Chicagoland NE IPAs (2018)

Agreed. Had the Memes and Dreams and Meme de la Creme. Both outstanding.

The other NEIPA was probably Two if by Citra. Completely meh and not much of an NEIPA.

The BA stout wasn't on when I was there before but now I'm intrigued.

 

Any updates on the availability of this one? Cheers!

 

I got /Juice/, which is a 5.3% NE-style IPA. I did see Two if by Citra but did not try it. I also grabbed a 4-pack of Exit Buddy which they advertise as as New-Zeangland-style.

 

Not yet. I think they are planning too though. I would be surprised if their Meme series hits distro as it sells out in a few days from the brewery.

It was a 45 minute drive from Old Town. Straight down 94 to 394 and then it's literally right across the border, down near Chicago Heights.

 

My guess is that it's still available at the Schaumburg location. They were doing 3 crowler fills pp starting Saturday. I'd call the bar ahead of time and ask. Really recommend seeking this one out!

 

I would agree but still kind of salty they left the Chicago area.

 

Same here. That's what I've gotten from most triple ne style IPAs I've tried. I think they're just not for me.

 

We were on an Eastern beercation when that 3/15 batch was released as well, got Backjump and DDH Wildstyle from LIC that same week. I thought they were both falling off a bit after a couple months, not too surprised that any IPA is falling off after 5 months. But DDH Wildstyle may be the best NE-style beer I've ever had. That's an underrated brewery right there!

 

JIL is not anywhere as good as the stuff being put out by Corridor, incredibly overrated beer.

 

I plan to call, but sadly I trust you all more than the very unaware Ram employees who never seem to know what's going on. They've burned me once before with False Info

 

Based on my limited tastes of Corridor, Transient, and Forbidden Root over the weekend I would rank them as Forbidden Root > Transient > Corridor.

Radio Swan was excellent for a hazy single IPA and super creamy with notes of peach and mango. If they had cans of it I would have bought a bunch. Forbidden Root's double IPA was also good but didn't have the same soft body and was a bit too thick to me almost milkshake.

Latest batch of Cromulent was excellent as well, big improvement from when I was there a year ago. It was super fruity and creamy mouthfeel. Corridor's Pulp Hogan was not really my thing though I tend to find lighter alcohol hazy beers less enjoyable in general. It felt a bit lacking in hop aroma though I did enjoy it more as it warmed up.

 

I thought Whisk was great.

 

Took a risk and picked up a 7/20(I think this was the date, going off memory right now) canned batch of Stratus from Binnys. This one is a lot closer to the Stratus I remember, as opposed to the previous batch being like a totally different beer. However, still not as opaque golden as I remember their best batches appearing in the glass?

 

Corridor has been putting out some really good NE style beers. That being said, Pulp Hogan was like that B-side track on your favorite album that just didn't fit with the rest of the songs. I didn't enjoy Pulp Hogan, not because it wasn't a good beer( I compared it to Son of Juice which I frequently enjoy for its accessibility), but because of what it was compared to the rest of the repertoire being turned out at Corridor. Their other NE offerings have been progressively fruity and have balanced sweetness, and/ or booziness and bitterness. Pulp Hogan went overwhelmingly bitter for me for the style as I felt it needed more sweetness or fruityness to balance it out.

 

After liking Memes & Dreams and NOT liking Two if by Citra, glad to here their recent offerings are good. Hopefully they last until Saturday, I'll probably make a trip if so.

It seems they excel at the "milkshake" style more than the regular New England style...based on a tiny sample size.

 

Pulp Hogan wasn't bitter to me at all. Just lacked in hop aroma punch and soft mouthfeel. But that is common with haze around 5% even from Trillium. Too bad that was the only one I could try for their haze. Their standard IPA was much more flavorful but also more West Coast style and higher alcohol.

 

I don't know if the last few batches have been off or if my tastes have changed, but I remember the early 2017 batch of JiL blowing everything else in this area out of the water. I still kind of hold on to that, but a lot of other places have definitely caught up.