Half Acre Brewing Co (2022)

To be fair, not many stouts from a decade ago were better either.

#drunk

 

i agree with your assessment of Land Shook (than can anyways). i am not admittedly big n vanilla in stouts, although it is growing on me, and i thought that beer rocked. sweet, yes, but i think the sea salt cuts some of the vanilla and chocolate sweetness.

 

Yeah! Before Land Shook is really excellent! Agreed draft Before Land Shook is next level. And the Nitro pour of Before Land Shook was even further elevated!

Yet I think the real sleeper beer at Half Acre is Sickle through Sable. The way the caramel from the BW thread punches through the two stout threads & cocoa nibs then balances out flawlessly?!?!? Mind blown.

 

The barrel aged Nitro stuff that HA is pouring is just awesome. Really really top tier stuff.

 

Stopped in tonight as well. Thought 2x4 and nitro were very good (liked the CO2 more). Would have definitely bought cans of those on their own if possible. Did not particularly enjoy regular or vanilla. I’ve been somewhat neutral on regular over the years, but thought vanilla was one of the best BA vanilla beers to come out of Chicago in many years. So comparatively these were a disappointment.

Bummed I was running late and focused on the benthic or would have absolutely grabbed that Before Land Shook had I realized it was available. I had it on draft there when they released it but actually thought my cans were even better.

 

The Benthic packaging:

A) is about the same size for 12 cans of 12oz stouts as the packaging for 2 cans of Maplewood's 16 oz stouts. Maplewood, you're doing it wrong.

B) is basically a shoebox. If you're also a sneaker head you may spontaneously 'gasm when you see it.

C) has an awesome, extremely informative insert detailing (in great depth*) each variant.



*no pun intended

 

Anyone know if they had any regular 4-packs left to go? Having regrets not going for the full shoebox.

 

Regular sees distro normally. I wouldn’t be worried.

 

I mean, it technically does. It goes real quick with most stores getting very little.

 

That's fair. I thought I remembered (from posts?) last year regular benthic sitting on-site in the to-go for quite a long time. Till Christmas-ish? And, I know of at least one store (granted, it's in Urbana) where it stuck around for...gosh, till February?

If Supply increased again (you'd expect even marginally, right?), you'd assume it would be at worse-case similar. Just seems like there's no need to panic when pickups only started 2 days ago.

 

Mayhaps. Granted I live in the Chicago suburbs where Benthic gets snapped up quick. I’ve only ever seen it once, and it was behind the counter and I got the last one.

 

Valid, and a great point! More information is always better than less. It's all helpful, and glad you chimed in. I chime in when I think I can be helpful, but that doesn't mean it always is.

 

There seemed to be a good amount at closing last night. $50 / 4-pack. They also still had Sickle & Sable 2-packs at $25.

 

Anyone going to the brewery and willing to grab a 2pk of Sickle & Sable plus a 2pk of Before Land Shook (if still available) I would buy you a 2pk of your choice for the troubles. Of course would provide a shipping label as well

 

They never had any extra 2-packs of Before Land Shook available, only Sickle & Sable.

 

Ah, gotcha. Thought I saw someone say they had them available. Thanks for clarifying

 

Yes, there was something weird that happened. Before Land Shook sold out within the hour. During pickups, no extra. Then Sickle and Sable sold out (longer, but don't recall time), and then during pickups they indicated they had extra 2-packs - because "this batch was larger than expected" or something similarly oddly phrased. Perhaps they just wanted it listed as sold out online. Either way, those were there and apparently there are still some to go as of Wednesday or yesterday.

 

I passed on the Benthic sale since I had just come off of the BBT sale.

Then a generous Chicago area friend reached out and asked if I wanted to split the pack.

Excited to dig into them once they arrive. He shared the variants from last winter as well and I thought those were absurdly good.

 

Rye BBT tapped at Balmoral. $5 for 3oz. Giddy up.

 

Like Side Project Rye BBT?