Chicagoland NE IPAs (2018)

Agreed. It's interesting to hear other opinions on beers that I've enjoyed, or hated for that matter.

Unfortunately waiting for said opinions has left me without beer to try (ie Galaxy Bowl) because everybody rushes out to try the new flavor of the week. Not waiting around, and being one of those who rushes out has also left me with beer that I disliked (Mellotron, Reply Hazy) - but it also scored me JiL, Juicy, Morning Fog, so there are upsides and downsides.

 

When Hubbard's Cave is on, I think those IPAs are great, but they can be pretty different even on the reboot of the same version. I don't get the HB hype and haven't had hailstorm yet. Spoiled by a brother who lives in boston, and I'd rather pay the shipping costs than risking it on breweries here that are (imo) overhyped. Would love to see PW canning more of their offerings instead of bombers, as I'm done paying over 10 bucks for multiple bombers anymore, but I'm hopeful for growler fills soon. I think HA is the king of quality to price in the city, at least in terms of ipa's. Interested to see how PW's bottle shop and Mikerphone's taproom play out.

 

Totally. The key is finding some people who you typically agree with and use their opinions when necessary and able. (and don't judge people who have a different opinion) For example, I've been getting someone I know into this game and I gave him a Crucial Aunt, an IDon'tEVERWanttoBU, and a Julius. He hated the Julius and absolutely loved the Veil beers. Taste buds are a weird thing.

 

Careful, this can easily turn into the "My taste buds are better than your taste buds" thread very quickly.

#tastebudmasterrace

 

Okay, tried Jacob Goes to Juice Town at Forbidden Root tonight, NE IPA, and was the best NE I've had in the Midwest. Fruity, smooth, balanced hop bite and good mouthfeel. Might be weighted because it's on draft at Brewery vs in can or bottle. The NE pale ale they have is like SoJ, good.

And sean, they have a solid stout based on German chocolate cake so read "coconut".

I'm impressed with Forbidden Root

 

They do some great stuff. Very under the radar, for now.

 

Well, we do need more IPAs with 'Juice' in the name certainly. Instead of the same 'ol tired, lazy juice reference just name it 'Jacob Goes to a Town in New England' for something different fer chrissakes. And if you really need to overemphasize, call it 'Jacob Goes to a Town in New England and has an IPA in a treehouse'. What about just a normal name like Jacob's IPA? Nah, that won't be sufficient in alerting the masses to let them know 'hey, look at me I'm a hazy, juice bomb too'. /crazy rant

 

Lol, I appreciate the rant. That being said I think their basic IPA is called Jacob, so think this was nod to that.

And the Fernetic was good. Worried it would be over the top like Fernet Branca, but it was mild, balanced and quite quaffable. Not a must try beer, but if you like amaro or want to reminisce about Italy or pair with Italian food, definitely worth trying.

 

This is exactly how I felt reading that.

 

Never had Forbidden Root but filled a growlers with Jacob/Juice and they also had bombers of Snoochie Boochies which I also grabbed to try. Opening the growler tonight and thanks to whoever posted it first or I would've missed it

 

Had Hailstorm Cirrus tonight. It can hang with some really good local NE IPAs. Mouthfeel was great. Flavor spot on and at a good price point.


Def placed Forbidden Root on my radar. Excited to see what they can do moving forward

 

The beer that Jacob Goes to Juicetown reminded me most of (going off memory) was RAM's Hop Slush. So yeah it was pretty darn good

 

Where are they brewing it?