2017 New Glarus Thread

No Black Top yet, 3 weeks.

 

Black Top is rolling down the bottling line currently but not available in the depot just yet.

 

Oh man some fresh blacktop sounds fantastic right now

 

Deb Carrey was on a Madison morning show and there was a picture of the host with a Blacktop in his hand. Figured they brought one just for the show, but a boy can dream.

 

Did you say can?!? I could definitely use a couple cans on a badger gameday. I'll settle for bottles though.

 

I was disappointed there was no Spotted Cow Grand Cru. The calendar says September but I didn’t see it in the depot or at the stores I visited.

 

Champ Rouge is...very dry-winey. Hoping thst mellows over time. Was a bit much for me right out of the gates.

 

Dan said yesterday morning this one should age nicely. Take that with a grain of salt tho.

 

Everything lately is wine like. Grapes seems to be the theme of almost every r&d (apples once), dry or sparkling.

 

Right. I did enjoyChamp du Blanc but was less than thrilled with the announcement of more grapes...and unfortunately the actual beer as well. Time will tell. The rest of the bottles will see the dark cellar for quite some time!

 

In Madison and Verona area for a few days (hello Epic!). Found a 4pk of Raspberry Tart at Woodmans on Milwaukee. Would love to get my hands on a few more to bring back to Michigan. Any leads?

 

Had a decent amount at Steve's (Junction Rd) as of Saturday.

 

I would be pretty surprised if it got less dry. Aging tends to dry beer out more due to any remaining sugars being eaten by the yeast. Maybe in time some oxidation will bring out Sherry/Port-esque notes, but that's not necessarily going to change the dryness and even then is not a sure bet.

I for one was stoked about this R&D being another grape one since grapes are my favorite beer addition.

That said, I'm not sure what you're talking about? Grapes/wine-iness have been in only two R&Ds to date, and that's a pretty small percentage, so certainly not "almost every" one.

 

IMO both champs, pom, and all 3 Vintages are pretty similar to me. I realize they aren't all grapes (the vintages are more citrus and pom is apples) but they have sparkling wine type qualities. Maybe it's just because I don't really care for them too much but they are very different from the SP, Casey, DG, and FFG beers that I enjoy.

*** I'm sure someone can (and will) pick apart my classification of the R&D's but it's just my opinion. You can disagree if you want.

 

I keep observing that interval between the brewed on and bottled on dates have gotten more narrow and narrow over time. Is the South Central WI countryside microflora that robust to provide the kind of character in half the time when compared to some contemporaries? I'm not sure where the R&D series is going, but it's certainly a change from several years ago.

Either way, R&D isn't what pays the bills, so I'm sure they're OK with whatever opinions us beer nerds will have.

 

An interesting observation, but the original Golden Ale (the first R&D bottle) was bottled less than 3 months after it was brewed. Bourbon Barrel Kriek was bottled at just under 7 months. I agree with your sentiment that longer fermentation times create more interesting results (espescially when blending beers of different ages), but I really think Dan just does whatever he wants with the R&D series.

I like having Vintage every year, and I like the idea of one other non-fruit thing (Sour Porter, Wild Bitter, Golden Ale). For fruit releases though, I want to see him move away from juice (Champ du Blanc, Pommier, Champ Rouge) and move back to whole fruit (Blackberry, Peach).

 

I agree wholeheartedly that a return to the R&D that we all knew and loved will require a return to real fruited sour beers.

 

Just to be clear: I like having multiple R&D releases per year, and I don't expect them all to be sour beers made with whole fruits. But the Blackberry and Wild Peach were probably my two favorite R&D beers.

I still want them to bring back the original Two Women Lager from 2010. I'm probably the only one, but I'd pay R&D prices for that.

 

I never really enjoyed the multiple releases per year. Given the dramatically increased price, vastly increased output, IMO not overly exciting styles, and the end of bottle sharing, I would prefer they return to a once a year release with a fruited sour and distro the less exciting bottles (something like what the Thumbprint bottles used to be). I know they won't, but hey, I can dream.

 

Count me in for that as well, although I'd be happier to see it packaged in 6-packs and priced like the brewery-only Hometown Blonde. That said, I do find the Hometown Blonde price change a bit ridiculous, unless they changed recipe/ingredients. And I fully realize I don't have to buy it--just think it's a bit odd that it doubled in price.