Half Acre (2019)

https://www.rei.com/terms/half-acre-beer-collaboration.pdf

^Probably why you don't see more non brewer/brewer collabs. Takes all the fun out.

 

Got a chance, miraculously (?!) to try the Now and Then just last night; solid, the lactose adds body, and just a verge impression of sweetness without becoming an "imperial IPA" palate impression. It saturates, but it's not my fave.
HOWEVER, my local Colorado Springs taproom also had Navaja (LOVELOVELOVELOVE) on tap last night, and well... things went well. Such a solid beer, like a better version of Hopslam without the honey. Some four Navajas later, I started singing Spanish Ladies (a la Quinn, Jaws).
A perfect finishing event to my 17th anniversary, and my wife was with me, cringing....

 

Agreed on the latter comment. I’m hoping we see Fader again soon.

 

Fader is always where my thoughts go when I think of their German stuff.

That's a beer I wouldn't say no to in seasonal or year-round form; love it.

 

+1 for Fader. Kicks ass.

 

I like Fader a lot I just don't like their price point. I picked up Lucky Catfish yesterday and it was $10, the Fader packs I remember were at leas like $13-14 right? More than I generally like to pay for a 4 pack of lager.

 

Agreed. If Dovetail can price at $9.99 while using a mobile canner, Half Acre could drop their lager pricing a bit. Line pricing makes sense, I think.

I could say the same for Pipeworks Pils and smoked helles, which I wish were about $2 cheaper.

I love all these beers, but I'm not fond on the pricing.

 

Since I'm used to ~$15 a 4-pack from countless IPA purchases the pricing of Fader doesn't really faze me, but I will say that pilsners/lagers/etc priced below that price point really stand out as a result.

 

Update for the Vallejoheads.

 

4 Navaja’s would wreck my week haha

 

Guess what. Another 4 Navajas later, and here I am, on my own two fat legs, typing coherently.
It's what great IIPAs dream of being and I'm not exaggerating.
I almost would boycott HA for NOT producing Navaja year round....or 6 mo a year. What a goddamn great beer.
He said, after another 4 Navajas down the hatch.
- Quinn, the sailor.

 

Vallejo, July-September draft only, cans only at the brewery.

 

And you told us the sky was falling....

 

I can live with this. It’s easy to pass on the flagships at the brewery but this will give a good incentive to buy fresh, cold-stored Vallejo

 

I’ll be seriously confused if anyone of you don’t enjoy Now & Then. Odd to say (with a lactose beer) but it is one of the most balanced new school IPAs I’ve ever had.

Part of me is curious what it tastes like without lactose, but the lactose is so well played that I don’t care. My guess is most wouldn’t notice it blind. It’s nuanced. It seems to add body for HA the same way that their Vienna based beers do, like Wand and BHA. It has a lingering finish, but I’d never guess it was because of milk sugar.

 

Full list of participating places is here:

https://www.halfacrebeer.com/decades

Kind of a strange list, and not the places I'd usually expect for Chicago (outside of a few).

 

Had Melt Forever this past Saturday for lunch at Balmoral and came away with the same review. Can't pinpoint the exact word but I enjoyed how the lemon wasn't an intense sucker punch. It was the right amount of creamy and lemon-y.

That being said, 10oz for these milkshake beers is plenty. Polished off two Lucky Catfish Lagers afterward which were awesome.

 

This is awesome. Daisy Cutter is an all timer for me.

 

Personally I wish they'd switch the can of DC for something else (I've never been a huge fan of DC, no matter how hard I try), but this mixed pack thing is pretty cool.