Hop Butcher (2019)

You can buy Lu. The best Kölsch.

 

Canning today apparently:

 

Whoops. I had edited the sentence several times. Must have gotten chopped up wrong.

merely trying to state that the use of galaxy hops, specifically, wasn’t the cause for any change in color in Shawn’s beer.

 

Galaxy Bowl drinking great today FYI.

 

This is post is simultaneously ridiculous and appreciated. Craft beer in 2019, folks.

 

It's funny because I had the last of my 4 pack last night and thought the opposite. It tasted closer to last year's version where it was just abrasive hoppyness. All the fruit from release day had dissipated.

I think I can safely say I don't need any more GB.

 

https://gph.is/2xcbvwM

Music to my ears!!!

(I haven't had my 4-pack yet, so it remains to be seen how I feel about this batch)

 

I am visiting Chicago from NYC, found a place that use to be called Madison Vine Wines but now is called 1340 Beer Wine Spirits. Very cool ambiance there, mostly wine but a refrigerator with what seems to be a lot of local, hard to get beer. They had just gotten Duchess in, canned that day! Very good stuff.

 

I was glad all that fruit forward flavor has dissipated a little bit because I'm one of the few people that actually liked the abrasive hoppiness of last years GB.

 

Just cracked open a GB canned 10/8/19 and it tastes like I’m drinking a box of chalk. Don’t think I can continue drinking it. I hope the other 3 cans aren’t like this.

 

I kinda wish mine tasted like a box of chalk when I had one on the 10th.

 

I'm not sure I've ever seen a beer that gets such wildly different reviews as GB. Will be revisiting a few cans with friends tomorrow. Looking forward to what unfolds...

 

It's very bizarre, I had some last night and thought it was excellent.

 

What did you like about it and did you get big fruit flavor? Just curious whether people are having different experiences or if it all tastes the same and people are just enjoying it or not for different reasons. Mine being I didn't like it because the big fruit flavor left after the first can and became just another muddled hop NEIPA of which are a dime a dozen.

 

I personally still got a nice big fruit flavor last night and a nice finish as well. Maybe it's also that I've been drinking a lot of Oktoberfest and pumpkin beers later and haven't had a NE IPA outside of Galaxy Bowl in a while.

 

I had a GB last night as well, and I am having the same experience as HawksBeerFan. Still excellent imo. I still had plenty of big fruit flavor, and a perfect amount of bitterness. No complaints here.

 

This falls in line with every can I have had so far.

 

I'm not denying the people that have had bad cans or anything, it probably points to some consistency issues more than anything else.

 

Inconsistency is what has come to define Galaxy Bowl, and what constitutes a "good" batch is so different person to person.

i tried to remove bias aside, even though the batch from March 2018 was clearly the best, and rate this most recent version as objectively as possible.

I got the peach fruit flavor with a body akin to low pulp OJ.

however, the galaxy hops were too muted, and it was undercarbed. overall, a solid beer, but not one I would seek out again as I want that punchy aroma, bit of chewiness, and hop bite for a single hopped DIPA

 

Gaffel, Reissdorf, and Fruh are all excellent kolsch options that are more traditional.

Lu is great and so is Ghost Ride. Della from OiB gets an honorable mention but its not my favorite. Shame on you for forgetting Den kolsch from Half Acre which was canned not too long ago and was extremely tasty.

Would love to try Dovetails, hoping they can some.
...my favorite american canned kolsch is Fine Line from Suarez