Fieldwork appreciation thread

Early on I did a small amount of trading. Got some Tree House beers $4$. Did their beers redefine what I thought an IPA should taste like? Nope. Were they much better than the best the Bay and SD can offer? Not really. I'd be stoked if Tree House moved out here, because they're a good brewery, but I don't think we're missing much. I haven't even thought about trading for IPAs since.

 

I don't really like Trillium beers, based on the few cans I had and the tap takeover at Rare Barrel this year for Beer Week. Hell, I'm not in love with Juice Gymnastics either, contrary to the opinions of most people.

As for Cellarmaker, I think one thing about them that's a plus or a minus... is that unlike Fieldwork, Alvarado, Sante and Moonraker, they really don't have a regular set of beers. Coffee & Cigarettes is the only exception to that rule, but even that is only brewed like 2 - 3x a year (and isn't a hoppy beer). But that lack of a regular offering allows them to make beers with a similar base beer, but experiment with the hop bill. It's true that some of them turn out pretty similar, but depending on the hops used, it could taste dramatically unique to any beer in existence (Wide Rainbows, Southern Passion immediately come to mind.)

That being said, I quite enjoyed Green Rest and Paulie vs Steve recently from Fieldwork, because of that NE juice / WC dank fusion. I'm finding myself liking those more than any of their pure NE or pure WC attempts. So I'd love to see more from them doing that.

 

I don't trade but am fortunate enough to be able to buy Trillium at cost and have it shipped here (thanks to a very awesome dude). I love Trillium and think they nail this NEIPA style like no west coast brewery does. But that's what they do and really that's it. Their collab with The Veil Brewing Co Adult Human was out of this world good and if I lived near Boston I'd be drinking Trillium all the time.

With that said, I really love Fieldwork. It's not about one style but about the experimentation. They are really blessed to have a killer head brewer and someone who understands the business side of things very very well. With that I appreciate so much how I can go from Pulp to Bean Machine (just a hypothetical, not sure if these two have been on the board at the same time) in a night. Whereas with Trillium I'd be on my 5th pour of another NEIPA, with Fieldwork I can enjoy some awesome styles brewed very very well all in the same place.

I guess it's a bit of apples to oranges but I dig both breweries and am beyond thrilled I live so close to one of them.

Oh and...

Saint Thomas is back!

 

Im not a haze fan but what they can do with their dark beers and still retain the beer flavor itself earns my praise.

 

Their kettle sours and sour (Serac...even though we haven't seen it in a long time) are pretty good too and people don't talk about those too much.

 

i picked up jelly packet on a whim, im not much of a kettle sour guy, but i really enjoyed that beer, enough for me to pick up more.

 

Broken Clouds DIPA back on in Sac. Damn Good.

Going to have to go back for Saint Thomas next.

++++++++++

Also to the variety topic above. The Lagers have been great this summer as well.

 

I never got to try Bloomsday. What did people think of it last time around?

 

My thoughts on what may have been the original batch, definitely a beer I'd happily enjoy again.

 

oh shit! tomorrow just got real interesting!

KC is back

 

Oh! You mean tomorrow for satellite locations. Berkeley releases today.

 

i agree fieldwork does a nice variety. however, you are very wrong to make it seem like Trillium only does NEIPAs. They have done a number of great stouts (Outside the Lines (and BA), Trillbomb, Affogato, as well as a great draft only permutation series of wild ales)

they arent a 1 trick brewery

 

ahh I'm gonna miss King Citra by a day - going to the Sac room tonight. Oh well St Thomas it is for my growler.

 

i thought their raspberry soak was excellent! couldnt handle the cardamom on the lines but it was well done. Man i wish i had some of that affogato tho!

 

Just had to change my lunch plans. 1st stop on Friday is now Fieldwork.

 

That's a fair point. Perhaps it would be better to say Fieldwork does a much larger variety of styles than Trillium.

Gonna head to Berkeley later to pick up some KC and, hopefully, some Bloomsday cans!

 

Just opened a can of King Citra. First thing I noticed was it's a really attractive beer. It's an awesome orange like the yolk of a raw egg. The head retention was great and reacted well to swirling the glass. On the nose, there's big tangerine notes, accompanied by some fresh cut grass. The taste follows the nose, but with a tiny bit of honeydew melon on the tip of the pallet, and on the finish there's a cracker flavor paired with a slight, lingering bitterness. Despite being 8.7% I thought I was drinking a 6% beer until I read the label. It's not a pure juice bomb, even if Fieldwork's description makes it sound that way, but I couldn't find a single thing I would change.

 

This batch of KC was good, but not the mango bomb that the previous batch was. That shit was incredible.

 

just picked up at san mateo, not likely to last long today. bloomsday might.

cans of finer thigns out as well! picked up 4. perfect for this weather.

parked my car in the shade at work, really wish i had brought my cool tho lol

 

No wait in the Sacramento tap room at all. Picked up King Citra cans. They also had Finer Things Lager Cans in addition to Bloomsday Cans.

FYI, FW just posted that there are Overripe ipa Cans at Berkeley today. Special release.