Can I just say that I feel 18th Street is underrated. I’ve always loved their BA offerings on tap ... their hazies are usually legit, and I strolled in today to find their collab with Cycle (“Saturday”) on tap after Barrel Masscre. I understand people have felt let down with their Hunter bottles lately, but they definitely have their moments. And they just opened a distillery and Sour Note down the street.
Better not say this in the Indiana beer thread. There is a 2.5 person back and forth happening in there now. I like 18th street, they come in with some reliable beers. Drew goes out to do collabs with a lot of the heavy hitters around the states, I think that reflects well on Indiana as a beer-capable-state since people like Floyds tend to take themselves way more seriously.
I have no idea what this means. Is there some jocularity that results from collabs? Does FFF not do collabs with other breweries as well as musicians? I loved the vibe at Gary for the first few years but haven't even cared enough about 18th the last few years to make the trek to Highland. (My breaking point with crossing over to go there was when they refused to divulge bottle counts to those of us in line at the BA Hunter release in November 2015 -- golly, you'd hate to let us make an informed decision about whether it's worth spending a few hours in line when we're back by the train station!) I still buy a few 4 packs per year and they're drinkable enough.
18th St was once a darling, drawing nationwide-attention for their beer, brewed on an antiquated system in a Gary storefront's backroom. Beer geeks would line up to get their Hunter variants, and their IPAs and double IPAs were excellent. One of my favorite beers, to this day, is Deal With the Devil, a double APA brewed with citra hops. And their Grapefruit Dead collab with Mikeller was also stellar. And then, they grew, and they morphed. They moved to Hammond (not Highland, cough cough), and they upgraded their brewhouse with the move. A new 15-barrel system, new canning line, new everything. Some viewed their public relations as raw, to say the least, and it alienated a big portion of their customer base. And, they were pushing the price ceiling, which created further angst. Another criticism is that they weren't doing anything new or interesting (despite having dropped a dozen different NE IPAs that are the rage with everyone but me). So, the bloom fell off the rose. And so, here we are today. They have continued to grow, and morph, recently adding a new mack daddy 30-barrel brewhouse to complement their 15-barrel system, within the last couple of months, as well as opening up a new distillery. And the results, in my opinion, have been stellar - my last couple of visits have been very very enjoyable - their IPAs and DIPAs, my favorites, are just solid. And while Sour Note is a separate business entity, those sours are also quite good. Will 18th regain its standing in the beer world? I can't say, but I am affirmatively stating that they are just making excellent beer.
Oh, and in my supportive post on the brewery, I neglected to say that Saturday is an effing phenomenal beer - 16% abv bourbon-barrel aged imperial porter.
18th rose to prominence fast and furious during the 3rd wave of brewers. They were interesting in Chicagoland because it was basically GI, Pipeworks (no tap room) , Haymarket, Half Acre, and Revolution. I think Chicagoland lost interest with the 4th wave when we had similar local options from Sean's RAM, Mikerphone, Corridor, Noon Whistle, Forbidden Root, etc. I know I have barely given 18th a thought as there are closer local brewpubs to hit, their beers are premium priced, and quite frankly, I didn't realize how far they had fallen off until this post where someone mentioned Barrel Massacre occurred last month and I hadn't heard anything about it until now....
This is a perfectly logical post. If 18th St was in Lombard or Lincoln Park, I would put them on the pay-no-mind list, too, unless I happened to be in that area.
And they stiffed their kickstarters: https://www.kickstarter.com/project...rewery-giving-gary-in-the-brewery-it/comments
Wow, does kickstarter not have some kind of means to rectify this? I guess it's "buyer beware" regardless.
I'd go to 18th street more often, but for some reason whenever I'm in that area, my car will only take Calumet South exit. It's the strangest thing
