Chicagoland NE IPAs (2018)

12/21 was the date on these

 

Yea the Stratus is till just a bit harsher in bitterness than The RAM, Hop Butcher, Mikerphone, etc, but some who miss a bit more bitterness to the style may find that appealing. I'd say Hailstorm is just a bit behind the others I mentioned, but they're closing the gap quick in my opinion, and with much less hype

 

Thankfully I'm not the only one who is getting that aftertaste on the latest batches of Hop Butcher NE Style IPA's. I was super pumped to get two 4-packs of Mellotron, and honestly I hated it - there was this pine-y, almost yeast-y aftertaste that never went away. I'm still sitting on a 4-pack of it that I'm never going to drink.

I thought Reply Hazy had it as well, not as pine-y, but I will adopt the term "twang" that was used earlier in this thread regarding it's aftertaste. I think I'll be skipping out on the next one Hop Butcher puts out, unless the reviews in this thread tell me otherwise.

I thought I was in for a treat, the beer looks great!

 

I don't recall hearing as much about Cumulus as I did with the Hop Butcher/Mikerphone/Ram stuff, but between me being further out in the burbs and the fact that I'm paying closer attention recently to brewers making this style probably explains it. Cumulus is the only one I haven't tried yet so I need to keep an eye out. I certainly don't want to downplay Hailstorm at all, like I said they're quickly dialing their beers in. All in all I'm thrilled this style is catching on. I've had a decent number of Trillium's beers, The Alchemist, Bissell Brothers, and a couple from Treehouse and our guys here around Chicago are getting pretty damn close!

 

That's a great question about weighing your options about a 3rd or 4th batch of a IPA that might be improving or a new hyped batch 1 IPA. I'm actually tempted to re-visit Stratus, thought it was pretty good the first time I had.

I actually haven't been a huge fan of Hop Butcher's IPA's. I think the Belgian yeast is a little heavy for me. To the point where I think it should be on the description of the label as a Belgian IPA. Obviously not as sexy from a marketing stand point when you can put NE Style IPA on the can

 

Give Stratus another shot, its the real deal now. As far as Hop Butcher, I'm not sure what yeast they use, but I'd highly doubt its of Belgian origin. There is something interesting about it though and it does give their beers an interesting characteristic. I perceive it as more of a sweet juiciness, but I know people perceive things differently can see how some may be put off by it.

 

Not a homebrewer, so this may be a dumb question, but...

Can a "house yeast" deteriorate/change over time? Mutate? Get funkier?

Because in my completely unscientific opinion, I think the HBFTW yeast is getting WAAY funkier with each IPA batch!!

 

Just out of curiosity, are the people trying the Hop Butcher stuff and disliking it trying it again a few weeks later? As some people are mentioning, these NE IPAs may hit a peak a few weeks later vs fresh. Not sure if it "evolves" in a better or worse way.

 

It's been a while since I weighed in, but as a displaced Northeasterner who used to enjoy Treehouse and Trillium on a pretty regular basis, I think Hop Butcher is doing very, very well with the style. I didn't quite get the yeastyness that everyone else is describing from Reply Hazy; the funky, rotten fruit notes of the Motueka hops they've been using is what some of you may be picking up on, I think. I thought Reply Hazy was the best I've had recently--it was crisp, just bitter enough, and still had the over-the-top juiciness that I think is really the only clear determinant of the style. The recent Marz DIPA was excellent as well, as was Juice is Loose (though those two beers are nearly interchangeable, in my opinion). If I had to pick a favorite, I think Cumulus is still the most straightforward adaptation of the style. It's nothing fancy, but it definitely makes me nostalgic for Massachusetts. Just my two cents--this is all subjective, really. I'm just enjoying being in Chicago for this evolving NE DIPA contest!

 

Not a dumb question at all. If they are harvesting and repitching through multiple generations there can be mutations and performance changes, though Id imagine that they would closely monitor that

 

I don't see a lot of the local 1st & 2nd wave breweries doing those NE styles (Pipeworks, HA, GI, FFF, Haymarket, Piece, Rev.), probably because they have established what works for them and have a loyal following so are happy with making what they like to drink. Newer wave breweries like Hailstorm, Hop Butcher, Mapelwood are looking to expand their customer base and one way to do that is to offer something unique or in demand and get the word of mouth going. NE Style feeds the hype for them and they aren't competing with the big guys on those.

 

I agree here, mostly because I'm a Pipeworks fanboy. They always do great things with their lineup of DIPA's - and they do experiments with them in their collabs (the recent Toppling Goliath Collab) and their fish series DIPA's. Citra was the OG for me and my Pipeworks DIPA experience, and every time I see another Shadow Warrior bottle I know I have to grab it, because I'm going to love it.

Now if they stick to styles that they do best, while trying out new things like a NE Style IPA, I'm all for it. I just don't want them sacrifice quality product to follow the trend of other breweries in the area. That being said, you don't want to be left behind either, but I feel they've built up enough cred to not have that happen...I'm rambling at this point and I'll just leave it at that

 

I would agree, Hailstorm has clearly improved from previous batches....lovely color, nose, etc.

 

GB2 had the yeasty "twang" that I thought diminished after a week. I thought reply hazy had the same, going to test one out this weekend. Forgot I left a Very Green in my parent's fridge over thanksgiving, had it at 7 weeks old after Christmas. IMO it was still better than fresh JIL, Reply Hazy, and Morning Fog.