Tired Hands (October 2018)

While it's definitely quite hop forward, there are a number of "old school" stouts that are also a bit hoppy when fresh, and helped define the style in America. Like Great Divide Yeti, North Coast Old Rasputin, and the lower abv Sierra Nevada Stout. "Black IPAs" were not a thing when these beers were introduced.

It may stun newer craft beer drinkers, but in 2002, Storm King was the #1 ranked beer on Beer Advocate:
http://web.archive.org/web/20021206190642/http://beeradvocate.com:80/top_beers.php

I like it fresh, but you can buy a case of Storm King, put in the cellar, and drink a bottle every few months until the 5 year Enjoy By date. The hops fade and the flavors smooth out nicely at about 2 years.

 

I get that, and I hold Victory in very high regard.

I've admittedly cellared Storm King for a year and drank it. It was good but nothing outstanding enough to wait a year to drink when I can just grab something off the shelf and drink right away.

Storm King is perfect if you like hoppy stouts. And I do agree to the overall point that newer craft drinkers are too willing to pay $18 a four pack of sticker cans when theres world class beers readily available at their local distro

 

And don't get me started on Dark Intrigue... takes me back.

 

But I get also what op was saying, Only Void is the closest this area gets to hype trade stouts.

 

The hype also comes from the fact that TH isn't a dark beer forward brewery. They've opted for the wild fermentation for their longer beers.

Only void is literally the only stout they brew and it only comes once maybe twice a year

 

It might be the only stout they can, but I've definitely drank several different one-off porters/stouts on draft in the past.

 

Anyone know anything about Daily Personal Best being released today? Not always a huge fan of the Triple IPAs , but Plush Life ,despite being a different type , was really good.

 

It might be, but I still love it. I bought a sixtel of it once it became available this year and it's still fantastic. Love that beer, the first stout that I really truly loved.

RE: Only Voids. I thought both last year were really good. I liked the berry one a little more than the coffee, but both were really good and not thin on the mouthfeel.....IMO.

 

Perhaps Season Of Perception will make a return, although the Root Beer Float variant was quite odd

 

I thought the Only Void Retrospective from the Anniversary was very good. I didn't get a chance to get the berry from last OV day but I imagine Retro was very similar. One of my favorite beers I've had all year. Berry dont right in a stout works very very well. Plays nicely with the acidic notes you can already get from the base stout

 

Want to hear a good one? I still have a bottle of it in my cellar. How bout that!

Incorrect. They also can Gatherer each year and brew a few other stouts that they don't can. Not many, but there are a few.

 

I stand corrected. But my point remains.

They are not pumping out stouts the same way Other Half, Treehouse, etc are pumping them out. When a brewery starts, you pretty much to have decide whether you are going more towards Darker Style or Wild/Farmhouse ales. See: Monkish, Tired Hands, etc.

Point being, Tired Hand rarely (not only once a year) makes stouts that are readily available. Especially considering the biggest styles right now are NE-IPAs,fruited sours, and adjunct pastry stouts.

 

Just to follow up on this... $13 was for a 375 (12.7oz.) of Barrel Aged Impending Descent. Can't recall what the non BA was running for last time they packaged it.

All of the splinter series bottles are $13 for 375ML at the brewery. Way too much, despite some really good beers in that lineup.

 

Agreed, they are far from known for their dark beers, but the ones they do brew for me have been really good. I still have 2 cans of Gatherer from this summer and although that beer was a little on the sweet side, it was terrific for an 11% stout that drank very nicely.

 

What's even crazier is that Gatherer sat for a while after the release.

 

Yes it did, as are other beers now. I think the GS is going to have to expand it's cooler cases.

 

Well, it was $24 a 4-pack, and had some "weird" herbs in it.

That's similar in price to a world class barrel aged stout like KBS, but for an unknown recipe. So it makes sense if people were slower to purchase.

 

The Russian Imperial Stout style has always been heavily hopped, and all of the top examples of the style from ~15 years ago, like Storm King, Old Rasputin, Expedition Stout, Founders Imperial Stout, etc. are heavily hopped which is entirely appropriate for the style.

I guess if you're only used to pastry stouts you might not understand what these beers are, but they are most certainly not "black IPAs." They are Russian Imperial Stouts, and damn good ones at that.

 

Just wanted to chime in on the whole "slowing of sales" discussion. First off, I don't think I would say sales are "falling off". They're just not selling as quickly.

I think there are a number of factors at play, but I tend to agree with @makalarch that there are just so many other options out there now. I live 2 hours from Tired Hands. As recently as about a year ago I would try to get to a Tired Hands can release every other month or so. For me to get the top level beer in cans it was either drive 2 hours to Tired Hands or 2 hours to Aslin (which I would do one or the other every month or so). Now, I can drive 20 minutes to a local bottle shop or a little further into Maryland and get stuff pretty close to the level of Tired Hands. In the last year I've probably been to Tired Hands twice (and once was for the 6th Anniversary). Don't get me wrong, I still love Tired Hands beer, but for me the rate of return for the long drive isn't there anymore. My theory is this is the reason they are releasing a milkshake every other week now - they know those milkshakes are one thing that separates them from everyone else and might entice people to come out there more often. Lucky for me I prefer the non-adjunct IPAs (though I do love that Double Vanilla).

As an aside, I am also trading a lot less these days for this same reason.

 

well that's one way to combat that...