I dunno, it seemed like there were long enough lines for their special releases, but back then, you also didn't have to drive 30 minutes east to get Alpine beers. There were enough bars and carryouts that had their stuff, you could usually find it within 5-10 miles at most.
I just submitted a post on the sayonara Rogue thread saying that was hard to get weepy about any brewery I gave up on nearly 20 years ago. Can't say that about Alpine. Nelson flavored tears.
If you told me this was a random Beachwood offering I would believe you. Very whatever with cryo hops:
In the 2009-2012 period, I was regularly scoring bombers of Alpine from a liquor store in north Pasadena/Altadena. We moved to north SD county in Oct 2012. I think that November we made the trek out to Alpine, I did what we all did and bought everything I reasonably could, plus a growler fill. That was my only time at the OG spot. We went to the second location a few years later, and while fine, I agree with the sentiment that the OG spot was magic. I'm not sure how much of it is my pallete/tastes have changed, but I also agree I've never found anything as good as those Nelson bombers, all their stuff was great, but Nelson was liquid magic.
I think Mcilhenney is really good. I drive through Alpine 4-5 times a year in route to glamis. My memory still think OG alpine was better but that was also a long time ago and when there weren’t nearly as many great breweries making great ipas. Overall Mcilhenny’s WC ipas have been a hit for me. Their muntz is nothing like Nelson which is a bummer. if you’re looking for the best IPAs my vote goes to North Park and Green Cheek. They are breweries I seek out if I want the best.
Not all cryo . Most do. Some, if done right works. But not when it’s 3 or more. One of my breweries just put out a triple cryo ipa. Where’s the hops? I’ve had no issues with some single cryo hopped along with a single hop or three.
