Other Half Brewing Thread (Sept 2015)

I'm 5 minutes from La Cumbre and love their beers and definitely am happy to play the homer, but their beers, and many on the west coast are fundamentally different--- bigger in body, more pine and reason and citrus and less melon (Yellow Rose) and mango, papaya, passionfruit--- and I find the bigger fruit, lighter bodied IPAs to be my poison. I have almost reached the point where I can't even drink DIPAs anymore, too much body, malt sweetness and booze. Gimme light, refreshing and fruit bursts.

 

As of Sunday afternoon mosaic and oat junkie were not on tap.

 

Just so you know- the OH "kolsch" doesn't taste anything like a kolsch at all.
If you are in Astoria, Astoria bier and cheese might be worth a stop too.

 

He's right it doesn't, it's much better.

 

^^^This, except you need to remove the "non-NE" part. I have that and JK stuff & other back home stuff coming in Friday. We need to have a share!

 

I kind of figured as much. Part of why I'd like to try. Astoria Bier and Cheese is a great spot, just as much for the food as the beer.

Curious, but also get the sense you find the traditional kolsch boring.

 

I think we're going to have to agree to disagree on that. I think there are few things better than a proper kolsch sometimes.
Dry hopping with mosaic is probably getting as far from a kolsch as possible.

 

Yes it's a great place, love the food. Growler prices are a bit crazy though. My favorite is the spicy muffaleta but it's hard to taste the beer afterwards.

 

Will be in NY in a few weeks. How regularly are they canning? Based on their instagram it looks like every 2 or 3 weeks.

 

Best growler prices I've found have been at Whole Foods. Everything else can be exorbitant, especially coming from New Mexico where $10 64 ounce growlers are common.

 

Yep that's about right

 

Looks like OH held back some GD and AGE cases for purchase today at the taproom...

 

Not sure if that is by accident or on purpose, but a good idea. Give people a shot who can't make release and some incentive for people to show up at tap room knowing there is a chance they could get some cans.

 

Seems to already be some backlash on IG by folks who waited in line, only to be told it was sold out, and now see that cases have reappeared a few days later.

 

No just get a kick out of @ecpho who has made it clear that he is highly offended OH is calling this a Kolsch.

 

Life is tough sometimes. The beer people wait in line for is frequently available on tap at the brewery with no lines at all. If people want to waste their time waiting in lines there are some inherent risks in getting the beer. OH is cranking out new can releases every two or 3 weeks or so to meet the demand so I don't feel bad for anyone who got shut out. Those who wait in line are part of the problem and getting shut out are self inflicted problems.

 

As someone who would never just go to get cans and wouldn't be mad if I got shutout because I'd still be able to drink some goodies on tap, I'd still be pissed if told that cans were gone only to find out they weren't. Not a good practice. Deceiving customers, dismissing the effort they've put into getting a brewery's beer, those are quick ways to lose customers/fan base.

 

I am not sure I feel bad for these people but am also sure that is not the point. I think people are complaining about the way OH handled communications last Saturday which seems to me legitimate criticism. I can't think of another industry where businesses seem to get such a pass on any negative customer feedback. A lot of beer geeks are unreasonable at times, not sure it is the case here. Competition in NYC and everywhere is so fierce now that I think people don't have to put up with breweries and bars if they have negative experiences. Just my humble opinion.

Also, I have waited in plenty of lines and just think it is unrealistic to think that this in some way is avoidable in the new reality.

 

Not hard for OH to say, "There may be some cases available Wed., but for today were out".

It's just beer. They'll make more.