Equilibrium Brewery (2020)

Fine they say that, but it's a little preposterous. I've had Bissell, Trillium, Tree House, Tilted Barn, and whoever else unrefrigerated (though not super hot) for several days without issue. I've heard Pete himself say that a bit of time spent unrefrigerated isn't a big deal so long as it isn't super hot or experiencing huge swings.

With that said, it's super nice that the option to ship bottles will be around for almost a month or so. Like I said, I missed the "window" on shipping my almond pop (which is amazing and likely much better than all these beers that have been selling out instantly!), but EQ was super helpful and responsive in getting bottles out to me when I was ready to ship. I meant to pull the trigger on getting some Fluctuation with Almond Pop but missed it!

Maybe you meant more broadly, "no interest in their hops" in the sense that they all have that EQ juice and you're over that flavor though :/
Given how distinct, and likely polarizing their house flavor is, I'm kind of surprised they don't have an occasional west coast or whatever else that isn't straight EQ juice. Grimm does a great job rotating between a few different profiles in their hazy IPAs (and also offering an occasional west coast); it'd be nice to see EQ do the same.

 

Each of those breweries use different house yeast strains, different dry hopping methods, and different starting and final gravities.

What applies to one, doesn't apply to all.

 

I guess props to the ones that use yeast strains / dry-hopping methods / OGs / FGs, that don’t require verbal waivers and Semtex protocols.

 

I believe this whole 'keep cold, drink cold' thing just started appearing on their cans. Or at least it's now bold and centered on the tip of them. Cans I picked up from them this spring definitely didn't have that on them, or it was hidden in the smaller print.

I actually noticed Aslin does this too. Always thought this was a recommendation and not some directive. More in line with The Alchemist putting 'Drink from the Can' on the label. Like the store with Aslin cans didn't have room in the cooler for all their cans, some were sitting at room temp. It was my first trip to a package store in months but that can stuck out for that particular reason.

I had heard a rumor that adding marshmallows to IPAs stabilizes the chemistry at room temp. Maybe it was fake news.

 

At risk of bring back traumatic memories for @NewmansOwn, EQ has always had a keep cold warning on their labels. The original labels used to say store at 38F or drink now. It's kind of hard to see here, but it's on the left side.

 

This is certainly a great reminder, and one I'm fond of making when we get too deep down "who's beer is the best," that we have so much great beer differentiated for our various tastes. With that said though, I think it only proves my point. When sampled across a variety of beers from different house yeasts, different dry hopping methods, different bodies, and what not, I've never experienced a significant drop off transporting the beer at room temp (and drinking along the way) over the course of a few days.

I agree refrigerating immediately is ideal when possible, but most of these beers aren't so delicate that a bit of time unrefrigerated is going to destroy the beer. Even when you get it home, if you're like me and occasionally have to finesse fridge uses, a few days outside the fridge won't destroy the beer.

In the oxidized cases from EQ earlier in the summer, it sounded like there was some bad equipment that was identified and handled. I know for a while they were as maniacal, and likely still are, about dissolved oxygen (a known contributor to oxidation) as Other Half. Reminding people to keep their beer cold so it tastes fresh longer is helpful advice, but guaranteeing people refrigerate it upon pickup is a bit silly.

 

I don't doubt that their OG labels carried that message. Not to beat a dead horse at this point, but all their releases I picked up earlier this year (Kiwi, Climb the Ballmer Peak, Juice 2, Full Full etc.) it is absent. I suck at posting pictures, so I did a deep dive on untappd. And while it's hard finding pictures of the back of cans, they do exist. I couldn't find that message on any cans, even on cans of their core rotational beers -- C, MC2 -- it's not there.
However, it's been there on the most recent batch of cans I picked up ~2 weeks ago. On all of them, right on the side of the label. I didn't receive a verbal directive, schpliel, or whatever from them.

So my question is why did it disasppear, and why now for the conspicuous return?

FWIW, as an aside, I just picked up some cans and btls from Suarez. They were handed over to me at basically room temp. Different strokes I guess.

 

Beer isn't supposed to ferment or turn bad quickly without being refrigerated. All beer stales more quickly due to heat, but it isn't supposed to be very quickly at room temperature. I have been beer free for over a year (unfortunately, Dr.'s orders) so I can't use my own experience to taste and diagnose the problems myself with the beers from EQ, which I always have loved.

It brings to mind problems Short's had some years back. Short's got roasted when they tried to tell customers that similar problems were customers' faults for not keeping the beers constantly refrigerated. Short's denied the problem was on their end, but they ended up, IIRC, solving the problem with pasteurization of product.

 

There was a batch of beers on June that only tasted good the first two weeks or so. I noticed the beers separate really easily, I‘ve heard people say I need to shake the can and wait to open.

Probably the biggest drop off I’ve experienced was with their beer called Enigmatic. I got it a few day’s after canning in June I think. First can was decent nothing mind blowing but solid “EQ juice”. I opened my next cans about a month after due to my beer back log. It was undrinkable, it smelled rotten and tasted even worse. There was stuff floating around the beer, more than what would be considered normal. I thought it was a fluke so I opened the next can, same thing. Next can, same thing. Last can, same thing.

it was pretty shocking, I’ve been drinking their beer for a while, and yes, the beer does seem to degrade quicker than any of brewery I’ve experienced. The beer should be drinkable after a month, no exceptions. Needless to say I’ve been turned off their hops for a while. The collab with OH a few weeks ago was good though

 

After the OG label redesign, they used to have this little stamp that said keep cold, drink fresh. I can get behind digging through untappd to get some photo evidence, so I did the same thing. I found an untappd checkin where I took a picture of my then 18 month old holding an unopen can of Harvester of Science a little over 2 years ago and you can see it on the side of the can here.



I don't recall if the more recent cans that you mentioned have it, but I agree with you that it would be strange if it did disappear only to come back. FWIW, they now have a pretty big keep cold message on their current cans.



Hopefully you don't take this as a "no ur wrong", but I picked up Suarez yesterday too and my cans were cold. My domain bottles were room temp, though.

 

Perhaps it was the time of the day because I picked up mine at 4 pm. The cans weren't quite room temp, but slightly cool to the touch like they were sitting out for awhile. I wouldn't doubt that because Hudson Valley have their beers unrefrigerated, sitting on a table, especially if you have a big order. However, recently when I've picked up a single 4-pack it's been refrigerated, but the outdoor tables are still set up there with beer on them.

 

https://imgur.com/a/xRVEpNgI placed a 2 case order last week. Got the package and almost all of the cans were pretty beat up. Almost every single can was dented but 17/48 were to the point I wasn't really comfortable holding onto them for more then a couple days.

Got in touch with EQ and they made a pretty weak attempt to correct the situation. They basically deflected it as UPS' fault. With all the other options out there I'll find other ways to spend my money.

edit: I can't seem to embed the picture

https://imgur.com/a/xRVEpNg

 

Here you go. And that's a yikes.

 

So they didn’t actually correct the situation? Just blamed it on UPS and moved on?

 

they offered a very small refund.

 

EQ has been absolutely awful lately. Literally had to drain pour most of my beers from the last shipment.

 

I have noticed that EQ has been hitting distro a lot in some states, Minnesota and Maryland in particular (could be more, but I am not sure). Does anyone know why they are distributing their beer a lot? Are they planning for more in the future?