Chicagoland NE IPAs (2018)

Stopped in for a few. Humboldt Haze was legit. Do they have any plans on canning that one?

 

2nd Shift Little Big Hop is a really interesting take on the style. Session IPA but tons of bitterness and decent body cause of the oats. Also none of the standard citrus hops, instead a ton of simcoe and similar hops. I enjoyed it a lot but I see how it won't be for everyone.

 

I've been a fan of 2nd Shift since my Missouri days. I'm happy to see them in Chicago. I have no idea what their distribution plans are, but hopefully we'll see some flavored Katy's and adjunct LSD's. I'm looking to grab some Little Big Hop this afternoon as I've yet to try it.

 

All the information I know about the beer is from that instgram post, and your "review"

Here's hoping that it will be canned, or at the very least, a regular rotation beer at the new taproom.

 

Fresh batch got brewed this week and a couple others are in the works! Keep an eye out.

 

LIC!!!! I love his brewery!! I was out in Brooklyn last March and was at Gold Star Beer Counter where I tried this. I was about to go to Interboro for the Stay Gold release, but after tasting this we headed to LIC!! Ended up picking up cases of Backjump and Wildstyle. WildStyle is the best "juicy" beer I have had since! If y'all make it to NY, I highly recommend you try to get this! Sorry to hijack thread.

 

Had some Apricot Katy the other day. It was pretty darn good

 

Agreed. I've had quite a few LIC IPAs from a trade partner in NY and I absolutely love their beers. I feel like they get lost with Other Half and Interboro (which I also love). I'm a big fan of NY east coast hops.

 

WarPigs Foggy Geezer is pouring at Links. It's definitely on the Son of Juice end of the hazy IPA spectrum. Beer for beer, I much prefer Lazurite.

 

We just put on a fresh keg of Radio Swan as well.

 

Anyone had Strange Loops yet?

 

had it at Oak Park Beer Fest yesterday-- really enjoyed it

 

Reminded me of a corridor beer. Thought it was excellent. Had a nice little bitterness that worked really well

 

I haven't had this version, but I've had it a few times in the past and always enjoyed it. Every beer they've made has been excellent, super excited to see what they do and can't recommend their beers enough.

 

If we're doing rankings, here are mine:

1. Forbidden Root
2. Corridor
3. More
4. Mikerphone
5. Hop Butcher
6. Everyone else

Tiers would be FR and Corridor tier one, More and Mikerphone tier two, and Hop Butcher tier three...and obviously everyone else is bottom tier.

A little explanation: Hop Butcher is too inconsistent, but there is a lot of potential there. Mikerphone stuff falls off too quickly and the format is awful, plus I still think his stuff was better before the move to his own facility. More will likely become tier one very soon if they keep their trajectory. Corridor beers taste too samey to me to be better than FR. All the FR beers (including the first Ghost Tropic, which was still the weakest) have been really tasty and different from one another. I think they're worthy of national hype (Corridor probably is too).

All the rest (Noon Whistle, Illuminated, Hailstorm, Maplewood, Sketchbook, etc.) are varying degrees of far off from these leaders of the pack. Some Noon Whistle stuff is solid, and Maplewood Son of Juice is somewhat of a halfway house for hopheads seeking NE stuff, but they really aren't in the same league.

I still haven't had any Transient hops, so I really need to change that ASAP.

As a side note, M-43 is very good having just had it for the first time, but it's not as good as Forbidden Root, Corridor, or More, for me at least.

 

If we include format in rankings, I think we need to pull some Michelin starred restaurants whose teenie tasting menus don't add up to the great format of McDonald's with their supersized portions.....

 

I talked to some maplewood guys at the friday night flights event. i told them i really liked the humboldt haze and urged them to can it. they made it sound like it might hit bombers instead? hopefully that one sees four packs...

 

It's probably a question of can they sell enough to make it worthwhile to shift to cans as the margin on the cans is probably worse for them? Son of Juice was in bombers for a good year before they switched it over to cans. If HH is similarly successful I don't see why they wouldn't shift it to cans eventually, unless of course it's a hop sourcing issue...

 

@TigerDriver91, thanks for the notes on hailstorm cirrus. thought it was excellent, probably my favorite behind the recent stuff that FR is putting out.

 

They haven't canned any of their premium beers yet. Son of Juice isn't even made at Maplewood. It's made at Great Central. Pretty all of the Juice pants stuff is smaller batch stuff made at Maplewood itself. That may explain the lack of canning at this point