Covid Ruining Some Really Good Beers?

The on tap stuff about tanked here, places went from 40 taps or more down to a more manageable 5-6, two being AAL. And no ones buying Growlers of Bud Light or Yuengling. Not sure how they hung on when you weren’t allowed to sit anyone.

 

I’m certainly not an expert on TG beers, but Pseudo Sue doesn’t quite taste the same to me as it used to. It’s still a damn good beer, but I think it’s different.

 

I don't know if there's a causal relationship with the pandemic, but it is true that the last TG beer I had that was really good was from last March, a batch of Sosus that I bought several packs of. After that, everything I tried, including later batches of Sosus, were fair to middling, and, in one case, a really bad batch of King Sue, which TG issued refunds for. I gave up on them about six months ago.

 

I bought some King Sue and Pseudo Sue, I thought they were still really good beers though. I did get them in Pa , and not available here so I bought the no regrets. I did buy a 4 pk of Grimm I have buyers remorse though, it was Zonk and imo very expensive. We get some Grimm here but for some reason nothing hoppy at all. I wouldn’t buy it again. Really big IPAs are very hard to do well with my particular palate and once you get over 10% they generally don’t work. It’s not a bad beer but not worth $24.

 

FWIW I would suggest this is a distributor/retailer thing vs. the brewery.

My local Retail Beer Distributor has a large walk in refrigerator where 'choice' beers are always stored and that is where the case stacks of Lawson's beers are stored. There must be a dictate (from the Brewery or Wholesale Distributor?) that the Lawson's beers be continuously stored cold. Maybe there is a 'break' in this storage requirement on the beers you purchased?

A few days ago I purchased a four-pack of The Alchemist Focal Banger at my local Wegmans supermarket (they obtain a few drops per year of The Alchemist beers). That beer was canned on 4/22/21 and there were multiple cases in the refrigerator. On top of the four-pack plastic holder is a label which states in large font: "THIS BEER MUST BE KEPT COLD AT ALL TIMES". To the credit of the beer folks within the Wegmans they were compliant to this requirement which I suspect in no small sense is their concern if they ever weren't compliant they would no longer be supplied with the highly sought beers from The Alchemist.

Cheers!

 

Was there a reason provided by TG for this bad batch?

From reading your post it appears that you think that the quality of TG beers is inconsistent. Is that the case?

Cheers!

 

FWIW Heady is dropping today or tomorrow in Morrisville, so I’d assume Philly might have some.

 

There were multiple cases of Heady Topper at my local Wegmans last Monday (4/26). I did eye that up for a split second but since I found the four-pack of Heady Topper I purchased a few months ago to be too weedy it was an easy no purchase decision for me. Maybe The Alchemist will once again brew Heady Topper to taste like it did a couple/few years ago? If that happens I will once again buy Heady Topper.

Cheers!

 

If it’s a different batch I’d have bought it, I didn’t write down the last batch I had but as you mentioned it was a bit too dank.

 

It is most certainly a different (i.e., new) batch but was it brewed using the same lot of weedy Simcoe hops that was used to brew the four-pack from last December? Or did they use 'new' hops for the batch? I personally was not willing to take an $18 bet here. It would appear that you like to gamble more than I do?

Cheers!

 

No specific reason given, but their Instagram was flooded with complaints. It literally tasted like vegetable water, like they’d skipped some ingredient or step on the brewing process. But they gave everyone a refund who asked for one, you just had to email a photo of the canning date.

I think I’d call them consistently mediocre now, rather than inconsistent. I’m happy to be proven wrong, but someone will have to give it to me free of charge.

 

ISO: Dank, weedy Heady! That’s my jam.

 

Ohh, $18 forgot it’s Pa prices, I’ll never see it here ever. So I gambled, I was thinking $15.

 

Well, Heady Topper is available right now so maybe you can purchase you "jam"? You better get it now (today) since the beers from The Alchemist have sold out very quickly (maybe gone already?).

I have no way of knowing whether this batch is as weedy as the Dec. 2020 batch I bought.

Cheers!

 

Hmm, then something has happened here?

I still remember how much I enjoyed Ithaca Flower Power in the deep past but when the head brewer (Jeff O'Neill) left Flower Power was never the same. It was not an awful beer when he left but just wasn't as good and I decided to stop buying Flower Power (and all Ithaca Brewing beers for that matter).

Maybe some BA knows whazzup with Toppling Goliath and why they are more mediocre vs. very good these days?

Cheers!

 

Heady made it to my local shop and it tasted as good as I remember.

 

My dad got me a 4 pk of Heady this afternoon $19, ouch.

I’m still excited though, I’d buy a case on the spot if I could. That’s just me though, but maybe not at PA prices, or maybe I would, I’m 3 weeks out from the FL beach. Could always use Heady at the beach, it’s my favorite beach beer.

 

Yeah, you won't find $15 four-packs here.

Please let me know how weedy your four-pack is.

Cheers!

 

I certainly will, hopefully in more moderation than the last batch.