The Half-Acre thread (2018)

Went just after 4, and there was just about 5 people in front of me at the register. In and out in about 5 minutes.

 

Got there at 5ish and was in and out in about 10 minutes.

 

Completely boggles my mind at the lack of line now (and all day). Revolt to the return to bomber format?? If batch is same as GDDC, which they said it was, they should last at least couple days. Crazy.

 

It amazes me that people think there has to be a line for a beer release.

 

Don't think there has to/should be. Just amazing that there isn't compared to every other release of BHA.

 

Agreed. I love HA but there are so many great local pale ales & IPAs available to us these days. We can walk into a Binny's any ol' day of the week and pick up some great stuff. Release lines & "trade value" are directly proportional. In a way I'm glad the trading community only cares about "NE hops" when it comes to IPAs these days.

 

I agree. I don't want a line at all (and didn't line up for either), but it's strange that GDDC has people waiting for a couple hours and BHA can be had so easily. I'm going to taste them both blind tomorrow night to see which one I really prefer.

 

About the same for me. I walked in about 4:45. Spent more time sampling than I did in line. And was able to grab a couple of GDDC at a store on the way back to the burbs.

 

The GDDC has fallen off since you picked it up so not a fair comparison. Personally I think BHA is better.

 

Well, I'll be the judge of GDDC for myself. It's only been two weeks. I had one the weekend it came out and one last weekend, and they were both consistent...as well as having it from growler (essentially tap) the day it came out and on tap a week later as well. I'll be shocked if the bottle tomorrow has fallen off. But, everyone's palate is obviously different and more sensitive to certain things than others, so I'm not saying you're wrong that you think it tastes different.

Drinking my growler of BHA now, and didn't realize how juicy it is and similar to some of the NE style IPA's I've had. Not as much my style, but I could see why more people would like this one.

 

Plus it may come down to hop preference (galaxy vs citra). They are both great beers imo and we're lucky they are available in Chicago and even more lucky that HA is producing more beer these days. One of the guys at the shop said BHA should be in stores today as well but I can neither confirm nor deny it. But it is hitting stores too at some point.

 

BHA "lack of line" is probabaly a combination of people disregarding the beer because it is lacking 'daisy cutter' in the title and everyone has either been scorned, scarred off or feeling line fatigue from GDDC two weeks ago.

 

Let's just be glad they didn't call this one Astronaut Daisy Cutter.

 

The last few points about it being a DIPA vs IPA, line fatigue (not to mention coming off an 11 day craft beer week) and the naming are all factors. But it is a better beer in my opinion (or I prefer it at least).

Off subject, but does anyone know why HA isn't in the barrel-aged game? Given that they do Big Hugs, they aren't entirely out of the stout game. Just curious

 

I thought I was the only one wondering this and was missing out on the big secret. It's kinda neat that they don't fall into the BA game, but I'd also like to see them do some stuff with it since I enjoy BA beers.

 

I thought my draft today was juicy/hazy for sure but it poured differently out of the bomber tonight.

 

They've always been cramped for space at the brewery on Lincoln Ave and with little to no space for barrels and cellaring. With their new production facility and space on Balmoral they said we can expect to see more of those types of offerings in the future. I could see them particularly delving more into sours

 

There was a recent interview (Feb/March) with their head brewer, Matt Young. I hadn't seen it posted here so here is link. Nothing earth shattering revealed but worth a read anyway.

Regarding barrel aging there was the following item.

 

So beers fall off after two weeks now. Did you store it under a heat lamp the last two weeks I just had both of these tonight and they were both great

 

He prefers spunky hops.