Stickman brew works

Even if that's how you are defining it, you weren't wrong that Omnipollo was before Tired Hands.

One of Omnipollo's "Smoothie IPAs" was added to the BA database in 2014: https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/25314/153810/

 

Drinking a Fat Guy in Suspenders right now. Quite good

 

Yeah this was kind of a shocker, i don't really seek out beers adulterated with fruit, yet am always will to try 1. I have to say that up until this point, be it watermelon, pineapple or mango, i didn't really feel like the fruit was elevating the base beer or even changing it considerably. I really liked the banana and nibs and strawberries. And you could really taste the banana but not in an overpoweringly way. BTW the guy serving it said that this is all real fruit/nibs. No banana powder or strawberry extract or whatever.

 

I came on here hoping to find a Stickman thread. These guys recently started canning and I've been loving their Store Bought is Fine IPA...I've tried their other ones, but this is the one for me. The pint of Homemade is Best had an off flavor that I couldn't pin down. Kind of like what I imagine when I hear people tasting onions or garlic in an IPA. But perhaps my pallate was having an off day; I'm sure I'll re try it at some point. I'm excited about having a hyper fresh IPA choice and now one that I can bring back home with me, as I am not one to sit around pubs. The scene at their pub is fine if you're with company, plenty of games to play...but a little boring and uninspired if you're alone. That's why I like that I can now grab my shit and roll out. The main thing is that they are creating good beer and the servers there are pretty cool about answering questions and dropping a sample on you for you to sip while you ponder your greater order. And I love that final blast of bitterness at the end of each can of Store Bought. I don't know if it's lupulin powder, or just the hops that didn't get filtered, but it leaves me with that "I got my hop fix" satisfaction. I'd like to see these guys get bigger, and maybe move out of a strip mall. It would be really cool if they had a more rustic rural venue with land to some of their own to grow hops/grains/adjuncts etc. I wonder if that is part of their game plan. They are pretty close to rural areas, but obviously chose the stripmall location, probably so more people will notice them. I'd love the see this operation in a more natural setting. I would actually hang out there instead of take my beer home. All in all, worth checking out if you like hoppy beers. Can't speak to their other styles as that's just not where my pallete has been at lately...Although they seem to always have some version of a pilsner on. I look forward to trying all of them when I am in pilsmode

 

Flip phones & cassette tapes is excellent. Had a can yesterday.

 

Just had another Send in the Clowns and damn that beer is great. Can't say I pick out any of the adjuncts specifically right now but the combination really works. Flip phones was sold out when i went last week, impressive.

 

Haven't tried the dry hopped helles yet but the new IPA Plagiarism for Fun is great, much more hop forward like Shameless Pandering.

 

Just had one, very good. For me, it was no doubt a Milkshake style, and pretty good no less. I was impressed.

 

I just saw on instagram about an IPA development thing they're doing now and I'm very excited. They already make pretty decent IPAs and this means that they'll only really get better. I'm pretty stoked.

 

I saw the same thing. Although I'm a little bummed. I have enjoyed their dark beers more, do we really need more IPAs?

Full statement from Instagram:

"A note on IPAs from Stickman:
Hey guys, there's a message from our head Brewer Ethan here about our hoppy beers. this is gonna be a longer post, please read it if you're curious, I promise you're gonna like what we have to say!
As most of you guys know, Stickman started out with no intention of brewing any IPAs whatsoever. I wanted to make farmhouse and wild beers, and wasn't too into the hazy IPA craze. As the company grew, we realized the demand was too great, and we reluctantly shifted gears just a little and added a few one offs plus Store Bought is Fine and Shameless Pandering to our portfolio.
The response to these beers has been incredible, and to be completely honest, I caught the IPA bug in the process of refining these two beers. We've decided that it's about time we dove a little deeper into this whole thing.
We're going to be (temporarily and briefly, please don't get mad!) suspending cans of Store Bought is Fine so that we can take some time to really give the modern version of the IPA the exploration and experimentation it deserves. Over the next month or two, you're going to see a bunch of variants on the IPA popping up at Stickman, and we intend to devote a very large portion of our production to these things.
Here's the rub: we're only going to label them "IPA". If you're curious about one in particular, our bartenders will fill you in, but we're not going to put the extra descriptions of changes in yeast, hops, or fermentation techniques on the board, you'll have to ask. We're going to be having a lot of fun with these, and we want to create a scenario where everyone will give our stuff a try with an open mind. Some might be home runs, some might be less then awesome, but the whole team is hoping you'll have some fun with us and give the new things a try.
We also are going to continue our policy of announcing changes and new beers at the last possible minute, and making sure our production of everything keeps up with demand as best as it possibly can, we're still very committed to the ideas of no lines, no hype, and no pretension here at Stickman.
We'll have two new ipas in cans and on tap today, I hope to see you here!"

 

Nobody said anything about IPAs to the exclusion of all else! we've got 12 taps, and 15 slots for cans in our take out cooler. the number might creep up around 50% ipa, but that still leaves 6 tap lines and 7-8 can slots for non ipa stuff. I've got no intention of abandoning everything else we've worked on because i found something new and shiny.

I've got a really awesome baltic porter going on tap today, and its already available in cans. we've also got a classic belgian tripel coming in cans today, in addition to the ipas

 

I understand that you've got to pay the bills and that means making what sells. My comment was more a lament on the trends of the beer industry in general.

It seems crazy to me that there are roughly 100 different styles of beer, yet having a brewery or bar that has 50% of their taps dedicated to 1% of the styles seems to be the "new normal".

Baltic Porter sounds tasty, I'll try to get over soon. I am bummed we are going out of town this weekend and can't come out for the Whiskeyhickon Boys on Saturday. Good beer and good tunes is my idea of a great night.

 

short answer: no.

 

I know, the 50% ipa on every list is frustrating as can be. I'm not worried about putting this on here because I'm pretty upfront about it in the pub too: most of the beers we currently label IPA or plan to wouldn't be called an IPA in any real sense of the term. They are all very hop forward (and certainly your point of not liking ipa or wanting more is ostensibly the same here) but our big push initially was to do an "american farmhouse" thing, where we reworked saisons to try and marry brett and farmhouse characters with big american hop flavors. when we call them by their name nobody buys them, and many who do say they don't like them. But when we call them "IPA" then everyone seems more willing to give them a fair try and judge them based on flavor rather then an initial style impression. The exact same beers.

So part of this is genuine enthusiasm for screwing around with flavors and neutral yeast in some beers, and some of this is quite admittedly just taking a "can't beat em, join em" approach to marketing. our tap list has been full of experimental hoppy beers for a long time now, we're just changing the style designation and doubling down on counting on the hops to do the heavy lifting when planning the recipes, but the heart of what we're doing is still the same, just being taken on it's logical progression.

I also often still wish we lived in a different market, and I count on guys like you and Tom to allow me to put out the other styles that I really want to be making. But I'm also just so damn tired of beating my head against the wall wishing it was different, so i'm switching my approach and having a little fun with it.

 

I for one would love to have an alternative to other local spots in that style as you are less than ten minutes from my place of employment.
Also had a pretty good bottle share the other weekend and Send in the Clowns was probably one of the most talked about at the end of the night. Keep on keepin on.

 

glad you enjoyed that one man, we've definitely got more in that same category coming

 

SE PA still loves flavorful Lagers and Pils
[though it might be hard to make $$ on those for a small scale brewery]

 

Actually they've got cans of Pilsners, Marzen, Helles, and Vienna Lager right now:
https://www.stickmanbrews.com/on-tap/

Haven't had any of those, but their Schwarzbier was good.

 

Good to know. I'll prob stop by to try them, but not sure that price point fits for me and an every day pils (same thing with the shop down in Ardmore).

 

Don't get me wrong - I like and drink hoppy beers, but I like variety.