Other Half - DC (2020)

I got a mixed 12 pack last week (City That Never Sleeps and DDH Cheddar from BK, Deer Gauntlet and DDH Double Mosaic Chroma from FLX, and Seafood Platter and Double Dream Cut from DC.), and the two from DC were my favorite. Seafood platter being the more balanced, and thankfully not as high ABV, which for me right now is preferred.

 

I realize it can be awkward when brewery folks are on a thread and honestly in the grand scheme of things my opinion doesn't matter......

......but I've not been impressed so far having had about 6-8 of their beers so far. The loaded baked potato was undrinkable and an instant drain pour and several others have been way too oniony on the nose for my liking. Regardless of the name and hype the reality is they have to dial it in like anyone else and I look forward to seeing what they do over the next 12 months and hopefully hanging out more at the brewery

 

We're excited to introduce the first of our "Forever" single hop series in DC, and we're coming out of the gate strong with a triple version of Forever Citra, double dry hopped with our fan favorite Citra hops. We're also introducing our Mosaic-forward Patchwork series, and bringing you one of our faves from FLX. All available for Curbside Pickup starting tomorrow at noon (link to order in bio) ⁠⠀
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DDH Triple Forever Citra Imperial IPA (10.0%) Our DC specific single hop series swinging for the fences with this big Triple IPA packed with a perennial fan favorite: Citra. This contains our luxurious hand selected Citra for big lychee, tropical fruit and mellow citrus character. $22 per 4 pack. ⁠⠀
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DDH Patchwork v1 Imperial IPA (8.2%) Patchwork was devised as a series to highlight our hand selected Mosaic hops mixed up with a few of our other favorites in the hop cannon. We worked with artist @eiziv to make these cool labels. V1 contains Motueka and Nelson Sauvin from our friends @freeestylehops in addition to all that Mosaic goodness. $20 per 4 pack. ⁠⠀
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⁠CananDANKua Imperial India Pale Ale (8%) Dope and dank. Hopped with Citra, Idaho 7, Columbus and Cascade. $18 per four pack.

 

Anybody had beer at OH DC yet? Wondering what the on premise prices are like, especially for the bottles. Assume the ipas are $7-8 like FLX.

 

Two very special and entirely different @the8thstatebrewing collabs dropping today! Available starting at noon for Curbside Pickup. Order through the link in our bio.⁠⠀
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HDHC People Will Be Scandalized! Imperial IPA (10.0%) with @the8thstatebrewing. We all make mistakes sometimes. Hopped with Citra Incognito, Galaxy, Simcoe and... gasp, CASCADE! Also featuring a little Simcoe and Cascade Cryo for a little extra pizzazz! $24 per four pack. ⁠⠀
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Secret Cheesecake Society Maple Cinnamon Cheesecake Imperial Stout (12.5%) with @the8thstatebrewing. Learn the secret handshakes and chants of this secret society. Think cheesecake drizzled in maple, cinnamon, and with a rich graham cracker crust .⁠ $16 per bottle.

 

Tomorrow, Friday, we have releases from two of our new DC series - the Citra forward "Gems" series and the Strata forward "Cut" series. Each of these series focus on a main hop and then have a number of hop iterations coming soon. Try them all to see which combinations you love! Pre-order now for Curbside Pickup using the link in our bio. ⁠⠀
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Triple Space Cut Imperial IPA (10.0%) This is a mashup of our new Strata forward "Cut" series with the classic Space Diamonds franchise. The result is a mashup of our super awesome tropical fruit, creamy strawberry and dank Strata hops with our rich mango, guava and passion fruit forward Galaxy hops. $22 per 4 pack. ⁠⠀
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Double Crushed Gems Imperial IPA (8.0%) Like all the beers in our new 'Gems' series this is very Citra forward with Simcoe and Idaho 7 along for their big pineapple forward flavor profiles. This sees big doses of Citra, Simcoe and Idaho 7 Cryo as well. $18 per 4 pack.

 

They sent out a survey about DC delivery, which they’re gearing up for.

 

Finally swung by for cans

Forever Mosaic - great
Double Crushed Gems - yikes, easily the worst OH beer I've had

For the price, I think I'll wait until they have things dialed in.

 

As a recent Brooklyn transplant (returning after 9 years away) I have thoughts on Other Half DC. I lived in Prospect Heights and went to the original Other Half Tap room back in 2015 before the hype blew up. I almost exclusively drank Other Half beer while my wife was pregnant a couple years ago. When I moved to DC in mid-October, I brought an assorted case of Other Half (before I knew the DC location was going to open a week later) and a case of Finnback.

Regarding DC Other Half, I tried CananDANKua, Doube Space Gems, and LAX2JFK. I also got the Brooklyn brewed All Green Everything. For sure, the AGE was the best and maybe the best Other Half beer I had this year.

Other Half Brooklyn has also ramped up tremendously and in my experience, while the beers are always good to very good, it has become rarer and rarer to get the batch that makes you fall in love with them again and again. Check out the Other Half Brooklyn thread to confirm this sentiment. Other Half has always varied slightly from batch to batch. The DC Other Half batches that I have tried have been very comparable to the Brooklyn brewed Other Half I have had recently -- good to very good.

The last couple years in Brooklyn, I drifted to Finnback (their Brooklyn location was also about a mile closer to my apartment) and I thought they had the slight edge for best NEIPA in the borough. KCBC, Grimm, Interboro, SingleCut, GreenPoint, Folksbier are all also very good and are always a buy if you see them in the wild.

In my 5 years in Brooklyn experiencing the NEIPA trend blowing up, Other Half was just so much better for much of that time (in my opinion). That is not the case anymore. All the local breweries I mentioned above compete.

I am still very excited to have Other Half in town, and I joke with my wife, knowing they where opening up a location in DC was one of the reasons I felt okay leaving my beer paradise in Brooklyn.

The Ivy City space is cool and I am excited about delivery.

For local folks, what other NEIPAs should I be tracking down? I have tasted Aslin, Commonwealth and Solace, which are all quite fine. My fav Virginia brewed NEIPA is probably from Basic City down in Waynesboro. I have yet to tango with Vail.

 

Lately the Aslin IPAs have been hit or miss for me. Some batches of classics like Double Orange Starfish and Champion of the Sun have been great, while others have been way to malty for the NEIPA flavor I look for. They put out too many new IPAs for me to be able to judge the one's they only brew once or twice.

I would say Commonwealth is better than Solace when Commonwealth is on, but I've had been from them that have similar issues to Aslin occasionally. I'd recommend EveryWhen and Syndicate if Commonwealth ever brews those again.

Veil is fine, but the stuff I've had from them lately is not as good as I remember, and you have to have them ship beer to you to get it in the DC/NOVA Area. I'd recommend Triple Crossing IPAs, but they are also in Richmond so you have to get beer shipped from them unless you happen to find something on draft. They do a good job of keeping the bitterness of the hops instead of making it super juicy.

Bluejacket is in DC by the navy yard, and it seems like they have improved their IPA so they may be worth a look, but I haven't had anything from them in a bit.

 

Veil, Triple Crossing, OG Aslin beers, the Answer, Cushwa, Sapwood, Elder Pine. Not necessarily in that order. Just my opinion.

 

Triple Crossing is by far the best NEIPA producer in the region.

 

I agree with @hoppytobehere that Triple Crossing is the best NEIPA producer in the region. I had a hard time with Commonwealth ever evolving offerings of IPAs that are of varying quality. Commonwealth may offer more exciting releases than Solace, but I think Solace is actually more consistent (since they're producing grocery store IPAs). I have mentioned my affection for Ocelot before. You'll get varying opinions here, some who really love their House Yeast I beers which are more West Coast, others (like me) who like their newer NEIPA pursuits. I haven't sought out their beers lately, mostly because I haven't been in the hazy mood. I think the one brewery who distributes to the area but hasn't been mentioned is Benchtop. I like their IPAs a lot and they do a lot of Kviek IPAs as well, if that interests you.

 

All, thanks so much for the amazing suggestions! Can't wait to try all the regional/local offerings.

 

Agreed with all above. You can also find crowlers of Triple Crossing, Veil, and Ocelot nearly all the time at my favorite beer store Dominion Wine and Beer in falls church: http://dominionwineandbeer.com/whats-on-tap-2/ including ability to order curbside pick up same day.

Not so much a local, but not far from Ivy city you can get offshoot at the bruery taproom.

Known not so much for their IPAs, but Wheatland Spring is fast becoming my favorite in the area. I can't say enough good things about their lager and pilsner.

 

Wheatland Spring has probably usurped Ocelot as my favorite in the area. While I think their IPAs are good, they're definitely not an IPA first brewery like a lot of the others mentioned. Corn Crib is probably my favorite beer I can get in the region.

 

I thought Green Dots is the best DC beer by far. I find anything they make between the 6% - 7% range is the sweet spot.

 

Closing the loop on my own question, I placed my order six days ahead of my planned pick-up date, but I noted when I would be snagging the beers in the comments section of their ordering page. They kept the beers cold and raised no complaints, and everything went fine.

 

Wednesday! Two bright and citra-forward brews available starting at noon, tomorrow, for Curbside Pickup. Order through the link in our bio.⁠⠀
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Forever Citra IPA (6.5%) The DC version of our Citra single hop continues to evolve our approach to the grain bill built to support this hop. Clean and bright malt bill tailored to stand up to and make our hand-selected Citra hops pop at the same time. $16 per 4 pack. ⁠⠀
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Seeing Things Imperial IPA (8.3%) We packed this IPA with hand-selected Citra, Cashmere and Motueka for a beautiful combo of some of our favorite hops. Candied lemon-lime fruity pebbles plus citrus and lychee make for a delusional experience. You might be seeing things. Make sure to get this label out into the sunlight. $20 per 4 pack. ⁠

 

A little something strong for your mid-week pick me up. Available tomorrow, Wednesday, at noon. Head to the link in our bio to pre-order for Curbside Pickup.⁠
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Triple Forever Riwaka (10.0%) One of the most complex and powerful hops on the planet. It's a palette twister with big juicy grapefruit, passion fruit, kumquat and tropical fruit. Big thanks to our friends @freestylehops for providing us with incredible Riwaka. $20 per 4 pack.⁠
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Cracked Imperial IPA (8.0%) Galaxy T-90 hops lead the way before a huge dose of Sabro, Citra, and Simcoe Cryo take over big time. $20 per 4 pack.