Where does Sixpoint stand today?

1971 and 1985. Yes I would still love all iterations of Lowenbrau even if it was the most nostalgic and basic reasoning. I would be sure that the beer would still suit me.

 

For what it's worth, while Sixpoint did produce an extremely large quantity of beer outside of Red Hook, it was actually via an alternating proprietorship agreement. Scoff at that if you'd like, but there's a definitive difference.

 

And what would the "definite difference" be? I'm more interested in the quality of the product. If the equipment or processes of the alternating proprietorship aren't suited to produce the desired beer, proprietorship doesn't matter much. Sixpoint beers were brewed at a brewery that at least one craft brewer avoided because the facilities didn't meet his standards. (I can't tell whether upgrades might have been made prior to the Sixpoint arrangement).

 

Not sure why my original reply was edited with an addition to the end of it when you replied, but there was no implication that Brooklyn did or did not use an alternating proprietorship. It was noted that Sixpoint contract brewed. That statement was being corrected. Simple as that.

As for the differences, there are many, but the short short version is with contract brewing you basically hand off a recipe, a co-packer produces it, and they sell you the beer once it is ready and packaged. With an alternating proprietorship, you lease the space/equipment, have more control over ingredients, production techniques etc, have full-time staff on-site, own the product the entire way, etc.

I'll also flip your statement on its head, with a general statement: you can have the best equipment and processes in the world, but if the recipe and/or ingredients are crap, you're still gonna have a subpar product.

 

Mostly legal - which entity, the landlord contractor brewery (what the Feds call the "host brewery") or the tenant, has the license, owns the ingredients and packaging, etc. From the TTB:

Legally, there's no requirement for which companies' employees actually brew the beer.

While Brooklyn Brewery started as a contract-brewer at F X Matt and continues to use them (they even bought into Matt in recent years), they've always labeled those beers as being from "Utica, NY".

Sixpoint wasn't always so forthcoming:

COLA application (left) for beer brewed at The Lion and label for the same beer (right). "Mad Scientists" was a Sixpoint corporate name. Eventually Sixpoint did start listing "Memphis, TN" when they started using that City brewery.

 

I followed Sixpoint from an early date when I learned Shane was a UW-Madison grad like me (in philosophy!). I lived in State College PA--far from Brooklyn. When I finally bought some sixpacks (brewed by the Lion in Wilkes-Barre) I was disappointed; the Crisp I tried was flat, and Sweet Action tasted to me like a kind of hoppy home-brew effort. I know, though, that many others really liked the Lion-sourced Sixpoint canned beers.

I gather that Shane left Sixpoint when it was absorbed by ABV. Sixpoint subsequently lost a lot of the quirky drive that had been associated with it. My impression is that one thing that has hurt Sixpoint in recent years was the lack of a good sized taproom/brewpub in Brooklyn. There was a lot of publicity about 2-3 years ago about a giant new taproom in Brooklyn--near Park Slope? that would have revived the brand, big time. But since Covid the opening date has been murky--there is no word on the current Sixpoint website. This is curious because Victory, a sibling brewery in ABV, has just opened a big new brewpub on Ben Franklin Parkway in Philly. The brewpub would definitely revive Sixpoint as a brand, at least in Brooklyn.

 

Yes, there was indeed plans to open a brewery/taproom in the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn. As I understand it there were facility technical issues with the building/location which made it too costly to proceed with the development. ABV made a business decision to not proceed. I am not aware that Covid was a factor in this business decision.

Cheers!

 

Awesome seeing pics from the past!!

3Beans!! Ho-lee shit!! What a beer!

It's a shame. Used to enjoy Sixpoint beers, now it's a hard pass! Picked up Resin a couple of months ago...sooooo disappointing. Aroma and flavor were so far off from what it once was. Tried to lie to myself and say it was still good, but just didn't hit the mark for me.

 

Some fresh Resin showed up near me recently, hadn’t seen any in a long time. It was still as good as I remembered it.

 

The original 3Beans and Jammer were great

 

My last encounter with Sixpoint was last Fall, when we did a spontaneous brewery crawl, starting at the fantastic Strong Rope Red Hook taproom, then stopping by weird Keg & Lantern, followed by Sixpoint, and finally, the Other Half. At Sixpoint, we were met by two tired women who were serving tap beer from a mobile cart and were selling cans, some of which were barrel-aged beers of their regular releases. We ordered a couple of beers, which were served in plastic cups. Unfortunately, the beer was very stale. Nevertheless, being the only customers, we felt obligated to drink most of it. The whole place looked sad. The bartenders also confirmed that the plans of opening a new brewery in Gowanus were scrapped.

Since then, I was no longer interested in Sixpoint, but this thread made me curious again, so I got a sixpack of Crisp and a sixpack of Invisible Haze. I was glad to see that on the IPA they got rid of a gimmicky break-your-eyes checking the date on the can through the cutoff, and posted the date clearly on the top of the cardboard itself. As for the beer, I don't remember how Crisp used to taste, but this one resembles any other Sixpoint beer of old days: sort of OK tasting, but not following any particular style. It is certainly not a German pilsner, being too sweet and boozy. On the contrary, Invisible Haze is a lovely double IPA, that reminded me of Coastal Evacuation by Cape May.

 

It's honestly sad for me to see where Sixpoint is today. I was a self-professed fanboy of this brewery for years, and there was rarely a time that I didn't have at least one of their beers in my fridge.

My love for Sixpoint came from 2 things: A) Their constant innovation and variety of releases. You never knew what you were going to get, style-wise. And B) The knowledge that, no matter what bizarre or unexpected style, it was going to be above average or better. I mean, we're talking about a brewery that was regularly releasing a great hybrid IPA, amazing WCDIPA, Kristallweizen, pilsner, red rye ale, and a whatever-the-hell-you-categorize-Sweet-Action-as, on top of whatever special release they decided at the time.

Now, they have been reduced to Bengali (which I still think is really good) and Resin and Sweet Action with terrible dates, and "Insert New Clever Hazy IPA Name Here".

It's a damn shame, really...

 

It's been a long time for me. I don't even see the cans as much as I used to. Before I saw this thread I saw a BA post a photo of Bengali and I thought I'd like to try it again.

 

That not-fitting to any style thing is exactly why I was never a big fan. It felt like they don't quite know what they were trying to get. In the beginning, Sixpoint didn't even try to hide it and didn't0 mark their beers with a style indication. Not that it was the only brewery doing this. Many breweries are brewing not-quite-in-style stuff.

 

This was 2016, did not love this beer. I don’t even look at SP beers anymore. I had a few during the shut down in 2020 and was not impressed.

Enjoy

 

Resin is still delicious. Every time I have it I tell myself I need to buy it more. It's just tough to find cold and fresh.

 

And Jammer even killed a fish!?!