Alpine Brewing Thread

He said the same thing.

 

Yeah, I had Duet from the bottle and at the brewery in the past and it was goddam wonderful. After Green Flash started kegging, we started to see those three beers (HB and Nelson, too) on pretty regular rotation in SF and the first time I had Duet, something was wrong. Wrote that off to maybe dirty lines or something, but have since had it at least one other time and it was really disappointing. I've also heard the same reaction from at least one friend.

 

Yea, I miss read it. My bad.

 

For the past couple months, I thought people were exaggerating the ABC vs GF taste difference. Just how I think (thought) people are (were) exaggerating when they compare(d) Limited Release 2015 to 2014 to 2013...unless of course they're doing a side by side.

However, the other day I had a Nelson on draft at "Not Alpine," and it was much different. And like everyone else said, a very bitter finish, like a grapefruit rind. A few days before that, a few days after that, and right now, I've enjoyed a bottled Nelson and I will finally say there is an appreciable difference.

I can't comment on Duet, PH, or HB because I don't think I've had them enough to really have an idea of how it should "really" taste. I've probably had each about 10 times, but still don't have that part of brain wired to expect a very specific taste like I think I do for Nelson.

Just my .02...if that.

 

It is the same beer. If we did not know Green Flash was brewing it then there would be none of these nonsense posts.
I have had all at Alpine ... draft, bottles, growlers ... and numerous pints of GF Alpine in OC and LA. Just had Nelson and Duet a couple of weeks ago at Tustin Brewing and today and yesterday at Iron Press in Costa Mesa. Delicious as ever.

I guarantee GF has better quality control than Alpine too.

 

Hmmm...an experience from a friend (female) that loves Duet, it is her #1 beer. She doesn't follow any boards or news, when we were at Urge this past weekend, she commented that something is wrong with Duet, the color and flavor was off.

I told her that's probably a GF brew, this tells me something since she was not up to date with GF brewing Alpine.

 

No. It's incontrovertible fact that short of dumb luck, you can't take a recipe from one brew house to another and have it turn out the same right away. Any competent brewer would freely admit this.

Yeah, they do - that doesn't mean it tastes the same, it just means that they'll deliver a more consistent end product.

 

A whole lot of BAs would disagree with you. Including me.

 

I've had them as well and the Duet I had was pretty close but not quite right. The HB and Nelson were way off. Enough so that I turned down kegs of all 3. The GF stuff just isn't dialed in yet.

 

Stopped in for lunch today, at 12:45 there was one person in the brewery. Fresh bottles of Expo, Nelson, Duet and Pure Hoppiness, can't remember the last time I saw that, plus it looked like plenty of Expo still available. For an Expo release week it was insanely quiet, pretty cool actually.

Cheers,

 

The GF duet, nelson, and hoppy birthday draft offerings are way off imo. Green Flash brews with Colorado water and adds salts & acids to adjust the beer's pH where as Alpine has lovely Alpine water working in it's favor. I may be generalizing the recipe issues, but that's my best guess.

 

This would be ripe for a blind tasting.

 

Somebody that may have posted here a long time ago recently obtained bottles of Duet (which were brewed and bottled in Alpine), and reported that they weren't tasting all that good (in fact, he was wondering if Alpine was secretly being bottled in Green Flash now, but they aren't).

 

I second the theory the secret ingredient in alpine beers is the water.

 

There's no secret ingredient. Variations are likely the result of batch size scale up. A reaction in a 50 gallon vessel doesn't react in the same exact way in a 100 gallon vessel. I assume the only way to retain consistency and increase production would be to have the same exact equipment Alpine uses except having multiples of the same exact equipment. Otherwise they need to find a way to scale up without having the taste change significantly.

 

Naaaaaah, it's definitely the water.

 

Ive done fresh Alpine Nelson bomber vs GF Nelson draft. GF has a deeper orange color a bit more hazy. Aroma pretty similar, GF a bit heavier on mouthfeel, GF a bit more bittering hops, I believe Alpine Nelson is in the low 40s in IBU, other than that it was a good attempt at cloneing a great beer by GF. For those people that dont have easy access to driving upto Alpine ,its a pretty good sub. My comparison notes were from ~April 2014 at a LA beer bar. Curious how Firestone's Pliny The Elder turned out?

 

Alpine has a Hop Back. Green Flash does not. Yet.

 

I'd be really surprised if GF wasn't able to chemically adjust the water to match the composition of that used at Alpine. And for those saying you can never re-create a beer on a different system, I find that hard to believe, but I'm also not a brewer. I'd be interested to hear an actual brewer's take on the matter. Not to mention, as referenced above, thoughts on Firestone's draught version of Pliny (I've only had bottles recently).

 

I recommend people try Alpine Nelson side by side with a GF version of Nelson and it will be crystal clear. (and there are ways to do this)