Grimm Artisanal Ales (September 2016)

I think it might be a little bit of both. The first times I had Lambo, Afterimage, Tesseract, etc, I was completely blown away. Best beers I ever had. I still find them very, very, good, perhaps it is having them multiple times, plus the killer IPAs Singlecut, LICBP, etc are putting out that's diminishing how much they stand out over the rest. The gap between them and everyone else has just shrunk. I highly doubt the actual beer has gotten worse, though there could be problems with brewing larger batches and with oxidation issues on the cans.

FWIW, I always think Grimm beers (sours and IPAs) are better on draft, and I've been loving their bottled and draft only sours. And we're nitpicking a bit anyway since basically everything they put out is absolutely world-class, imo.

 

Can vs draft, oxidized or not. My question is, when you see "Drink Fresh" on a can, what is your mental window? 2-3 weeks from canning date? A month? 2 months?

I had an Afterimage (canned 8/17) last night that has been in my fridge since I got it and I had to choke it down. I literally chugged the last half rather than pouring out a $6 can. It was flat, all orange citrus notes had faded and it had a strong malty/cardboard taste. This is definitely not the first can I've had this issue with. The first Cloud batch, Catch Wave, Force Field, Lumen, etc. If I dont drink them within 3 weeks of canning, they don't taste right. But if they're not distro'ed to my area for 2-3 weeks from canning date, what's the point? I don't think I'm being picky here. Canning date/distro vs. drink fresh doesn't align.

 

i picked up 2 lambo cans and one was oxidized and darker than previous batches (tasted like garbage) and the other was delicious. i'll continue to have grimm on draft whenever available but i won't be chasing for cans anymore.

 

strange, ive never had a problem with their cans. ive held on to a tesseract for more than 2 months and it still tasted great, sure not as good as fresh, but still a great beer. id say my mental window is around a month.

 

I think I've been lucky with regards to avoiding any oxidized cans, but I have fallen victim to beer hoarding allowing some of Grimm's IPA's to sit in my fridge longer than six weeks and I'd be lying to myself to say they tasted as good as they did fresh. As far as a mental window for drinking fresh, I try to stick to 4 weeks max; I don't think I've had a beer fall off before that (except the last batch of SSMS...sad faces).

 

Hearing about these oxidized Lambo cans worries me since I have a 4 pack that I haven't touched yet. I don't really ever recall having problems with Grimm cans in the past though. I've actually had Tesseract at 2 months and it didn't have any wow factor but it was still enjoyable.

 

Anyone know if Splish hit Eataly yet?

 

I was down there earlier this morning and it wasn't out. Sours are still there though.

 

I've had some of literally every Grimm can release, and have drank some of them -- Tesseract and Afterimage for certain, but I think others too -- a solid 6-7 weeks after canning and they still drank brilliantly. Have not had one bad can, and have had no issues at the three-week mark or even twice as long. So I think it's just you.

 

In fact, the most recent Cloudbusting batch drank better at 4-5 weeks than it did at two.

 

Not just him. Had 2 cans of the last Afterimage batch over the last couple days -- one was absolutely terrible, and a drain pour after 2 sips. The other was better than it was at release. Also had it on draft yesterday as well and actually liked the 2nd can more, so the first can very obviously had a QC issue. That being said, that was the first can out of many that I've ever had an issue with and it's not gonna stop me from scooping more.

 

I'm worried as I have 1 can of Lambo...my only can. Will have it tonight though and will have the one can of Pulse Wave tomorrow.

 

Unfortunately it's not about ordering Grimm, it's about who orders more from Union will then get more Grimm. Don't hate the player hate the game.

 

City Hops has 2 cases of Splish in stock; just got back from there. 2 cans per person max.

e: Also, Beer Table had it in today but was sold out when I called.

 

Nah, not just me. Talked about this with some friends and relatives in separate conversations and had some of the same experience. I figured I would post it here for more thoughts.

 

Personally haven't had a bad Grimm can, but then i'm not compiling case-loads per release either. But from the couple I get each time I haven't had an issue. They rarely last in my fridge for more than a couple days though

 

Batch 1 afterimage certainly had some oxidized cans that i can confirm. It's entirely possible that there are some oxidized cans from the current batch of Lambo. I have never seen oxidized cans in person but i remember seeing photos from batch 1 afterimage. If something is wrong, the color and flavor of the beer will reveal the problem. Lambo should be a hazy orange color, not a dull brown.

If you do get a can that looks/tastes off, take a snapshot and email it to us so we can show the photos to our mobile canner to whip them into shape.

Thanks everybody we care a lot about this.

 

Full disclosure: That is not me

 

@NJNYC732 that doesn't look right to me. here's another random photo of lambo taken from instagram showing a correctly filled can with beer that's the right color.

 

Just wanted to reply to this thread being I had a very lackluster experience with my first can of Pulse Wave.
My second can was exactly what I missed out on during my first go through. Excellent bitterness and nose, most certainly see the west coast inspiration with the slight pine and bittering, as it warms slight mango/citrus creeps through and makes for a lovely ending finish. Appreciate those who commented back to my original post. Glad I held on to this can.