Ram Brewery Side Note Releases

Completely agree with you. Ive had two versions of Special Sauce and in my opinion Juicy is by far Chicago's best representation of the style. As someone who strictly drinks IPA's and as much NE stuff as I can get via trade, its not Treehouse or Trillium on a couple different levels. I dont think anyone can duplicate the mouth feel of Treehouse. And Im sure its hard to believe, but Treehouse and Trillium are still more 'Juicy' than 'Juicy'.

 

So I'm coming into this beer with no pre-conceived notions, and as someone that didn't wait inline, I gotta say, I don't get the hype on this at all.

I mean it's ok. It's fine. But Ninja vs Unicorn and Navaja are miles better. I would probably skip this beer if it was on a shelf and grab something else.

And that's just shelf IPA. In terms of NE style, both Mikerphone and Transient run laps around the beer.

It just doesn't have the sweetness and hoppy finish that I'm used to.

To each their own. I hope you all love it and can drink as much as you want, but I'm just trying to find the hype on this one. Treehouse, Trillium, Heady, etc, I get.

 

I think it's fantastic (and I genuinely mean this) that the two posts right above this one are so diametrically opposed ("best Chicago NE IPA" vs. "not even close"); I love how different the experiences are. We all get so caught up in hype that it's helpful to remember just how different people's palates are (haven't had Juicy, so I can't say which side of the debate I'm on, if any).

 

Completely agree. Glad everyone else loves though.

 

The few TreeHouse offerings I've had were fine. Didn't really impress me much. Now, Trillium, on the other hand, everything I've had from them was insanely good. Probably had 10-15 different ones and loved most (save for the one with Chardonnay in it). I would put Juicy just below most of the stuff from Trillium. I love Ninja and Navaja but would take Juicy all day (assuming the price point were better). Like @SeanBond said, to each their own!

 

Couldn't agree more about Trillium vs. Tree House...Trillium seems to be much better.

For me, though, the best of the bunch is Society & Solitude 4 from Hill Farmstead...that's the only one that NONE of the Chicago-area stuff can hold a candle to.

 

I wish the group that put on Fobab would start an IPA and Pale ale fest for spring or summer. Bring in all the high quality stuff they do for Fobab. There really needs to be a fest like this where everyone brings their best, freshest IPAs and pales so you can see which ones you like best side by side.

 

And just to show another side of the coin, I would say Trillium was the least impressive of all the NE IPA's I've had...as well as the least impressive to the people I shared them with. There were 2-3 Trillium that I did like (out of the 10 or so I've tried), but most of the rest didn't stand out at all. It's been documented on here that I'm not the biggest into this style, but the friends/family I shared it with didn't think much of it and I could hardly give it away in line at DLD.

 

Preferences, preferences...

I'd take Tree House all day. I really like Trillium stuff too (I've had about a dozen+ from each) but for my money, I'd take TH. Juicy is the closest to NE IPAs (whatever that means) that I've had from Chicagoland, in my opinion and I'd take it over NvU and Navaja without question. Those two are still solid beers but if all three were on a shelf, I'd never pass up on Juicy for those two.

I will agree with you that Society & Solitude is awesome. I've had #8 and I couldn't stop drinking it.

 

HOW DARE YOU HAVE A DIFFERENT OPINION FROM MINE

 

Meh-He-CoCo is going to the be the final Side Note of the year

 

Was planning to hit RAM today as I see their menu says they still have Juicy on draft. I'll call them before I leave just to make sure, obviously, but was anyone at RAM over the weekend and was Juicy indeed on draft??

 

theres an untappd checkin from 17 hours ago at the RAM - its possible! @shaun_the_brewer ?

 

Yes

 

I had Bechamel from 18th street today - collab with Cigar City. It was a good IPA - but seemed a bit different from what I think of for this style. The bitterness shines through more than a NE IPA.

 

Hey guys,

Sorry, I've been busy! It is still pouring, im not exactly sure how much is left, guessing a keg or two (its in a serving tank and its below the sight glass so I cant see exactly how much). I think many people thought since we ran out of cans, we ran out of it all.

I know there were some comments regarding the double dipping in line, unfortunately we dont have a system in place right now to control that. It is something we will consider on future release though. Thank you everyone who was able to come out and support us. It's awesome!

Next release will be side note 5, meh-he-coco a imp. Stout aged on peppers, cocoa nibs, vanilla and cinnamon. No confirmed date, but likely 11/5. Then morning fog, a ne inspired double ipa with all mosaic hops, hopefully we'll have that towards the end of November or very early december.

Cheers!

 

Suggestion from a couple other releases I've seen. Write RAM on people's hands in permanent marker. Sure people could go somewhere and scrub their hands, but very few are a combination of that deceitful and willing to work that hard. Simple solution that would be more than effective enough.

 

I got real excited by everything in this post until I saw my hop nemesis, Mosaic, mentioned.

DRAT!!!!!