Other Half March 2018!

I found the Monkish collab tasted better in the can than it was on tap
I had a taster of El Camino and thought it was solid, ended up buying a bottle
The Answer collab was quite good but preferred Raining Threes
The Hoof Hearted collab was okay, nothing spectacular
I was underwhelmed with Rake It Up and All in

As far as all the Monkish Collabs are concerned: LGA > LAX > Airplanes

 

I too want the Single Hop Series back. The ABV is perfect. Those are some of my faves.

 

I’m hoping we can get that single Centennial again, it was something special.

 

In all seriousness, aside from hype and human nature to want something special, can someone articulate why someone would think that a collab would be any better than what the individual brewery puts out on their own on a regular basis?

 

I don't think anyone actually thinks that outside of the rare case where a brewery tries something different (City Slickers for example). The hype is based around FOMO and trade/sale value based off that FOMO.

 

DDH Citra Daydream: 6% Double dry hopped oat cream IPA w/ citra, citra lupulin powder, lactose + oats.
DDH Green Down to the Socks: 7.9% Double dry hopped IPA w/ cascade, mosaic, motueka + XJA.
Florida Plates: 8.3% J. Wakefield Collaboration - Imperial spelt cream IPA w/ citra, galaxy, peach + passionfruit.
Shred Stick Annihilation: 8.7% Alvarado Street Collaboration – Imperial IPA with citra, mosaic, wai-iti, tomahawk Lupulin powder, 2 row malt + oats.

 

In addition to this, I think it might also being about trying another hyped brewery. I know it’s not quite the same, but I can imagine thinking, “Monkish is supposed to be awesome, this is my best opportunity to try ‘one of their brews.’”

Just to be clear, I’m not personally going out of my way to do this, but in my mind, it’s not totally illogical, especially if you already regularly/sometimes wait in a line for beer.

 

A lot of their beers are single or dual hop ipas, and the collabs are almost always a mix. Sometimes they really nail that hop bill. I would also say that two years ago or so their collabs (city slickers, telectroscopic, no layups,) were better to some degree than the rotation beers they were making (green diamond, suparillo, stacks). Plus you only see a collab once.

That's changed now as they've gotten better and progressed as a brewery, but I think that's still the reputation for some people because they make so many collabs.

 

I think there are two reasons where people may legitimately get excited:

1. If the local brewery is mediocre and the collaborating one is perceived to be stellar. I guess the expectation is that the product will be elevated. N/A for Other Half (except in the beer nerd hair splitting sense)

2. If the collaborating brewery / breweries are hyped up, from out of state, and only do local distro. I guess for people that don’t trade it’s their only chance to “try” these breweries’ beers. But given that there’s probably a 99.9% chance that people that line up for OH beers also trade as well, makes this N/A too.

 

2 collabs and some sweet ‘tose? Bros gonna crush dat line on Saturday morning.

 

Possible midweek socks release? I’m surprised they have any XJA left given that ABInbev has cut everyone off. RIP Other Southern.

 

I feel deceived! Keg email did not say Florida Plates 2.

 

Agree that Universal is highly disappointing. It's just not good. I think it's like a less tasty, less abv AGE.

Like Whoa was one of the few collabs that really lived up to it's hype.

 

Doesn't passionfruit have the same burn sensation as mango in IPAs?

 

That's what I'm thinking. They usually reserve "stay tuned" for collabs or things more hypeable. Socks is standard excellent, but not gonna draw the 3am wristbanders.

 

I hope the “stay tuned for more” is that they brewed a berliner with J wake, i’d go apeshit for that

 

I'm hoping its BA Snowbirds but I don't think its been long enough since the original release for that to be it. Unless it was bottle conditioned for a bit before they sold it in November.

 

Other Southern is my favorite OH beer, and arguably my favorite beer in general ever. Never could understand why it wasn't more popular or released again.

 

@crowlcrowlcrowl what does your crystal ball say about this release? Last the line?

 

It really depends if these are normal batch sizes. While I do not think this release will be anywhere near as crazy as the past few weeks; if it is a normal batch size, I could see Florida Plates selling out before the line ends. The others could last a little bit longer I'm guessing.