Top 50 PA beers

At the level that TH is brewing, I don't think "bad" could ever describe a TH beer (although I heard Only Void with Black Garlic was pretty nasty, but Jean was just having fun I think). I do recall really having a hard time with overly sweet honeyed up BlondeZombie triple IPA. Most recently, I really didn't like Grassman for the same reason: too sweet.

 

As a general rule I avoid beer styles that I don't care for. For example, I would not have ordered the Triple IPA since I would have fully expected the beer to be too cloying for my taste. If for some reason I did order a Triple IPA and it was indeed too cloying (too sweet) I personally would not criticize the beer since the beer tasted like that beer style tastes. Having stated that, I would also not praise the beer but simply describe it similar to how you did and mention it was too sweet for my palate.

Cheers!

 

I've had plenty of great/amazing triple IPA, Lawson's Triple Sunshine, Knee Deep Simtra, Alpine Exponential Hoppiness, Pliny the Younger, Boneyard Notorious are some notable ones. I'd LOVE to have seen TH triple IPA brewed without the honey. It's the honey got made it nearly undrinkable in term of overly sweet. As said, that was the same for Grassman, being a DIPA. TH DIPAs are usually outstanding, but the honey ruined Grassman for me.

 

“It's the honey got made it nearly undrinkable in term of overly sweet.” Hmmm?

I am a homebrewer and I have homebrewed many times with honey. Honey is basically 100% fermentable and it actually results in a dryer beer (for a given original gravity). It makes zero sense to me that the utilization of honey in brewing should result in a sweet beer unless Jean is doing something ‘weird’ here.

Cheers!

 

Sorry, that meant to say "It's the honey *that* made...", but yeah, I don't brew so I don't know much about the use of honey and its effect. I had honey in other beers before and I don't recall anything to be that drastically sweet. It's only when it's in those 2 TH beers that I didn't care for. Even honey in Hopslam was somewhat tolerable (although the last release was pushing it for me in term of being too sweet).

 

For beer styles like Triple IPAs the 'issue' is that you need to use a lot of malt to achieve higher ABV. This increased amount of malt typically results in a more cloying beer. While I am a fan of Pliny the Younger it is indeed more cloying than Pliny the Elder as a point of example.

Cheers!

 

I haven't had all of their offerings on the top 50 but the hype is warranted. Ive been there and have had trouble deciding what to drink because everything on tap was out of this world and have also been there where I stuck to 2 or so of their offerings. More often than not they hit home runs and even if they don't have earth shattering stuff on tap thats new, they always have hophands and saisonhands which is better than what I will ever find on draft at local breweries here in pittsburgh even on their best nights. I think there is more hate towards them out of hype than people liking them because of hype.

 

As I originally stated, I am a big fan of TH...I love TH. I live in NYC but my soon-to-be in-laws live in Ardmore, and I have been there about 12-15 times since they opened, and was able to sample Jean's beers before they officially opened. I love supporting them and visiting, and have really enjoyed most of the beers I have had from them (and all the food), top 50 PA or not...I've had about 49-50 different beers from them thus far, and have also had many of the top 250 list, and visited many brewpubs, so I think I can make an informed opinion.

That being said, when someone has visited roughly 15 times and can count on one hand the times they have seen the same beer on tap (Hop/Hand/Farm-Hands aside), you can see why one would say they wished they brewed the homeruns more often. You yourself only listed 6 of their 26 on the top 50, meaning a lot of them have only been brewed once.

Maybe if I went once a week I would see some stuff more than once, but I go roughly every 2-3 months and almost never see the same beers on. Super happy they have rebrewed MagoTago, I loved it.

It is all coming from a good place; I really like a lot of their beers, and wish I saw some of them on tap more often. I'm not asking them to exclusively brew the same 8 beers over and over, but I'd love to have some of their better ones on tap more often then they currently rotate beers back into their brewing schedule. Personally I don't think that is crazy or stifles them creatively, and can help create a bigger brand and name with a superior beer or 3 that are consistently on rotation.

 

I thought Freddy was a bad porter, but that's the only beer I've had of theirs I would consider bad. Treaded Options was close to bad; it tasted like a less flavorful version of FarmHands, which I really like. SCREECHING LOUD TRASHING DEATH METAL OFFENSIVE SONG was a huge disappointment based on its description, but it wouldn't be fair to call it "bad."

Some of their lower alcohol bitters and milds have been really, really good, but of course don't crack any Top lists because they aren't sour/wild or IPAs. For shame, because they make great low alcohol beers.

 

This isn't saying much. At any given time I have a couple homebrews on tap that are better than anything you will find from Pittsburgh breweries.

 

Jack,

What you say here is mostly correct but may be slighly misleading. It depends a bit on how the honey is used. My reading suggests that the sugars in the honey are 100% fermentable but that a typical honey may contain as much as 2-5% of unfermentable aroma and flavoring agents ("impurities"). (e.g., clover honey, buckwheat honey, wildflour honey, sourwood honey, etc., etc.). Those "impurities" combined with residual sugars from the malt may leave a flavor component in the beer that is like honey but isn't exactly honey because as you say the malt sugars are different. I've not had a Tired Hands beer brewed with honey, but I have had Bells Hopslam and also pick up the flavor of honey from that beer. (Which is one of the reasons I prefer Two-Hearted. )

One relevant source, FYI
http://www.bjcp.org/mead/home_brew.pdf

 

Tom,

You are correct that if honey is added late in the brewing process (e.g., added to the secondary) that some of the honey flavor compounds may 'survive'. Being able to perceive some honey flavors (e.g., alfalfa from alfalfa honey) that is not the same as residual sweetness. As @mythaeus posted "too sweet" is not indicative of a honey flavor but off too much residual sweetness; two different aspects.

Cheers!

Jack

 

This thread is honestly mis-titled. It has very little to do with the best beers in PA, and has been a referendum on Tired Hands from the start

 

Have you ever had a beer you actually enjoyed? I'm starting to think no. I don't think beer is for you.

 

Well here's where @mythaeus needs to chime in and elaborate as to whether he was just picking up on the sweetness and assumed it was from the honey or whether he was actually tasting honey flavors along with the sweetness. In my case with Hopslam, it is definitely the honey flavors combined with the residual sugars that give me a honey flavored sweetness I don't care for in beer. (My first glass of Hopslam was on draught at TJs and I didn't even know honey was used but spotted the honey flavors almost immediately. ) I'm not quite able to identify which honey Bell's uses but I'm pretty sure it is definitely not my all time favorite of Sourwood Honey. (Even if only because Sourwood Honey is so blasted expensive I only have it as a special treat... :-) )

Have a nice evening.

 

“In my case with Hopslam, it is definitely the honey flavors combined with the residual sugars that give me a honey flavored sweetness I don't care for in beer.”

Tom, I very much ‘hear’ what you are saying here. I personally am not a fan of Hopslam. I have had it many times over the past few years (mostly on draft) and the residual sweetness in that beer is just too high for me. I have no real opinion on the honey flavor aspects of Hopslam but the cloying sweetness (which is not a result of the honey addition) is too much for me.

I hope that you have a nice evening as well. As always it is a genuine pleasure to chat with you.

Cheers!

Jack

 

Right back at you Jack!

After going through several bottles of J. W. Lees both by itself and the barrel aged versions, I'm pretty sure I could live with the sweetness in Hopslam as a once in a while thing if it were not for those the honey flavors, which for me just don't work in a beer. I'm fine with lots of residual malt sugars occasionally, don't mind Belgian candi sugars once in a while, but Honey flavor... :-( .....(Which is why I've probably never gone out of my way to sample a mead. )

 

Greetings from CO. I go to Bryn Mawr every year for Thanksgiving, and every time I go to Tired Hands. I try to like their beers, and have read all the hype...but every time I go I like about one beer out of five...and I've never had my socks knocked off (not even close). Maybe this year will be different? The bread is great.

 

Tom, have you ever tasted Bethlehem Brew Works Hop’solutely Triple IPA? If so, what are your impressions on that beer?

Cheers!

 

It's definitely the honey sweetness, similar to Hopslam, but much more amplified in the 2 TH I mentioned. I was not the only one not liking either. Several people I know and respect didn't enjoy them either.