Counter Weight Brewing Company (2018)

Great to hear. I would put their IPAs against anyone's in New England.

 

Double Inundation is even better. Glad you enjoyed both your visit and your brews.

 

Went to the mug club party today with a buddy of mine. Had a great time, and cemented my opinion that this place is pretty special, because of the people involved and the clientele.
FYI the Hadron Kaleidoscope Ipa (collaboration w/ Banded Brewing from ME) hopped with Ella and Azaca hops is an awesome beer

 

I don't have the time or energy right now to fully explain how annoying I find this statement.

Why would you want the brewery to create the sort of artificial scarcity that causes long lines filled with people raring to ship the beer elsewhere? I lived in Massachusetts for the first two years that Treehouse existed. The first time they did a can sale on Wednesday I was able to grab a few 4pks after work on my way home. By the time I moved to Connecticut, I could rarely afford the time it would take me to buy beer from the brewery that was 10 minutes from my house. When I did go, I'd constantly see people hauling coolers full of beer, bragging about where they were going to send them off to. I'm not saying that Treehouse played games to cause it, but I do think that is what crazy hype create.

Now in CT we have Counterweight, pumping out incredibly good beer with a no-nonsense attitude and seemingly able to sell all the beer they produce with a chill vibe and no artificial scarcity. But you want them to play games on social media to pump up lines so that you can snag the new hotness from across the country? Beer is not a competition--there is no prize for the person with the most ticks. Can't we just be happy with what we have here and chill?

 

This is so accurate. See my post at #396 and the woeful response.

 

Having been to many breweries across the country and been on enough lines just to buy beer, I think its refreshing that CW is a different animal. Sometimes its better to just go to a brewery, sit down, and enjoy a beer with the option of buying something to bring home and not requiring over an hour to do so.

 

CW is special on so many levels. I hope that never changes.

 

The love keeps pouring in for these guys. Justifiably so! Their IPAs are so damn good. I just wish it was cooler inside....

 

Despite having an industrial fan on each side of the taproom, it was hot as balls in there yesterday. Didn't even venture on the patio. Can only imagine it was stifling in that sun-laden enclosed area.

 

http://mybeerbuzz.blogspot.com/2018/07/counter-weight-jacks-abby-collaborate.html

Really excited about this one. I thought the collab helles Matt did with Jack's when he was at NEBCO was great.

 

Oooooh man. A pilsner collab from the two breweries that make two of my favorite pilsners!

 

They added ductless A/C on the second floor. Hopefully we see it on the first floor at some point.

 

Beer Geek Helles was soooo good.

 

Psychmusic, you are purely talking at the CT consumer point of view. I don't see any problem if a brewery that makes absolutely great beers use aggressive marketing to sell more or get more name recognition. What is wrong with that? I support what Counter Weight is doing but I also want to see CT breweries get name recognition and exposure not just within the local consumers but also beyond. Why? Because I want the brewery to be very successful financially which in turn gives them even more resources to come up with more amazing beers. More people reached, more money, better expansion prospects and more beers coming our way.

Maybe I should have used "marketing" instead of "hype" to make my point. There are so many CT breweries that in my opinion deserves recognition beyond the CT scene. OEC, New Park and Fox Farm.

Look at Other Half and Tree House for example. Two best examples of being aggressive in marketing and selling a ton of beers initially. Now, they have expanded to the point, that you can show up anytime and be able grab cans of beers.

 

Just stop already. None of us like lines and don’t have the luxury of taking time off for beer.

Easy in, easy out with a pint. Let’s keep it that way.

 

I missed the part where Tree House marketed their beer aggressively. Tree House is also an objectively awful, awful beer experience right now (and pretty much always has been), especially for someone who lives in Southern CT.

CW is doing fine financially (they sell everything they make pretty quickly). I think they're at a good place right now with the capacity to expand at their own pace.

 

Great to see these guys doing well. On a related note, I sent a bunch of cans to my buddy in NC I exchange with and he got to try fresh CW and Tree House side-by-side (all IPAs or DIPAs and first beers he ever tried from both). He went on and on about how great the CW beers were, especially Vulture Culture, and barely mentioned a thing about TH. Not a knock on TH, but more of a validating moment for the CW team.

 

My only complaint about them at the moment is that I wish they were open more often. My daughter is going to a hockey camp this week at Quinnipiac and I've literally passed right by them twice a day this week! Guess I gotta wait one more day......

 

I would love CW to have same hours/days as NEBCo.

 

Counterweight for CT brewery of the year. Consistently great batches without the need for parking lot 5 caps on untappd. Best kept secret in the northeast.