Fieldwork appreciation thread

Revisiting Galaxy Juice tonight before hopefully trying Galaxy Sauce for the first time tomorrow. A lot of grapefruit coming through. The New Glory Juicy Centers is very similar to this and I love both.

 

Hit up Berkeley last night and had a Virtual Planetoid, Galaxy Sauce, Orchard Street, and Bean Machine. The IPA's are awesome as expected but Bean Machine really blew my mind! I'm sad I missed the cans.

 

i picked up 8 cans and i still dont think that was enough!

 

Bean Machine is crazy good. We have it on tap here in Sac.

 

Nice. Definitely gonna stock up next time they release it.

 

That's funny, Green was one of the beers I was referring to :-)

Haze was the other.

 

I'm curious... does Tree House have batch variation with their beers? I figure since they brew Julius and Green all the time, they've got it down pat.

I've had Julius in a can twice, and I think they resembled one another.

 

Had Green Rest today, too. Enjoyed it very much. They probably still have cans (released today) but the Sea Farmer cans were sold out by 11:30am.

 

just picked up a pair of green rest cans at sm location, sea farmer is out

i'm really excited for green rest, seems like one i'd really enjoy, i'll find out tonight!

sea farmer sounds a lot like gf sculpin which i'm not a fan of. my brother picked some up so ill try a can and see how it goes down

 

I can't speak to whether Treehouse has variation from batch to batch. But I will say that in my limited experience their beers have a huge fall off with time. The difference between a soft, juicy day 5 Julius and a sweet, Trappist Double ale-ish day 25 Julius is the most drastic variance of any brewery I've had.

 

Oh. Both my Julius cans were 4+ weeks old LOL

 

oh shit! 3 can release tomorrow. man that are pumping out in full force!

galaxy sauce
More bitterness west coast ipa
Always blue ipa

never heard of always blue, any one have it? new? style on the can says "not hotdog" lol love it

 

Went to San Mateo location for the first time. I wasn't as impressed with their setup as I thought I'd be, but it's probably a good thing for San Mateo as there's not much there other than Grape & Grain, which is tiny.

Picked up 4 cans of Galaxy Sauce, and 2 cans each of More Betterness and Always Blue.

They didn't have Virtual Planetoid or Green Rest anymore, so I was bummed that I didn't get to try those. They also didn't have Always Blue on tap.

But I did try:

Sea Farmer - I don't like grapefruit, or grapefruit beers like Sculpin. But this was surprisingly really good! Juicy too!

More Betterness - As a WC IPA, tastes very clean and hoppy with lots of bright citrus and tropical flavors. But it finishes with bitterness that lingers. Probably one of the best FW WC IPAs I've had, as I tend not to like their takes.

Galaxy Sauce - This one is definitely hazy. I like it more than current Double Moonage, but it's because Sauce doesn't have much bitterness, but Double Moonage had a lot. But I would say that it's not as flavorful overall as DM. This feels like a Galaxy Juice+, rather than a Double Galaxy Juice. So depending on whether tha appeals to you or not, that's what this is.

Bean Machine - I didn't seem to like this as much as the other people here. Having tried a number of their darker styles (Hot Chocolate, Imperial Hot Choco, White Chocolate Mocha, Bad Conduct, and now Bean Machine), I feel like they all have a similar profile which is thin, sweet, and a little bit of spice and hop bitterness and their flavors all sorta run together. In fact, it was hard to suss out the coffee flavors from the generic Fieldwork dark beer notes. In the end, I guess I'm not a fan of how they make them.

 

Wow, man, I didn't know you darkened the door of anywhere but Cellarmaker

I was also there at SM yesterday while in town on business. Picked up a prefilled crowler of Eastside Motel, plus Sea Farmer and Green Rest cans. Had Galaxy Sauce on tap (cans hadn't arrived), and I was similarly unimpressed. It's too bad: I love Pulp like my own mother, but they can't seem to reach those heights with their other beers. Eager to try Sea Farmer, though.

 

Not down with Eastside?

 

No, I actually like it a lot, had a couple cans last batch and looking forward to the crowler. Should have made that clear.

 

went at 1230 today and more bitterness was already sold out, maybe they didn't make a lot? owell more galaxy sauce it is

 

Woohoo, glad to hear bean machine is good. I had an nonbeer fan grab me a four pack prior to my drive up this week.

 

Spent a good time at FW Sac yesterday - my bday party. I finally had a sampler. The IPA's were totally on point - especially Virtual Planetoid and Eastside Motel. Galaxy Sauce didn't have the sophistication that Galaxy Juice did but it was still nice. Bean Machine was quite sweet on the palate which turned me off. Their IPA lineup was amazing perhaps the best IPA lineup I've had at FW. I invited some friends to my bday celebration and I think I made my point about the quality of FW.
Aferwards I went to New Glory. The Juicy Centers was as good as any of the FW IPA's and the board at New Glory showed 4 new beers coming up. Given the particulars at NG I'll be very intersted in these.

 

I like Moonraker and Santa Adairius a lot for hoppy stuff too. But I actually think of Fieldwork and Alvarado Street as a clear 2nd tier as far as the Bay Area scene is concerned. I've visited Fieldwork a number of times, and each time come away wishing I liked their beers more.

But going back to what you mentioned...

I actually think that Fieldwork was making really good NE-style beers in 2016. I've tried either the first or second batch they've ever made of Pulp, Galaxy Juice, Orchard Street, St. Monroe and Overripe! and I thought they were amazing! No one in the bay was putting out those kinds of beers. GJ was my favorite beer ever for a time.

But ever since they've been canning end of '16, I feel like they're chasing after the $$$. Because none of these beers have since been like they were last year. They taste worse, and generally don't have the same look & feel either.

I get that cans is why some people even know of Fieldwork. But as someone who has been drinking their stuff for longer than that, their quality has fallen to the point that they're just another mediocre beer to me. I'm hoping that Cellarmaker doesn't become that.