Hop Butcher (2019)

Gimme dat broth

 

What's a 40 year old (probably slightly) fatty liver razzle for these days?

EDIT: Sorry, don't want to offend anyone. I meant VRUs.

I hear that free range stuff is straight up fire brah

 

It’s more likely that different peoples pallets vary than beer within the same batch vary.

I’ve found that the more intense beers someone drinks, the more pallet fatigued they become. Some people recognize their tongue is jacked. Some people don’t. If I’m talking with or reading the opinions of someone who only drinks intense beers like haze, acidic sours, and adjunct stouts, I typically take their tasting notes with a grain of salt.

Someone told me the other day that Daisy Capra was a nice mellow beer. I took it with a grain of salt since I know what they drink and it probably appeared like that compared to all the heavy impact beers that came before it.

 

Everywhere is quite an exaggeration. There still isn’t one single year round beer that features Galaxy in the Chicago market.

The closest things to that have been Infinant Galaxy and Hop Nawi. But it’s not like those are beers you just grab anytime you feel like. You still have to be looking for them.

Boulevard recently put out a year round ipa called Space Camper which has plenty of Galaxy, along with El Dorado and Ekuanot, but that’s a 5.9% ipa that wouldn’t be confused for haze and I’m guessing most of us here aren’t drinking boulevard on the regular.

 

For HB, I think palate and taste sensitivity play a minor role- things such as "I get strong onion/cilatro from this" while others get none is in this category. I find HB beers have a weird temperature sensitivity- putting a warm beer just purchased in the fridge for 3 hours yields a drastically different beer than the same pack left in the fridge overnight and consumed the next day. I don't know if there is some sort of cold crashing effect on the beer. The beers also seem to improve the longer they sit. Telehopic was too abrasive for like the first 6 weeks and wound up going from a mess to something very good and fruity. I recommend consuming one can ever 3-5 days from the 4 pack- each one tastes better than the one that preceded it. It's very strange.

 

I think you're both right, though. No one is expecting HB to churn out a new batch of GB every week, but clearly Galaxy is getting common enough that we wouldn't be crazy to hope they'd at least put a batch out every few months.

With that being said, I know hop contracts are done way ahead of time, so it's also very possible that they haven't been able to get a contract with sufficient Galaxy.

 

It may also be that galaxy is more expensive (it has to be shipped from half way around the world, tariffs/etc.) than comparable domestic boutique hops. Something like let's say 30 cents an oz more doesn't sound like much but at volume that adds up. HB isn't like Coco Cola where they have to make the same consistent beverage. They can choose to brew with whichever hop combo generates the most return for them at their price point.

 

Excuse me, but how does this help get me more Galaxy Bowl

 

there have been 4 batches of GB right?

one batch was universally terrible (B2), and another was the most polarizing beer of 2018 (B4), with the majority of people being on the "way too green" side of the argument.

i'd much rather have a half dozen of their other beers be made on a regular basis if that's the batting average that is to be expected from GB.

 

I really think HB should just sell a little kit that contains a 64 oz container of their NEIPA base and a couple of hop sacks. The consumer can then go and choose whatever hops they want to dry hop the base with....

 

My check-ins are from Oct 2016, May 2017, March 2018 and Aug 2018. October was the legendary 1st batch, I'm pretty sure May was the 3rd batch (I'm relatively certain I missed the Belgian batch), and August of last year was the green batch that was controversial. For argument's sake I'd say 2/5 batches were bad by your definition (I mean, I loved the last batch, but I've noted before that I don't mind green beers).

edit: I could be wrong on the 5 batches thing, I can't find info on how many times they brewed it.

I'd be fine with them brewing other beers with more regularity if they were the other top-tier ones, but the issue is that the majority of their other "best" beers are pretty similar. You've got Dun3 which is Citra + Galaxy, Blazed Orange which is Citra + Strata, Grid/Dub Grid with Citra + Mosaic, and Tavern Cut is Citra + Vic Secret. They're all great beers, but it's no coincidence that they all lead with Citra. The thing that makes GB so great is that it's one of their only single-hopped beers, and it's Galaxy.

 

anyone try the new releases yet? thoughts?

 

Have they released the new releases yet? Haven't seen any of the local places posting about receiving them.

 

Looks like deliveries started today

 

And no one has had them yet? Guys, it's almost 10 am, someone crack open a damn beer!

 

A few places in the burbs got drops yesterday.

 

Seeing reviews on untappd. Symbols of Math not a hazy so it's getting <4 .

 

I don't think its supposed to be hazy right? I think they tweeted its a classic west coast IPA

 

If it ain't hazy, it's lazy....

 

Untappd is a plague