Twin Elephant Brewing Co. (2020)

What are everyone's thoughts on Loantaka Lager? I wasn't impressed by the appearance or smell but I think the taste and feel are top notch. IMHO it's up there with Carton's This Town - and that's saying a lot.

 

I find to color to be a bit different but otherwise it's a top shelf brew. I Scott (the brewer) if they would be brewing it and other lagers during the Summer and he claims they will be.

 

Unfortunately, fairly par for the course.

 

I ended up getting a growler of this and thought it was very solid.

 

• temporarily suspending flights due to difficulty of sanitizing paddles
• they'll continue to fill outside growlers - but they will be cleaning/sanitizing them before they fill
• they'll be removing the water jug and plastic self service cups. they recommend brining your own water
• they'll no longer be handing you your glasses. they will place them on the bar and then you can pick them up
• they'll be sanitizing and cleaning all surfaces when bussing glasses
• carrot cake inspired ESB - 5%
• LSY 5.8%
• should be another 2 weeks until they're fully up and running with amped up production; seems like they'll be canning more in the future.

 

I do give props to TE for going this route. they are consistently one of the more tightly packed breweries in the state; and I appreciate that they're taking extra efforts instead of just going the single use plastic cup route.

 

agree as well. I have seen a few say they are limited the amt of ppl in the tap room to 1/2 of occupancy. Not a terrible idea...

 

At Twin Elephant now light crowd but the beer is as good as ever.

 

hows the carrot cake esb?

 

I have know eye deer and don’t have any desire to find out

 

Another plus is hopefully no flights = less line

 

I second that! I wish they had a separate line for flights and growlers.

 

There were no lines yesterday but that may have been because of the small number of drinkers.

I've asked about that and have been told with only 1 set of taps it can't work.

 

Every time I'm sitting in line I'm thinking this! haha

 

knowing their glass washing set-up, I'm not sure how you sanitize a narrow neck growler and ensure getting it all rinsed out properly, but its not a bad idea...

liking the sound of the 4.8% pale, and loving LSY being back...

re: limiting crowds, based on what I'm seeing during my work commute, crowds at lunch spots, traffic, etc - I suspect crowd reduction will happen on its own as people exercise caution and practice social distancing... I just hope it doesn't do irreparable harm to our restaurant, bar, brewery and other retail businesses..

 

RE: Growlers - my guess is they're probably using a no-rinse sanitizer (which will most likely not kill virus spores). Starsan is what home brewers use - great for sanitizing; generally tasteless and safe to drink. If you see some foam in your growler before they put beer in - it's perfectly fine. It also only needs a relatively short contact time. fill it half way - shake it up, dump, fill, dump, and put in beer.

RE: Crowds - yes. my office building has a cafeteria and it's generally packed between 12-12:30 but this week it's been fairly empty. I am sure this is going to carry over big time to breweries (especially those who don't have canned to-go options at the ready) as more breweries post about their practices.

 

wish this would carry over to Stop N shop this morning... i was the fool who went at 7am thinking i would beat some crowds...

 

This isn't sarcasm, I honestly don't know. Not sure why you would need the inside of your own growler sanitized thoroughly?

 

Because the tubing they put into and have to handle I guess? But unless you're drinking from the growler and have backwash yeah, from a Corona virus concern standpoint, there's no benefit. Broadly it would keep their equipment cleaner in general though, so it's not a bad thing. I clean mine right after finishing the beer but some people must not, so that can let them harbor fun bacteria.

 

Oh. I was thinking of that the wrong way. That makes sense