What’s the pulse on fidens? Wondering if they are still top top tier or if they are going the Equilibrium route. The shipping makes me wonder. Maybe it’s just a winter thing. I know some breweries fall off a bit when they expand, but when I had fidens in the new Albany location they were still awesome, so have no reason to believe they’re not, but just wondering.
Yea they're still fantastic. Seems like the changes affected their branding and staffing and food menu, but the beer is still really great. I've been able to try them on a pretty regular basis over the last five years including very recently, and have noticed pretty much no dropoff in quality.
Everything I've had has been good. Caveat, they make way more triples than ever, and I think, like treehouse, a lot of their triples are too boozy and don't translate the DIPA they're based on as well as say, untappd might indicate. If I were a local wouldn't matter, there's plenty, but if you're a "couple or few times a year" person it's a tad harder to get the variety when you're not looking for triples (especially since they don't do single cans anymore). I also don't think from pictures they pack the beer with the care I'd want. I think halftime does a way better job as reference in terms of can survivability, and likely most beer traders here do a far better job than either. But, TLDR, the quality is there despite the change in leadership and expanded production. Whether shipped NEIPAs in severe cold snaps or summer are worth the money is a whole different question though. They do it though because they were having beers last 3 weeks rather than 1-2. Need to maintain some hype and keep inventory costs down.
They come in a tightly packed box, packed very well. They ship on Monday, here on Tuesday. I have no qualms whatsoever on how they ship.
Pictures from initial shipments had a lot of dented cans and no padding. Maybe they've learned. I'm not in NY so it's anecdotal from what I saw posted by a handful of people, but if they've improved that's good. I wouldn't expect them to go and put in cold packs in warm weather (though i have heard of it being done by some places) but at least if they're packing it well now (and avoiding crush in the corners in particular) that's good. In terms of transit time/ keep cold a day is good, but it's expensive and honestly I have no great sense of time the box would spend exposed to the elements, but Albany winter low temps are no joke, and 90 degree summer days in shipping trucks aren't ideal. But yeah if you're getting it that quick then I wouldn't expect some significant drop off in the flavor/aromatics etc. except in extreme circumstances weather wise/ carrier poor treatment.
Hell you think that's a problem. Try being a guy who really only drinks single IPAs and pale ales, with the occasional double. The same problem you have with them is the same problem I have with a lot of great hazy producers - other half, treehouse, etc. - too many doubles / not enough below 8%. Glad to hear they are still amazing. Breweries shipping always throws a little red flag for me. I'm thinking along the lines of Equilibrium, trillium, and tired hands. I guess there are some exceptions as well, such as Suarez (albeit not the oh so fragile hop haze), whom I believe only does it seasonally (not in the summer / peak taproom months). I guess more places are doing it now. Hell even hill farmstead does shipments of bottle sets once in awhile to a few eligible states. Come to think of it, root and branch and Hudson valley brewery both ship within NY, and I wouldn't really consider them to be red flagged.
Yeah I always buy a bunch of whatever pale they have when there, and they also have held up, but yeah they're fewer and further between. The few singles they make are good but maybe 1 to 2 in a month max anecdotally.
