Phase Three Brewing (2023)

Plan on making my way down to P3 for the first time this weekend with my wife. Grew up in the south suburbs until college and enjoy supporting local places. Anything in the area that is can't miss for food? Place with a great Italian beef or polish? Any recommendations are welcome.

 

I heard Kookers is the absolute best food in that area or even region

 

I live in Lake Zurich - our place for Italian Beef sandwiches is Bella Lukes. Drive thru/fast casual type joint.

Consume is my probably my favorite restaurant in the area, with usually a pretty great tap list. Upscale gastropub type fair.

definitely hit up Roaring Table Brewing just down the street while you’re in town.

 

Now if only they tasted somewhat similar..

 

Thank you @Bbear and @dbelford for the recs! Will definitely hit one of those places up and stop by Roaring Table!

 

Planifolia.......DENIED!

At least this time I only got one e-mail telling me I'm not cool...they didn't pile on with a second e-mail to remind me....yet.

 

you lucked out. Early reviews say it is terrible.*









(*shhhhh, this isn’t true but he’ll be happier if he thinks it)

 

Didn't miss much by skipping the Planifolia bottle. Eunoia is really well integrated between stout base and coffee, still want a barrel thrown in there. And Curvature is best of the bunch.

 

I'll be the outlier. Not drinking the Kool-Aid. But I'm just one opinion.

 

I still don’t get the hype for phase three BA stouts. There is no barrel so what is the hype?

 

I’m no righteous defender, just curious:

Do you think their non-BA stouts taste the same as their BA stouts?
What does barrel impart or taste like to you?
What are stouts that hit that barrel mark for you?

 

-A group has compared several curvatures to their adjunct BA stouts and they do taste similar and have gotten no detectable barrel
-It depends on the barrel used but should be able to detect the general characteristics of bourbon, rum, brandy etc. Heck I would even enjoy if the barrel cut down the sweetness of p3 stouts but I haven't seen it do that yet
-For local spots, Half Acre is a pretty solid comparison in which they do a lot of adjuncts but I still get decent barrel. Whisky Hill for the most part too. But Revolution and Goose hit the spot.

 

I was pleasantly surprised to walk into Binnys yesterday to see Curvature 13 on the shelves. I had no idea they were distributing it now and also like the format change (maybe they've been doing this for a while and I just haven't been keeping up).

It's P3 so you know it's going to be thick and luscious, but I really liked the can I had last night. All of the elements were present and it was a great sipper.

 

Ok. I stand corrected. Planifolia is merely ok.

 

Affinity batch 2

“For Affinity Blend 2, We've taken a portion of 2023 arabesque and blended it with a young barleywine recipe that will be making its maiden voyage into bourbon barrels this year. The young barleywine brings forward notes of caramel with biscuit, while the Arabesque recipe adds notes of toffee, subtle chocolate, char and whiskey. The base has been touched up with a bit of vanilla to accentuate the sweeter elements of both barleywines.”

up for ambassadors on OZNR now, lottery for other folks later.

$24.46 for 2-12oz cans.

 

Wish they hadn't added vanilla to a beer style that already trends pretty sweet, but oh well. I gave them more money anyway.

 

I'm just hoping it won't be super sweet overall, I finally tried BA Perception of Depth the other day and it was way too syrupy for me. And this is coming from someone that loves stuff like VSOJ.

 

New Phase 3 beer - members only + brewery bottle pours:

“Brewed in early 2020 with our friend Kyle, from Horus, we brewed a massive imperial stout that we let rest in casks for 38 months. At this point this was the longest aging of any stout we’ve done yet. The long time spent in casks picked up an incredible amount of oak and char, unlike any stout we’ve done. While extraordinary on its own, the beer needed some fresh components, so we blended it down with some younger, 18 month old casks. After blending and tasting we decided to add a blend of raw and toasted coconut and then beautiful Congo vanilla beans. Intense umami and bourbon is balanced by creamy coconut and strong aromas and flavors of freshly baked sugar cookies. One of our absolute favorites to date. We hope you enjoy.”

 

So P3 finally discovered barrel only to drown it with adjuncts? I jest. I hope to try it.