Aslin Beer Co. (2019)

Hopefully they got a new bottling line...

 

To answer my own question, I thought the beer was off. Dark brown, murky and very light carbonation. Drank ~1/4 can and poured the rest out.

Pure speculation but it seems like the cans I got may have been from the bottom of the tank, some of the photos of draft pours on Untappd look much lighter in appearance. Maybe they fill kegs first and then cans?

 

Write to them about it. That's bullshit for $20/4 pack.

 

I did, they said I could bring the remaining cans back for a replacement. I'd take them up if it was more convenient for me to drive over there or I had bought more than a 4 pack.

 

How’d you get in touch with them? I emailed them a week ago and haven’t heard back

 

I emailed the [email protected] address. Pretty sure they replied in less than 24 hrs

 

Any insight on the 3 mystery bottles this weekend?

 

I'd guess there are 3 15% barrel aged stouts with no less than 3 adjuncts in each one, one might be a different style but still BA and high ABV. They have been using different bottles for the sours. $30 per bottle to go, $75 in house.

 

Based on a chat with their staff on Friday, it's at least one barrel-aged barleywine and at least one barred-aged stout. I only know the name for one, the barleywine, which is Carolla. Not sure what the third bottle is, but, like joerooster, my guess would be a 15-16.5% adjunct-heavy stout. Count me in!

 

A little birdie told me this:

“BA stout (Blend of Red Wine, Port and Cognac Barrels. Finished in Rye Whiskey Double Barrel Aged Stout, Brewed with Beignets and Conditioned on Brazilian Coffee from Mostra, Cocoa Nibs and Vanilla) and two BA barleywines (one vanilla beans, one coconut).”

 

That stout sounds like a mess

 

Has anyone had Aslin's other barleywines? I'm a fan of the style but I'm not sure how the vanilla and coconut will be. The big boozey adjunct stouts they make have been hit or miss for me.

 

To my tastes, it's been a mixed bag.

I thought the third anniversary barleywine, Leather, was fantastic and deserved a lot higher Untappd average than it got. I suspect some people gave it less-than-stellar ratings because they had expected to get a bottled, barrel-aged stout with their VIP ticket to the party--hoping to flip it for a profit--and they took their disappointment out on the beer when they got a 4-pack of non-barrel-aged Leather cans.

I thought Figgy Pudding was pretty good but a bit thin. It sort of straddled the line between their super adjunct-heavy brews and a more traditional English barleywine, if that affects your view on whether it would tickle your fancy.

The two barrel-aged barleywines they released around their first anniversary, Bourbon Rambler and Brandy Rambler, were average at best. Keep in mind, that was three years ago, long before they really had much of a successful portfolio outside the NE IPA and sour styles. They seem to have figured out a lot since then, so it's probably not best to use those as a reference for their current abilities.

 

It certainly wasn't a traditional barleywine, but I thought they nailed Rich Girl for what they were going for.

 

Signature Move is so amazing. We can't get anything like this here in Chicago. I can't wait to crack a Summer Fruitatta tonight.

Quick question... does Aslin produce sours/sour IPAs all year round? i'm obsessed..Thanks in advance

 

Sours, yes. They tend to focus on two schools of sours. The more common is the fruited and lactose sweetened varietal, like Totally Cannon, Signature Move, Volcano Sauce, and the 4th Anniversary Sour. The less common one is barrel-aged Belgian style, but my limited experience with those has left me with some of the worst gushers I've ever experienced or even heard of, and they're usually underwhelming. The guy who was driving the BA sour program at Aslin, Zack Ross, just left about a month ago, so who knows where that's going.

Sour IPAs, no. They come and go, and they aren't usually very good. Hudson Valley they are not.

 

Signature Move was actually a sour IPA. And I'm not saying it's as good as Hudson Valley, but it is scoring a healthy 4.21 on that other beer rating website. And I thought it as delish.

 

They used to do fruited Gose and Beliners pretty frequently but they've kind of moved on from those in favor of the sours with more adjuncts like those you mentioned.

 

My mistake. I must have grouped it in with the fruited sours because, like their fruited sours, it went heavy on added fruit and milk sugar, it was much more sweet than sour, and my opinion on its "goodness" was more in line with their typical fruited sours rather than their sour IPAs. For what it's worth, I gave it a 4.25 on that other site, a rating that's substantially higher than I've given any of their other attempts at sour IPAs.

 

How has the sound been since the dampening install? I've avoided planning going on the weekend because of it, and there's not enough folks on a weeknight to really judge.