Chicagoland NE IPAs (2018)

The Corridor Salute Your Simcoe was a very good ~5% NE style pale ale. Love how flavorful and easy drinking it is combined with its low abv%. If this was available all summer, it would be the one I would seek out regularly.

 

Nantuckett is on par with salute your simcoe. I think I actually preferred Nantuckett.

 

Yeah, my buddy was going to pick me up some Snooze Juice crowlers to pass off to me yesterday. He called before taking the time to go there as I had told him I was pretty sure it was gone. They confirmed that, but said nothing about Nantucket to him. It is what it is, but you'd think they might say something like, "Sorry pal, all gone but we did just tap a brand new NE PA. You should come try that." It's still not posted on their website menu either. Only other thing I'll add is that it is listed on Untappd as a NE PA. So there's that.

On to actually obtained beer related conversation, I grabbed some Son of Juice (cans), Grid, and Cumulus while up north (thanks Open Bottle, I love you). Having a Son right now. It's pretty good, but not blowing me away. I'd definitely buy again though. Wrong thread, but had a Grid earlier today. Nice, clean, bright APA. Cool artwork on the label too. A saison it is not...for certain. Cumulus will have to wait until tomorrow.

 

So...... today I hit up RAM and had First Bloom and hit up Forbidden Root and had Nantucket. First Bloom was nice, I was in the area, and it was good to try it.
Nantucket from Forbidden Root was really great and in the same league as Salute Your Simcoe. Thick mouthfeel. They both also share a very similar dry piney quality to them. Probably the simcoe in both of them but what do I know.
Really loved Nantucket and hope I can make it back there and have some more before it's gone.
Also, just cracked a Son of Juice can. It's nice, but in this style I usually like something thicker and with a bit of hop bite to it. This will be nice for crushing a bunch in the summer as it's refreshing and super easy to drink. But in general for a NE style, I personally prefer a thicker full mouthfeel.

 

is son of juice supposed to be yearly offering?

 

I had Juice Pants batch 4 on tap this past weekend and it really did nothing for me. Thankfully I just had a taster but I continue to not see anything from Maplewood to get excited about.

 

Yeah, I'm think calling son of juice NE isn't right, but I do know I like it very much, and will be drinking plenty of it this summer.

 

The plan is to hit up Forbidden Root and Corridor before Opeth/Gojira tomorrow. Looking forward to it as I haven't had either yet.

 

Awesome. Wish I was going to see Gojira tomorrow. If work wasn't brutal right now I'd be going too. A stop at Forbidden Root and Corridor sounds nice too. Sounds like you'll want to try Nantucket Gold. I'll put a plug in for Death by Snu Snu too if it's still on tap. Great beer.

 

Wow - page 100 of this thread...

How about everyone gives their #1 NEIPA from Chicagoland over the past year. No top 5 lists, no honorable mentions... you can only name one!

For me, RAM Juicy. Looking forward to it getting reincarnated this summer. I find myself measuring all local NEIPAs against it... it's the benchmark for me. I actually did a blind side by side with RAM Juicy and Treehouse Julius and picked Juicy as my fav. Both were about 2 weeks in the can.

 

If it counts, the last batch of JiL that got released in the city late last year. If not it's probably Squeezit

 

My current #1 Chicagoland NE style is Squeezit

 

For me, gotta be RAM NE Slapper

Wasn't able to try Squeezit, but have had most notable other ones.

edit: possibly batch 1 Galaxy Bowl as it was out of this world (pun intended)

 

#1 Chicago = Squeezeit or Lunches Brunches (batch 1 only)

#1 Midwest = Narrow Gauge OJ Run

 

ChicagoLAND? Flightless easily. It's as good as Trillium.

If we're sticking to the general area, NE Slapper.

 

Super Special Sauce for me.

Runners up would be Squeezit and Galaxy Bowl batch 1.

 

Squeezit is the closest thing I've had from anyone up here that was close to Narrow Gauge. So its my #1 as well.

Haven't had JIL, Juicy, Lunches Brunches, but from everything I've heard, they are way more juice bombs (too little bitterness for my liking).

 

Michigan? If we are going that far out of Chicagoland, than I'm picking DDH Pseudo Sue.

Forbidden Root Yayo takes #1 for me.