The Half-Acre thread (2018)

Sounds like the event was awesome yesterday. Bummer I couldn't make it. I did open Orin '18 last night. Felt like a good beer to pair with a cool fall night. Really great beer. I love the toffee, oak, vanilla, booziness of it. Happy to be seeing distro of this for the second year in a row.

 

I definitely prefer well done straight up BA imperial stouts (ex, BCBS, Maman, Assassin) over adjunct/pastry stouts (... most of the time) . Same reason I preferred regular Assassin ‘18 over Coconut Assassin or Coffee Assassin which a lot of people seem to go goo-goo ga-ga over. Derivation did nothing for me... like BCBCS ‘16. I’ll take regular over it all day. I’m happy for these kinds of fests so that I can try these ultra rare beers and know whether it is worth or not going for as far as trading. We all like what we like in the end.

 

The fest also made me think that Chicago still has a ways to go in terms of NE style IPAs in my opinion. I think others will disagree, but the NE IPAs I had at the fest (Other Half DDH Broccoli, The Veil Young and Pure, Great Notion Wiggle, Tired Hands Guava Milkshake) all felt to me above anything I could possibly get here. Even if I just take the aroma as an example, I could practically smell the hops as my beer was being poured and glass handed to me, which seemed quite extreme compared to a lot of the beers here.

 

Funny, I think I was completely opposite. I found that the festival re-assured me that we have it pretty good (although Other Half is on another level than most IMO). Whether it was Weldwerks, Monkish or other spots, none of them excited me much. I didn’t get to try some of those you mentioned, though, so maybe I just didn’t get the right ones.

 

Haha yea, could be our taste in this style is different, but glad we also agree on Other Half. As soon as I got my pour of DDH Broccoli I was like whoa, this is insane.

 

Other half ddh brocolli didn’t have the finish I wanted.

I know I’m in the minority here, but I’m all about the NEIPAs that finish clean, not necessarily just looking for intensity.

The batch of DDH broccoli I had a few months ago was something I’d drink my 4 or 5 ounces of and move on. Not a beer I could drink multiple cans of.

To me, what’s the point of beer if I can’t gave more than 1 of them. If we are playing that game, I might as well just only drink barrel aged imperial beers or wine.

Hence my never ending praise for Half Acre. Drinking my third Now and Then of the night. It’s been a good night.

 

Agree, I got two pours of it, only beer I did that for.

What a great fest. Only downside is I think I will still be hurting tomorrow

 

Some of the standouts for me were the few offerings that weren't hazy/pastry/sour. I loved Commercial Suicide from Jester King, and Threes Far Between was the only thing I went back for seconds of. Other Half Broccoli and Weldworks Juicy Bits were the best IPAs for me. I did not really care for Galactic Rhyme from Monkish, which had a really off-putting thick mouthfeel. I'm not a huge stout person, but thought Derivation was good if not life-changing. Rice Proxy Treats was nice for a few sips but mostly I was amused by the fact that I got a ~5oz pour of a 16% beer at a fest.

Good times overall.

 

triple pours of Fellowship for me. kane's vanilla sunday brunch was my most surprising beer, in a good way. underwhelmed by other half and the veil.

i'm with @croush regarding the quality of chicago haze. outside of monkish's triple, nothing was noticeably better than what many of the local breweries are putting out.

 

The vanilla Sunday brunch was definitely good.

 

The Weldwerks/Mikerphone collab Sweet Disposition was my favorite of the day. Thought they really nailed that maple stout style that so many breweries overdo these days.

 

There were other breweries there besides Sante and Casey? I had no idea.

 

Grabbed a four pack of Now and Then yesterday at Binny's Grand and it was my first time trying it and I agree it is a phenomenal beer, maybe my favorite Half Acre IPA, and I want to go back and grab another four pack.

 

That was an awesome event, really hoping that becomes an annual thing.

 

Glad I have people joining me on the N&T bandwagon. Just hoping it isn’t too many. I’d like to easily grab 2-3 4-packs of this every time they make it

 

HA's recent stuff has (in general) been pretty easy to get. I think the "haze craze" has really helped those of us who don't exclusively buy NE beers (not that I don't buy more than my share of those as well).

 

Also, the Bowmanville brewery just can put out massive quantities compared to Lincoln.

 

Had Fluorescent yesterday. Wasn't a big fan. However I really liked Shrub Tundra.

 

That makes 2 of us.

 

Call it three. I love Nelson, but this just tasted like ever other HA IPA, which is to say a baseline of good, but with nothing I'm looking for in a Nelson IPA.