Kent Falls Brewing

This is smart. It sound like they're specifically trying to avoid the growing pains Hill Farmstead went through, when there were far too many people essentially at Shaun Hill's house. Similar situation - people living at the Kent Falls farm would be miserable if swarms of us well-intentioned-but-exuberant beer geeks showed up every morning for samplings and growlers. Would be great to have available, but I get the decision to take this whole thing very slowly.

 

Glad to see that they are making progress. Occasionally picking up bottles because at first I wasn't impressed with the quality. It has steadily improved over the past year.

What is starting to turn me off from their beers is now the price. $8 and $9 500ml bottles is a little absurd, it outpaces MBC and I don't think the Kent Falls IPA's remotely compare to MBC. Hill Farmstead bottles are $10 and are head and shoulders above KF's.

 

Some of their offerings are really top notch. The coffee milk stout that they put out was amazing. The lime zest gose was unreal too. This last beer that they made with Grimm might be the best one, but that should not be a shock with Grimm involved. While I would like to see a lower price point, it wont come down because people will buy all of it. If somehow it doesn't move in CT, they can just ship more to NY and it wont sit on the shelves at all.

 

Eh some of their beers have sat for a while and for good reason. I've enjoyed most of their beers, but they aren't infallible. Gardener's tale tasted like I was drinking a salad :/

 

Well I don't have to drive to some field in VT to get KF beers so I happily pay that price for their amazing beers.

I'd also guess that when you can buy bottles at their brewery you won't have to pay as much but you'll have to drive to Kent, CT. See what I'm getting at?

 

Has anyone tried Blueberry vs Blackberry yet?

 

Disagree with respect to the IPAs. Awkward Hug was probably one of the top 5 IPAs I have had. They haven't bottled an IPA either. Same price on tap as the MBC stuff. Agreed on the price point of bottles, they are high but top quality and often doing multiple fermentations or more complex flavor development (e.g. Brett IPAs aged on fruit).

Would I prefer an Arthur over their straight saison yes, but I can get almost comparable quality on shelf at my local!

 

Most of the better Kent Falls IPA's, and even beers in general, i've had on tap and haven't been bottled. That being said, the amount of different beers they've released over the last year is insane and most i've had have all been good. It's hard to compare Kent Falls to Hill Farmstead considering HF is about 4 hours away and not on tap or for sale anywhere near us, but i think KF is worth the price if you like that style beer.

 

I believe the IPAs have not been bottled because they don't want to risk cross contamination with the Brett/wild yeast beers.

 

The non-brett IPAs anyway, cross-contamination is a big deal far away from just bottling. I have been a bit taken aback by the number of brews they are getting out on shelves though I am not surprised to see the prices gradually increase as demand certainly has. That being said, I felt their earlier offerings were far more balanced; the field beers obviously didn't stray far from the recipe but the inundation of various draft IPAs and bottles recently have been well off the mark in my opinion.

 

They should name their next beer "Opinions May Vary"

 

yup. excellent.

 

Can second this as well, call me crazy but I'd take it over Flora BBR.

 

I've skipped their IPAs at bars because I've seen them mislabeled. I've seen the menu just say Bewilderment, not mentioning the Brett. Since I don't like sours, this scares me away. I wasn't even positive that they did no Brett IPAs. I guess I'll have to ask more questions next time I see one.

 

Traditionally Brett IPAs are not even a true Brett or sour/tart for that matter. They use a yeast strain (WLP 644) that was previously thought to be Brett but is not. It's a great yeast that ferments out with a ton of tropical and citrus aromas and flavors.

 

You might actually be crazy.....and blueberry vs blackberry is indeed good.

 

H, they have certainly been trying many more things than they initially did. Opinions always vary, though I really wish more people would describe their what they are drinking on say Untappd rather than just rate. When my experience with a brew deviates really far from a particular average I tend to think something may be amiss and am certainly curious. And of course, with any wild ales or even semi-spontaneously fermented brews things may well be different bottle to bottle.

 

If you're looking for serious reviews on Untappd, you're gonna have a bad time. Untappd is for tickers.

There's definitely variance from bottle-to-bottle, noticed that in Field Beer #7. First bottle was sublime, second one was so-so, though I guess there could have been other factors at play. That first bottle of Field Beer: Oats Batch #7, Pineapple Juicemaker, and 2016 have been my three favorites so far. That said, I haven't regretted a single purchase; it's all worth trying at least once.

For what it's worth, brett/sacc ≠ sour. Lacto is responsible for what most people perceive as sour. Brett and sacc bring out funky fruit flavors, which is why Brett IPAs work so well.

Keep an eye out for next week's launch of This Isn't Even My Final Form, "a brett-fermented version of Haircuts for Everybody. 6%ABV, hopped with Columbus and Apollo. It has a great balance between the tropical and earthy brett and dank hop character."

 

Maybe not so much 'serious' as in in-depth but at least use the 140 characters they give you to reflect on something.

I just picked up a bottle of Field Beer #7 which I'm looking forward to. I had 2016 when it was released and while far from unenjoyable I felt it needed some time, which is the other (fun) side of brett; I have a bottle in the cellar.