Kane Brewing (November/December 2018)

Well, to their credits - OH (I think?) and Grimm (definitely) should have had stouts available to go, and Kane has CP to go today.

I do agree - Kane's releases have been interesting. Party wave would be nice to see as I haven't had that yet. they did rebrew blue hotel in a relatively short time span, so perhaps they're testing the waters to see what will see re-brews in 2019.

 

Yea I picked up a Grimm sour, OH had a stout that soudned ok btu nothign special so I passed on it. Also I was in Belgium in November so hit up and brought back Cantillon and 3F, it's been a very expensive 2 months for me in the beer world...but you only live once

 

yea had both yesterday. both beers seems very similar to me, prefer the digital sea tho. kinda reminds me of party wave

 

I cracked a Mezzanine last night and my first thought was it tasted like one of the DDH Head Highs from last year.

 

Does anyone know if there is a chance digital sea will make it to next week? I’m a huge thrice fan, even if the reference wasn’t intentional.

 

Often times they have items on for sampling/fills even after cans kick. Might be something worth monitoring if you miss out from the Holiday rush.

 

Picked up both cans on Saturday and was pretty disappointed in the Digital Sea. Can anyone explain why an IPA can is released 2.5 weeks after it was canned? The canning date is marked as 11/27/18, and it went on sale on 12/15. I’m not sure why Kane would bother even putting a “drink fresh” kind of label on the can sticker text when it’s taking them half a month to release it after canning. Talk about disappointing.

Cracked one that night with a friend and we were both underwhelmed....it’s not bad by any means, but it was just kind of average. When you’re charging 18 bucks for a 4 pack of an IPA in this day and age, one should expect the beer to be as fresh as possible when buying it on the same day it’s released.

 

There is a Wegmans about 20 min from my house who carry's Kane Head High and I am so damn astonished of how fresh it is each and every time I decided to pick some up. I'm not sure if alot of people in the area love head high or if its Kane keeping fresh beer on the shelf with limited supply burst but damn I have never been happier to live in NJ!

 

I agree with this. It is also why I do not go running every time there is a can release. Even if the beer is day of or next day canning. $18 a four pack or whatever the going rate is for an IPA just way too high for what is not going to be a materially better beer than something like head high.

 

I believe Kane has commented on this before, they do it based on taste testing, they don't just can->release. If you didn't enjoy the taste of this one that's a different story but in theory they are releasing it to you when they feel it's ready.

 

That is interesting, useful information. And it makes total sense. But I'm still loathe to pay $18+ a four pack. I will do it on occasion, but I'm not going out of my way for it.

 

How does the keg purchasing work there now? The retail keg request link is outdated. Is it just first come first serve whenever theyre open or can I reserve ahead of time? I shot them an email yesterday but still waiting to hear back. Thought maybe someone else here would have some knowledge.

 

On the whole dating thing...I think it has gotten to be a little too crazy and knowing a date can easily cause negative bias. I think it is easy to forget that a beer that is well made will last a while. There is more depth to Kane's new IPAs than most others of the style IMO, aka its not all just about the hops. I commented on this a while ago about head high, I drank one that was 4 months old and it still tasted great. Not only that if I hadn't known the date on it I probably wouldn't have thought twice about if it was old or not.

 

I do not believe you can reserve. Glenn wrote a while back and said they fill head high, overhead, and sneak kegs before every weekend, and sell until they sell out.

 

This

And this. I will trust a professional brewer at a brewery getting much acclaim on when the beer is ready and not the date on when it was canned. Clearly there was a reason to not rush it out in the can but to get it out of the tanks.

I much prefer a delayed can that tastes how the brewer wants it to taste, than a beer thats canned the morning of or night before and is too hot or too green cough OH cough

 

Appreciate holding back cans if theyre not ready, especially given a bunch of people, myself included, thought a recent canning was very green.

 

Forgive me if it's been talked about recently but, anyone hear word on Object Permanence? Was reallllllly looking forward to a bottle of the beautiful barleywine for the holidays this year.

 

Obviously we don't like hearing that you were underwhelmed, but it's unlikely to do with the beer being 2 weeks "old" when it was released.

As others have pointed out, for every opinion like yours, we also see opinions about beers being "green" when they're released immediately after canning. There are a lot of variables that go into releasing - packaging schedules (we can't always can on Friday for Saturday release, it's just not practical), logistical issues, and most importantly, the taste of the final package. Sometimes a little can conditioning is beneficial.

We take date coding very seriously because it's part of ensuring the consumer gets the best possible beer, and freshness is absolutely critical, but that doesn't mean it has to be 2 days old, or that 2 week old beer isn't fresh. Ultimately the quality of the finished package, as judged by us, is the determining factor for release, so you'll see one day old releases, and you'll occasionally see 2 week old releases (though i will admit that that is less common!).

We have good packaging equipment and excellent dissolved oxygen/total packaged oxygen meters/lab equipment and procedures in place to ensure quality cans/bottles/kegs leave the brewery. 2 weeks is well within window in which we're comfortable that you're getting the best product. Again as others have said, on occasion we'll have the flagships/year-rounds be here 3-4+ weeks and still taste great. If you didn't like the beer at 2.5 weeks, maybe you just weren't going to like it anyway, not at 1 day, and not at 30 days.

I hope that sheds some light on it, but if all else fails, we do date code, so you can check before you buy to make sure you're comfortable with what the date says.

Cheers!
Glenn

 

I haven't seen anything...I checked instagram and from what I could tell the last release was in early Dec 2017 and was done via Eventbrite. I do think they had some leftovers that they sold randomly at the brewery after pickup as well. Glenn said a little bit back that they had a lot to get out before the end of the year so not sure if it will be this month or maybe over the next couple of months as barrell conditioning may differ YoY.

 

I have some extra if you want, let me know. sharing is caring

fingers crossed for the Horus collab this weekend!