Night Shift Brewing

I'd second that notion, I've come back multiple times the past couple weeks specifically with the intent of having another pint of this

 

@masterob8

Any chance you guys will have the Celtics game on tonight?

 

It should be. If it is not - feel free to ask the bartenders to turn it on.

 

Yup. It's awesome. Would love to see it canned

 

Grabbed a mixed 4pk of the OHTT. Seems to be a way to shift old stock. Couple of 2 month old beer. 2 more one month old.

Think it was the Nelson and the Falconers that were packaged back in March. Taste seemed faded.

I like the idea of mixed 4pks. Just not mixes of beers that have been sitting around since the last snow.

 

I'm glad the mixed packs are out there - on paper it seems like a good compromise to allow people to try all the available varieties - but letting people just buy singles is ultimately the right solution from the consumer point of view. I believe @Sweatshirt made the point already that they seem to need to regulate their batch sizes so that things like Falconers isn't still hanging around while they've moved on to four newer One Hops. If that could happen, selling singles shouldn't be an issue.

 

Yeah, singles would be great. Especially seeing how many new beers they manage to put out. Being able to grab my favourite 4pk plus a couple of singles to try would be great

 

Shoutout to @masterob8 and the crew at Night Shift. Was just thinking a couple weeks back about the 2015 Barrel Society beers that I had cellared and when might be best to drink them. They sent out an e-mail to 2015 BS members today with their recommendations on when to drink all the beers, which is very appreciated. Thanks NS!

 

Wow. Is the fanboy that strong in you? The letter was blatantly saying how certainly bottles are infected.

I like Nightshift but this is a bad look and it's laughable that they are spinning this like they are.

 

Seriously? I've been critical of them when deserved, and I've been appreciative of them when deserved. I didn't renew with the BS because I didn't like the idea of being forced to buy swag, and I spoke about about that -- and I haven't come back. In this case, they were not under any obligation to send any kind of follow up -- yet they did -- so I was thanking them.

 

Are you really reading that letter and having nothing sound weird to you?

To me that letter - very clearly- reads "these bottles are infected, so you should pop them now before they explode in your cellar"

On the bottle labels themselves it says to cellar and age the beer. Now - "oopsie, you should actually drink those immediately."

Listen, shit happens with wild fermentation brewing and beers get bugged that weren't meant to. Not a big deal if you deal with it like Goose island and refund but NS is seemingly trying to slide under the radar with this.

I think it's insulting to the customer to try to send some BS "drink these previously cellarable beers now because they're peaking!" letter to cover up an infection and I am really surprised nobody else is talking about this.

I paid good money for Barrel Society and I certainly won't be giving NS another dime after this.

 

Here's my two cents... The email was sent out regarding beers that are 2 years old. (Goose Island was having problems with beers that were fresh & legitimately infected, not 2 years down the road.) I don't see the email as a "cover our @$$" email but rather a "not required" & friendly update on where the beers are lining up in flavor and taste. After 2 years it is entirely possible the flavor is or has or will very soon peak and I personally appreciate the heads up. I'm not popping bottles very frequently to check (since I only have so many).
Finding that some of the beers may have a unexpected brett character to them and possibly refermenting as a result is the life of oak aged beers in a massive storage facility with brett and non-brett beer co-located. And, Brett beers can referment in the bottle after a certain period of time on their own. Nothing new there. Not like they are pasteurized post bottling...
So -- I'm actually not surprised about the brett character or referments and even knew about the Sargent referment from visiting the brewery and seeing the keg pours of nearly pure foam last fall. Still tasted absolutely fantastic, if not even better than when it was fresh. I did open a bottle of it recently and it wasn't that bad on the carbonation and again, the taste was fantastic and really enjoyed it.

 

Swung by last night. Helles and Bock was pretty decent. Thievery was lovely. A nice citrusy sessionable pale ale. Also tried El Lechedor. Awesome. Tastier than the BS Elbrus on tap.

 

Woow. With some people you just can't win. The email wasn't intended to be a cover up for infected bottles if anything staying silent would have been smarter if that was the goal. NSB has never been shy about admitting our mistakes. We public post about them when they occur. This isn't a "laughable spin" or "sliding under the radar". Back in Feb we sold some cans with bad seams and posted it online (here) offering refunds. I think our track record shows that hiding things aren't what we do.

With the exception of 1 beer they were all funky beers that have referemented. Which isn't totally surprising as brett and bacteria can continue to work for a long time very slowly. That doesn't make them infected however - unless you mean that they were purposely infected or pitched with a funky culture nearly 3 years ago before they rested in oak.

Most of those bottles are 2.5 years old and while they are meant to cellar that doesn't mean they are meant to cellar indefinitely or they won't peak or fade. Wine does the same thing. Just giving a friendly update on how bottles are tasting.

Oh well - you win some and you lose some customers. We will just keep focused on those that appreciate our world class beer, taproom and customer service. Cheers!

 

For what it's worth, I opened up a Hogarth last night. It did foam over upon opening (slow and steady) and the beer was a bit aggressively carbonated at first. However, after letting it sit for 5-10 minutes the beer settled down a lot. Tasted just about as expected from memory and the tasting notes, though a bit more funky and oaky than I recall from the fresher version.

Personally, I liked that NS sent out the email. It was a nice public service that saved me from making a mess in my kitchen. They very easily could have not checked up on these at all considering it's a two-plus year old beer with an extremely limited bottle count. Do I wish the beer would cellar perfectly for a longer period of time? Sure, especially since I had planned on getting to these next year. Do I fault them for it? No, I am sufficiently convinced this was a situation beyond their control.

 

I stopped in on Saturday afternoon around 4:30. Happy to report no line to get in, and we were served quickly. I really enjoyed the Heller Bock. Sweetness in the nose but medium body. Really nice malt character. Also one of my favorite batches of Pfaff as well. Such a well made beer that doesn't try to be a new school hopped up pils.

 

I like NightShift as much as the next guy, but "world class" and beer is getting thrown around way too much these days.

 

Perhaps - but winning a World Beer Cup Award for our flagship IPA, Santilli, makes it feel pretty appropriate to use the term "world class" amongst other recognitions. Cheers!

 

Impossible for a brewery to predict how a beer will age (especially one that has not been brewed and aged before and even then is difficult with a mix ferment) in 2 years.

World Class designation is an opinion. I have not been to night shift in years, but really enjoyed my experience there and thought a couple of their beers were fantastic and thought some of their other beers were good. I have tried quite a few of their beers over the last few years and think they are a very good brewery with world class customer service and incredible professionalism, but personally I do not think they are A wold class brewery, but have I no problem if someone else thinks they are. A world class brewery.

 

I won't comment on whether or not Night Shift is a "world class" brewery or not, but I like their beer, go fairly often, and was there last Friday.

But I agree, the term "world class" is thrown around way too much. I would wager most people who use that term haven't even left New England.

I feel like these days, if a brewery makes a decent New England style IPA they're considered "world class".