Chicagoland NE IPAs (2018)

I'm excited about the Half Acre cans coming up. It'll be interesting to see how Topanga Gulch is, and if it fits what all the "haze hounds" want. As long as it's a good beer, which is most likely, I don't care what style it is.

 

Yeah, but unless it's got "mad juice" (as opposed to being just similar to a NE IPA, or a NE IPA that isn't a juice bomb), some folks will think it's not worth their time.

 

For sure...as long as it's good and if we get more access to it because it's not a juice bomb, then that works out pretty well!

 

I selfishly hope HA never brews a "hazy, juice bomb", particularly in conjunction with it being labeled as a "NE IPA". I can then without fail stroll in to the Lincoln Ave store at my leisure and pick up a 4 pack upon release and enjoy what will almost certainly be a delicious beer while the "haze hounds" (I like it @croush) are pre-occupied scouring social media for the next local release that has "NE IPA" on the label.

 

Did you mean Noon Whistle? Isn't Narrow Gage in Missouri? Lol

 

Speaking of Narrow Gauge, I'm turning the misfortune of having to drive back to KC today for a funeral into a positive by hitting Narrow Gauge on my way back to Chicago. I keep hearing good things, so I'm excited to try their beers.

 

To be fair, I'm the one that got called out for saying Noon Whistles Anniversary party was Alters haha so I understand.

 

NE Slapper >>> Gummy Vortex > Cromulent > Stratus. The Sharks with Laser Beams crowler had completely turned and was undrinkable (it was 2 weeks old, so I'm not totally surprised, but still seemed quick, based on other crowlers I've had). We didn't get a chance to do the Mars or the new Hubbard's Cave.

NE Slapper is on another level. Gummy Vortex gets a little more bite (which I prefer) as it warms up. Cromulent has a really nice fruity flavor to it. And Stratus was definitely solid. No shame in coming in 4th out of those 4.

We also opened a Juice is Loose from the new batch. Full disclosure: It has been my favorite local-ish of all the options but the can last night was not very good. It was much sweeter than the other cans I've had. This was not unique to me as all of us agreed on this.

Before we got to the local brews, we cracked a Stunt **** and a Lumber Sexual by RAR. Both solid brews, but more on the level with Cromulent than the top 2 above.

We finished with a TrillBOMB, which was absolutely incredible.

 

Oh, it wasn't fall off. Sorry to not be more clear. I think it was a crowler issue. It came out ridiculously dark and sweet.

 

This is actually one reason why I think this style has such a long way to go (and why I'm still not convinced it isn't just a fad). Way too much batch variation, falling off, etc. I know the more established players out east don't have as much trouble with this (I think), but for this style to become more widespread and stick around, it will need more consistency. And if it doesn't get a longer shelf life, it'll never be able to get to the level of "regular" IPA's that line the shelves. That's just my opinion, though.

EDIT: I see @ratwheels clarified the crowler had an issue vs. falling off, but my points above still hold in general due to all the other comments we've heard about falling off and variation.

 

Thanks for the write up! Where would you put this JiL in the tasting? Behind Stratus?

 

I agree. The fresh NE IPAs are great, try the same thing in a bottle, can, on draft two weeks later from the same batch and it's disappointing. Not sure how scalable the style is. Perhaps it has to be made more frequently in small batches to keep the edge of being fresh...