Lagunitas Born Yesterday 2018

Hit NM today or yesterday. Not a bad turnaround. I think one year we had it by day 5.

I just gotta say though. That 8 day turnaround has to be commended and cheered about and commended once again. I know many local core ipas that are 3 miles away from me who go through distributors and I'm happy when those are maybe 10 to 14 days old. This takes a massive undertaking and logistics and for all the crap lagunitas gets, there is still some small element where they 'care'.

Every regional or large brewery struggling needs to look at this sort of thing as the norm. If SA could do their Ne IPA in smaller more concentrated timely batches, they may get more bites. Same with everyone else.

I usually go with a case initially and then more as the weeks go by. I was hesitant with reading some so so thoughts and went with 2 six packs.



If ever so slightly hazy. Smells a touch dank, floral, grassy. Some citrus. Taste follows. Dry finish. Some tropical sweet elements pop in there a touch.

Doesnt overly wow my senses like prior batches had, but if you can look at this through a one month window where this basically eclipses or comes super close to your average local core ipas; I think you'll be happy.

Drink too easy for its ABV. Definitely see a slight onion type hop vibe, which I don't mind at all, come through in finish.

Probably on par with last year's for me. 4.25 easily. People are crazy to call this average. It definitely drinks more like a WC IPA with flashes of ibus. Definitely less juicy. If you know that going in, it's a great beer. Go find a NEIPA elsewhere and don't rate this one.

 

FWIW -- The label says: "Imagine yourself in a field of dreams, brewer's dreams; that is to say; a field of hops, Mosaic, Amarillo, Equinox & other special varieties..." It doesn't say which hops are in the beer. Confusing for sure, but it's different than how you read it.

 

Source?

 

That is a great point about freshness. When I first had this one it seemed very hard to fresh beer that was widely distributed. Now there are enough high quality local breweries that distribute (or sell cans at the brewery) that this one is no longer that special. It is great beer, revolutionary.

 

Maybe I'm just looking at this wrong but I still want to say this is special. Of my area tws, let's say there's 60 ipas available. 12 may be canned or bottled locals. Then the fall off is just so vast. Heck my tw still has born AGAIN yesterday 12 packs. I know competition is stiffer but it would be sad to see lagunitas stop with this effort if sales faltered even by 2%. Biases aside, I feel this beer can enter every marketplace relatively fresh and compete with every local shelf beer in every region straight up. If that doesn't happen, I think it's just sad for consumers.

This beer is pushed through distributors as a beer that can't really sit in the warehouses. I know with local choices being so vast and fresh that this doesn't look special. But behind the scenes, it's a hell of a push. Stone sort of attempts that with enjoy by. But by and large, this sort of thing isn't very common. Beer alone, I guess you may be right. Not too special anymore but I'll enjoy it for this one month BY binge lol.

One immediate comparison. Founders harvest ale. Bottled I believe 9/20. Not sure how long it's been available but it wasn't there last week. Maybe the behind the scenes and logistics vs the actual product aren't quite in the same realm for BY. I can see Heineken dropping this one very soon. The back stage stuff is more special than the final product.

 

I've always known it to be Amarillo, Ekuanot, and Mosaic, unless they changed it up this year.

 

If time travel was possible believe you me that I would travel back to 2016 to drink that nectar juice!

 

Had one....awesome! Fresh hops just explode! Very clear and it seems to 'skunk' a little if it warms at all.

 

If you're going to Total Wine to purchase IPA's, yes, you are doing it wrong.

 

Believe it or not, there are some places in this country where Total Wine is about the best you can do, unless you want to drive 80 miles to the nearest city and purchase beer at a hipster beer store (huge markups included)

 

...but isn't that kind of his point? Total Wine is much more convenient for me. It's right on my way home, but the closest decent bottle shop adds 30 minutes to my drive home from work. For most local beers and limited releases, I "do it right" and make the drive because TW may not have it fresh, if they have it at all. With BY, I don't have to make that choice, because I know TW will have it fresh. That's what's "special" about this beer.

 

This year’s Born Yesterday is a good beer but I’m not psyched about it. Seems just a bit unbalanced with that bitter “onion” type flavor that hits the back of the throat in the finish.

That 2016 version set the bar so high and I’m sure that affects my evaluation.

To be perfectly honest, I was more excited over the Born Again Yesterday at $16 a 12 pack (I drank 2 cases) this year than I am about 2018 Born Yesterday.

 

BAY for $16 a 12 pack is a steal. Just got a 6er of BY for $12 and that is considered a good deal here in Central PA.

 

I knew the Heineken connection would rear it's ugly head at some point!!!!

 

My rankings:

2016 (far and away the best batch yet)
2015
2017
2018

not sure if 2014 saw wide distribution? I don't think I had it

 

I agree with this except I'd put 2014 at the top. But yeah, I'm betting that one didn't get distributed as much.

 

$13 here in rural Illinois, where Lagunitas is priced like a luxury brand, even though they have a brewery in Chicago. I gladly paid it, though, because it is a killer seasonal release.

 

Simcoe, Citra, Mosaic

 

Agree, 14 was so damn good. 15 was just alright, and then 16 was just awesome.

 

Maybe it's already in this thread, but was the unfiltered part on the label a mistake? Doesn't seem to be unfiltered. Regardless, excellent beer.