Notch Brewing (2020)

I'm a fan of Gentile especially their Blonde. Low abv, bitter, noble hops.

People were talking about Backbeat as well which is two blocks from Gentile.

 

Should've gone with a quart can of Polotmavy.

 

Doing a pickup tomorrow and bummed I didn’t act earlier to get Löggerhead, as I bought my wife a beer caramelizer as a birthday gift.

 

Vinnin in Swampscott may still have it. Not too far out of the way though I don't know if they do curbside

 

Vinnin seems to get everything, including the limited release stuff.

They also have a relatively consistent stock of Schilling and JA Keller series.

 

I really enjoyed the Voll IPA 4 pack I picked up a couple of weeks ago. I have been more and more hesitant on purchasing any NEIPAs lately because a lot of them are so poorly brewed. But, this being Notch, I figured it at the very least would be a well made beer, and it was. I was starting to think I was losing my taste for NEIPAs, but I think it’s more that I don’t like shitty beers.

 

Full disclosure on my part, it’s been over a year that I had the 3 different ipas I had from Voll. At the time I didn’t love them, from draft and can, but maybe they’ve improved.

Agree on the NEIPA. When I do buy them and or get to try them they are so hit or miss for me. Makes me very hesitant to buy them especially from breweries that I’m not familiar with.

 

I don't think the Voll Project ipas hold a candle to the better examples of style in MA.

It is strange because I have heard it is relatively easy to brew a good hazy ipa but difficult to brew all of the styles that Notch knocks out of the park.

 

I like the Voll Project IPAs. The couple of Voll IPAs I drank were balanced and didn’t have the overly assertive hop burn, nor vegetable matter flavor so common for the style. I’d buy Voll IPAs quite a bit if I lived near Salem.

I’d also add that it is relatively easy to make a lousy, average, or passable NEIPA. Making a really good or excellent one isn’t easy.

 

I know nothing about brewing. The easy NEIPA is just something I hear thrown around from time to time especially when someone is trying to shoot down the style.

 

I've only had a couple of sips of a notch voll IPA. When I visited last summer my friend ordered a DIPA, I assume Hang the DJ. I was there purely for the lagers, but I had a couple of sips. Thought it was excellent, perfect expression of mosaic for me, but hard to judge on just two sips.

I do see German hops in a lot of their ipas, and that is sometimes concerning to me. Medusa has a couple like that, and whichever one gives off the strawberry flavor I can't stand.

I might make a run to Notch this weekend. Anyone try the U yet?

 

U is great - somewhat tea-like body and a great biscuit/malt finish

 

I personally like the Voll IPAs I've tried. I will say that they are not exactly typical NEIPAs and probably reflect @ChrisLohring 's slight antipathy towards the trendy haze beers.

 

I’m ready to be attacked for saying this, but I believe some (a lot?) of casual NEIPA drinkers drink with their noses. Huge dry-hop charges of Citra, Mosiac, Galaxy and other sexy hops can smell intoxicating when you take a whiff of a NEIPA. For me, that is sometimes where the quality ends, even before the first sip. As a one time home brewer specializing in lousy beer, I learned that dry hoping with a dose of Cita in a pale ale or IPA in the secondary fermentor was an easy way to make the beer smell great, no matter how good or bad the beer actually tasted.

 

Doesn't everyone drink with their nose? Sure taste and smell are different senses but they are so entwined that I don't think it is appropriate to separate them. That goes for tasting anything, not just beer. Think about when you eat something when you have a cold. It just isn't quite right. Having said that, can a beer taste a lot different than it smells? Sure but I think most of the time the two compliment each other and may actually be indistinguishable at times.

 

Of course our olfactory sense plays a huge role in how we perceive all food and beverage—I didn’t think that needed to be said. But yes, a beer can smell good and taste like a hot mess at the same time.

 

I can confirm this.

 

Aroma is key to perception of flavor but people who drink with their noses are typically referred to as drowning victims.

If I must drown, let me drown in Notch.