Phase Three Brewing (2020)

Untappd with its 4.06 be damned, I rather enjoyed Abstract Technicality.

 

Gosh, I am not sure about that. Based on sales, my friend's experiences and my own personal experiences; the NE IPA's have been top tier. I can't think of one brewery other than More or Corridor that I would even consider picking a 4-pack over them (and of course those are not distributed).

 

They’re not bad, and for the local market I agree they’re up there as a go to. I should have been more clear, I was more referring to their national appeal. I don’t see many people trading for P3 hops...

 

I agree. I wasn't a fan of any of his previous DIPAs before the last two. I definitely think he's finally dialing it in. I'll admit he's starting to convert me. Maybe some of the lower ratings are those that feel its a bit too green. Which is the way I prefer them.

 

You not mentioning Hop Butcher makes me wonder about you...

 

I'm still convinced that people who whine about mikerphone constantly, haven't actually drank any of their beer in the last year.

 

I have. And they all sucked.

 

Yeah you clearly have no bias at all

 

Last beer I bought from them was BA bean spirit and the maple variant. I had it and thought "if this mediocre beer is the premier beer they make and I have to get to elk grove for it, Its not worth it." Havent been back since, but Ill still go to their festival since they pull the best crowd in chicago

 

If any P3 dropped an imperial bean spirit variant and called it something else, everyone here who whines about Miker in non mikerphone threads would be circle jerking about how incredible it is.

 

People still trade haze?

 

I dont speak for other people, I speak for myself. I think they make average beer at top tier prices in an inconvenient location for me. And even if youre right, you should be happy. Easy access and no secondary to as much Mikerphone as you want. Cheer up, bud.

 

What's my bias if I genuinely think their beer is over hyped and just not of good quality?

 

Yeah, I have to LOL a little bit about P3 fans trashing Mikerphone. Mike routinely puts out IPAs that are better than any IPA I've ever tried from P3, most of which have been average or worse. Maybe things will be different once Shaun gets it dialed in like he did at More, but I'm not even going to bother buying P3 IPAs any more until he does.

Pressed, on the other hand, is awesome.

 

Lets get it straight. P3 and Mikerphone both put out very average IPAs.

 

How is anything they make overhyped? It is one of the easiest beers to get for any release they do...

 

I got a Pressed and a Lost in the Moment today. Having the Lost in the Moment now and must say I am loving it. I am really pleased to see them putting out just a very tasty American IPA. I get some piney west coast vibes while also getting a smooth finish. Really nice beer.

 

Lot of revisionist history on P3 IPA's. Protocol might be the worst craft IPA I had in 2019, but apparently they only pump out bangers. I think they have vastly improved but I would still take just about every Mikerphone IPA over theirs.

I would absolutely love to do a blind taste test with all these beers. the results would warm my cold black heart.


And yes, pressed is a top tier beer for me. It's by far their best work. I think Curvature is pretty average compared to Shauns past stouts.

 

Eh I both agree and disagree.

I have never been blown away by any of Mike's stouts, and especially not his BA stouts. Yes it wasn't Phase 3 but the beers I had from Shaun at FOBAB were truly exceptional. I tried some of his regular More stouts and found them good but not worth the hype. Every Pressed I've had has been excellent. Mike's stouts range from good to below average to me, I've had some truly bad stuff from him.

The IPAs are hard to judge for me. Some of the best IPAs I've ever had were from Mike like 4 years ago but I can't say anything I've had from him over the past couple years have replicated that. By the same token, I've not had enough More/P3 IPAs to really judge but what I have had has not been exceptional (although I really do like the Lost in the Moment I'm having now).

People see what they want in these breweries a lot of the time and with the volume of different SKUs they push out it's really hard to judge who is "better" since it's not like we are evaluating 3-4 core offerings.

I think a lot of the hate Mikerphone gets comes down to their borderline obnoxious pricing and the gimmick beers they push. Their oxidation issues didn't help either.

 

Touche.

I know I probably come off as a Mikerphone fanboy, but I don't think everything they do is great (or even good). I do think their best is better than most breweries' best though.