Seven Stills

So San Francisco people probably know this place for their distillery, but I've never seen anyone talk about them here for their beers. They have two locations:

Seven Stills Brewery & Distillery - Brewing location, has usually 10+ beers on tap, sometimes with guest taps. And just a few feet away, there's another bar where you can have whiskeys and vodkas made from their beer or outside breweries (Sante Adairius, Fieldwork, Almanac to name a few)

Seven Stills & Hard Frescos Taproom - Joint taproom between two companies. This place serves a few Seven Stills beers, Hard Frescos alcoholic beverages, and Shandy cuvees of the two.

When I first visited Seven Stills, I did not enjoy their beers at all. They made them purely for distilling purposes, and their spirits were pretty good.

But over past six months, they've made some great strides:

Apricotasaurus - This Brett saison with apricots is my favorite Seven Stills beer. They got Almanac's souring yeast to make it, and in my opinion, I like this more than Almanac sours because it's not as tart and is in perfect balance with the rest of the beer.

Barrel Aged Porch Pounder - Porch Pounder is their Pilsner and it's a pretty decent one that I'd have no qualms drinking. But for their 1st Anniversary Party, they aged it in a Bourbon barrel for just a few weeks(?) to add a little bit of oak depth to it. Still supremely crushable, but it had a lot of nuance that I loved.

Crude Oil - The first batch of this was 20% ABV, which is insane for a non-BA imperial stout. It's very roasty and viscous as expected. I wouldn't say it's my favorite Imperial Stout by any means, but considering how easy it drinks at that level, it's pretty astonishing. They also made a Bourbon Barrel Aged Crude Oil, which they canned at $10/ea.

Hyperion - Sourception - This 9.1% ABV sour imperial stout is fantastic. I just had a chance to try it yesterday, and again, really good balance of rich fudgey malt and tartness. I like it more than Bruery's Tart of Darkness, which I'm sure it's inspired by. I took home a crowler.

So far I haven't been wowed by their IPAs, although their Yummy Tasty Slushy Slurpee is a TIPA collab with Alvarado Street Brewery. I'm just not a big TIPA person, but it's pretty decent. They also have a NE DDH DIPA can release happening in a couple weeks, but I'm skeptical about it.

Anyway, any other people here try them and have any thoughts?

 

Talking to an empty audience but who cares.

So 7S started releasing canned beer to get into the craze. There's now been two releases!



Release 001: Cryonaut Foggy IPA (7% ABV), dry hopped with cryo Huell Melon and Equanot hops.

I've tried a couple of their IPAs in the past, and flat-out did not like them. This one? Actually it's pretty decent! There's some new school fruity hop character mixed in with old school West Coast bitterness. Pretty good balance overall. I wouldn't call it NE juice bomb by any means, but if I bought a 4-pack, I'd have been pretty happy with it. But my fridge is pretty full of hoppy beer already (but truthfully, this is better than a lot of my fridge beer that people seek after).



Release 002: another one Dry-hopped Pilsner (5.6% ABV).

My favorite Pils from them is a Whiskey-barrel aged pils they did for their anniversary (it was only aged for a week). This one is still pretty good. It mostly tastes traditional, but it has a little bit more aggressive hopping on it for extra bitterness. I wouldn't call it fruity like some more modern Pilsners, but this is a good one. I have a 4-pack of this, and wouldn't mind picking up another.. especially for its reasonable $12 price.

 

I thought about attending that event but been drinking way too much lately

Their Cyber Monday sale yesterday was amazing. 30% all whiskeys and beer cans. I missed out, but that's cuz I already bought their Libertine Framboise Whiskey (Franbooze) and cans last week.

 

.... aaaaand No 003 was announced today:

 

Surprise double-release. Since I live in the Outers, I'll be hitting the Taproom location on the 21st if anyone wants to drop by.



From their website:

EIGHT POUNDS PER BARREL:

Hops:
Mosaic Cryo in Whirlpool (1.5lbs pbbl), Mosaic Cryo in Dry Hop (6.5lbs pbbl)

How could we call it the Hype Can series without rolling out a Hazy IPA? True to form in that it hits the trifecta of Hazy, Juicy, and Dank... This 100% Mosaic DIPA was brewed with the intent of pushing those stone fruit, grapefruit peel, and just straight DANK notes that Mosaic brings to the table as over the top as possible. We opted for 100% Cryo-hops (essentially hop-keif) as opposed to traditional pellets so as to ensure this beer is overflowing with that sweet, sweet Mosaic-love.


FIGGY PUDDING:

Adjuncts:
Vanilla, Cinnamon, Fig Concentrate, Lactose, Cocoa Nibs, Mollasses, Brown Sugar

With Winter creeping its head in the Bay, we thought it was about time we rolled out what could easily be considered one of our more ambitious dessert stouts yet. Based off the Yule tide classic that I don’t think anybody has ever actually had, we're pushing out a Fig Pudding Milk Stout. For Figgy Pudding, we’re throwing the kitchen sink of flavors out there with a combination of Vanilla, Lactose, Cinnamon, Molasses, Brown Sugar, and of course, Fig Concentrate. Sweet and supple with just enough heat to keep it balanced, this is definitely what I would picture when I think of a Christmas Eve Stout.

 

I'm going to the Seven Stills & Hard Frescos Taproom (formerly "Lawton Taproom") tonight to pick up a 4-pack of each. They have a special today-only for $14 4-packs at the Distillery and the Taproom.

 

003: Eight Pounds Per BBL

In general, I'm not a big Mosaic fan, as I feel that the floral notes dominate, particularly when combined with other hops I do like.

Strangely, some of my favorite Mosaic beers are those in which they're 100%, such as St Thomas and more recently, Turok Juice was really amazing.

This is not those, and can't compete against them. Nevertheless, it has many of the Mosaic qualities that I do enjoy - particularly the fruity and dank notes. It just finishes bitter like a WC IPA, and lacks the true NE body of an East Coast beer (but is on par with a lot of 3rd tier WC approximations, that a lot of people are jumping on board with).

So final verdict: It's decent, not great. As I said in prior posts, 7 Stills' beers were terrible when they first opened, so the fact that I can say it's drinkable is a compliment to how far they've come.

I'd be curious as to what others think, because I think most WC breweries making "haze" are decent, not great

 

Alright. 004.

This one is interesting. At 7.85% ABV, it drinks like a medium bodied stout. But not rich like an imperial. It definitely has that figgy vibe, but it's not off-putting, even for someone who dislikes figs like me. Instead it kind of flows with the ever so hint of tart & sweetness of the beer. Make no mistake, though. This isn't a dessert-y stout at all.

I guess I was confused because they call this a milk stout, but this is a stout where the bitter roasty notes dominate, which I personally enjoyed. Just know that despite the advertised lactose, cocoa, molasses, brown sugar and fig.. it's really a roasty stout with some subtle hints. I dug it.