Alpine Beer Company Chez Monieux - thoughts?

BLUE CHEESE.

 

should've been obvious with a name that sounds like "shame on you"

 

That Alpine continues to release these awful beers makes me respect them significantly less. Sure, their IPAs are great, but after at least 2 infected BA beers and this monstrosity, it's clear that they're don't care enough to hold back an obviously awful beer.

 

I had it on draft in their cafe about 6 months ago and it was very good. I have two bottles in the cellar right now that I've been waiting for the right time to open. Maybe I should just pop one to see how it is... :/

 

Opened one a couple of weeks ago - pretty flat, but the sour cherries were decently tart. Not bad but not worth 25 bucks.

Yeah, funny how they do IPAs so right, but anything barrel-aged so wrong. Since Great, anyhow.

 

I had it on tap two weeks ago and it was good. Not the best kriek I've had, but no serious flaws at all and rather enjoyable. A taster was enough though. I definitely wouldn't pay $25 for a bottle. Possibly the bottles are infected?

 

Had it on tap earlier this month and I was unimpressed and pretty disappointed. Really not that good at all for a kriek. Half our table liked it, half didn't.
IPAs though on the other hand....

 

Totally smells like red wine and blue cheese for sure; doesn't taste terrible... I mean, it alright. I've had better. As a brewery that is well regarded for their IPAs and some of their limited releases, consistency is key and I feel like they've been lacking terribly as of late.

 

Not too optimistic about my bottle...

Off topic: I had a bottle of Nelson pretty recently and it was borderline flat with very thin flavors. Definitely not the Nelson I'm accustomed to. Anyone else experience this with a recent batch? I had not had anything from Alpine for a while and I was excited, but was let down.

 

It tastes pretty good if you can get avoid the smell. Drink it really cold. But seriously, Alpine, shame on you. Really.

 

Had a taste at Clusterfork. It's wretched. I couldn't finish the ounce I was poured.

I like funky. I like pastoral. I even like a hint of pleasant blue cheese stink. But this. . . this smelled like something that had been aged in Limburger-stuffed gym socks. Undrinkable.

 

Ditto. Almost like an amped up, foot fungus inoculated, blue cheese'd version of Sans Paige.

 

I am so sorry to hear this! I'd never tried it and was invited to share a bottle several months ago that at the time was a few years old; it was wonderful. I didn't know that they made it again but believe me, based on history, I would have jumped on it. Now? Hmmmmmm? Definitely would not buy it until I tried it. Thanks for the info. I'll be up there in the next several days and it sounds like you all saved me some money.

 

I had a bottle right after release and it was pretty good. I definitely know not to sit on anything Alpine aged in a barrel.

 

That's too bad, the first batch was pretty good. At the 2008 GABF I must have drank at least a whole bottles worth of samples.

 

Actually I think this recent batch of Nelson is one of their best efforts. I picked up a couple growlers last week and am bringing one to Beechwood for an offline bottle share lunch tomorrow to share with a couple buds from London.

Cheers.....

 

What have you seen? I haven't been to the pub/brewery in a month, kind of on hiatus..

 

Most related to growing pains and the inability to adjust, stuff like bottling line problems can happen to anyone but I just feel they need to look at what got them where they are and focus on that. They're nowhere near expansion as a solution.

Cheers.....