Ale Apothecary El Cuatro Batch 2

Picked up two today, hope it's good. Nice tips on letting it chill for a bit.

 

What was the price on those, Phobicsquirrel?

 

I got El Cuatro and Sahti at beer mongers yesterday for 25 each

 

When you have elementary level beer drinkers drinking Oxford level beers, the "lukewarm" reviews shouldn't come as a big surprise.

 

Really? You're going to go that way with this? Maybe they just didn't care for the beer or found flaws in it. I poured my glass of El Cuatro batch 1 out as it was flat and tasted of plastic phenols, I don't rate, but good to know I'm elementary in my beer education.

I like Paul's branding and would like to see him do well, but I've had bad luck with his beers so far, and the price point of these Oxford beers makes that sting even worse. The first bottle of La Tache I had was pretty good. The second was awful, all diacetyl. The bottle of Sahalie was over carbonated which I thought ruined the beer. The bottle of Sahti was all diacetyl, dumped, though I did get a sample from another persons bottle on a later batch which was pretty good. I'll need someone with a more educated palate to help me understand these beers.

 

Yup sounds about right

 

This is good to know, thanks, saved my counter. The bottle of Spears I opened gushed pretty bad as well.

 

We opened a bottle of El Cuatro out of the cooler at beer mongers yesterday. Not even remotely gushing. Carbonation seemed spot on. So, I don't know, maybe that'll change over time or maybe there's bottle variation, but it seems to me like this concern might be overblown.

That said, perhaps because the barrels are second use now, I thought it was less distinctive than batch 1. Didn't seem much different from most sahalie to me.

 

Definitely need to pick some up.

 

Just opened a bottle of El Cuatro Batch 1 and it was vigorously carbonated (yet did not gush) as well as FRIGGIN AMAZING. Thoroughly enjoyed it and so glad I have one more bottle hanging out. Will let this new batch sit at least a year as well, as I didn't enjoy Batch 1 as much fresh. I love champagne-like carbonation, though.

I have literally never gotten diacetyl from a bottle (occasionally, the fresh stuff can be a little grainy, which eventually is overwhelmed by the wildness in the bottle), though I have gotten some nail polish.

 

Been looking at my bottles, too. I'm waiting to try it at the farm house ale fest on Saturday. I'll probably discover its amazing and will have to dome one by myself soon enough...