Noble Ale Works (Q2 2017)

To your point, I only find their canned NE IPA's stellar. I'd much prefer any of their west coast offerings to the draft/crowler only haze.

 

You fucked up man, shoulda ordered the Tank Top

 

Maybe but the only TIPA I've ever liked is PtY. I generally don't even like DIPAs

 

That's good because Tank Top is a cream ale

 

I've had one NE style IPA on draft there and wasn't a fan, but the first two cans (24k Juice and Double Platinum) are at the top of my list for west coast NE-style IPAs. I think they were by far the most "juicy" tasting that I've had, without having an actual "we added juice flavoring to this" (e.g., grapefruit sculpin).

As far as non-hazy style IPAs, I like Nobility a lot, and Big Whig, while not amazing, is one of the better (maybe even my favorite) flagship IPAs for a brewery. I compare it to beers like regular Lagunitas IPA, Sculpin, or Racer 5, and appreciate it for standing out in that crowd, although I guess it's not as readily available on shelves everywhere. Citra Showers is solid, but I agree, not amazing.

The main reason I'll make a trip to Noble is for Naughty Sauce.

 

Hah, my bad. I guess I got the impression they were known for their hops, but I didn't enjoy any of the hoppy stuff I had

 

Wow. I would wear Citra Showers as a cologne.

 

I also got a crowler of that but have yet to open it. I think the weird taste of the Corgi was one of the hops that predominated the aftertaste.

 

I'm a Norcal guy too, and absolutely loved Lil' Gorgi Butt when I was there today. Reminded me of Cellarmaker, my favorite Norcal Brewery. I had Big Whig, Nobility, Tank Top, and Horst Simcoe while I was there. In fact I've hit up seven OC/LA Breweries the last 3 days (Noble, Bottle Logic, Beachwood, Monkish, Riip, Hoparazzi, Newport) and had every IPA and pale they've had to offer. Top 5 in order: Gorgi, Cryo me a River, Horst Simcoe, Jello's Gigglin,, and the Riip hazy IPA that I drank two crowlers of on the golf course before rating and forget the name of lol.

I was disappointed that Noble want crowlering Gorgi or Horst. But to each their own :-)

 

Lil Corgi was the best of them, I'd agree. I think it's the Nelson Sauvin that reminds you of Cellarmaker, since they love that hop. But I found the flavor to be a bit more muted/watery than CM so ultimately I wasn't a fan.

I also went to Monkish (twice), Beachwood, and Mumford Brewing and to be honest, I didn't really care for anything. My favorite of everything I had was Mumford's Stealth Pigeon, a 7.1% NE IPA with Citra and Denali. But I realized that although I enjoyed it, I didn't like it enough to pick up a crowler.

Noble did have Cute Lil' Corgi Butt and HORST SiMCOE in crowlers when I was there Tuesday, btw.

 

I liked the Monkish DIPAs and pale ale but wasn't blown away at all. Didn't love Big Whig or Nobility at Noble, or any of the Hoppy beers I had at Bottle Logic other than down down. From an Overall perspective I'd say Beachwood had the best offerings, cuz Citraholic and Amalgamator are classics to go with the Cryo Me a River that I loved.

I skipped Mumford since I'm staying in Irvine and ubering everywhere, and we can get them pretty consistently at Liquid Gold in SF. But maybe tomorrow I'll hit them up to try Stealth Pigeon :-D I really liked their 90's R&B IPA when I had it.

 

That Cryo Me a River is the TRUTH!!!

 

Glad I'm not the only one that likes it! I am drinking my Growler in my hotel room right now!

 

Reporting back. I do like the Horst Simcoe Pale Ale. Fairly juicy and no weird after taste. I do understand that my palette can change day to day so it's possible it had an off day. I do prefer an IPA and DIPA to a pale ale, but it wasn't bad and easily drinkable. I think the draw of the Monkish IPAs is that they have the mouthfeel and carbonation perfected.

 

i hope they keep bottling because we actually get them up here. cans don't make it north :/

 

Hey @Vito_at_Noble , is this gonna see more than the typical can production and possibl distro being one of Noble's regular line-up? Either way, I'm excited. Love this stuff. Cheers!

 

Hard to scale this beer up due to the amount of oolong tea that is used, so for this run it will be in line with our other releases thus far with sales only in house. In the future, however, look forward to seeing more core Noble beers being offered in cans with distro a big focus.

 

Loving that last line, and I'll still be happy to stop by for the release. Thanks for the response. Cheers!

 

Naughty Sauce nitro cans!!