Aslin Beer Co. (2019)

In case anyone is interested, here is the cost breakdown for the Barrel Program

- Base price: $6,000 (Includes barrel, base stout, bottling in standard bottles, & labeling.)
- Adjuncts (optional) : $500/each
- Waxing (optional) :
- $500 (Receive materials and space for your group to wax)
- OR $1,000 (Waxing done for you)
- Magnum bottles (optional) : Depends on how many magnum bottles you would like
- Double barreling (optional) : $2,000

 

I feel like this is something that would make sense as a partnership with local retailers, but it seems like it would be harder to organize with individual consumers.

 

Was there yesterday and Double Orange Starfish, at least, had no burn. Had a Buku Mocha, which was tasty and in cans as well.

 

Is there a place where people are getting groups together to do this? Would love to get in on one or start one.

 

There's a Facebook group named "Aslin Private Barrels" with over 800 members and lots of projects in the works.

 

I saw multiple accounts comments on Aslin's most recent post saying some of the 15-16.5% stouts are actually closer to 9-10%. Looks like those comments have been deleted but I hadn't heard that before.

 

I saw that too. Some guy who seemed to have a fake account said he had them tested? Not sure the validity to the claims, but I assume most breweries put ABVs based on their recipe calculations and do not test every beer. My guess is that the abvs are variable and seems common for craft beer.

 

I definitely assumed some variation from beer to beer, especially when they have so many beers that are either 15% or 16.5%, they can't all be exactly the same ABV. I just assumed the variance to be around 1% or less from the listed ABV.

 

Agreed.

On another note, had champion of the sun and master of oranges on sunday in the tasting room and they were the best beers since opening up the new spot. I also really liked the hefe.

 

Some breweries have QC departments and usually a threshold/margin of error on whether or not the beer is what it says on the label. I think that this is more for beers that go out to distribution so the ABV reflects the labels. If Aslin missed their ABV target by that much, that's egregious. Though, they don't distribute...

 

I'd be curious to hear if anything more comes from this. As I've noted on this site before, I've long harbored suspicions about the accuracy of the ABVs they advertise on their super boozy stouts. It's hard to imagine they can hide that level of heat so much better than the likes of Dogfish Head, and I don't feel as fuzzy as I would expect from that ABV after drinking one. That's not to say I'm putting much faith in anonymous social media commentary; I just view this as another data point.

 

I'm interested as well. Aslin can't even seem to agree on the ABV of Buku Mocha. The can says 13.5%, but when it was released the instagram post said it was 18%. Multiple employees told me the same thing. Since then they've changed it to say 13.5%. I doubt it's 18% but that's a big gap of uncertainty.

 

Are there screencaps of these allegations anywhere?

 

- The IG post has been edited to say 13.5% (also a reply to a comment from Aslin saying 13.5%
- Can says 13.5%
- Aslin website says 18% (https://www.aslinbeer.com/alexandriadraftbeer and https://www.aslinbeer.com/herndonbeertogo)
- Untappd says 18% and has a comment in the details section saying 'Label says 13.5%, which is incorrect, and should say 18%'

Who fucking knows with these guys, probably like 10% in reality.

They were on yesterdays IG post (photo of bottles), at least 2 accounts mentioned Aslin stouts not being accurate on the ABV, one said they had the beer tested. It appears they have been removed/deleted.

 

Here's a screen shot I got. I have no idea about the validity of this post and "tests" he had done. Might just be a troll with the name pastryboi311, but who knows.

 

Are breweries required to provide an accurate ABV on their products?

 

https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...es-the-abv-on-a-beer-label-have-to-be.552492/

 

So here's the story Aslin provided on Buku the first time they released it. As a caveat, I'm relaying this from memory, and I only have a vague knowledge of the general process for brewing, so apologies in advance if I screw up the terminology or if this generally doesn't make sense.

When they filed for label approval, they listed it as 13.5% based on the recipe they'd settled on and projected final ABV. During the actual brewing, which occurred following the label submission, they either let the boil go too long or boiled at too high a temperature (see caveat above), and the finished product supposedly clocked in at 18%. By then, it was apparently too late to change the label submission, so the first batch was released with a mislabeled ABV. They had leftover labels afterward, so they used them for the second release.

Keep in mind, none of that explains why this third release, with new labels, still lists it as 13.5% if it's actually 18%, nor does it excuse their general inability to set this straight. For what it's worth, one of their employees told me it's 18%, and it's unclear whether Drew or Kai actually manage their social media accounts these days, so who knows?

 

AS long as it tastes good, it's better that the ABV is lower, right?