Tyranena: Sleeper Brewery.

Green 19 is the best IPA/IIPA made in Wisconsin. No question. Hands down. Not even remotely disputable. Other excellent ones are Variants of 3 Sheeps Waterslide, NG IIPA and C minor

 

Says he who has not had Fantasy Factory. I have yet to have Green 19.

 

Isn't it always on tap at old fashioned? I worked a mile from Titletown when I lived in Green Bay, which was awesome

 

Could be, but I am never down there. So will there ever be a Blue 42 for Mr. Rodgers? If I remember Green 19 was Favre's call out at the line before the play.

Anyway back to Tyranena. Anyone try the Imperial Stout that is on tap at the brewery?

 

Drinking one as we speak. Or, type.

We're technically calling it a "Double" stout vs. "Imperial". Essentially a double batch of Down N Dirty w/o the cocoa nibs. Opaque black, super roasty, super malty. Finishes around 9%. Damn tasty.

 

Me to. Haven't bought a beer from them since this.

 

3 years ago, Hop ***** was up there as top 2/3 Wisco brewed IIPA, right up there with Illumination and NG IIPA. Last 2 years were not quite the juicy tropical bomb it once was.

As for Fantasy Factory v Green19 these are by far the best two IPAs brewed in the state....Green19 was my fav, then Ryan came along. Should start seeing more Green19 down here soon. Pretty sure Brocach on Monroe was the last to have it about a month or so ago and they have it frequently. Hoping Madison gets the dry hooped Green19 soon, should be awesome. There are some variances here though, one of the last batches called Hopasaurous Rex (what G19 was named before more litigation 2.5yrs ago) absolutely blew me away.

And some of those Tyranenas BGW series are among the tops in my humble opinion, the last Who's Your Daddy, Devil Made Me Do It and Doubly Down (on tap mind you, bottles fade quick...screw tops?) we're among the best I've had in '13. Shaggin In The Wood is no joke either...

 

My girlfriend actually grew up in Lake Mills, so we usually stop by when visiting her family. Rocky's Revenge is really good in my opinion.

I was really disappointed in not getting any Doubly Down and Dirty Stout(learned my lesson on counting on her mom picking some up before it went away). So for the stout they have on tap now, will that be making to bottles as just Down N Dirty Stout?

I was there and took the tour about 3 weeks about and saw "Stout" on the whiteboard for fermenter #6. They didn't say when it would be done. As a stout guy, I am hoping to finally have a stout by them.

 

Not a big fan of most of their beer - just not my personal preference (though some of the BGW are excellent) but they put on a hell of a fun bike ride and (from what I hear) and excellent run a month later.

 

Whoa, I love Pipeworks as much as the next guy but do you understand how trademarks work? And I wouldn't call a reasonable email sent by the brewery litigation.

 

Down N Dirty will be out in kegs and bottles in February.

This new Double Stout will be keg only.

 

And they both sell in the same markets, so the need to protect is a bit greater than if one is in IL and the other on the coast

 

Ah, I guess I should have just said, "Having tried most of Tyranena's beers, I find both the beer itself and what their names are quiet forgettable. Scurvy Ninja, on the other hand, made a great impression on me, so great I remember what it was called before Tyranena asked Pipeworks not to name it Scurvy Ninja."

And I'm all for trademark protection, and changing a contested name rather than going through legal action is for sure what I'd do if someone challenged me. I also think there are degrees of concern a business should have. Companies have a right to go after anything that smells of infringement, just in case one consumer gets confused. But they risk looking like jerks.

In short, could someone have looked at a bottle of Scurvy Ninja and thought, "Hey, I love Tyranena!" Sure, it's technically possible. Could someone have looked up "scurvy" on a beer ratings site and rated the wrong beer? Sure. My 2 cents: these hypothetical scenarios could only have helped Tyranena and harmed Pipeworks. The Ninja is far and away the much better beer. Tyranena should have hoped we all confused their beer for Scurvy Ninja!

For what it's worth, Pipeworks doesn't even use "Ninja" anymore. Someone contested the trademark. I don't think it was even another brewery. Sigh.

And this is what you get when I get on this site sober for a change. And this topic has been covered before on this site, several times. But dang it, I didn't comment the few last times, and this is my big chance.

 

That's not litigation, that's a more than friendly email. If you were an investor or shareholder in the company that had spent time and money (real resources) you may feel differently.

 

For the record... Tyranena is one of our favorite breweries... for making beer... we still regularly buy the beer that their brewers make because we like it. We had an issue with the approach of their front office person... which doesn't need revisiting. If you like their beer than drink it and support it. There are plenty of people at Pipeworks that if you met then you might want to boycott us too! haha that's why we don't let them out in public!

 

I know quite a few people that clamour for the "painted ladies" every fall.
Competition is fierce, but I think Tyranena holds up pretty well and I'm quite happy to have them here.

 

It was another brewery and it was settled over a phone call.

 

All good points to consider, thanks for the feedback @Pipeworks. It's great to hear directly from you guys.

It's just frustrating that a lot of neat themes from my favorite brewers are getting changed (Alchemy Hour, Ninjas, etc..). And it makes starting a brewery quite scary especially if trademarks are being challenged from non breweries who have never even sold beer (http://blogs.westword.com/cafesociety/2013/11/strange_brewing_will_stay_strange.php).

I definitely have more to say about this, but mostly it's already been said and it's getting off topic. I got a tyranena beer as an extra in a trade so I'm looking forward to seeing if it comes anywhere close to the quality of pipeworks' beer. Cheers!

 

I completely agree with this statement!

 

I asked Rob to do this when I was picking up my case of Doubly down and even dirtier at the brewery in October. He said that they had no plans to do that in the near future... It disappointed me very much...