What is with Meadowlark IPA?!

Agree! I've been really wanting to try this, but there is no way I'm buying an IPA bottled in January. Hopefully we'll get some fresh bottles soon because this has been on my "to try" list for quite some time now.

 

I bought an older bottle a couple weeks ago and it was delicious. I would love to know how it tastes fresh!

 

FWIW I've had Meadowlark several times at 2 months of age and it was still phenomenal. IMO it's one of the most slept-on IPAs to come out of New England.

That said, I bought bottles w/ March 2014 notched at Fort Point Market (in mid-April) in Boston. Check 'em out, ask for Tony.

 

The answer is Craft Beer Guild. Send the leftovers to Maine.
good night

 

The Pretty Things crew takes serious time off every year, which leads to a lack of fresh product. That said, meadowlark is pretty damn good, even at that age.

 

Meadowlark seems very different to me since its first batch in 2012.

 

Love even old Meadowlark

 

If I were a brewer I wouldn't even brew a year round IPA. They are super popular but there is a freshness issue that's getting related closer and closer to the date of bottling. I'm surprised anyone brews a year round IPA at this point.

 

one explanation is that the store buys too much at once.

 

Hi,

I have a few answers to some of this thread but not all. Freshness is obviously a big issue for a brewer and IPAs demand more than most beer styles. This is known to us and known to you the consumer. I think what is happening in Maine is that we're not quite hot enough to sell out as soon as we hit the shelves. I know down here in Mass you don't even see Maine Beer's Lunch on the shelves because people have special ordered it from the beer buyer or some arrangement like that. If Meadowlark was as hot as that the shelf lag wouldn't happen. As TheGator said above a store might load up and then end up a batch behind.

In terms of recipe there was only 1 change that was made from the original 2012 batches to the ongoing beer we brew every three weeks now. That change was merely to switch out 11 pounds of Columbus to Chinook. Obviously that is a very small change since there's hundreds of other pounds of other hops in the beer. I will say that 2013 Galaxy hops just aren't "popping" like they did the previous year and more pounds of Galaxies are needed to make up for that. That said, I drink A LOT of IPA these days and check dates. Meadowlark is tasting pretty good a few months out. My memory of the 2012 Meadowlark was that it came out spectacular, so maybe I can see where Horbar is coming from - but I look at the 2012 brew sheets all the time. This is the same beer on paper.

Lastly, traditionally our host brewery closes for the entire month of January. So we do scramble in early February to refill the pipeline. We hear that this may end in 2015. We usually would use that month to refill the inspiration tank and head somewhere beery. One year we did Munich, this year we poured at the Vail Big Beer Festival.

The easiest partial solution to this IPA/freshness issue is refrigeration. If more stores would refrigerate more, then we'd all enjoy fresher beer across the board. The beers are refrigerated at the brewery and at the distributor. Why not more refrigeration on the retail level? Martha and I were in a Whole Foods in Austin that had a big walk-in refrigerator with automatic doors that housed their entire beer department. That sort of thing is pretty bad-ass but yes, expensive.

Anyway, its heartening to see people saying nice things about our beer online. Cheers from me and Martha.

 

The Meadowlark I just finished drinking drank quite nicely, all candied orange with a late-blooming bitterness. The label's notched March 2014 so it may have been two months old by now. Way to hold up, Meadowlark!

(Though right now, while it's still among us, you should also go for their 1955 Double Brown historical recreation brew. So good. So brown. So historical.)

 

Gotta look for the newer labels! Doesn't last more than a couple weeks in Southern MA.
Great to hear directly from the source about all things Pretty....thanks!
Right now I'm nuts about Grampus, ridiculously tasty!

 

I haven't had Meadowlark in a couple months, but from my recollection it's a great IPA. Still, I hope the Hedgerow Bitter will be revived one day.

 

Solid and underrated IPA in the area. I would love to see these in cans! I think there are way too many bombers floating around these days and enjoy just having a can every once in a while.