Other Half (2019)

Hop Showers w/ Medusa + Citra Cryo is the embodiment of what IPAs should be. A great citrus flavor, smooth body, no unnecessary sweetness from lactose and a solid hop bite on the finish.

 

Excellent time as always! The new hop showers is great, as usual.

 

I’m a couple of days late but I really enjoyed Smoke Screens and Oil Slicks, which I’m fairly certain had no adjuncts. It was also my first OH stout and one of their first beers I ever had.

 

I know I'm opening myself up to getting exposed at some future meet-up, but how does this happen? Do you people actually drink beer, or do you just talk about drinking it on the internet?

 

How are those Roc beers? They look better than anything our guys released yesterday.

 

A blind leading the blind, quadruple blind taste test works like this:

@Max_W and @stevebrownsteve go to bar and get 4oz pours of four different pastry stouts and come back over to @SpinSamzo and me

one of them is the snickers one

everyone takes it in turns to try each beer

when the snickers beer gets to someone they proclaim grandly that “this is definitely the snickers one”.

total dissent about the rest

given that we had no idea which beer was which from the outset, we were left in the dark. We were blind.

on a serious beer note - anyone feel like this AGE is sweeter than usual? I’ve enjoyed the last couple batches and have found it (very much relatively) drier/less sweet than the other ten percenters. This batch not so much

 

I can't believe it hasn't yet been mentioned, but I'll do my part by rectifying that now...

Aside from simply meeting and getting to know everyone better in person, my favorite moment was when @RobNewton pulled out what I'm really hoping was a bag of lactose and @rozzom, like a man possessed, sprung immediately into action by plunging his hand into the white powder and then rubbing his dusted fingers all over his gums. I've seldom been so simultaneously amused and appalled. Someone made a comment about his muscle memory reflexively kicking in, and I couldn't disagree. I'd like to propose that we stage an intervention and check that guy into rehab. Maybe they can also rid him of his unintelligible Scottish brogue while he's there.

Additionally, I'm giving an honorable mention for Outstanding Guest Appearance to Rob's flashy beige pleather jacket. A fashion choice I most certainly wasn't expecting outside of the 1980s, but he somehow pulled it off!

 

I’m surprised the Hop Showers crew isn’t more vocal about Stacks on Stacks. It’s right in the wheelhouse of not overly sweet, nice fruit rind bitterness, not overly creamy, and finishes dry. I’ve had the last few batches and happy to say it’s had the same consistent taste each time. I’d vote for making this one more!

 

@frozyn king of the kicked kegs yesterday!

Greeting putting a name to the Olmsted face! I wish I saw this @rozzom lactose activity. I think you missed when we passed the lactose around the first time earlier in the day lol.

Good to hear this batch is tasting good, I got a few cans in my cooler! As for the new Roc beers I got a 4 of Quonset Hut so I’ll report back on that. I want to try the other one as well had too much beer to buy another 4

 

Canandakua is really good, just had a can of it. Seems like they really got stuff dialed in up there.

 

Make it so

 

I got cans of SoS last batch and I can’t agree more. One of my favorite DIPAs of theirs. If I get the chance to get a 4-pack of it again, I wouldn’t hesitate.

 

Does anyone remember when the Thanksgiving releases have been? Is it Wednesday next week or a typical Saturday?

Thanks all! Lineup this weekend looks amazing and hope some lasts a couple days although i am not holding my breath.

 

last year they did that week’s release on the Tuesday iirc. And then released a couple extra beers on Black Friday. All in lieu of the Saturday release

and damn - HDHC ACE. Let’s be ‘aving you

 

This may be the weekend release that ends my boycott of OH and all their silliness. These look great. But...how are you "supposed" to brew a beer for years but don't? Oh yeah...it wasn't silly enough to make a Saturday lineup.

 

How does the HDHC compare to the regular? Don't think I have had the HDHC.

 

Can't speak to the Citra version, but feel like (and sure I'm not alone here) the HDHC thing is sort of a BS marketing ploy to charge a couple more bucks. The theory being massive and more hops makes an already good beer "better" does not necessarily hold true and can be the exact opposite.