Chicagoland NE IPAs (2018)

Personally I preferred Mellotron more than Velvet. Just finished my first can and found it more bitter and not as juicy as Mellotron. But wow is Velvet thick. One of the thickest IPAs I’ve had in a while. They’ll both age beautifully in a week.

 

None of my regular spots have received HB Mellotron yet and I'm getting itchy.

 

picked up a four pack of the Cumulus batch from 3/6 and it's great. it is back on form and back to the Cumulus it was about a year ago. happy i took a chance. hopefully stratus follows as well and returns to its glory days.

 

Finally found some Mellotron and i found it to be very bitter in an strange and unpleasant way. Will give the remaining cans a week or so to calm down a bit.

Also excited to hear the new batch of Cumulus is on point. One of my first Neipas and the one that made me a fan of the style.

 

That's a can I'd whistle at.

 

Let me preface this by saying I like some of marz Neipa offerings but am a little put off by the color of some of their beers. I know they are unfiltered but specifically the crazy straw and pictures I just saw of the can music make me not want to buy them. I prefer a brighter color in my neipas.

 

Given that Heineken just had to pull their "Lighter is better" commercials, I can't help but wonder if you are practicing reverse discrimination here....

 

Benicio Del Toro is awesome when he is not in a Star Wars movie.

 

Maybe I am just unlucky but, my can of mellotron I just opened is extremely undercarbed

 

I only get to Chicago 4 times a year for work, and think this region has really improved it's hop game over the last few years. I'm quoting this because Cumulus was one of, if not the first Hazy I had in the Midwest, which was one of the last regions to adapt to the style. And now it has some of the best of the style in the country (IMO).

I stopped by Bitter Pops tonight and grabbed some Mellotron, so I'm hoping I liked it more than you did :-)

I also grabbed a 4 pack of Gummy Vortex and it is delicious. I love the combo of dank with hazy and this is a great example of it. Hoping to hit Forbidden Root and Corridor before I have to head back to CA, since I love their hazy offerings.

 

Popped a crawler of Victorian flavor last night that I picked up at Dryhop about 2 weeks ago and my god what a delicious beer. Dank, delicious Southern hemisphere hops( Galaxy wad awesome) , great mouth feel and a wonderful finish. One of the top New England style Ipa's in the Chicagoland area in my opinion.

 

i agree. it was my surprise hit of last year and looking forward to cracking open my crowler soon.

between VF and Neon Party, these guys are on fire.

 

I’m right by Forbidden Root, so if you’re looking for a drinking buddy, let me know - also, they should have cans available.

 

Alright. Reporting back on Mellotron. Me and a buddy split the first 4pk dated 3-21-18 with Groovy Juice stamped. Loved it. Barely bitter and extremely juicy. Came across another 4pk today with same canning date but Mello Out stamped. Tried the just bought can and wow did this beer fall off. Turned extremely bitter and has a sharp alcohol finish. Thought it was the new stamped can. So drinking my last Groovy Juice can right now and it’s exactly the same. Thoughts?

FWIW. The first can I had was on Friday.

 

I’ll try brother. At first I thought I ate something unusual today and it threw my palate off but I don’t think that seems to be the case. Usually when I crave a ipa (which was today) all senses seem to be firing on all cylinders and have great experiences.

 

Cracked another Mello tonight, happy to say it wasn't undercarbed like the first. Not sure what happened there but glad that it appears to have been a fluke.

 

Haze suspension and serving temperature are very finicky for the consistency from can to can of the majority of Chicago NEIPAS. It's the same stuff in each can, but there are drastic flavor variations. You almost need to measure the temp of each can as you drink it so you know what temp you enjoy it at and which one you don't. You should also come up with the same routine prior to opening whether that is rolling it around or flipping it upside down for 5 minutes to let the the bottom haze sediment re-settle into the beer.