Hoof Hearted (Oct 2016-Dec 2016)

Drain poured and the cans are recycled. Seriously, you should get in touch with Hoof. I've heard of people picking up their allotment at the subsequent release.

 

I'll have to try that also. Kid got sick and I had a morning and afternoon I couldn't use

 

Thanks for the advice, I will try that.

 

What would be the best way to reach them? Call the brewery or brewpub?

 

Easily the best beer I have had from hoof! Right now it is super good drinking. Fruit bomb with a little bitterness. Absolutely no alcohol bite and after one I was a little wobbly. Very impressed.

 

Good to hear. I will get my cans this weekend from a friend, but I really don't care for these IPA's with no backbone to them in terms of bitterness. Julius, for example, is just so "bleh" to me and super overhyped because it just has no balance. King Julius even more so. Sure, it's "juicy" but so one dimensional. Most of Treehouse is the same way, aside from a few.

Trillium on the other hand, really does well with this balance and I personally find their beers overall, far better. Enough IBU in there to balance the juiciness, some more malt complexities as well... Just far more interesting drinking experience.

I don't get the appeal of wanting "fruit bombs" with no bitterness, personally. But it's just beer, so I don't care at the same time what others prefer, it's all personal taste. It is interesting though, the shift for turbid, juice bombs only. Give me a west-coast, juicy IPA/DIPA anyday combining the best of both worlds! Look forward to trying this one.

 

Your pallet must be stronger than mine. I think the 12% is easily detected.

 

It's all about your palate. I always wanted more west coast IPAs then NE ipa prior to this summer. Then my buddy started to brew some and I wanted a juice bomb more than a bitter juice bomb. I wouldn't compare this to treehouse though. I think this has a little bit more bite than Julius. It's is juice though so don't dismiss my comment. I think this has enough bite to it for me that I would drink this all day if I could. It's a fantastic beer and this will be my 5th hoof beer in can and I can safely say it's the best. Haven't rated it since I want to do that after having a couple to form a cohert picture, but this is probably right behind heady for me, pretty close to Julius (which I loved).

 

Heady? Pshaw.

 

I love that beer, I won't deny it. Hoping to have some focal banger in the next couple weeks to see if I like it better.

 

They are fairly similar to each other. Crusher is the one that was a little more distinguished of the three, being even hoppier but also more bitter. I genuinely do enjoy Hoof brews far better than anything I've had by Alchemist and most other NE-style IPA producers outside of Trillium or Bissell Brothers (the few I've had from BB have been mind blowingly unique and delicious).

 

Aficionado's posted that they got a few cases of Are We Having Fun Yet?

 

Going to be at the brewpub tomorrow evening for the first time. Any clue of how many cans they have / likelihood of availability by tomorrow at 8:00 ish?

 

A little bit late, but I wanted to share my thoughts on this release of Dragonsaddle since I finally cracked open a can First off, I will state that it was my favorite Hoof beer (Blabe and Konkey following closely behind for anyone who cares). I have been patiently waiting since last November, probably more so than the most of you. I was throwing out Ju Ju comparisons last year. That being said, I was extremely disappointed when I ordered a draft that looked like this

When last years "clearly" looked more like this

It is a completely different beer, and not just in appearance. A lot more fruit and yeast, with less bitterness.
Secondly, let me state that this is still a very good beer, but it wouldn't be in the top 3 or 4 for me. It continues to mask the alcohol very well, and is far from a waste of money.
However, when you buy a ticket and drive to Marengo for an entirely different beer, I feel you should know ahead of time. They made no mention of the changes to my knowledge and it should be called Dragonsaddle II at minimum. Just wondered what everyone else thought.

 

Agree with you. Not what I was looking forward to either, but still amazing.

 

Yeah I also noticed it was cloudier and yeastier than I remember. Still pretty good, but glad I got a couple cans off someone else instead of driving an hour and a half for it.

 

To each their own, but that's how I felt. Good beer, but I almost didn't buy any. I only did because I thought some of my friends around the country would enjoy it. It was the only "midwest" style IPA they made and the only one that really separated itself from the rest of their beers (style/base/trend wise). Oh well. I will stop whining now.