Alpine in Chicagoland

Picked them up at Binny's in Bloomingdale yesterday. I believe they will be here to stay since they merged with Green Flash. Had Hoppy Birthday yesterday. I'll try Duet soon. The only Alpine beer I've ever had (pre-merger) was Duet and I really liked it. I'm interested to see how it tastes now. All I've heard is since the merger, the quality of the Alpine beers brewed by Green Flash is nowhere near as good as the beer brewed at the source (Alpine).

 

I'll agree that the KEGS from Green Flash were not as good, but I believe that is because it took 2-3 months to get them distributed and some bars held them for another month +. The beers were still good, but they are truly meant to be consumed within a month for maximum hop flavors/aromas. Just like Enjoy By, those break down quickly in most Alpine beers.

The bottles got to our shops here in Milwaukee very quickly and seem to be well within the 1-2 month range where they still taste like they do when you drink them at Alpine.

So, don't be scared away from bottles that you know are fresh. They are well, well worth the $6-7 price point!

 

Drank Hoppy Birthday last night. It was a good balanced beer but no wow factor. The aroma wasn't completely there and it was too malty.

I have a Duet in the fridge which I hope is better. I really enjoyed Duet on tap in the past.

 

I think the issue some people had was with the consistency after Green Flash started mass producing. Do you know if the kegs are still brewed at Alpine or at GF? I'm assuming the bottles are brewed at Green Flash, based on the GF imprint on the bottle, I could be wrong.

Can anyone who's had fresh Alpine recently speak to the consistency between the product now and the pre-merger product?

 

Yeah, I had Hoppy last night too. I thought it was good, but not to par with the 97 rating it gets on BA. Makes me think it was missing something.

 

We had the same thing happen last summer here in Indiana. I talked with Mario Lopez, Green Flash district manager for the Great Lakes Region, and he told me that even though they are brewing some Alpine beers, they don't want to interfere with the identity that Alpine has already created for themselves. He told me that probably Alpine will never be a full time product for anywhere outside of Cali, but that their plan is to have a rotation for it around the country, where each area will get a drop about every 8 months or so. Not sure if this is still the plan, but that's what I learned last June, so if you like Alpine, grab it when you see it, because it may be awhile before you see it again locally.

 

I was excited to see Alpine on our shelves, and then I had a Hoppy Birthday. Average at best. Will not buy again at that price point. Duet was alright, but again, for an $8 bomber? Nah. I can get nearly two Hop Stoopids for that, which is a much better beer. Throw in the fact that the rumors are $17-18 for a sixer of Pure Hoppiness, and this whole Alpine thing is disappointing. I will definitely be giving Nelson a shot, since that's one of my favorites beers from anyone, but that's probably the only one from Alpine I would buy with any regularity (assuming we see it that often).

 

Duet and Hoppy Birthday sitting on the shelf at Binny's Oak Brook. Only bought the Duet as I've heard similar comments about the new batches of HB. I couldn't resist giving Duet a try.

 

Also saw Duet & Hoppy Birthday at Binny's in Lake Zurich. Can't wait to see Nelson on the shelves! ..That's if those bastards at Binny's don't hide it in the back

 

Duet and HB bottles are just fine. Obviously they aren't going to be as fresh as driving up to Alpine and grabbing bottles filled a day or two earlier. But they're still much better than most (nearly all) of the IPA's we have on market here in MKE.

 

I had a Hoppy Birthday over the weekend and enjoyed it, although it ended up being drowned in a lot of other beers I had that night, so not much specific I remember about it. I've got another bottle, as well as 2 bottles of Duet, that I'm looking forward to. I'll probably try at least one during MSU's victory over UM on Saturday.

 

Better keep at least a couple of bottles back to drown your sorrows when MSU actually loses! I'll be drinking Michigan beer only on Sat!

 

Had a Duet two nights ago....not even close to real Alpine Duet imo. I guess Green Flash has been getting better with the Alpine beers recently, but nowhere near what they should be. I've been following the "Alpine Brewing Thread" on the Pacific forum for months and it has a lot of info on the Green Flash/Alpine merger and the quality of the beers.....it's been very ugly to say the least.

 

I had Hoppy Birthday on draft in San Diego pre merger and open up a bottle last week. Noticed a little drop off in the aroma, nonetheless still a really good beer. Look forward to buying some Duet and Nelson to see how different they are compared to the original.

 

Passed on both, as I've had the OG Alpine versions, and heard nothing but mediocre things about the GF versions. I know I'm not missing anything.

 

They've come and been forgotten about in Michigan. There's absolutely no wow factor from anything them

 

Has anyone seen Nelson hit the shelves yet?

 

Saw two places check it in on BM yesterday. Assuming that means more places will have it next week.