Chicagoland NE IPAs (2018)

Ha! i think we all resolved the issue i brought up earlier in the week.

 

Went to Mikerphone yesterday. No limits on bottles.
I recommend both new releases but preferred the ABC BBD over the Educated Fool.
Nice to see all the NEIPA's avaliable there at one time.
Say Uh is still on tap and is straight juice fire.
Anyone that has the Galaxy hopped Space Bar today please report back.

 

Has Snoochie hit Binny's Grand?

 

My god is ghost tropic good. That mouthfeel
Definitely get the fruity peach on the back end too. Please can this.

 

@BJP is Snoochie hitting downstate Binny's in Champaign or Bloomington? For some reason I thought only smaller shops were getting it, but since Chi Binny's did/are, what about us folks closer to the IHOP/Waffle House line?

 

Negative

 

Can't wait to try Ghost tonight. May prime the pallet with some fresh Mikerphone.

#BeerGoldenAge

 

Interesting note: saw an instagram reply from Noon Whistle that said the Gummy series is not available for growlers/crowlers. I'd guess this means all future Gummys are expected to be canned.

 

went to mikerphone today and got a pour and a couple bottles of spacebar. also picked up some ABC BBD.

not as impressed with spacebar as I was last year when it was first bottled. obviously its been a while and we have been spoiled with good beer since then, but I'm going to let my bottle sit a week or two and try it again. still damn tasty though.

 

a large drop of super fresh Dank Meme is out on the floor at Binny's on Grand! In case you missed it last time, it's awesome.

 

Fair enough. Althoughive yet to taste anything from here that's as good as any 10 Tree House beers. I'd throw Other Half into that as well. Believe me I wish I have so I can trade less

 

This might be the greatest Central Illinois metaphor I've ever seen!

 

#HazingforDays

 

So. I liked it! But... also - peanut butter? Similar taste I got from hubbard's cave lemon drop. Big and confusing peanut butter on the mid-palate.

 

Honestly didn't care much for ghost tropic. Too heavy, a little syrupy, and a tad boozy. I thought snoochies blew it out of the water with its balance, crushability and lighter mouthfeel.

 

OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!!!!!!!!! just kidding, I liked Ghost Tropic, and I liked that it had more body, but I could see why someone else would say too heavy.

 

I thought it was still pretty crushable. Had 3 glasses in a sitting. The two guys next to me were commenting on how they couldn't believe it was 8%. Another excellent beer!

 

You're not wrong.

Edbeerd came in last night and we did some impromptu "blind" tasting.

Monkish - Swingin' Sword Lecture
Monkish - Beyond Atomically
Noble Ale Works - Men at Murk
Radio Swan
Ghost Tropic
Snoochie

1st up was Radio (6.4%) v Swingin' (6.5%). I was completely underwhelmed by Swingin'. Much preferred Radio.

Next we did Ghost, Snoochie and Beyond. (all right around 8%)
Beyond easily won. Then Snooch, then Ghost.

Beyond was a stunner. Huge grapefruit. Bitterness was pleasant, but more like fruit bitterness than hop bitterness...AND the carb was ridiculously low. Juice. It really makes me think there is a place for the super low carb in our beers. BUT, all other "juice" cylinders have to be firing for it to pay off.

It was during this sampling that I realized something was odd/different about Ghost. Not just different than the other three....but different than what I had tasted from the brite tank earlier in the morning. Aroma was slightly phenolic, intense pineapple/peach flavors were muted. It was so apparent/strange that we went to investigate the beer lines. Pulling more through to make sure the previous beer (Calamansi Wit) hadn't tainted the line. Nik pulled through .5 gal or so and the next sample was much better...but still not what we had come to know of the beer. I grabbed a growler on the way out the door and plan to spend some time with it tonight.

Ghost is, without a doubt, thicker/sweeter/boozier than Snoochie. So, to answer the earlier question about which I prefer...it's Snoochie If something changes, I'll keep y'all posted.

Lessons were learned. I got experience with new base malts and new hops that I hadn't previously used in the NEs.

 

So I drank my 2 Crowlers of SqueezeIT v2 from Corridor with a couple of buddies in the last week or so. Verdict is it was outstanding. I was super impressed with this beer. It reminded me a lot like TH Alter Ego (one of my favs). I will continue to seek out Corridor's stuff.