Chicagoland NE IPAs (2018)

Are those 1970's era pull tabs on those cans?

 

On top of Noon Whistles release, tomorrow at noon, Werk Force will be releasing their NE DIPA brewed in collaboration with Noon Whistle.

 

Here's my tops of 2018 so far. I cheated by going more than 5, but these are essentially all beers that I rated at 4.5 so far this year:

Toppling Goliath - DDH Pseudo Sue
Corridor - The Juice Beyond
Corridor - Highway to Haze
Corridor - Mosaic Monsoon
More - DDH Loose Candies
Mikerphone - Special Sauce (Mosaic)
Corridor - Neon Party
Hop Butcher - Blazed Orange Milkshake

Suffice it to say, I'm really hoping Eric can fill in Roger's shoes admirably at Corridor.

 

It will also be interesting to see what roger adds to Maplewood

 

High hopes for Roger. I'd love to see Maplewood start doing one off NEIPAs at least once a month if not closer to what HB is doing weekly. If Maplewood can keep the prices in line with their current offerings and put out Corridor/FR quality NEIPAs in 4 packs they win Chicago....

 

Top five of the year:

Dylan
Dylan
Dylan
Dylan
Dylan

 

They're call 360 cans (at least that's one name for them)
https://www.crowncork.com/beverage-packaging/innovations-beverage-cans/360-end

The whole top comes off

 

Nope. Not that I've noticed.

After winter/spring I changed my drinking selections due to this. Many of these rotational beers are delicous but $16+ for a 4-pack begins to really add up. Even if ya stick to 1-2 beers on the weekend like I usually do. Plenty of tasty 6-packs at $1-$3 bucks a bottle range.

 

No, but that's why it would be a game changer.

 

I was at Dry Hop Brewers yesterday and had the the DDH Nebulon and I thought it was great, and pretty much on par with Corridor beers imo (I actually liked it more than some Corridor beers tbh, the nose on it was really great and really strong), and I think Eric brewed that one? I think things will be fine.

 

I've had a few of his beers from DryHop, and thought they were good for the style. I wouldn't have put them up there with the Corridor beers, but that could be some mental bias on my part. I don't think things will turn bad at Corridor at all...I just worry that the # of beers I rate 4.5 will decrease and they'll turn into 4.25. Those are still really good beers, but just not at the same level as Corridor beers have been the past year and a half or so.

 

Looks like how Urban Chesnut does their cans, where the sole inner circle comes out. I love drinking straight from their cans and was just saying to a friend the other day that I wish more breweries used this can style.

 

I guess my top 5 to date in no specific order would be:
Corridor- Mosaic Monsoon
Corridor- Duke Juicem
PW - King of Borgs
Forbidden Root- Toro
Forbidden Root- Ghost Tropic

Honorable mentions go to Hop Butcher for Blazed Orange (recent batch), The Jewels, and Tavern Cut; Half Acre Preen and Dungeons. And yeah, I know Dungeons isn't NE, but it deserves to he noted.

 

Probably in order of favorite for me:
Special Sauce Citra
TG Twisted Galaxy
Radio Swan
Special Sauce Mosaic
Cosmic Juicebox
HB The Jewels

 

I did the King of Borgs on draft at FR (didn't expect to see it there) and wasn't impressed. All 4 FR draft NEIPAS ( believe one was even a session) tasted superior to me. FR had the sweetness to theirs where KoB came up short by being lighter on mouthfeel with a more dry and less sweet profile.

 

I had a King of Borgs on draft at FR and didn't love it after loving it in the cans. Also had a pour of Tavern Cut at FR and loved it, then picked up a 4 pack and thought it was just alright. These beers are so inconsistent.

 

Not sure this belongs here, but Stone has an "unfiltered" IPA called Fear.Movie.Lions out in Chicago; brewed out of their VA location & not explicitly labeled a NE IPA.

It's below average, in my opinion, & tastes like Cream of Wheat, or creamed corn, but not like a "juicy IPA" at all.

If you're on the fence, I'd advice you choose something else. Unless you LOVE Cream of Wheat.