Other Half (2019)

I already pointed out my ummmm - disagreement - about that in the main thread on this article

 

How the hell is Trillium higher than Other Half that's outrageous

 

I mean I can get on board with that over Grimm being higher. I get that trubtequilatippedretailgate was a terrible look for Trillium, but still - they have done a lot for both the Boston beer scene and the NEIPA.

Grimm on the other hand - while I can totally understand why people would prefer them to OH based on the beers they’re currently making and their awesome space - as far as a long term impact on the NYC scene and contributing to any style(s), it’s hard to argue that they pip OH. I mean how long has there physical brewery been going? Just over a year?

As with anything Paste, there are tons of holes to poke in that article.

 

Yeah people can have their preferences regarding Grimm or Other Half, but the latter has objectively had a substantially larger impact on the NYC beer scene and the national...hell, international beer scene over and beyond Grimm.

 

Possibly, I wasn't around for the early haze days; but I couldn't consider Trillium as innovative or as high quality as Other Half at least since I started getting into craft, and while I think Trillium does belong on the list, I'm surprised that the tequila fiasco didn't keep it out of the top 25.

 

I think trillium essentially taught OH how to do hazy ipa. Before Trillium and OH did a couple collabs together in 2015, OH was only brewing clear, bitter WC IPAs. After Street Green it was all hazies for OH from then on

 

Pfriem and Live Oak is decent company, but no monkish? And allaghash is the only Portland, Maine brewery??

 

For me the weirdest thing about the Paste list was Triple Crossing being that high, let alone above Other Half. I've enjoyed all the beers I've had from them, but in a sea of breweries pumping out enjoyable NEIPA, I'm not sure what got them that spot.

 

Come on guys. Every time Paste comes out with one of these lists everyone gets all riled up. Don't fall for it.

 

I didnt read this article yet, I will later once I have some free time at work. But what are they using as grading points for coming up with this list? Maybe that answer is within the article, but any time I see these list in a magazine or whatever it is just someone person preference IMO. I true ranking would including voting/input not only from consumers and customers but also industry people as well IMO.

That being said, taking a step back of the last few years, outside of the trub-gate and the way each brewery really "markets" itself, what REALLY is there difference in what Trillium does versus what OH does for the bulk of their beer. Hazy IPA, Fruited Sour, Pastry Stout. Most of their beers are the same styles for the last few years. Now maybe a place like Trillium gets a bump up for offering more styles more regularly than an OH where 80% of what they make is hazy IPA from 8-10%?

 

Because Jim Vorel is an RVA homer?

 

Trying to explain in detail would take many many words. And it’s a long, sad, and oftentimes corrupt story.

The tl;dr version is that Paste periodically does a fairly intensive blind taste testing of a specific style. However they are reliant on either a) the breweries being within their personal distro footprint or b) non-distro breweries sending them beer (also seems there’s a few trades too, but a and b cover most of how they get their hands on the beers).

Now doing that, while not perfect, is one thing. But it seems that they’ve collated this “Best 50 Breweries of the Decade” list, with those prior blind taste tests playing a large part in there ranking. And the end result is that breweries like Other Half and Hill Farmstead (who didn’t send (m)any offerings for any of these prior taste tests) are lower than expected. While the likes of Treehouse, Trillium, Grimm and Triple Crossing (who did send offerings + did well in one or more prior taste tests) are perhaps higher than expected.

Edit - above fails to qualify for tl;dr and as such a HS point has been deducted (which cancels out the HS point added for being the only active member of this thread to defend OH in the main forum thread about this article)

 

The lists do make for great discussion, if only because they're so polarizing.

I will add that I think "prestige" plays an unspoken and over-weighted role in the rankings. Put another way, if a Magical Beer Case was always stocked with your favorite Other Half beers and some Trillium bangers, would you really be reaching for Trillium more often? Or would you probably spend most of your time with the OH faves, and occasionally digress on a Trillium or Tree House or Jester King brew? Would you mostly deviate from OH for a non-IPA?

Personally I'm OK with the fact that I'm likely biased AF and love Other Half IPA's and, based on consumption alone, I'd be lying to say they're not my number one brewery- something I'm confident would persist if other regional favorites were regularly available here.

 

Back to Hop Showers talk..... this latest iteration is awesome right out of the gate. Been a while since I’ve had it and this batch has me regretting not jumping on prior batches.

 

I think you should award yourself a second HS point for this post. That being said I glossed over the article which seemed very biased and not worth investing more time into reading. If you aren't including a brewery like OH in the top 10 at minimum when taking into account importance to their community and impact on the beer scene. To list Grimm higher, who really have had 0 impact on community IMO until they settled into their space is kind of ridiculous.

Being from NJ I have strong feelings about Kane as my fav local brewery, but OH has always been up there and now I frequent it much more since I am in BK much more these days then years prior. While OHs mission statement was about repping the "Other Half" of the industry, I think they have shifted from that, or at least the industry has shifted to be what OH is doing. While they didnt have a great footing on Hazy IPA to start and morphed into what they do now with/without the help of friends/other breweries, you literally can't argue they knock it out of the park at what they do best. OH is literally bringing people weekly from bordering states (and further) into NYC to buy beer. I do like a lot of the breweries on this list, and the ones who produce hazy IPA make good to very good beer, however when OH nails a beer (especially one that is produced more than 1 time) theres not many other breweries who can line up against it with that consistency time and time again. Give me a Space Diamonds, Hop Showers or Broccoli any day of the week and I will be happy and it think they would outscore a lot of other hazy IPAs from any of the breweries on that list in a blind test.

Side note, I dont get the Weldwerks hype. Ive not had any of the BA Stouts or anything, so I can't comment on that. But any of their IPAs or any other style I have had were just okay and nothing I would go out of my way to drink. I don't get it? Maybe they get props for pushing out more styles than some other places, but I'd much rather have a brewery who nails a few beers over and over than one who produces a ton of different ones/styles and they are all bordering "C" grade

 

Disagree completely here. TC makes a wider variety of styles than OH and does them at the same level (IPAs) or better (sours, stouts, pilsners). OH has a higher "brand" recognition, but that is about it.

 

Breaking news: Weldwerks have done well in prior Paste blind taste tests.

 

My best guess is that OH got docked because of this:

"To truly be an assessment of the best breweries of the entire decade, we have to attempt to weight contribution made at the beginning of the 2010s the same as we would contributions made toward the end of the decade."

OH wasn't founded until 2014 (according to their website - oddly, added to BA database in Dec. 2013). They'd probably have been ranked in the top 20 otherwise.

 

I have to disagree with this, there's no way the TC IPAs are at the same level as OH, especially some of the "core" ones. I have had a good mix of TC IPAs and I just can't get on board with that statement. I haven't had any of their stouts, but had a good mix of their "sour" beer and I would say if you want to say its the same level as OH I can agree wit hthat