Chicagoland NE IPAs (2018)

Yes. Very.

Hard to believe how much hops are being used (I even doubted it when I heard it...took 3 people telling me for me to believe it).

Cost is further increased by the reduction in yield due to the hop matter in the FV.

It's fucking ridiculous. It's also one of the main reasons breweries are keeping these "own premise". The margin loss to go to distributors is not economically viable*.

*Moderately hopped beers can work with the old 3 tier model but the giant/whale/5star juice bombs aren't an option.

 

And the other thing...

I'm in no fucking hurry to blast out a beer that I can't afford to make on a regular basis. I know how that story ends. "Man, FR's beer X is good but not as good as XXX. They really need to get their shit together!"



I kid...sort of.

 

I've had most of their distributed beers. I used to get free samples of their stuff when I worked at a bottle shop, and honestly I wouldn't have even carried them in the bottle shop if it had been up to me. That said, I still occasionally throw one of their beers into a mix-a-six.

Also, for what it's worth, the ratings on this (and other sites) agree wholeheartedly that Solemn Oath is nothing approaching "special." I doubt an NEIPA will change that, but it's happened before, so I'll hold my tongue on judging this new beer until either I've had it or enough of a consensus comes in.

 

Some of the more price-conscious among us might want to keep this in mind. I think some of the better options in the area DO cost more to produce. It actually is a luxury to have a complete juice bomb readily available.

 

Cmon! Blast that mega juice bomb for us.

 

Neither. WAHS had to be what inspired Cheech & Chong tapes.

 

Wait, they smoke the devils lettuce?!?! Well you can bet my kids are never going near there!!!

 

I mean... sounds like you need to Kickstarter an event, and then release it only for people who fund it. And then give a high percentage of profit to charity! Everyone wins!

 

Was able to pick up two crowlers of Cosmic Juicebox tonight at around 7:30/7:45 and also stopped at Forbidden and got some Ghost Tropic as well as Snooze Juice and King Hell (Cherry beer that sounded awesome).

Will have a nice tasting set up this weekend with my best man being in town including Snoochie cans, M-43 cans, Simcoe Eyes and Windy Hill trombone Mikkeller, Dank Meme from Triptych.

Probably gonna be hungover as death after but should be fun. Hopefully he brings some Sole/Tired Hands goodies for me to fully feel the wrath of too much beer.

 

Please make sure Radio Swan lasts until next Wednesday, because if it is better than Green, Julius and Haze, I might need to pack a second suitcase.

 

Drinking a newly distro-ed Cat's in the Cradle right now. Have had very little Mikerphone since he opened the new space - I'm usually too lazy to drive out of the city with so many great beer options here - but am surprised to see the negative reviews here.

Getting melon, pineapple, tropical fruits, with more subtle notes of grass and pine. Really enjoying it.

If this is the bad beer he is brewing now, can't wait to try a good one!

 

He did this recently & I liked it a lot.

One of his better efforts IMO.

 

Keep doing what you're doing, man. I appreciate all of the nuances in your beers and there's still plenty of hops in there. I can go elsewhere (and do) for massively hopped and pretty one-dimensional beers.

 

I would take many posts in this thread or on NE IPAs in general with a grain of haze (or yeast I suppose). This type of beer seems to bring out the most fickle behavior in craft beer these days imo. Then there is the defensiveness where if person A enjoys one of them and person B doesn't enjoy that one, person A cannot understand this and thinks person B's opinion is an affront to person A's general knowledge of and experience with NE IPAs.

And everyone clearly understands that everyone has their own tastes & perspectives yet for some reason there seems to be a need to come to some sort of group consensus on which are the best NE IPAs in the area & many people are pushing the ones they like into this vaunted 'top tier', like there is some sort of race to a prize which is awarded at the end for the brewery deemed the Chicago area NE IPA. Heaven forbid if someone enjoyed a particular NE IPA (or admitted enjoyment of said beer in this thread) which was not on the current version of the so called 'top tier'. If everyone would just enjoy whichever beers they enjoy and not be so worried where this one ranks or where that one ranks in relation to others' opinions.

 

Person B is clearly in the wrong.

 

FTFY

 

Went into Forbidden Root yesterday. The place is just awesome in general. The vibe, the customer service, the fact they have a guest tap love handle that donates to charity, the food, it just rules.

Finally got to try Atomic Child and it is just fantastic. Definitely has that older vibe of how Nelson hops first smelled and tasted to me with how the white wine grapes are used in this without actually using any Nelson? Insanely easy to drink, actually did drink it like I was drinking a glass of juice. Can't wait for the cans of these as well. Awesome, awesome beer, looks fantastic - a super bright opaque glowing yellow.
Current batch of Snooze Juice is great as expected.

What may be of interest to people is they currently have Noon Whistle Squishy Gummy on guest tap, so if you were like me and haven't tried any of the Noon Whistle stuff, this was a pleasant surprise as well.

Ended up leaving with a growler of Atomic Child and a growler of Snooze Juice, and they still have some of those Forbidden Root glasses!

 

Agreed and throw in BJP's frequent posts adding to the beer nerd community. My only knock is that the CTA doesn't have a train line that connects blue line to brown line at Ashland, Damen or Western....