Seven Stills

Holy snap, 5/2 is a quadruple can release.

From their newsletter...

One week from today, we drop these FOUR ridiculous babies.

• We collaborated with 47 Hills Brewery on the Belgian strong ale 747 (7 + 47, duh...).
• Then we tapped the East Coast for another East Coast hazy IPA , collaborating with New Jersey's Magnify Brewing on Pauly Dank, (Joisee, yo, whaddaboutit?).
• Then we bring you the glorious blueberry Kettle Sour that is Blue Funke.
• And finally, our 8lbs per BBL returns, this time using the proprietary hop blend from the Pink Boots Society, promoting and benefiting women in brewing.

 

Looks like they're not calling these cans by number anymore.

Peach Blunt, 8.5% ABV Peach Flavored Hazy IPA in collaboration with New World Ales.

For a beer that sold out really quickly, I have to say I'm pretty disappointed. In fact... it's my least favorite 7S can. Yes, I suppose it's relatively smooth, but it doesn't really come together for me. Their IG pics look really hazy but mine looks much more WC. It tastes more WC too, with some generic fruitiness and a hint of dank if you were looking for it. But everything felt really subtle. Just wasn't for me, and I tossed half the can.

 

Eight Pounds per BBL (Batch 2) - 7.2% ABV Hazy IPA with Simcoe, Denali, El Dorado.

This one definitely tastes different from the Mosaic-hopped first batch, and is more of an in-betweener than hazy. Mouthfeel is akin to WC. To me, this one mostly tastes of bubblegum yeast, and then you get a bit of pine and hops in the finish. Kinda a similar vibe to the Firestone Walker Leo vs. Ursus Fortem & Adversus. Since I didn't like those either, I don't think this one is as successful as the original Mosaic-only recipe. A shame.

 

Well tonight they release batch 3 with yet another hop bill...

 

Third time's a charm? This is the 3rd iteration of this beer: Eight Pounds per BBL, Pink Boots Society edition (canned 5/1). Don't know what hops, as they say it's a Pink Boot Society proprietary hop blend.

What I will say is this 7.2% IPA is back to being hazy and ... this is my favorite of the 3. This is the most NE of all of them, as the previous two had a bit of WC bitterness to them. This Pink Boots Society version has that bubblegummy yeast thing from the 2nd edition, but the hops are very tropical fruity in nature that they complement each other. Soft mouthfeel, yadda yadda yadda.

The only weird thing is they reused pretty much the same can art as the previous two releases, so the only way you can tell this one is the Pink Boots Society one is to look underneath the can - oh and if you find a 4-pack, it's got a pink can holder.

 

You probably would have liked the first 8 Lbs batch which was all Mosaic. But Octojuicy was my favorite IPA from them. Hard to go wrong with Galaxy!

Got the other 3 releases to give impressions on. I'll crack one open tonight.

 

Had one of these last night (Sorry, @Ma9573 - didn't feel like a DIPA) after a long run. It's a 5.9% Blueberry Kettle Sour.

Unlike other kettle sours, it's actually not tart. Like it's barely acidic. But it is full of blueberry notes, and a very bready base. So to me it tastes more like a Berliner Weisse, albeit way more ABV and blueberry.

Not complaining - it was the perfect refresher beer for me.

 

8.5% DIPA collab with Magnify Brewing.

I don't know if I waited too long to crack this open, but this is decidedly not juicy, and not particularly good. What hits you first is the yeast, and then a huge sweetness. Then it transitions mid-palate to some dank and pine notes and then bitterness. To me it's like a beer with a confused personality. It leaves you with a WC impression, but starts out something else entirely. The Pink Boots Eight Pounds is way better in my opinion, despite me being sick of hazies.

 

Final beer from the 5/1 release. This is a 10.5% Belgian Golden Strong collaboration with 47 Hills in South SF.

Yowza. Okay, so it's definitely got some of that Belgian yeast ester thing going on, and sweetness as expected from the ABV. But then mid-palate to finish, the taste of alcohol comes on so prominently, it's really off-putting. Maybe this one would be better with some time?

 

@raynmoon

Uh, just because I'm sick of a certain style doesn't mean that I can't recognize when one is well made/tasty.

And the reverse - just because something isn't hazy doesn't automatically make it good either.

For the record, my favorite 7 Stills canned release has actually been Fluxuate, the porter. Octojuicy and Pink Boots Eight Pounds were pretty good too, but so was Object Permanence which is pure WC. It's their hybrids that I think are less successful. (Yet hybrids are probably my favorite style, a la Cellarmaker)