Huge disappointment...

agree....but. it's much better aged at least a year. almost a different beer altogether.
and Rye at Sea (ba version) is really good too.

 

The only reason why the Bay Area gets Alpine kegs is because of Green Flash's brewing of Alpine's beer along with their distribution. The Nelson you had at City Beer was GF brewed.

Cheers!

 

Had Bruery Bois on tap at about a year old and it tasted way too hot for me. I have a bottle at home, but this convinced me to age it much longer. This surprised me since it had such great reviews out of the gate.

 

I've had 3 Alpine beers. The two brewed by Alpine were awesome, the one brewed by Green Flash was underwhelming to say the least.

 

This year's Hopslam was super disappointing... and everything I have ever had from Unibroue....

 

I had it about a year old, I think; and I didn't like it much at all. Stickee Monkee, on the other hand, was one of the best beers I've ever had with one year on it.

 

My great disappointment beer was Zombie Dust. Not because I didn't like the taste, but because my dearly beloved chose to add it to the beef stew she was making instead of leaving it in the fridge for me to enjoy. It's not readily available where I live and was the first "hey would you be interested in a bottle of...?" From my local beer store, so that was kind of a let down. Mind you the stew was pretty good.

 

Translation: How dare your inferior taste buds not align with my own. I can't let this go so I'll need to throw in an immature jab to hammer my point home...

 

You speak fluent beer snob.

 

I'm an excellent translator.

 

I thought DirtWolf was entirely subpar (and I had a pretty fresh bottle too). There's just too much good beer out there (and for reasonable prices) to justify repeat buys of underwhelming beers when better options are plentiful.

 

BCBS
BCBCS
Nelson
Stickee Monkee
Grapefruit Sculpin
BA Narwhal
And the big winner, Heady Topper.

There is nothing wrong with any of the beer I listed, its just that they didn't meet my expectations. All things considered, I still rated most of them fairly high. Everyone has different tastes and expectations, and I am no different.

On a side note, Prairie Bomb! far exceeded my expectation and earned the coveted "5"

 

Places like City Beer and Toronado SF were getting Alpine long before GF was involved.

 

All beers. Hyped up and most are ok but not great.

Enjoy

 

I went well out of my way on a recent trip through Southern California to try Kern River Brewing, about which I had heard some cult-like raves. I was extremely excited to get a chance to try it. And, yeah, the beer was OK.

 

Did you try the Alpine beers in a bottle or the pub or on draft somehwere?

 

I had the same experience with it on tap at a place where it is usually excellent. It's really kind of bland these days.

 

Two were bottled, one was a growler sent directly from Alpine in a trade.

The one that I was underwhelmed by was definitely brewed by Green Flash because it was sold in VA.

 

Definitely KBS. Just underwhelming again this year. I like Founders, and drink many of their beers, but Breakfast Stout, Backwoods Bastard, and Curmudgeon are all better, at least to me.