Where does Sixpoint stand today?

But that was the best thing Sixpoint ever did. Giving Alpen-Flo a 1 year "Best by" date was one of the worst (surprised that, apparently, ABV has continued that? Haven't seen a fresh pack in a long time).

 

I enjoyed my first Sixpoint experience back in 2013 when I traded for some of their beers (Resin, Bengali Tiger, Sweet Action, 3Beans…) Nothing amazing, but solid. They finally started distributing here a few years back, and The Crisp became a “go-to” for me. Haven’t seen their beers in a while though. I can’t imagine someone buying their older stuff shipped from New York over fresh stuff brewed here.

 

Full disclosure. I got a sixer of Sixpoint Invisible Haze WC DIPA couple weeks ago I'm about halfway through. Anything non hazy and WC I tend to gravitate towards these days. That said, I pine for the return of *Beans and other non IPA offerings they used to have a lot of.

 

I used to do the press releases for sixpoint a whiles back on this site if anybody remembers that I’m talking like 2015. Shane was always kind enough to email me details before anybody else found out and that originally started because I loved the crisp so much and jammer that I would just fiend over it and him being a regular here took notice. I believe he’s out and he sold or whatever the story may be but I will buy Jammer if I see it ever again and always. My first ever favorite beer

 

Alpenflo & the Crisp were some of the best lagers I have ever had a few years back. Unfortunately, here in Pittsburgh, it is impossible to find anywhere despite having production in eastern PA. Also, neither beer is ever on draft at Southern Tier Pittsburgh. Southern Tier, Sixpoint, and Victory are owner by the same company.

 

Haven't seen them in quite some time in my neck of the woods. Always good quality for the price point. Don't care about "skinny" cans as some gripe about in the thread . I pour everything into a glass.

 

Amen! Crisp was in my refutation Pils lineup along with Victory Prima and Firestone Pivo, always a battle at my store usually came down to which was freshest….Prima never was and in fact started showing up around its “BB Date” then Crisp started tasting, well not as good, and I lost Pivo (which is coming back). I bought Alpenflo once and loved it, damn it was good, then never saw it again.

 

Wow, I thought Sixpoint ceased distribution to my neck of the woods but see they are supposedly available in most stores around me. My greatest moment associated with their beer was at my company Christmas party around 10 years ago, where I typically stick to G&Ts because it is mostly macros for beer choices, our restaurant that night had a cooler full of Bengalis at the bar. Was crushing those and after 8-10 of ANY type of IPA, it was a 'yikes' kind of night! Fortunately my digestive system was also 10 years younger than today...

 

Do you have any details you can share? When will it be back? Will it be distributed everywhere that FW beers are sold?

Cheers!

 

Add me to the Alpenflo Appreciation Society. When that hit I thought it was the best American craft lager that was available. I ordered it by the case from my local shop. I miss it, and what Sixpoint used to be.

 

Well, PA is a fairly big state and Pittsburgh is not all that close to the Parkesburg, PA brewery (which is about 50 miles west of Philly).

I live in the suburbs of Philly and while there are a few brands of Sixpoint on my local beer retailers shelves the number pales in comparison to the number of Victory brands.

My guess is that ABV (owner of Sixpoint, Victory and Southern Tier) markets their product line geographically. So while Sixpoint beers are produced in the general Philly area, ABV's marketing & sales team mostly concentrates on Victory brands in the Philly market. I suspect from prior posts that Southern Tier may be the predominant brands in the western PA market (including the Pittsburgh area). What I really wonder about is how strong are Sixpoint sales in the NYC area. Does the fact that Sixpoint production brews their beers in PA vs. NY impact enthusiasm/sales in the Sixpoint 'home' market?

Cheers!

 

Matt Brynildson suggested that it would be coming back in a recent Full Pint Podcast. No details were given. He said that they stopped production of Pivo because the candemic, OK, I guess. He also said that as long as he is at FW that they will make Pivo.

 

Yes, I listened to the podcast you linked.

Yeah, I heard him talking this way. I was not 100% convinced with this explanation.

And technically they still do. You can visit the brewery taprooms and buy Pivo Pils on draft (and maybe cans to go?) and in selected mix-packs there will be cans of Pivo Pils. But will Pivo Pils ever return to the distribution it had before it was 'discontinued' as a year-round, distributed product?

The podcast concentrated on the topic of Pilsners but I really wish that Dan would have asked Matt about the product line priorities of Firestone Walker. It really seems to me that there product line priorities are:

• 805 brewery branded beers
• Juicy/Hazy IPAs

I personally have never tasted an 805 labeled beer since those products are not shipped to the East Coast. I have had a few FW labeled Juicy/Hazy beers and they were pretty good but I have locally produced Juicy/Hazy beers that are 'better' for my palate and I can find those beers in much fresher condition than the FW products.

I have a craft beer bar that used to always carry Pivo Pils and on Fridays for Happy Hour they would sell them for $4 a pint in those pretty Pivo Pils glasses:



I actually purchased two of those Pivo Pils glasses as a Christmas present for my wife since she liked them so much.

Maybe in a few months I will be able to drink draft pints of Pivo Pils at my local watering hole? Or not? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Cheers!

 

Good point about Pivo still technically being brewed, if only for on premise sales.

The local craft lager scene is so much more robust now than it was in Pivo's hay day that I'm fine either way. Of course the next time I see a fresh six pack of Pivo I will happily scoop it up.

 

Like an elegy. Lord, things move on and the past sometimes is best to leave that way. The past. I loved Lowenbrau from when I was a kid, to later when I was in Munich, and now I find it nowhere. And I do miss it. Good memories..

 

Me too but frankly I do not have high hopes that this will ever occur for me.

My personal solace is that I have a batch of 1896 Michelob (my reconstruction of the original Michelob beer) in my primary right now. In a couple of months - party time!

Cheers!

 

How long ago was that?

Do you think you would have similar thoughts about Lowenbrau if you drank a contemporary Lowenbrau?

Cheers!