Hudson Valley Brewery (2018)

Here are a few of articles/interviews that talk about it:

https://oct.co/essays/hudson-valley-brewery-its-not-about-brewing
https://www.hopculture.com/intervie...aneschi-co-founders-of-hudson-valley-brewery/
http://www.hvmag.com/Hudson-Valley-Magazine/August-2016/Lightscamerapour/

Basically, whenever they actually brew a beer, they're not trying to get the final product from that one brewing session. They have a bunch of barrels filled with different beers that they can use to contribute different flavors. For example, if you visit the brewery, they have a bunch of barrels labeled "acid beer". Those are beers with super low pH that they use in their sour IPAs to get the right amount of acidity. There are a few other breweries around the US that primarily release beers that are blended (Casey, Black Project, Side Project, etc.), but I'm pretty sure Hudson Valley is the only one doing it with IPAs.

 

Cool. Thanks for the info. I didn't realize they were doing this with IPA's.

 

I was at the release yesterday. I got there around 7:15am, and was #215 or so. I was the last person to get the allotment at 3 4pks each, then it moved to 2 4pks. So you could have lined up at 7:30am for a noon release and only gotten half. (original allotment was 4 4pks of each).

It was cool they made sure everyone got something that was there by 8:30am. Gotta cans from the release. Apotheosis is one of my favorite beers I have ever tried. Some real next level stuff happening at Hudson Valley.

 

I’m still holding out hope that they bring some cans down to nyc for an event or something. been seeing silhouette kegs popping up around the city too along with amorphia, which is weird because wasn’t it canned months ago? Would love to see this release on tap.

 

HVB is planning more releases than one a month (as it has been 'til now), so they must be upping capacity. Equilibrium increased capacity, and that additional amount will mean more beer available in cans and kegs. And District 96 will be canning in Spring. I expect all these things to even out demand for all the mentioned breweries so that more people can get more beer more easily, and presumably more beer can be put into kegs and served in pubs.

 

HVB seems to have killed two birds with one stone by tapping into two major beer trends: the continued dominance of NE IPAs and sour beers. I've been pretty curious as to what trends are going to dominate 2018 (at least in and around the NYC area). Most articles I've read are either crude and hasty, or have been written with input from a handful of craft breweries and are therefore mostly self-serving, biased, and myopic. Personally, I think we're headed towards a 'Cold War' style IPA fight, where craft breweries "stockpile" i.e., throw an (curated) assortment of ingredients into an IPA in order to create the most maximalist, but balanced, IPA.

 

People were lined up at MIDNIGHT for that release.

Twelve hours of standing in line. Outside. In the winter. For beer. I've never been one to deride people for waiting in line at Treehouse (as I've done plenty), Other Half or anywhere else, but this is actual goddamn lunacy.

 

Yeah, totally out of control, lol. Definitely reached peak hype for sure. I'm not a frequent beer trader but from what I heard the trade value of these cans are extremely high at the moment so that's probably contributing as well. The post above....if you got there at 7:30 for a noon release you got 2 4pks of beer each...Wow.

It begs the question, should HVB be raising prices significantly? Demand is clearly through the roof and presumably these cans are probably reselling for or commanding trade value of multiple times their $ value. If they made it $30/4 pk they would've still quite easily sold out.

I'll stick to dropping by for a couple pours after a nice hike at Mount Beacon or a DIA visit.

 

Yeah but there are releases people camp for that they don’t need to camp for. You had to be there early but it wasn’t unattainable. Here’s hoping HVB’s expansion and other breweries in the area expanding will stem the hype a bit.

 

do they have breakfast sandwiches and bottle shares outside to make the line fun? EQ does that, but I saw on HVB's Facebook page that drinking is a no-no outside. what's everyone doing there for 12 hours to kill time? lol

 

I don't go to HV releases due to happy to get pours and not wait on line for cans, but I understand it is like EQ in that there is a specific area that sampling and sharing is permitted near the front of the place. Have heard from folks the shares at HV are quite amazing.

 

Bringing their taproom pours outside into the parking lot is prohibited (they have a limited designated area outside for that).

There is a large bottle share by the tables that they set up outside during the can release. Food vendor was on site. Nobody was bored and you could have explored Beacon too.

 

Hudson Valley will have some beer on tap tonight at Birdsall House in Peekskill, including Apotheosis and Babylon. Hoping a keg or 2 makes its way down to NYC.

 

Torst has an event soon where Apotheosis and Babylon will be on tap

 

HV is sending "several" beers to Torst for some event they're having on 2/11. Obviously at Torst prices though.

ETA: Looks like @Skartski beat me to it! I'd expect some kegs to pop up during NYC beer week at the end of the end of the month as well.

 

Great news, thanks!

 

Anyone have any guesses / inside info as to when the next Saturday release will be?

 

next week or the week after

 

Looks like there's going to be a release on Friday at 5 according to the HV's instagram story. Does anyone know how bad a release like this would get? I'd assume it's nowhere near as bad as the Saturday morning releases.

 

I wasn't there, but looks like Silhouettes sold out at about 830PM when they were released. Pineapple was gone well before that. I'm guessing the output was a lot less for that then Saturdays releases - but that's pure speculation.