Port Brewing freshness

They don't have as strict of a brew schedule as places like Stone or Sierra Nevada. They also brew for two breweries, making most of their beers that don't exactly require freshness to be desired. or fly off the shelves in 12 pack quanities.

But Mongo and Hop 15 just get left around I suppose. They probably make 2 batches of it when they ship it out and that is it. I bet in the San Diego area it is found much fresher but else-wear it sits. People don't know about it I suppose.

 

Seems like they are very yeasty. I always have a ton of yeast particulate at the bottom of the glass. Anyone else notice this??? I love their beers but no matter how fresh it seems like they are filled with a bunch of clumpy yeast at the bottom. Mongo, Hop 15... Doesn't seem to matter what I buy or how fresh they are. Is this a filtration issue?

 

Not sure where you are in AZ, but I used to live in Tucson and we would get shafted all the time. Stuff would hit Phoenix area first, do it's thing there, then the dist. would send it to Tucson when they couldn't move it up there.

Get in contact with the dist. and let them know that someone knows whats up. Maybe they'll do something.

As a side note, that is very sad that you have older Mongo than we do here in Europe. At my shop we had some bottles come in Dec. and I think they were from that same August batch...

 

Port/Lost Abbey beers are ALWAYS old.

 

I purchased an Old Viscosity that was bottled Jan. 2012.

I didn't complain, it was delicious. Just goes to show that the beers show up way too late.

 

Their IPAs are really good even they are old. Mongo, Wipeout, High Tide Anniversary... Awesome stuff and underrated.

 

Underrated, yes. Mongo good old, no.

 

It's bottle conditioned, which is a pain when pouring from a bomber. Carefully decant the beer into a jug in one continuous slow pour and leave the gunk in the bottom of the bottle.

All the Wipeout I've drunk over here has been old. Still thought it tasted pretty good.

 

I've heard they brew to brew, rather than brew to order. So if nobody needs it, it just sits around.

For Lost Abbey stuff, that's fine. For IPAs, that's the opposite of fine.

 

I agree - finding fresh Mongo is nearly impossible! I am still seeing the 11/22/2012 batch on the shelf! But, at least they bottle date, so you can make an informed decision about whether to purchase that 7 month old DIPA

 

Same problem here. I contacted the brewery and told them I've never seen a Port beer that was younger than 4 months old and most of the time it's a lot older than that. Their response was "we send fresh beer to Chicago all the time".

 

They're going the route of Ballast Point- which are dead to me now. It's too bad because when fresh they're fantastic.

 

They need to move the standard Port lineup to 6 packs, they'll move then.

 

At least they're labelled.

Actually I just picked up a couple 1mo.-old bottles (Mongo, Wipeout) on a whim. Never went looking for Port Brewing before---sounds like I got a bit lucky.

 

I've gotten two Shark Attacks and a Mongo in the past 6 months or so, and they were all old and not good. Actually this experience with Port Brewing was the reason that I stare at bottles in the store now to find the bottle date. I had gotten both Shark Attacks at the same time, and when poured, the glass looked like a snow globe from all the floaties in it. Not to mention the taste was definitely off. The Mongo was not good, either. The floaties weren't as pronounced, but the smell was not anything I would want from an IPA.

 

Just started getting Port and Lost Abbey here in the Pittsburgh market. Yet to find it fresh. Even the keg of hop 15 I had a pour from had some age on it. It is pretty hit or miss on the freshness of some west coast stuff here.

 

I just had a 7 month old Wipeout the other night that I picked up in Chicago. I was horribly disappointed by it. Not that it was bad - just very average. It was my first Wipeout (they don't distribute where I live) so I don't know whether it was an age related problem, bad batch, or what, but it definitely did not impress for a highly rated beer in a style that I love (West Coast IPA). Perhaps my expectations were just too high. I'll try it again someday, but will definitely spend more time looking for the bottle date.

 

Here in Chicago, there's a store by me that has 8 month old bottles of Wipeout, one of my favorite IPAs, sitting on the shelf. I don't dare buy it, and I feel bad for the poor saps who don't look at the bottling date/don't know enough about fresh IPA...It's nothing short of embarrassing seeing such great beer just sitting month after month.

 

I've never seen any of there stuff that was less than 3 months old. Just the other day I picked up a bottle of Mongo that was bottled in early January. No thanks, I'll buy the new CBC IPA that's a week old instead.

I'm also starting to see alot of old Ballast Point stuff too, but that's a different story