New Glarus Brewing (2018)

Mostly correct. Although, FFG doesn’t always get the wort from Octopi it is always contracted out and allowed to cool in the mobile coolship. It’s a really cool process and very unique. As for UA I believe the intent was to jump start other brewers in wisco into creating new beer styles. Things had gotten a bit stagnant and UA definitely does things that a typical brewery can’t necessarily do just because of how they’re structured. That said I went to the octopi taproom last weekend, tons of awesome adjunct heavy beers. If that’s your thing it’s worth the drive. I know it’s not in Madison but I really enjoy the new Vintage Sauk too! Sorry for the wall of text.

 

Don't be sorry. Walls of text are my specialty. Thanks for the info.

 

Just to clear things up, Untitled Art is not a part of Funk Factory. It is a totally separate brand of which Levi is part owner. I work for FFG, and nobody here besides Levi is involved in that brand and vice versa. Half of the time, we are even unaware of new UA releases until they get dropped off at the taproom by the distributor. Untitled Art will probably always have a presence in the FFG taproom, but the reason there is so much there currently is likely due to the fact that UA does not currently have a location of its own. The amount of UA beer at FFG can make it hard to tell that there is a divide between the two brands, but there certainly is. They are totally separate entities.

 

Cool to know. Thank you for the corrected information. I am always happy to be corrected if I am putting incorrect information out there. Thanks!

 

No problem man. It definitely gives the impression that the two brands are connected when you see them side by side in our taproom. If I had a dime for every time I've had to explain the whole UA situation, I'd be sitting pretty.

 

How long do the fruited beers last? Got a few strawberry rhubarbs — Wondering if I should be in a hurry to drink them.

 

Ever since the switch to four-packs they've been selling faster, with Strawberry Rhubarb being the one with the most stock issues. I think this will eventually settle down, but it's hard to say.

 

They will last just about forever - no need hurry. They also won’t change with age, though, so no reason to purposefully cellar them either.

 

No kidding... it could be Indiana

 

Thanks for the info. Some clown on facebook was trying to tell me they weren’t any good. Shocker, I know.

 

To be fair.. here we are just clowns on Beer Advocate!! Anyway.. Everyone enjoys their own style of beer so really it just depends what you like.. I think it’s huge that they switched to 12 ozers cuz putting away a 750 of those was/is a monumental task solo!

Also.. wouldn’t it be great if, since it’s their 25th anny, Dan and Deb decided to celebrate by having a double release?! What year did VSB come out? Wasn’t that 2013......

 

Do you mean the fruit beers? I am guessing people expect them to be sours, and when they're more in the vein of a dessert beer, people get disappointed (though they aren't as sweet and are better balanced than the image "dessert beer" conjures up). They're the best at what they are.

 

Oh sorry wasn’t very specific just realizing reading back my post. The guy implied that it had likely gone bad. Seems like that’s not the case.

 

I had one last week and it tasted great. Comment above seems about right - it doesn't seem to change at all though. I'm intentionally saving my last one a little longer to see! To do so means hiding it from my wife though...

 

I drank a fresh SR when it released this year side by side a bottle from last year, I was stunned at how identical they were. The fresh was a little brighter in color and popped a bit more in flavor with slightly sharper fruit notes, while the older one had a touch more noticeable malt, but, they were both delicious and gone way too quickly.

Still have another bottle in the fridge from last year's run. Not sure how much longer I can sit on it, but with the never ending deluge of amazing shandies Hoppin Frog has been pumping out this year, causing the old lady to bring home a few more hauls than I expected, I am tempering my fruit intake

 

I've definitely accidentally misplaced a bottle or two of NG's fruited stuff (meaning, not cellared/refrigerated/etc.) for 6 months to a year with little to no change.

 

I know the fruited NG beers are sweet and kind of one-note, but this "they're not sours" thing is causing more confusion than it is creating clarity. They're not aggressively sour, no, but they are lambic-style through the NG filter -- more approachable, slightly less complex, and fun. It's easier to call them sours and deal with dashing the high expectations of lactobois than it is to call them not-sours and have people with less sour experience screw up their face when they taste the mild pucker of Belgian Red or slightly greater tartness of Strawberry Rhubarb.

 

And not all lambics are sour, at least how our American palate thinks of sour, especially fruited lambics.

 

If you are referring to backsweetened lambics, I would argue that those are not really lambics.

 

In tempering people's expectations that these NG fruits were going to be more sour, I'm just referring to beers with Lambic either printed on the label, or considered by the general drinking public to be Lambic.

Whether they meet the strict definition is fodder for another thread which I have intensely read but have not the expertise to contribute to.