Trying new breweries in California during quarantine

North Park. Had never had anything from them and had only seen their stouts get hyped. Ordered cans of Party Cup and Sorta Mostly Dead to be shipped and both were great. I’m kicking myself for not ordering the full case of Party Cup when it was up.

 

I love that breweries are shipping statewide. So far I’ve only ordered from Casa Agria, Progress, and Monkish. I’d order more but the main impediments are minimum order size and cost of shipping, which are kind of the same issue (as in most cases I have to order a ton to drive shipping per can into negligible range, and I can only drink so much beer and we already have a lot of beer on hand to get through.)

I tried Casa Agria, which skirted both these issues thanks to their free shipping deal. I’ve had a collab of theirs before but not their own beers. I like what I had and, while not blown away, would gladly order them again, especially Can’t Beat the Biz TIPA.

I’ve also ordered from Progress and Monkish, which I’ve had before. I ordered from Progress because they don’t really distribute, and I legitimately like their stuff enough to put up with paying shipping. Monkish, I do perfectly enjoy their beers, but I also have to admit that it’s equally the novelty of getting the trendiest cans in CA that drove me to try to order them.

I’m in the SF Bay Area so I’m holding off on ordering shipping from beers from here. Seems a bit overkill, knowing that in regular times I can just go up to Cellarmaker or Fieldwork or down to Sante/Humble Sea and not have to buy a whole case. (In fact I did make a quick run to Cellarmaker to stock up in early March when it looked like we were about to get locked down.) And many of the others distribute to grocery/corner stores in the area such as Henhouse and Moonlight and Ghost Town, even if they may have a better selection on their website.

I’m looking at getting my next order from a brewery that can’t easily be found here so probably somewhere in SoCal. Looking at Green Cheek, HPB or North Park. I want to try Green Cheek but they don’t usually have too many different different kinds available for shipping at once. HPB has even less of a variety at a given time. So it will probably be North Park. They have a couple interesting looking 4-packs right now. Their WC IPAs seem to get high marks, how are their NE IPAs and Fruity beers?

 

I am really intrigued by Fieldwork and Humble Sea, particularly the former. I would also like to ask about their current hoppy offerings and what you guys think.

 

Incidentally, I saw very fresh Focal Banger and Heady at Whole Foods and bought a four pack of Focal. Unrecognizable from what I remember tasting years ago.

It was bitter, aromatically dull, and more than mediocre. My 9.99 Madewest Hazy was far better.

 

Not new to the brewery but have been stoked to get to try some hops from Moonlight. Delhi by Dinghi is a nice solid ipa and Calcutta by Clipper is a surprisingly quaffable pale coming in just south of 4%.

Agree with above though, the Dim Lights has been the standout from the mixed pack for me. And of course D&T kills the game in it's usual way

 

I think Fieldwork's been on a roll lately - Dreaming in Neon, Sound Parade, and this batch of Saint Thomas are all really nice and smooth. Mo Pulp was tremendous. I'd give their recent hazies the edge over ASB's & Moonraker's if that matters.

 

As I noted in the shipping thread, Party Cup all day. Just love that beer. So glad I pulled the trigger. Tried to hold off, but ended up grabbing all the new Casa cans this morning, have loved that last two drops. Too hard to resist for all the reasons that have already been noted.

Have come so close to grabbing stuff from a few other breweries, but just end up driving over to Green Cheek Too.

 

Yeah, now that the Alchemist is more common on shelves here, it’s automatically not as good as it used to be.

 

Haha, that's the way it always is. I hadn't had any Alchemist before, but I got to try Heady Topper and Focal Banger recently and I thought they were both quite delicious.

 

I still have never had HT or FB so they must be delicious!

 

Sorta mostly dead from North Park Beer Co for my west coast itch and Casa Agria for all the dirty haze

 

I've tried Slice in Lincoln twice since quarantine. First time I made the trip, was totally worth it, 4 or 5 weeks ago. Second time a friend made the trip and got some for me, I didn't like them as much as the first time. This is last weekend's can releases, a dipa and a tipa (also a coffee stout that I haven't opened yet).

 

North Park for me. I've had their stouts, but hadn't enjoyed their other releases. Very happy with the order I placed from them, and will likely order another case.

 

Yea, your right, I grabbed a few at Bottlecraft and they weren't cheap to say the least, BUT.....I really dig most of their stuff so I'll pay $6+ for a well made can of a IPA-DIPA from them if it's in my wheelhouse both hop bill and ABV wise.

Cheers,

 

Haven't tried ordering anything new yet... sticking with my regional stuff (Temescal, Henhouse, Moonlight, Ghost Town, Shady Oak, Rose's Taproom, Rare Barrel) and I'm tempted to order some stuff from my hometown (Tioga Sequoia in Fresno). If anybody has some smaller SoCal breweries making solid stuff and shipping to the Bay Area I'd love some recommendations.

 

If sours are your jam, Cellador Ales is pretty fantastic. I'd try Confuzzled, Le Con, Murex, and Saison du Rossier for a nice sample of their offering. Beautiful beers.

 

Change of plans. My next online order will not be from North Park, because I dropped by my corner shop, and lo and behold:



So, I guess I can answer my own question about how their NE IPAs and fruity beers are. They’re freaking fantastic!!!

 

I need help ranking: Cellarmaker, Fieldwork, North Park, Humble Sea, in order of hop offerings

 

Depends on the beer.
Generally NPBC>Cellarmaker>Humble Sea=Fieldwork
It's all good beer, but Humble Sea prices are off-putting when I see them in shops -- $7-8 a can for fairly standard hazy beer is too steep, so I end up skipping a lot of it.

 

I am generally partial to the ABS style of hyper dank and green aromatic profile, heavy onion more than tropical sweetness or smoothness: CNJ, Nelson Baby... which remind me a lot of top shelf Other Half. Although I think both breweries have tamed their hop forwardness down in the interest of smoothness, which I find a big shame (I recently had OH and was very let down; and the last few ASB cans were a bit less assertive than I remember, though still good).

As I mentioned earlier, vintage OH Hop Showers is probably my favorite IPA of all time, alongside HF Double Galaxy, and Sante/ASB collab batch 1.

I also love Monkish (babbleship sticks out in memory)... but they are a bit less complex on the nose, even if they are basically hop smoothies. I don't like HBP haze, for instance, which I find chalky and boring.

I recently ordered a Sante case with Spots and Dots, Point Being, and Tomorrow Today. All were very, very good, but none blew me away. Maybe that helps you get a feel for my preferences.