Just picked up some in MA. Looks to be a 3.9% hoppy pale ale.......couple reviews look good.....anyone try this yet???
Lagunitas made a hoppy pale ale?! no way!! (note: sarcasm) I have not tried this one but I wouldn't be surprised that it is delicious. Also happy to see some beers starting to dip into the 3% range. Gives me hope that we'll see a properly brewed ~3% english mild someday (note: more sarcasm)
had it last weekend. liked it. like a good version of budweiser with actual hop flavors. or maybe a "daytime light".
I love beer in the 3% range, I also welcome more of them. As long as they're well made obviously. I would like to see more milds (both pale and dark), but these beers shine on cask. I'm not sure a bottled version would be nearly as good at that ABV. Might have to up the alcohol a bit for a bottled mild. Not much more, but likely 4%+. Regardless, it would be nice to see more < 4% beers that weren't a Berliner Weisse. I'm kind of sick of these and Gose's, they're nice every now and then, but they don't really lend themselves to sessioning in my opinion due to their tart flavor profile. Daytime Light may be the better descriptor. I can't imagine too much of the flavor profile of a Budweiser translating to a sessionable pale ale. Budweiser is lagered, brewed with rice, minimal hopping, clean, and 5% ABV.
I want to pick this up, set up a chair outside after a hard day building trail, and drink 5 or 6 of them.
^^^^^ This x 100, no x 1000. Would love to see more real "sessionable" brews put out by craft brewers. I think the market is "maturing" to the point where enough folks looking for this option exist to support it. Looking forward to trying it.
Tried a bomber yesterday, quite tasty. Agree with above that someday there will be a good selection of session beers that aren't hopwater or goses.
Very true. A cask conditioned mild would be nice style for a small/regional brewery to pull off (Mayflower, I'm looking at you!!) Not sure if you've tried it before, but Yards Brewing out of Philly makes a really good Dark Mild in Brawler. It is one of their flagship brews and is readily available all over the NY/PA/NJ tri-state area if you ever find yourself down here. Not quite the ideal ABV (4%) but being 1% too high really is a minor complaint for such a tasty beer. (and if sierranevadabill gave it a 4.6 you KNOW it's damn good) cheers.
I was sent a bottle once, but I believe it was a year old, and was fairly bland at that point. I was at the Philly airport last year and I think they had the Pale Ale on tap from Yard's, but not Brawler. I get to try a few at NERAX on cask each year, and our local brewery Notch does low abv beers and has had a mild in the past I think at local bars, on cask too I believe.
I agree with so much of what you are saying. Focusing on the bit about low ABV and sourness, despite all the people that view Gose and Berliner as refreshing, I am not in that camp. Depending on the beer of course, a very sour Berliner causes me to take measured sips, as if it was a barley wine, even though the ABV can be considerably lower than an average pale ale. It's telling that the craft beer market has latched onto 3% and 4% beers with sourness. Unfortunately, we've found the niche that makes sub Bud Light ABV appealing to most of us... and it's a niche where a certain boldness has become accepted as working.
sounds like someone needs to make a trip to England if they havent already. nothing beats sitting in the pub all day drinking flavorful cask bitters give or take 4% ABV. bottles never do these beers justice. and to be honest i have never had an american brewed mild or cask pale ale etc that can hold a candle to those in the UK. i think the old world malt and hops just work better on cask than do the bright citrusy american hop characters. thats not to say i wont take one every chance i can get tho! im with you tho...gose and sour, meh. ill have 1 or 2, i could never imagine wasting away a rainy afternoon in a pub drinking them all day.
You can't get Yards in New York. I wish I could, their IPA is one of the better English styled (you know, how it was originally brewed) IPAs I've ever tasted. I brought a couple of Tavern porters back from a recent PA trip too.
Nice! I'm from MA originally so whenever I go home I like to buy Notch (among several other breweries obviously) when I see it. I remember seeing that they made a dark mild on their BA list a long time ago....shame they didn't bottle it. Still haven't made it to that NERAX expo. I remember when it was held at a VFW in Somerville years ago then it was at a few other places here and there. Now that I'm back East (I was working in AZ for the past 3+ years) I would love to attend.
Oops, you are right. Looks like it's on the other side of the river (hoboken, jersey city). I only looked at the beer finder map zoomed out pretty far so those dumb little pins looked like they were in NYC. Should've looked at the data a bit closer!
