Chicagoland NE IPAs (2018)

I had it and thought it was average at best. I thought Snoochie Boochies was way better.

 

I had Squishy Gummy on tap at Links the other night. It's the first Gummy I've had since the first couple they released earlier this year. They seem to have rounded out their bitterness, at least with Squishy, compared to those early releases. Really good beer, my only complaint would be a hint of unpleasant booziness on the backend, but I'd certainly have zero problem drinking more of these if I lived closer to NW or whenever they find their way into the city.

 

Hubbard's Cave Citra is really really great. I think as someone else mentioned on here previously, it's more carbed up, more bitter, and the aroma is insanely dank. Going to grab another bottle today if possible.

 

Not a ChiPA but did anyone see Evil Twin Pink Lemonade IPA around?

 

Lemonade IPA is around now. Pink won't be for another few weeks

 

Lemonade is old now.. Pink will be if it's a cpl more weeks

 

Anyone else that can report back on this batch of Stratus?

 

There's 3 4pks of Snoochie Boochies in the cooler at Garfields in Wicker.

 

Damn I need those

 

Grabbed a Van Hazen II today & can confirm it's still brutal getting a crowler to go; I was either totally in the service staff's way or awkwardly hovering over people seated at the bar (sometimes both).

I enjoyed Van Hazen so I'm optimistic it will be worth it...

 

Plus southport is a hot mess right now due to resurfacing....which doesnt ease the stress of a trip to Corridor. I believe their beer (and food from what I have had) is definitely worth it though. Hope an expansion comes in the next year or so.

 

I know no one else has commented, just cracked another one of these and it is like they packaged their west coast IPA in the Stratus cans.

Here is the current batch:


If you hold it up you definitely see your fingers through it, no problem, about as hazy as Ninja Vs Unicorn. Doesn't have any of the fullness, fluffyness, or soft mouthfeel of before.

Here is a previous batch for comparison:

 

This is likely a yeast generation issue. The yeast was probably repitched one too many times. I know transient had a similar issue with a batch of Juice. I'd guess this was just a learning mistake and will be fixed next batch.

 

I drank a couple Stratus yesterday. It's decent. Not on the level of Corridor or FR. At $11 a 4 pack I did enjoy it.

 

This latest batch of Stratus while not bad, is nothing compared to the recent Stratus batches they have put out. A bit disappointed.

 

Just had this most recent batch of Snooze Juice.. it's the best one... mouthfeel on point for 5.3%

 

Just wanted to share some thoughts on the Noon Whistle cans. I shared a can of Squishy Gummy with a buddy yesterday and it looked and tasted fantastic.

The Gummy Banter I had the other day still seemed a bit 'green' for lack of a better word. I'm hoping a week or two of time to settle will do it some good. Decent, but definitely not outstanding at this point in time.

At this rate we're going to need a way to gauge when a beer is in peak taste, similar to fresh fruits.

I will say, I like the idea of waiting for a beer to come into it's own after a week or two, instead of the fear of a beer falling off completely after a couple of weeks.

 

Speaking of sitting on beer...

3F brewpub just tapped some kegs of Stay Lit. (the OG batch)

Reviews are still positive. Really curious how it's tasting right now.

 

Wtf? Isn't that 6+ weeks old? Kinda rude to sit on it that long, no?

 

This gave me a good chuckle.

We're still dialing in bitterness on this beer, its one of the first beers we built around a significant amount of LupuLN2 powder. We picked up a huge amount of bitterness from the dry hop which we figured is quite likely just simply a result of using too much. We didn't take into account the concentrated amount of humulinones from the cryohop process.