More Brewing (2020)

It's unconscionable, I know. But it happened.

I actually liked it a good bit, but it was quite a bit of heat.

 

Now we’re doing Eventbrite tickets for fruited milkshake IPA’s?? My Mom says I can’t play with you guys anymore.

 

Haha I hear you. The WFH crowd/online ordering has really changed things. Mikerphone did a pre-sellout on a Berliner today as an example

 

I'm guessing you've never been to Elk Grove Village.

 

well it was a berliner that is essentially a milkshake..you arent wrong though. i was able to grab a 4pack and was shocked when I saw it sold out so quickly. the online changes may be one of the only good things to come out of this crisis.

 

I tried my first Arketype Coco Flux yesterday, and it was really, really good. I would put it above any non-BA Henna I've tried (although I didn't get to try Double Rainbow fresh). I like that the Arketype base beer has so much flavor. It's really like a true RIS and not a milk stout like most places use for heavy adjuncting. Even with all the coconut and chocolate, it still tasted like beer and didn't come off as too sweet.

 

My goodness how far is my palate off from the general accepted sweetness levels in adjunct/additive stouts if I thought this Coco Flux was soooo sweet that I only lasted a few sips?

 

I personally loved Coco Flux, though I specifically drank it as dessert one night and only had one stout. Think the mouthfeel is great and the coconut is subtle but noticeable.

 

I posted on here last year (in May actually) after I tried regular Arketype for the first time. I thought it was by far the best stout I’d had from them, for exactly the reasons you mentioned (I received very mixed feedback for that). My only knock was that it was a touch sweet. But not enough for me to give below a 4.5 rating on Untappd. I can see adding sweet adjuncts making me enjoy it less (I’ve never had any variants). But the roast with that body and mouthfeel was top notch.

 

I drink a lot of Mikerphone, what can I say? I definitely have a sweet tooth, I found Trump and Pump to be pretty tasty.

I thought Coco Flux was sweet, but on the Pastry Stout scale, it was closer to the "dry" end. I think every Henna I've tried was sweeter. And then you get to stuff like Angry Chair that is literal straight up sugar water, Mikerphone starts to taste normal by comparison.

 

FWIW... I just had my bottle of Nutelik, and the barrel/thickness were front and center. Hazelnut takes a back seat to chocolate, and both are flavors #2 and #3 behind flavor #1: barrel. It’s great imo.

 

I opened my bottle the other day, and I agree with your impression. I’ll just add that for how much barrel I got, it was somehow still smooth.... to me at least . I like ‘barrel forward’ beers so maybe I’m use to the heat.

 

Huntley has 2 packs of Arketype Coco Flux available if anyone missed out.

 

Frooted Jam still not sold out at either location, it looks like. What gives? This one actually looks better than the last several Frooted: no vanilla, which is really not necessary in a beer with that much fruit (froot?) in it.

 

Got me to go visit the Huntley location for the first time today (haven't been to Villa Park in ages, either, honestly). Looks like they did good with the new location. Can't wait to try some of the Frooted Jam.

 

Can you order it in advance anywhere? I see the online sales are down.

 

You can only place an order during hours when they are open. It took me a while to figure that out. Then once an order is placed you have 24 hours to pick up.

 

Yeah but Frooted Jam reservations are "sold out". And its not listed on their to-go website. So I take it the only way to get it now is to go there and ask if they have it?

 

A friend and fellow BA was at VP yesterday. I called to make sure proxies were allowed for him to grab for me as I wanted some Arketype, Helles, and Boots. They said they allow it with anything but Frooted. So I'm guessing that is the case.

 

When I posted that, Eventbrite still had reservations available for Sunday 5-7pm for VP. I didn’t check Huntley.

EDIT: it looks like it’s listed as “sales ended” now, but it doesn’t say “sold out.” They do have Arketype available to go at VP right now though.