Barrel Theory Beer Company

Some people are just desperate to look smart.

 

Maybe you were drinking stouts in New England?

 

Tear Drops is not even close to anything brewed by Trillium, Treehouse, Alchemist, HF, Foley, Foam. Sorry but no. Raining threes was closer but Tear Drops was watery and thin completely lacking the body, mouthfeel, Hop saturation, etc. It's maybe close to the 2nd or 3rd tier stuff.

 

Yikes. Yeah, no. Going to have to disagree with you on that. BT compares quite favorably with the likes of Trillium. Sometimes being in a place makes things tastes better. Like how Guinness tastes better in Ireland or whatever.

 

The shit never stops stirring

 

I've had Trillium, Treehouse, and Alchemist enough to know that this is ridiculous. If Tear Drops (or insert a number of other hazy IPAs made in the Midwest) were inserted in a can with a handmade label that read "Brewed in New Brunswickshirehamptonster, MA" you'd have a different take.

 

So apparently BT is above reproach? Can't speak ill of parking, can't have a differing opinion saying they are good but not fully dialed in yet. Only praise shall be heaped upon BT from this day henceforth..

I'm heading there for the first time this weekend. Luckily thanks to people who expressed their dismay for the parking situation. I now know what to expect depending on local events. Thank you.

 

Just be preparred to have an experiencing ranging from very poor to very good.

 

My guess is you would also. Let's take a step off the provincial bandwagon for a second and look at this objectively. The style started in NE a few years ago. Brewers here have recently started to copy the style. We're getting close but we're not there yet. I can't wait until someone here makes an IPA as good as Trillium or Treehouse!

 

There must be some nuance that's way over my head/pallate, because I've had IPAs from the Midwest that are on the same level as Trillium, Treehouse, and the Alchemist to my taste buds. I've always tried those beers expecting them to be a step up from what we're used to and always come away with the opinion that it's basically a wash.

Massive credit to those breweries for being the leaders of the style, but my opinion is that there are other breweries making that kind of beer at that level, and we have some of them here in this sub-forum's region.

 

11 of the top 21 beers in the world are NE IPAs according to this very website. At #22 is King Sue. That's hundreds, and in some cases thousands of ratings.

 

I wouldn't even call King Sue a Top 5 hazy IPA for this area. That just confirms in my mind that hype plays a big role in rankings.

Hell, I'm not sure I'd put King Sue in the Top 5 hazy IPAs coming out of Decorah.

Since I'll inevitably be asked, I prefer Loopy Lynn, Hopsmack, hazy Sosus, X Hops Gold, Mjau Mjau, Saftig, all to King Sue. There are more, I'm sure. You can argue about what is or isn't an NE IPA, but all of those beers are hoppy, cloudy (Sosus isn't always - hence the clarifier), and have soft mouth feel.

 

I would agree with you on the recent batches of KS. The first two brewings we're awesome and I'm sure are still affecting the ratings. Those are all very good IPAs that you mentioned but not as good as the top tier Trillium or TH. IMO

 

Not even to speak of NE IPA's from Barrel Theory and if they are NE IPA's or not, their Java Oats beer tastes A LOT like Surly's Coffee Bender. Very very similar, from a brewer that came from Surly...

 

I never got into those first batches of King Sue the way others did either. I think there was a thirst (literal and figurative) for a hazy DIPA from a Midwestern brewer, and that was one of the first. I think it was so well received in part due to the novelty of it (I think TG brewed it around the collab with TH), stylistically to the area.

Granted, this is all my subjective take on a fairly subjective thing.

 

Rain Drops returns today. They have limited growlers available. 2pp.

 

Still only 750 ml option?

Edit: Saw on Facebook, answered my own question. 750 ml only.

 

You may be a bit too cynical. I've bought many beers based on hype but once I taste the beer I let my taste buds decide. I would put all my craft beer friends in that category. We've been disappointed many times.

 

King Sue preceded David (the Toppling Goliath collaboration with Tree House) by several months in 2014, and pseudoSeu (2011) preceded the opening of Tree House (2012) by over a year. The direction of influence is Toppling Goliath to Tree House, not the reverse. Heck, Surly debuted 16 Grit (now known as Abrasive), a hazy, Citra-hopped double IPA, in 2008. Not that I would ever call what Toppling Goliath or Surly brews "New England IPAs." Many breweries across the country have brewed unfiltered IPAs long before newer breweries in New England started capturing the imaginations of previously hops-averse young craft beer drinkers and catching the attention of the Northeast-based media (including BeerAdvocate).

What distinguishes post-Vermont* New England IPAs from the many hazy IPAs that predated them is the intentionally exaggerated cloudiness (not mere natural haze), very soft palate effects, and, most importantly, the minimization of dryness and bitterness / maximization of perceived sweetness in the form of "juicy" or "tropical" scents and flavors. These attributes make the beers extraordinarily accessible, with enough aromatic hops for some IPA-lovers and without the bitterness that scares so many people away from the IPA style. Combine remarkable accessibility with a ton of hype (to which inevitably we all succumb at times), and you're bound to see high scores. Barrel Theory, unlike Toppling Goliath, clearly is directly influenced by the Massachusetts breweries and certainly is making beers distinguished by those characteristics, for better or for worse.

* The original Vermont IPAs from the likes of Hill Farmstead, The Alchemist, and Lawson's Finest hewed closer to the West Coast IPAs that they were emulating. Tree House, Trillium, and their imitators took (some would say "warped") Vermont IPAs much further.