretty flawless execution of the style, right up there with the Northeast kingpins. To me, GB tastes/smells/looks a lot like the Tree House beers I've had, and Juice is Loose/Flightless evoke a lot of the Trillium beers I've tried. Now if only Hop Butcher and Transient were cranking out several canning runs of hops per week...

 

Wow, that is pretty high praise to say it's even better than the first batch. I plan on getting some tomorrow, so I'll hopefully get to try one out tomorrow night.

 

To each their own, and I really like this batch, but I definitely don't put it up there with the OGs. T

 

Any chance BT has some left this afternoon?