Chicagoland NE IPAs (2018)

The BPA leaching into the cans should offset that hop degradation...

 

Flaked oats/wheat are used to create a 'fuller' beer with more body, helps to create a softer mouth feel as well.

 

FYI- http://www.chicagobusiness.com/arti...aquanaut-doesnt-have-state-brewing-license-32

Hope it doesn't delay Hop Butcher's new NE IPAs....
Edit: Though it says they now have it resolved at of 4:15pm today. Wonder if fines will be coming and if landlord can afford them...

 

That Philip guy is a real piece of... work.

 

Not doing it for me...Getting too much pine and not enough fruit. First sip and aroma made it seem like it was going to be spot on with the NE big boys. Just seems like a West Coast flavored IPA with NE body/haze/thickness.

That being said, as people mentioned, ton of it at Binny's at of 5:30, same with Sump and Galaxy Uni.

 

Cracked open a Cirrus last night after having it the day it was canned. I thought it was crazy how much the beer changed in just two days. Definitely more tropical notes, less bitter.

 

Cirrus is very green. Give it a week or two and it should be a completely different beer. I enjoyed my first can last night and am excited to see how it evolves.

 

This makes canning dates even more confusing. Now we have to hit within a time period before the hops fade and after the beer ripens?

 

I agree. I had Cirrus last night and loved it. I was unsure if I enjoyed more than cumulus so popped one of those too. Id say the cumulus is a little sharper and edgy and the cirrus has more of a rounded mouth feel which makes sense due to the oats I guess. top notch stuff. oh for what its worth to everyone, I got it at Bitter Pops in Chicago and believe I paid 11.99 (they had plenty) Canned on Tuesday 1/24. They told me they were doing a hailstorm even next week with people from the brewery in attendance.
The tasting room had some really good beers on too. Abyss, Bells 355 East Stout (fantastic stuff), Bells Old Ale, Half Acre Chocolate Camero...few others cant remember.

 

Had my first Cirrus last night (didn't take a picture of the initial pour, so you guys get the sample glass picture).

Initially, I agree with FBarber - looks and pours just like the NE style IPA you're looking for. Unfortunately, that's where it stops for me. The nose was nothing special, and it didn't taste tropical or citrus-y at all to me. It was very hoppy, and that's all I tasted - not fruity, or juicy at all. To be fair, the oats gave this a softer mouth feel than anything else coming from the cloud series, and that was a nice touch. I'm interested to see if this changes at all in the upcoming weeks, but I won't be popping another one until then.

If you're looking for a new, heavy hitter coming from the cloud series I'd probably advise you to stay away from this one. Nothing really makes this one greater than anything else coming out of the cloud series, and I will personally keep purchasing Cumulus over it. It was just very "meh" for lack of a better term, and I was not impressed.

 

you didn't know? beer only has a 45 minute window where its worth drinking. otherwise don't waste your money or time. you will also never know when that window is, it could be the canned date, maybe 2-3 weeks or hell sometimes u age it. I personally try to drink all of mine under a blood moon only with my left handed virgin friends. its the only way I know of to drink beer at its absolute best.

 

its for those very reasons that I enjoyed the cirrus and cumulus. Hailstorm does a good job remembering the hops and not putting out just orange juice. they really became a new favorite brewery for me in 2016. oh not bashing btw...just interesting everyone is looking for something a little different in their "perfect" beer.

 

I didn't get any tropical notes until the beer came to room temperature. It's a harsh trade off- you can either enjoy it cold and piney or to get some tropical flavor, drink a warm oat milkshake.

 

Cumulus is great, and definitely one of my go-to four packs. This one just isn't what I'm looking for in the NE style, the only thing on that checklist for me was the mouth feel - other than that, it fell very short in my opinion.

Not going to lie, a warm oat milkshake sounds disgusting haha. When I try another Cirrus in a week or two, I'll see what it's like and I may let it warm up just a bit to see if it changes. Thanks for the heads up!

 

Yeah, the fresher they are, the more bite they will typically have. The hop flavor will come through as the bite dies down and then eventually the hop flavor fades to the background as more malt flavor comes through.

At least that's how I understand it and how it seems to work in my experience. That's why people prefer IPAs at different "ages".