OK drinking a 3 Magnets beer and thinking that these guys and Matchess seem to be in a very similar vein as far as beers styles and vibe go. But yet i can get behind most of the 3Ms beer I have had, but Matchless leaves me disappointed.. Is it just me? I know i like lower alcohol British style beers..so maybe i'm a aberration. I know Matchless beers seem to be bigger shelf turds than 3 Magnet here in Salem, but they dont move fast either. Is there a Matchless beer anyone can recommend that might change me direction?
I can't think of one. I find the majority of their brews to be average-ish to slightly below, with a few real clunkers thrown in.
I quite like their beer Hop Shindig, though it's been a few years since I've had it. It's a nice winter IPA that's an homage to Celebration Ale and also pokes fun at the dubious fresh hop labeling of said beer. Looked for it last year but never did find it.
I looked back at my ratings and there was one Matchless beer that was above bare average. A single fresh hop pilsner. Crosby Hop Farm Sterling Wet Hop Pilsner back in 2017. So there is that
I absolutely love Matchless’ Voss IPA, which is a hazy Kviek IPA. [shrug] I also liked their recent Australia and New Zealand Vs series. I’ve also liked a few of their Pilsners and Lagers. Crispy Bois should be out again this summer.
I was under the impression that virtually everything they do are one-offs. I think they've escaped copywrite issues on at least one occasion by dint of that fact.
Could be. I don't know a whole lot about them to be honest. But there are check-ins on Untappd for this year so it's possible this is a yearly release.
Matchless does a lot of one off beers but also has a bunch they make regularly or at least yearly. Mirage only does one offs.
Matchless are one of those breweries where their hearts are in the right place, but their execution is hit or miss. I love that they've tried uncommon styles such as altbiers and kellerbiers, but ultimately, they just aren't as good as they could be. Still, ill buy some beers every once in a while. 3 Magnets, with their obsession with hazy IPAs, have been one brewery that have fallen off my radar. Yes, Coffee Tompkins was great, but ultimately, there's only so much room in my liver...
Matchless and 3 mags are doing what ive noticed a few other breweries doing, which is dropping new beers constantly instead of mastering 3 or 4. i know they have a few year round offerings, but every time i come across them in the wild, its always a "new" IPA or lager (that probably tastes like the last 5 IPAs ive had from them). Revision is another brewery that fits this mold. seems like they make the same hazy IPA over and over again and slap different labels on the cans. obviously there are some breweries that can successfully pull off this strategy, but I dont see it very often. the breweries that get the most love (at least on BA, which realize is a small sub set of the beer buying public) tend to have a very strong core lineup, and then some satellite beers throughout the year that they experiment with. all that said, the Matchless Bar BA stouts ive had were all great. the basic version is really good, and the variants were solid as well.
