Magic Hat

I always liked Magic Hat and will still get #9 here and there. The way they portray themselves, it kind of reminds me of Halloween 24/7. Seems like they are still putting beer out there, but I don't see it advertised as much as I used to.

 

Magic Hat #9 in the big can was one of the first craft beers I ever tried. The only place you would find it was in convenience stores or gas stations that sold beer. The problem that I ran into was that where I live in Western New York it was often old and like Diet Coke does not age gracefully - at all. After a couple of real duds I drifted away. Whenever I have tried them within the last 3 or 4 years I found the beer to be good but unremarkable compared to the choices now available. No compelling reason to put any of them on my "go to" list.

 

Heart of Darkness and Feast of Fools are my all time favorites.

Belgo Sutra and Howl, I always thought were fairly solid and I wouldn't mind partaking depending upon what else was available.

I'm guessing @BeastOfTheNortheast has been to their taproom - the "Halloween 24/7" comment. Yeah, quite an interesting lil' place.

 

Two years after Magic Hat took over Pyramid/MacTarnahan's in 2008, the combined companies (known as "Independent Brewers United" [IBU]) were purchased by Genesee owner/Labatt Importer, North American Breweries - so they are no longer "Craft" by the Brewers Association's definition.

According to the B.A's estimates, Magic Hat brewed 106,000 bbl. last year, or about half of what they were selling initially after the takeover (2012 = 202k bbl.).

 

Seems like we only got #9 down this way and was just not my thing. Rarely see it anymore.

Not surprised that as @jesskidden just posted that half as much made as 5 yrs ago.

 

20+ years ago, I would enjoy a #9, and some of their other stuff. But then, I moved west, they attacked a Seattle brewery over the use of the digit 9, and just generally seemed like the type of brewery I choose to not support. They are dead to me.

 

They also attacked West Sixth in Kentucky over a star in the 6 looking like the Magic Hat 9.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...with-magic-hat-is-settled.94840/#post-1389429

Dead to me as well.

 

I used to really enjoy their IPL called Dream Machine and Big Hundo was legit. I hadn't drank any of their beers in a long time, but was recently (within the last year or so) intrigued by Mother Lager. It was watery and flavorless. They aren't dead to me, but certainly on life support.

 

I’ve only had 12 beers from them and 3.85 was my highest score, so I never thought much of them, kinda remind me of a Genesee/Dundee type of brewery

 

Two words.

Fat. Angel.

 

With so many better options available in the Northeast I can't recall the last time I had a Magic Hat beer.
They used to be a staple on ski trips, always a toss up between them and LongTrail. We
Used to really enjoy Blind Faith and Circus Boy, Single Chair always felt special, my wife drank #9's faster than the guys drank beer.
We used to stop at the brewery whenever in the area, now we keep going and stop in at Fiddlehead.

After typing all this I'm going to have a Magic Hat of some type this weekend for old times sake.

 

I wasn't a fan of that.

Roxy Rolles was my favourite.

 

Fat Angel just reminds me of being young. Not that it was a great beer or anything. Even number 9 seems shitty now and I used to adore that beer.

 

In the breweries early days they were good, but it seems their brews lately are watery and kinda fake tasting. This happened after the take over. I no longer buy or consume their beer.

 

Magic Hat was always on the list of some of the beers I enjoyed. Not as of late, mainly because there is local stuff in the area that is just better. The market is flooded with decent beer (win for us), but making it that much harder for the brewing industry to stand out or make something worth parting with substantial amounts of money to obtain.

 

#9 was one of those cool, funky, interesting beers that was big among my peers when I first started paying attention to beer in the mid 2000s, alongside Arrogant Bastard, Raging Bitch, Anchor Steam, Guinness, and oddly Labatt Blue. I drank a lot of all of them back then and enjoyed #9, in spite of my preference for heavier, maltier beer.

Then began my true craft beer exploration and Magic Hat fell by the wayside of my interest until about 4 years ago when I started running the beer section of a Trader Joe's and wanted to try every beer we carried, including keeping up with the seasonals.

#9 tasted about the way I remembered it, but it also tasted like the 2000s. The beer had stayed the same, while other brewers had moved on and started trying to make better stuff. Their seasonal beers were an even bigger disappointment. Stale malts and cheap hops were the notable qualities almost every time. It all tasted like a cheap imitation of what good craft beer should be. I still try most of our seasonal stuff, but I almost never bother with Magic Hat anymore. Too many better fish in the sea.

 

Honestly, if I am going to a party with friends or something and I need to pick up a cheap but drinkable beer, #9 is my go to. It's really affordable for a 6 pack, it's light and most batches can be fairly flavorful. It's hands down my favorite beer from Magic Hat.

One year I decided to buy a seasonal variety pack every time one came out, and I found that I didn't really enjoy any of them. Would I pick them up before a Labatt or a Bud Light? Yeah, most likely. But I would still choose #9 over any of the other Magic Hat beers I've had.

 

I always considered Magic Hat a gateway beer. You like them when you first discover craft beer. But the deeper you get into the craft world, you tend to move on from Magic Hat. There are just better options out there.

 

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