Chicagoland NE IPAs (2018)

Chicago is a more mature beer market. Prior to 2014 you'd have a hard time finding something decent to drink in NYC. We had FFF, GI, HA, Pipeworks, and some others large brewers putting out high quality stuff. NYC had a massive void and lots of small up and comers were able to get traction there. We didn't really need NEIPA in this market, but are discovering there is room for more beer.

 

Quencher's on Fullerton and Western (as of Thursday night and not too far from Lincoln Park area) has Interboro DDH The Next Episode on tap. A little bit of NYC for you.

 

I'm drinking a Short Fuse Loosey Juicy and Mars ChiPA right now. I'm more impressed with the Short Fuse regardless of price. Imo the Short Fuse might be my most fav neipa shelf beer in the city. Beats most mikerphone (shelf beers now) in the city.

 

Currently drinking a Middle Brow "Sells Out Vic", canned 10/16/17. I believe the name references that this is a New England IPA.

If so: major fail in my opinion. A caramel / malt bomb with some grapefruit & baking soda notes. Cloying but not very fruity; somehow booze heat asserted itself even though it's only 6% a.b.v.

I've liked other Middle Brow beers in the past, but it seems they are brewing out of a new location (Motor Row Brrwing); perhaps they are to blame for this abomination? It's closer to an American Barleywine (a style I hate; give me English Barleywine!) than a New England IPA.

 

I bought the Mosaic verrsion of this about a month and half ago and dumped the whole four pack. It had this awful Belgian twang to it and the taste stuck with you in a bad way. Was supremely disappointed in it.

 

I drank 4oz before dumping...it seems like I drank a gallon. I get what you mean.

 

not saying they were specifically going after the NE style, but...buy the pipeworks\tampabay collab. its silly.

 

Little birdie told me there will be limited transient drops tomorrow. Anyone else hear anything?

 

Yeah someone mentioned they heard that from The Open Bottle. Hopefully some Juice or Mind to Devour is included. If Orenthal is part of it....take a look at Untappd before buying. Haven’t had it myself tbh

 

It's not so much about market maturity as it is liquor laws.

 

Wish I had done that...

 

Oh i definitely agree that NYC was a wasteland for beer ~5 years ago.It really took Other Half exploding the neipa style and the hill farmstead expansion into the market to make it great.
Hopefully chicago will get there, there are plenty of bars and plenty of people drinking beer.

 

I saw your Untappd rating, but decided to still give it a whirl on draft last Friday. While I didn't think as low of it as you, it was definitely not up to the standards of some other Transient brews. As a side note, I found Rum Jumbie Buckley to be even worse that same night on tap...in contention for the worst beer I've had.

 

yeah I had heard that Rum Jumbie wasn't the same quality as the variant at the Kentuckley release. That version was an excellent 4.5 for me.

 

Yeh, saw that. Hoping it was a bad tap since I bought multiple bottles! I had a taste of it at Transient and thought it was good. Not cracking it open for a bit.

 

Wow, I thought Rum Jumbie was awesome on tap at The Green Lady.

 

The smell was Vicks menthol aroma, and the taste was pretty much that as well. I have really enjoyed Buckley, so was excited to try this one, too.

 

So interesting. For me it smelled like a very boozy fruitcake. Tasted the same as well. A lot of heat from the rum, but I'm sure that will mellow out. But no Vick's menthol whatsoever for me. It was a hit from what i could tell that night.

 

seems like the best recent cannings have been Dun Dun Dun and Dime, both of which I was out of town for during the releases. damn those pesky obligations!

will have to echo others about snoochie though, best i've had from them so far.

 

I was at Green Lady, too drinking all the Prop 14 lol