Other Half (2021)

Not to beat a dead horse, but it's a mix of things, I think, though I am NJ trash not a true local.
Florida plates was a good example of a collaboration beer that got hyped in the days of lines and 2 hour sell outs even on a Wednesday afternoon. Now, with so many NEIPAs and fruited sours, IPAs, berliners, etc, its old news by the third batch.
In general other half simply isn't as interesting because it's easier to obtain and there are so many options. I mean look at NY and PA and what's available between shelves, local breweries, and delivery.
Besides all that, I'd argue, for better or worse, a result of putting out so many "different " beers is that they turn into a slew of samey beers. Now that would be fine, if they didn't do 200 different IPAs a year, but did a core rotation like say hop butcher or D96 with collaboration beers interspersed. Look, if you like the beers, drink them and don't worry about the brats on Facebook. Of course try others too when you can!
Better yet just go get some Suarez palatine pils because that's the next step anyway, and unlike me you live in NY and can get it. Anyone that couldn't survive on OH IPAs and Suarez lagers/pils is just being a troll. (I guess toss ETNYC and finback stouts and you're pretty well set!)

 

I can't find any release info on this but a DC brewed ACE showed up at my local beer store, canned 1/12 and it's...ok. Fairly different from what I remember and not in a good way.

 

Agreed I've had it, it's not the same. Too dry I think? Very much not what I hoped. I bought it to give it a chance since post COVID, I will travel to DC now and then. This is mediocre at absolute best. Very disappointing. They should reconsider core beers being brewed outside gowanus. I'll stick with triple crossing down there if this is their best impersonation job.

 

I was just trying to get a sense of what people on here think. I'll still keep buying OH beers because the ones I enjoy outweigh the ones that might have missed.

Also, I need to make a trip to Suarez one day. I've only had a few of their beers when they used to pop up at beer bars in NYC.

 

Oh not a knock! Just putting in my two sense. @algebeeric_topology or @rozzom or any of a number of others have much more informed opinions than I do, but I wanted to reassure you that, no, you're not crazy.

 

It's frustrating because I live a mile from OH DC but so far most of the beers I've bought have been disappointing at best, absolute trash at worst.

It's actually about the same $ to get Triple Crossing shipped to me so I don't know why I keep doing this to myself.

 

Drinking water outside NYC is always weird, like this water I drink at home just tastes "right" but this different water is unusual and doesn't taste as good as the locals and expats say. It's not bad! I can't put my finger on it either. I prefer my water at home. I've lived in other cities and I recall their water was fine, even though now I find it weird.

And that's why OH beer tastes great now, and has always been great since it was first great to me.

 

Let's forget the IPA controversies for now. Did anyone here have Staring at the Sea? I'm drinking both varieties now. I don't drink porters often but these are tasty. Roasty and toasty. Perfect for a brisk night.

 

Thursday night I had three different OH beers at a gathering and two were borderline undrinkable and the third was amazing. This sums up my experience with OH; its a crap-shoot, but if you pick the right one, it is amazing.

It reminds me of where EQ was 6-8 months ago.

 

Facebook reminded me that our meetup at the grand delancey was 1 year ago today. It honestly feels much longer than that.

 

Out of curiosity, what beers did you have?

 

I thought 2 was at least drinkable. 1 was terrible.

 

This latest collab pick up was pretty much my worst OH experience. Have been enjoying their beers since the beginning, but I really need to just stop and focus on other locals for a bit.

The Burial collab was really the only thing that was interesting, the rest were just hazy, thick, blah. I was so traumatized by the blandness of the first Juice Gymnastics that I haven’t been able to fathom opening any of the other three of the four pack.

I’ve had a handful of really stellar OH beers during the pandemic, but for the most part it’s been pretty meh lately and now just bland, sameness with the occasional really cool label that sucks me back in.

 

I do wonder specifically what has changed. Seems like it could be
- change in yeast (hence the overpowering melon thing)
- using less hops to save money. Let’s face it pandemic hasn’t been good for business and if you can pump out the same IPA with slightly was hops why not?
- maybe the new yeast overpowers the unique hops so much that everything kind of tastes blah now?

 

I’m on my second can of gymnastics and I’m enjoying it much more than my first, I think mostly because it’s not following something else. To me, this is something I’d show to someone who has never gotten into craft beer yet, mostly because it’s not angular in its profile but smooth as hell and very drinkable. The hops aren’t muted, but nothing really pops out. And the best part?..,.

no melon!!

 

When the marketers and the bean counters take over, the quality of the beer will suffer. When they have 50 different beers in cans at any given time, quantity is what’s most important to them, not quality.

Not sure if they are using cheaper ingredients (bean counters), or they can’t scale to all of those beers with great descriptions (marketers), or some other reason, but it’s very clear to me the train left the station a long time ago.

Trilliums quality suffered too as they got bigger.

If you like the beer and being part of the family, god bless you, have had it, but the beer has clearly suffered as OH has exploded all over the place.

 

OK, I need to try another one then. When I had the first one, I turned to my wife and said “this is the most boring beer I’ve ever drank. It tastes like nothing.” I had about three or four drinks and then poured it down the drain. Maybe it was just a bad can?

 

Surprised you're not side by siding every one of these anniversary beers.

This is literally the worst damnation of craft beer these days IMO, especially when it comes to IPAs. There have been so many times I've had the first of a four pack and felt like I didn't want to open any of the other cans. I'm sorry that's the case with JG for you.