Monkish Brewing (March 2017)

Please. Lines and hazebros aside, the hoppy stuff at Monkish is every bit as good as any East coast stuff. While I'm with you on preferring our West Coast style, the quality of Monkish's hazy IPAs (along with a few other local breweries) are top notch. Don't kid yourself.

 

100% agree. I'd say it's better

 

+1

 

I'm not a fan of MT's haze. Their marketing - where they put "juicy" on every IG post even if a West Coast IPA (i.e. Mage Hands) - annoys me and feels like they're trying to generate hype around their beers.

Haven't had Dino but and I think Underworld Dreams is the only one I've thought was decent thus far.

Haven't had much Other Half, Treehouse or Tired Hands but, IMO, Monkish's best are better than most of Trillium's offerings that I've had as well as Bissell.

Highland Park is still putting out some pretty good West Coast IPAs. Really enjoyed stuff from Prodigy Brewing when I was at Churchill's.

 

I'm happy we have options

 

I think it would annoy me more if they used multi-quotes in their marketing

 

I haven't had much from the NE, but your theory sounds correct. This sound like when mid-west people talk about their IPA's being good, and then I try it and it is awful. One question, if they make the same beer over and over how is there supposed to be continued hype?

 

I have a friend in Massachusetts who has been sending me stuff regularly for years now. So I guess I'm the exception to your extreme blanket statement

 

Literally the entire world disagrees with you, period.

 

It's just playful marketing rhetoric and ties in with the brand they've built. Stone, who Jacob used to work for, used to do this (not sure if they still do). It's fairly harmless and you can choose to ignore it if you want to. There might be a slight positive effect on those who are receptive to that type of marketing but I don't think it has a big impact on the attainability of their beers or craft beer culture overall. I mean, when was the last time you've heard someone tell you a beer they drank was "cockstaggeringly" good?

The real offender when it comes to hype generation is the combined use of limited production runs, rotating hop bill (to give the impression you're drinking a new beer each time), and in-person first-come-first-served sales. It can be argued that an entire subculture exists around this model.

 

Get more people to complain and I'll change back to 1 post per response. At this time, however, the people annoyed with consecutive posts have the lead.

Playful marketing... that impacts the buying decision of the customer who was expecting something different based on that marketing. After Mage Hands, a ton of people were pissed because they thought they were getting a juice bomb. While, I think people should be more open to non-hazy IPAs, I also thought it was a weak move by Modern Times.

Would rather a brewery just tell me the hops and malt/adjunct bill used than lying to me about the product.

 

Jacob admitted that they missed the mark with Mage Hands. I was one of the people who thought there was a wide delta between what was advertised and what was delivered and commented on it, but I'm also a firm believe that their hazy IPAs are on an upward trajectory.

 

Then why did they still release it if it didn't hit what they were aiming for or had advertised? The problem with pre-sales - if the product doesn't come out to expectations, it can be a pain in the ass to change course and not release it.

There was also another can that hit regular distro and had "juicy" listed on the can and it was far from it.

Their marketing has left a bad taste in my mouth, to be honest. I don't trust them when they tell me what their beer is supposed to taste like which sucks because they do make some pretty good beers.

 

I can't answer that (because I lack that information, seeing as how I'm not an employee or agent of the brewery). Jacob was out of town for the release, came back, and admitted they missed the mark and would work to make sure it didn't happen again. It was still a decent IPA so I don't think any sort of widespread refund was warranted.

I would much rather deal with that than stand in line for beer.

 

I'm with JayO. Of all the NE style, Haze or whatever you want to call it I will say that the east coast is better than what they have been doing out here. I have had many of the Monks haze can/growler releases at the beginning of their run. Nothing in the last 3 months. I stopped hitting up Monks for their cans and even growler fills. To me it's pretty much the same taste and texture. Not saying it's bad. Just that the last time I flew out to Boston (Trillium) & NYC (OH) recently for cans to bring back the east is better than the west when it comes to Haze Craze. So much more flavors in their style compared to what we have out here. But Monks is probably the best I've tasted compared to the others putting out on the west coast. Green Diamonds still my favorite.

 

To be honest, I enjoyed it more than I've enjoyed other MT IPAs but, again, I don't think their haze game is particularly strong. Having said that, I got all my Mage Hands for basically nothing in a trade because they guy was only into hazes and he (along with others) felt duped into that sale.

I would too but we have to admit that it comes with drawbacks when a brewery decides to push through with a sale despite it not meeting expectations or the description during the sale.

Monkish tore all the labels off Cozy & Huddle and cancelled the can sale because it did not meet their expectations. They still sold 4-packs as a "growler fill" for those that tried it on tap and still enjoyed it.

Huh... that was exactly how I felt about the 5-6 different Trillium IPAs I brought back from Boston with me. Wouldn't be surprised if I felt the same about Treehouse, Other Half and Tired Hands, though Tired Hands does those lacto-based Milk Shakes that is definitely out of the ordinary.

Now I want to do side-by-sides...

 

You forgot to mention how much greener the grass in Massachusetts is than everywhere else

 

I'm referring to MT's core and non-IPA special releases mostly--the beers they've built their brand on. Special release IPAs are a relatively new offering and since I can't acquire them personally, I've largely ignored them. Is Mage Hands the only offender? Should you dismiss them based on one beer? People seem to enjoy them here so you might just be an outlier.

Going back to your dislike of their use of the term "juicy," I believe they've been using the term for a few years now which I think predates widespread adoption of the word to describe a turbid NE-style IPA. Figure 1 shows the 2013 release of City of the Sun which confirms this. Doing a quick search of the forums, the oldest thread to use the term "juicy" as a descriptor for IPA is this one and it references beers like Jai Alai, Ghandi Bot, and Heady, none of which qualify as "juice bombs" by today's standards. As a descriptor, it was used to describe citrusy notes within a beer.

Figure 1

Source: Beeradvocate