What’s the Difference? Share your Side-by-Side (2021)

They took over the space in Middlesex (10 min from me) when Demented imploded. They do a lot of styles, which I appreciate. Plus, they release a lot in 12 oz 6 packs, which is a nice change from the 16 oz 4 packs.

 

Oh and I should add that they are new in that they opened last spring and unfortunately for them in the middle of the pandemic. They seem to be doing ok though.

 

Cross posting with cellar review thread...

Doing something a little different today, a Hopslam fresh vs. vintage side by side. I certainly did not intend to age a Hopslam this long, and it’s probably not advisable, but here we are. 2021 Hopslam vs 2018 Hopslam; 9 days old vs 1,108 days old. Both have been “aged” in a refrigerator since purchase.


Both look beautiful in the glass, translucent with a honey golden color and a large white head with great retention and lots of lacing. 2018 may be a little clearer actually, otherwise essentially exactly the same and a near perfect appearing IPA (get that hazy shit outta here for this guy).


A:
2021- citrus and tropical fruit explosion; mango, pineapple, peach, orange/tangerine; some piney bitterness, balancing malt and a touch of honey sweetness. Killer.

2018- much more American Barleywine-esque; hops are there but much less tropical fruit, lots of citrus still with orange and surprisingly lots of lemon; decent amount of pine, quite floral; burnt sugar and some subtle caramel.


T:
2021-loaded with a variety of hop flavors including piney, floral, citrus, and tropical fruit. It’s so incredibly balanced as the malt backbone and honey sweetness balance the hop characters perfectly.

2018-taste is actually really really good, I’m pretty shocked honestly; it’s aged like a great American Barleywine ages with prominent and really nice sweet malt characters balanced by residual piney hope bitterness. It tastes like a slightly sweeter but less malt-dense Bigfoot of the same age. I am shocked by this, this literally might be better than 3 year old Bigfoot and I love vintage Bigfoot; although i will say Bigfoot is def more complex. Hopslam is more drinkable and just damn good.

M/D: It’s remarkable to me how drinkable this beer is for its ABV and flavor profile. The 2021 has slightly more carbonation, a little more vibrant of a mouthfeel, but 2018 hasnt faded at all. Both very smooth and insanely drinkable.


O: Overall these are both phenomenal. Hopslam is admittedly my favorite hoppy beer/IPA/DIPA, and this year’s batch is phenomenal so the fresh review is no shocker. But the vintage, just wow. I will say if I only were able to drink one Id choose it fresh, but I wouldn’t gladly drink this aged any day of the week. Fun experiment, and I may just intentionally cellar some of these moving forward.


2021: 5/4.75/4.75/4.75/4.75
2018: 5/4.25/4.5/4.75/4.75

 

It seems that all we ever get in Hopslam threads here on BA are the comments that Hopslam becomes a 'barleywine' over time, but you've gone beyond those comments with some thorough analysis to mostly go against the barleywine claims. Hopslam does remain a DIPA over time, just somewhat different.

Well done, and thanks for your post.

@LarryBell

 

I LOATHE cows milk. Oat milk is awesome although I just use unsweetened almond all the time.

 

I miss Demented a lot. Scarlet Night was one of my favorite beers ever.

 

Demented was pretty good overall. I liked them more than most BAs but I definitely agree Scarlet Night was a fantastic amber beer. Very unique.

 

Welcome to the club - nice vertical

I had heard oat milk had the “creamiest feel” so that plus seeing it on sale made me give it a chance over the other options I’ve yet to try. It does have a decent creamy nature to it, but also a somewhat cardboard aftertaste. Not sure it makes a good straight replacement recipes or such, but I find it decent enough and might get it again as a healthy alternative.

 

Excellent read.

I'm sorry to hear that the 2015 didn't hold up as well to aging. Sounds like a great BA Barleywine overall though.

 

I agree. For me, the first experience is how the beer looks in the glass. It takes a lot to overcome that first impression.

 

I posted the below earlier today in the NBW thread:

Tis the Saison (Season)!

I have been homebrewing Saison beers since the 1990’s and those early beers were brewed using a Saison yeast strain from a company called BrewTek. That product came on a slant in a small tube which I needed to culture up using an inoculation loop, an alcohol lamp as a flame source, etc. I felt like a junior microbiologist. But I was also a bit nervous since operating like a microbiologist was bit outside my comfort zone. It took a while (a decade or so) but eventually yeast vendors like Wyeast, White Labs, etc. started to produce Saison yeast strains which makes producing Saisons easier.

For my latest batch of Saison I used a combination of two dry yeasts: Fermentis T-58 and Fermentis BE-134 (Saison) in a 3:1 ratio (more T-58 than BE-134). I was tipped off to this combination by a fellow working the Fermentis booth while attending HomebrewCon 2018. Thank you to Napoleon for making this suggestion!

For today’s NBW I will be conducting a pseudo-blind side by side tasting of my latest Saison with a new to me Saison: Blackberry Farm Classic.

I had the pleasure of drinking a couple of brands of Blackberry Farm beer a few years ago while taking a road trip to visit family and friends in Texas – along the way we made a couple of stops in Tennessee (Smokey Mountains area and later Memphis). The Blackberry Farm beers I had then were quite tasty. Below is how Classic is described on the brewery’s website:

“Classic

Belgian-Style Ale

This Belgian-style Saison features European noble-type hops, authentic Belgian Saison yeast and the finest European two-row malt.”

Well, that is pretty short & sweet.

I already discussed the yeast blend I used to brew my Saison but in addition:

· I used a European hops (German Magnum for bittering and Czech Saaz for flavor and aroma

· Weyermann Pilsner Malt & 1 lb. of table sugar for the fermentables

For this tasting I solicited the help of my wife to pour these two beers into two small tulip glasses and while I can see the beers I have no prior knowledge of which beer is which: pseudo-blind like I made mention earlier.

Beers served in small tulip glasses:





Appearance

Left: Straw colored, slightly hazy with a white head

Right: Straw colored with a white head.

Aroma

Left: Mostly spicy (phenols) but there is some fruitiness (esters) as well.

Right: A combination of spicy (phenols) and fruity (esters).

Taste:

Left: In contrast to the nose the flavor is well balanced between spicy (phenols) and fruity (esters). There is a low – moderate bitterness.

Right: In contrast to the nose the flavor is dominated by spicy (phenols) but there is some fruitiness as well. There is a low – moderate bitterness.

Mouthfeel

Left: High – medium carbonation level, a smooth mouthfeel with a dry finish.

Right: Medium carbonation level with a dry finish.

Overall

Left: Very good – excellent.

Right: Ditto

These two beers are quite similar; both very tasty. I preferred the flavor profile and mouthfeel of the Left beer but I am very happy to drink them both.

OK, time for the reveal. Drum roll please:

The Left beer was Jack’s Homebrewed Saison and the Right beer was Blackberry Farms Classic. I would highly recommend the Blackberry Farm Classic to those of you who enjoy the Saison beer style.

Cheers!

 

A cross post from yesterday in the barley wine tasting thread:

Summit Side by Side.

30th Anniversary English-style Barleywine Ale (2016)
ABV: 11.5%
IBU: 50

Union Series Old Blaggard English-style Barleywine Ale (2019)
ABV: 10.1%
IBU: 60



Look: Both are in the amber family, but the 30th is decidedly darker, more brown, while the Union is lighter, more golden. Both have very short and short-lived white heads. Both have visible carbonation. The 30th has some dark floaties. The Union is the nicer-looking beer.

Smell/Aroma: 30th: Booze, dark fuits, sweet bread. Union: Bright, citrus-orange, figs, bread. The aromas are very different. The 30th is darker and boozier, while the Union is brighter and lighter, with no detectible booze.

Taste: 30th: Bready malts, dark fruits, mildly bitter in the middle, growing bitterness in the finish, lingering in the aftertaste. Alcohol warmth. Union: Orange fruit and bready malts. Flavor is more citrusy, while the 30th is more dark fruits. Some alcohol warmth, but the alcohol is much more hidden than with the 30th. (Both are more than capable of knocking you on your ass if you drink too quickly, though... which makes this side-by-side very much a slow and easy-does-it sipping session). The Union has only a slight touch of bittering apparent.

Feel: 30th: Medium to substantial body (but not to the level of "thick"). Nice tingling from the carbonation plus alcohol. The Union has a bit thinner feel than the 30th, but still substantial enough for the style.

Overall, I'm impressed with how well the 30th held up. I actually prefer it to the Union. Too bad this is my last one. I'd like for Summit to bring this one back, perhaps in alternate years from Old Blaggard.

30th Anniversary English-style Barleywine Ale (2016)
L: 3.75 | S: 4.0 | T: 4.25 | F: 4.0 | O: 4.0 | Rating: 4.09

Union Series Old Blaggard English-style Barleywine Ale (2019)
L: 4.25 | S: 3.75 | T: 4.0 | F: 3.75 | O: 4.0 | Rating: 3.93

 

Ok, got a beer last store trip to add to this thread, but it wasn’t this beer from CO. Just happened to be enjoying it and checking out Dogfish Head’s YouTube, so... 60 Minute vs Oskar Blues Dale’s Pale Ale.


I think they’re about the same age (mid-Dec for OBDP and bb 5/21 fir DFH60). They both are drinkable old school beers that I had in the house, so that’s about the extent of the reason to compare.

Short analysis, especially for me:
Dale’s is darker and had a more robust toasty malt profile that might be expected from that. DFH is lighter and cleaner, oddly enough.

DFH is more hoppy and more bitter, but it takes the late taste to linger to really accentuate this. DFH is more citrusy vs Dale’s more earthy bitterness - though the malt influence plays into the latter.

Having these together was interesting. Two beers I individually find “sturdy” became showcased in a different light. The malt profile of Dale’s Pale Ale stood out, as did the hoppiness of DFH’s “continually hopped” brew. I’m very glad I backed into this side-by-side randomly.

 

@cjgiant suggested I put this here, so here's a cross-post from the WBAYDN thread right now.

PBR and Hamm's side-by-side comparison!


Looks: Hamm's is a little bit lighter in color and has a little bit creamier looking head. PBR's head is just a bit coarser. Both are clear. They both look nice, but Hamm's looks just a tiny bit nicer to me.

Smell: They're very similar. Grainy, with a little sweetness, and a little bit of an AAL skunkiness but not a lot, both a little bit grassy. Something in the PBR seems just a little brighter and cleaner.

Taste: PBR gives me grain, a little honey, something vaguely herbal, surprised that it's not very sweet. Skunky flavor comes across a little, but it just seems more like a reminder that it's an AAL than a problem. Hamm's has a thicker, richer flavor, skunky flavor is a little more subtle, doesn't give me the honey, grain seems clearer and cleaner. Hamm's wins on this, but not by a huge margin.

Mouthfeel is pretty similar between the two of them, very light, dry, crisp, though there's a slight filminess.

Overall, they're both solid AALs. I prefer the Hamm's, but not a huge preference. Respect to both.

Cheers, all!

 

Oh sure, blame me!

 

Well, it is your fault...

 

Yes, dear.

Wait!

That was a reflex reaction... don't read into it.