Phase Three Brewing (2023)

I mean, go off but you DID sign up requesting to be one, so I guess you’ve unlocked hipster contrarian levels of cognitive dissonance?

It’s not like they are just randomly emailing beer nerds.

Looking forward to more barrel experiments like Eunoia 16. But at the same time, opened a Pyramidal for Thanksgiving and it was all anyone talked about until the bottle was crushed- they make a crowd pleaser. I won’t turn my nose up at some pastry since I was standing in line for Coconilla, Mehecoco and S’more Luv.

 

So I went back to Elmhurst last night and I don't think it would be fair for me to not post this mirror universe experience I had last night. Decided that my wife and I loved it so much we'd bring the kids and invite my parents who live nearby but would never treat themselves to a dinner at a place like this.

So first thing.....they don't really seem to have good seating for a group of 6. They told us it would be about 45m-1h for a table. We then had to go like hangout in that hallway by the to-go coolers. There honestly isn't really anywhere else to stand. Unless I couldn't find it.

Secondly I want to say the entire staff is super nice even with how slammed they get. I kept checking the Toast app for our spot in line and the total number of parties waiting just kept ballooning. They seemingly kept their cool through it all.

I also think they released a lot of exciting beers yesterday and people were just hanging out, working their way through all these beers and not going anywhere. A perfect storm for six people who just wanted to have dinner.

We ended up waiting about an hour twenty for our table, with many apologies along the way and here's what I think happened. They were trying to avoid putting us in the back room because the back room contained a birthday party of 20 young women who were doing lots of "REMEMBER THAT TIME??? AHAHAHAHAHAHAH!! OMG I REMEMBER!!" but sure enough after almost 90 minutes that's where they put us and it was hard to converse and of course its a taproom so the ceiling is exposed meaning the sound just reverberates off the beans and exposed duct work.

Now, I understand that I am not entitled to anything, but the first time we were there they told us it would be 30 minutes for a table, at the 31 minute mark someone came over and offered to buy our first beers. We got no concessions for our 80 minute wait and basically becoming part of a birthday party. Which I found strange when they bent over backwards to make sure we were happy the last time we were there.

That said, the food and beer are still really great, like above average, I'll go back one more time for sure to see what one more experience is like before I make any firm judgement calls on the place.

 

I think you nailed it, not the place to go to with 6 people...I would not even consider it. I am now going on my 4th trip and this is undoubtedly the best combination of food and beer at a suburban brewery that I have found (and I make a habit to hit ALL of them). Have gone with wife and kids or by myself at the bar...every time absolutely perfect. The key, which goes for most breweries/restaurants/bars nowadays, is you need to go during off hours.

 

Probably luck of the draw, and timing. I was there last night, and saw multiple seatings of 6 people in the main dining room. They just pushed two of the 4 seat tables together for them.

 

Yesterday was crazy because on top of the many releases, Elmhurst had a big Christmas celebration downtown. When I left at 3:45, it was pretty filled up

 

How are the beers though??

 

Eunoia 16 was good. My favorite eunoia since the early ones. But it still somehow was really sweet for no adjuncts. There has to be nibs of some sort in the base.

 

yeah I thought it was sweet too. I’m guessing from the apple brandy barrels based on their decision to blend in more regular barrels? I enjoyed it though. What Could Be 29 was fun as a Junior Mint/Thin Mints beer. Not much barrel to be found but 5 oz was plenty.

BA Imperial Niu just went live on Oznr for Ambassadors plus lottery

 

I stopped for a pour at LZ and would agree with the sweetness consensus. A very tasty beer with nice medium plus thickness, and had a good balance of the apple. Hope they continue this direction. I found the Dimensions of Time version with more of a pipe tobacco roast note and drier by comparison but both still good in their own way.

 

Curvy Tuesday tastes like a donut, which means they hit their intended mark I guess! Curvature marshmallow peanut butter is also pretty good.

Stout Season is going to kill me.

 

It tastes too much like a donut. Like a coconut custard chocolate long john. Down to the cakeyness. Every sip confused my brain.

 

Now you’ve got me excited! The last time I had that thought about one of Berns’ creations was in the Side Note days.

 

I got the same vibes from this, but honestly I get the same vibes about any of the stuff that they make that is "based on" the flavor of something. The Affy Tapple beer tastes like a caramel apple with peanuts, that goofy Ecto Cooler thing brings me back to being a kid drinking Hi-C, and this beer definitely reminded me of how accurate the Side Note beers were.

 

To add insult to injury I opened 2 cans of Three Juiced and a Phase of Fog, all canned on the 5th that poured like dirty dishwater and had a sharp acidity. What a bummer.

 

This is the appearance of 90% of the "hazy IPAs" pictured on the What Beer Are You Drinking Now thread.

 

That's a bummer, in fairness to them - I also think you just inadvertently picked one of the worst possible days to go there given all the stuff they released Friday. 90 minute wait with grandparents and kids sounds absolutely brutal.

 

I mean don't get me wrong, part of the reason I wanted to go was to try those beers.

 

Well, to update this I heard back from Shaun/P3 that they think its a combo of inconsistent grain and too much DO in the first few cases of beer. And that when they tested PH, etc the keg and the can tested the same. So probably just me being a weirdo about the color of my beer.

 

Nope, heard from a friend in northern WI say that he's had a bunch of issues with P3 beers oxidizing recently. DDH Doggone Delish specifically was bad, but it could be the distributor keeping it at room temps for a while...

 

They sent me pictures of the beer off the taps at the taproom and poured from a can. And they were the same brown color. I also opened a Pixel Density (a beer I've had dozens of times) from September and noticed that it also had a bit of a brown tinge. But flavor wise seemed fine to me.

As far as flavor goes these beers are Three Juiced and Phase of Fog which are "throwbacks" to the first Hazy IPAs Shaun made at Ram. So the bit of a bitter streak that I may have taken as oxidization might be the "throwback" nature of the beer? I've never had either of these so I can't compare to anything else.

I'm not going to argue with their QC lab saying that the beers are within spec. However I did notice that on social media the posts for these two beers do not show anything other than the can. I really don't think they wanted brown IPAs.