Other Half (2020)

We're replenishing our stock from the anniversary craze. For sale, today Monday, 2/10 in the taproom. ⁠
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DDH Oh... IPA(6%) our crushable IPA brewed with some of our favorite hops. Citra, Galaxy and Motueka. $18 per 4 pack, 1 case per person.

 

This is super disappointing. I'm not even sure I completely understand why they're doing it. I get they probably want to have a Suffolk presence, but is it really necessary to deal with horrible people to do so? The whole thing comes off shady, almost as if OH knows it's illegal (unsure if this is even true) but are happy to deal with actually bad people to make a quick buck under the table. How can they claim to be supporters of the beer community while actively doing business with people who make racist statements about their peers?

Saturday really rubbed me the wrong way, and I'm not even sure I can articulate why. The people who run OH all seem like legitimately good people, it's just clear they value profit over dignity. Beer "culture", especially the kind that is on display at these events, is super toxic. I have a hard time believing that OH can't see that, but it's clear they deal with and perpetuate it in order to garner hype and make money.

The amount of people I saw belligerently drunk, stumbling to their cars while I was waiting on line was staggering. The Facebook group has been discussing how people were vomiting, peeing on the street and even defecating themselves in line over night. Open container tickets were given out. The area around OH was completely covered in trash- beer cans, bottles, cups, food, dumped beer, etc. I've gone back and forth on whether this is really their issue to deal with, but ultimately I think it has to be because they're the ones perpetuating it.

On top of that, I still can't really understand how the line at 12PM was still so incredibly long and moving as slow as it was. They gave no social media updates to give people on their way an indication of what was going on, which I think has to be purposely done in order to create FOMO. Once you're in line it's hard to bail, you already put in X amount of time, and you have no guarantee you'll get anything if you leave and come back. The guys came around to give updates on limits being cut, but again, it's not super clear what you're going to end up with, or when.

I'm not necessarily at the point of not supporting OH, but I definitely have a lot of thinking to do. The LRB thing is really just the icing on the cake after all this.

 

Anywhere I can read up on some of this juicy gossip? I had no idea who or what or where Lake Rotakakakakakakakaauuau is but I love me some asshole/douchebag beer stories

 

https://m.facebook.com/rootandbranchbrewing/photos/a.1062069343877749/1964628480288493/?type=3

 

Thanks.

...fuck those guys.

 

They definitely deserve props for being so wildly busy Saturday, but at the same time clearly making a ton of 6th anni. I can't believe I was able to walk in and out on Sunday and get 5th and 6th.


The LRbev thing though is seriously disappointing. That place should be boycotted for what they did with Root + Branch. OH's association with them is a bad look.

 

I totally forgot about the R&B element. Yeah fuck those guys

 

5th and 6th still available. /shrugs

 

Also their old store conveniently burned to the ground days after they moved out. It was ruled suspicious by multiple sources after asbestos was discovered on the property. Good ol' Jewish lightning.

 

wanna explain that last phrase there?

 

Its an offensive term for burning down your property for insurance money. Don't be mad at me my fellow jews.

 

Is this the peak though? Can the behavior get worse? I think it can and will because there doesn’t seem to be any adults in the room.

Also think the beers just aren’t as good anymore. Hot take right here but there ipas seem to be hop messes now. These anniversary beers are hot and boozy. the only time I get any sort of dank ness from their beers is one they’re overly reliant on a funky hop like Nelson. It seems like they’re compensating for something. Roc iPas seem to be consistently better. Is the brewer different. Is the yeast strain better upstate. I don’t know.

I’ve enjoyed the people I’ve met at other half and on these forums but I think I’m going to take a break from supporting these guys. Until they no longer support scummy businesses like ronkonkononmo.

 

I think my taste buds are still recovering after being sick for so long or I'm just crazy. I had 4th on tap and I thought it wasn't anything special so I didn't buy cans. The ROC beers as of late have been tasting better than the BK stuff. That being said, I think 6th anny will be much better in a week or so.

 

Once Finback opens in Brooklyn, it will be an easy switch, at least for me.

 

meh I disagree. Not the best they’ve ever been. There are more beers being produced but I’d say the overall quality is the same. The anniversary’s are nothing special. Cost + 10 is good. It’s hit or miss with any collab. Thought the Parrish collab was really good from the glass I had at the bar.

But I don’t have line dudes buying the hype hype releases so maybe I’m just getting the dregs?

 

Eh, idk. I love me some Finback, but to me their IPA's aren't as consistently good, and after like 5 years they still don't know how to run a bottle release. Only + about the BK location to me is easy access to cans, but at this point who knows if they'll even have cans from Queens. It seems like they'd rather distro to Massachusetts than their own city.

 

I mean, you said it; people got slammed. The people towards the front of the line had the highest probability of being trashed, so the line went slow AF as first and then sped up as time went on.

I'm not sure why OH would deal with scummy business partners (unless they were unaware), but I had noticed the availability of four-packs mysteriously change overnight when I've been there in person the day before, late in the day, and noticed a lot of cans.

It's always been my suspicion they offload to individual buyers to make sure no beer looks "bad" or "stale." Singlecut does this as well, not sure how many other brewers do it. Not sure why they have to sell it to douchebags though. Plenty of people will take them, I'm sure.

 

The last five or so Finback cans I've had have been as good/better than almost anything I've had from OH lately. You really think they won't have Queens cans for sale?