Plan Bee - The Hive 2016

Currently you have to be part of one of their memberships to get bottles. There are two levels of membership:

The Hive:
http://www.planbeefarmbrewery.com/the-hive/

The Swarm:
http://www.planbeefarmbrewery.com/the-swarm/

The past couple months they have produced more bottles than they sell through the memberships. Those extra bottles go into the online members bottle shop were we can buy additional bottles if we want. The most recent release, Narcissus, was supposed to go online yesterday at 5pm but they forgot to add it to the shop so it didn't go up for sale until 8ish

 

The Hive tekus are pretty sweet

 

agree, i'm a big fan

 

Anyone try the new beers?

 

I have to say I was a bit let down by Karnij. Poured dark brown -- almost looked like Coke. The whiskey and cherries were both present in the nose and taste, though the former was more noticeable.

The problem I had is the prevailing taste seemed to be a really cheap whiskey flavor.

 

how was the carb on yours? mine was quite minimal/almost nonexistant. It seems a lot of these are being released before they're ready...I had a friend open a wild rose and say it was flat when it was released, but i opened mine yesterday and it was perfectly carbed and was quite nice actually. have seen this issue with some of their other bottles as well...

 

I thought mine was carbed nicely as well.

I do agree with your friend about Wild Rose, though. The carbonation was non-existent in the bottle I opened back in Feb. Orchard was also a little flat, but those are the only two I've noticed carb issues with thus far.

 

Heard Evan said to sit on the Karnij for a couple of weeks. That's what I plan to do (maybe more).

 

I think all his beers are better with a little more time to condition. I don't even bother anymore opening them until bottled for 4 months.

 

Orchard was interesting. Tasted nice, could definitely pick up the apples. The smell though I know its brewed on a farm and all but it smelled like straight up horse shit

 

Looks like Barn Beer has sold out in the online shop

 

I certainly enjoyed the Barn Beer and as their base beer for future releases I definitely don't mind seeing them running low on bottles; I really like seeing them gaining some traction. Also, BB and Bartlett went out to DeCicco's distro so I am sure that had an impact on their bottle totals.

As for the need to almost rush some releases I am definitely sitting on essentially all my bottles for a bit of time, given that they are wild/semi-wild anyway I had planned to do so anyway.

Also enjoyed this read the other day:https://beerandbrewing.com/Vr-06ygAABdYbEMO/article/breakout-brewer-plan-bee

 

Great article. Thanks for posting.

 

I just wanted to cast another vote for waiting as long as possible to drink most of Evan's releases. Some of these bottles are released VERY soon after bottling, and I can't think of any Plan Bee beer I've tried that didn't improve with age.

 

Sort of a followup -- I decided to open Quince last night (I wanted to break in my Teku), and I thought it was terrific -- however, after discussing letting things age and carbonation issues, I figured it's worth mentioning that this one was a mild gusher, so definitely NOT undercarbed.

 

Kinda surprised they chose to do their monthly drop over Memorial weekend...

 

More bottles tomorrow according to today's email. Dandeliaison and Royal Jelly return and one new beer:

• Bouquet #1 - Wild Violet (QTY 100): The First Edition of our 12 part Floral Farmhouse series, brewed with Wild Violets foraged from our farm & the surrounding area.Aroma of red wine & bright lemon yeast transition into a sharp & tart floral lemonade & stonefruit skin flavor that is quickly carried away by a champagne-like finish. 4%ABV

4% ABV has my attention. That's my kind of beer for the summer. Hope this comes out tasty. Not too many bottles available, interestingly.

 

I imagine the small yield is due to the amount of Violets they were able to harvest. That is the one the peaked my interest as well