Mortalis Brewing Co.

Eh, small operation, makes mostly fruited sours, pastry stouts, and NEIPAs, generally quite well. Only crowlers. hard to get unless you're local and wait in line (releases were previously announced right before sale, say 5pm on a Tuesday). Given its middle of nowhere in NJ relatively speaking you're not causally getting the stuff accept on draft at one restaurant on the premises. Now they do online releases, sell out in 2-3 minutes, even if announced 1030pm on a Thursday.
To get any people were trading or outright buying crowlers, which only increased the number of locals willing to camp out, even on days they ended up not releasing.

 

Ahhhh okay that makes more sense. I have heard of Troon, but didn't really know anything about their operation and have had none of the beers.

People aren't fanatical enough about Mortalis to camp out the day before or anything like that, but from the rest of your description, yeah, Troon and Mortalis do sound quite a bit alike.

 

Small amendment: Just looked at pics and Troon's taproom is basically just a counter in somebody's house?

Mortalis does actually have a real nice and decently sized taproom with food and everything. They're still a very small operation from a production standpoint but you could comfortably do 50-75 people in the taproom if the outdoor seating is open.

 

Yeah I guess change out the restaurant for a taproom owned by the brewery in that case. Heck, if it's on tap, once things improve, sounds like a nice place, even if you can't get takeout beer.

 

Thank you for the tips. Can you get the can / bottle stuff on tap too?

What does Rising Storm specialize in? I've not heard of them.

 

Rising Storm is very much a jack-of-all-trades kind of spot. Last time I went they had a killer kolsch, a very nice blonde, a very good NEDIPA and a wild Hawaiian punch-esque sour. I just looked and right now they have a Mexican lager, coffee stout, DIPA and honey lager -- though they have a lot more than that on tap when their taproom is actually open.

Best part though is their absolutely huge, beautiful outdoor space.

As far as the Mortalis question -- sometimes, yes. It's random though.

 

The current situation at Mortalis is they now make their can/bottle announcements with anywhere from 15 minutes to 1 hour notice prior to opening. They gave 24 hour notice with a Hydra release in April, and cars were backed up onto a major road way before opening that required police/state troopers to intervene.

They have a lot of angry IG comments with every release from people getting shut out, which is pretty similar to Troon.

 

The level of asshole you have to be to leave one of those angry comments is incredible.

What's the absolute worst-case scenario? You take a gorgeous drive through the rolling hills of the Finger Lakes, don't get the cans you want and have some fantastic draft pours instead? Or you can't even get into the parking lot and drive 20 minutes down the road to OH and get all the cans and pours you want?

People are insufferable.

 

I have no problem trading on that page, it's all dependent on the offer you're making.

 

I think the main problem is for people in/around NYC, there's not much we have access to that would be desirable for people up there. Other Half is usually our big trade chip, but there's a Rochester location, so nobody is going to trade something they waited for hours to only get 2 crowlers of for something they can drive 20 minutes and get themselves.

I managed to find a guy who wanted Grimm and ETNYC stuff, but that's definitely the exception, and now he can get that stuff delivered himself.

 

People trade for Root + Branch up here, and I think if Timber continues to produce the kind of stuff they've been doing then you might have luck with that. I agree you will get nowhere offering OH up this way. I personally think that Fifth Frame is producing better stuff than OH at this point, but no one's seeking it out nationally.

 

Neither place has done draft pours for a few months now, though.

OH usually announces cans 1 day prior which you then order online and pickup curbside - desirable stuff sells out in minutes.

Mortalis used to announce a day prior as well, and you would need to physically get in line hours before a big release. They stopped doing this and now announce right before the 2 P.M. open, with everyone waiting in their cars. The people getting in line at 9:30 A.M. do not know what they are getting in line for.

Both systems have their flaws. People will bitch about OH because online sales move quick, and stuff "disappears" from their cart. People will bitch about Mortalis because the release is at 2 P.M. and they cannot afford to take a day off from work to sit in their cars on the hopes that whatever is released is "worth it" to them. I will say Mortalis does a great job of counting the line right around opening, so that everyone in line leaves with something.

 

I tried trading two times prior and just gave up. I mostly just wanted to see what the hype was about. I'm not super into fruited goses.

My main trade bait is Suarez, Hudson Valley, and Equilibrium. (And Other Half, but obviously this won't get any trades). I don't do a ton of trading, but I usually am able to close deals for other breweries' stuff. Given how hard it is to get Mortalis's stuff, I can get why people are reticent to trade it away for stuff that is comparably easier to acquire.

It's anecdotal, but it seems that a lot of people on that group either want in-person trades or want beers similar to Hydras like 450 North or Schmojees.

 

There's a brewery 40 miles south of Pittsburgh called Hightower - total nano brewery - middle of nowhere - they're producing superior stuff, and yet nobody knows who they are even in Pittsburgh, let alone nationally - I've heard good things about Fifth Frame - they were on my list to visit when I was going to be in Rochester - glad to hear it wouldn't have been / won't be a waste of time.

 

Monkish is like this as well. You have to give up your first born to get any right now - and given the way that they're selling (online releases, gone in minutes, but higher limits to keep traffic down), you're running into people or groups of people buying as much as possible, and offering to ship it to you for $50 a four pack - I'd say that's insane, but i've had 6 people quote me that price, so clearly SOMEONE is paying that. I, however, will not.

 

I would like to urge anyone who is considering sending a big haul for Monkish to not even bother. It's fine, but it's certainly not better than the stuff we have readily available to us in NY.

If you must trade for CA hops, Moonraker makes absolutely stellar stuff and I really like what I've had from Alvarado Street. Would take both over Monkish any day.

 

Cracked a Zuul bottle and then poured right down the drain. Something seriously off with that one. Over carbed cola fizz. This is the first thing I've tasted from this brewery. Here's hoping my other bottles are fine...

 

Going to visit family soon in the Finger Lakes and hoping to score some Mortalis cans. If there's a three four-pack limit on something and you have two people in the car, can you buy more than three four packs, or does the limit apply to each car?

 

Oh, I don't know. Maybe anybody in the world who buys a case of beer?