Hands down flawless across the entire spectrum of old ale, Barleywine, even questionably into the strong ale and perhaps a smattering of the quad life even. This is a masterpiece of barrel manipulation worthy of the highest caramel and toffee accolades.
I used to think Adam from the Wood was equal in scope and execution but God damn, every year that I drink this is a revelation.
It woke up like this. Flawless.
I Phil this beer is a Lil too damn good.
I think you had to join their reserve society to get this beer.
The taste was actually really good and had nothing in common with the olfactory nightmare. It was bizarre to have such a bipolar beverage. To make things worse, another bottle i opened of this had a completely normal faux Krieky nose, but then a weird acetic character to the taste. How can bittle variation make two completely opposite beers? I guess I could have waited and blended the two to make either 1) an incredible cherry jam masterpiece or 2) kitty litter head on acid collision.
Thanks powz. Thanks a lot.
This is one of those strange instances where the beer itself has a clean mouthfeel and seems well assembled but it’s like the barrel program went off the rails at some point. Case in point:
I don’t know exactly where this was aiming but it landed square in the realm of Granny Smith diacetyl extraveganza. I can already see Chicago traders all like “I loved the caramel and oily mouthfeel! The green jolly rancher aspects shined nicely!”
Maybe Transient has been beers and I am just fucking thin-
OH WAIT THAT’S RIGHT THEY DO HAPPEN TO MAKE ONE EXTREMELY BAD ASS BEER:
This beer is incredible and tears ass all over the rest of their catalog. DP be peepin but you would be hard pressed to find another in the breakfast stout world with this much balance, and sheer drinkability. The various ingredients meld together for an amazing coffee cascading over vanilla into a loving maple syrup embrace. For all the MD fanfare this week, this awesome beer is criminally overlooked. I have no idea 1) how the same brewery could have made three wildly differing beers in terms of quality and 2) why aren’t more people trying to land this sleeper cell of adjunct awesomeness?
In SUMMATION: their wild ale program needs some work but God damn do their stouts run the trap like you just introduced her to your stove.
Let’s talk about these fellas at Other Half Brewing. The New York beer scene is interesting in itself and mirrors Los Angeles bber culture in many ways. It is ever a hub of incredible beer bars and a simmering cauldron of activity in the craft beer world. However, the action of simmering is an exothermic reaction to external forces, and the two metropolitan areas function as weathervanes from external change. SD bubbles LA’s britches. Sure New York has their share of Captain Lawrence’s, Ithacas, and Southamptons smattered around the landscape, but the driving pulse lies largely in the icy north.
So today we have an upstart that is carving their own legacy in reviews and trade ISOs: Other Half Brewing. Lets find out if these stand on their own or merely mirror facets of the frozen Vermont population living north of the wall.
I only pop you when it’s half, past five.
Mosaic ipa
This is seemingly the paradigm of reactionary given how many fucking breweries are leaning hard on Mosaic hops almost exclusively at this point. It is the CITRA hop of the 2011 era. This is a gentle beer across the spectrum that delivers exactly what it promises, a fistful of chive and shallot, resin and a floral finish. It is highly crushable and very well done.
that TB snifter getting mad max mileage
The only reason j can fault this is due to the fact that there are x to the nth power of other breweries doing the exact same thing. It’s like being super impressed with a paper towel company. Just buy the ones that clean up child vomit and get on with your life.
Certified whiptixxx in the subbydoobaruu
Galaxy ipa
Essentially the same as the mosaic with a bit more creaminess to the mouthfeel. It comes across as drier and more refreshing albeit less drillable than the mosaic. This is an overall better beer but the hops are such a fantastic panacea that you would have to be a pretty shifty brewer to drop the ball on a galaxy brew. It’s no HF double Galaxy, but likely better than what is available at your local bottleshop. If this is regularly on draft at Blind Tiger and the like, an incredible new crusher has joined those NYC ranks.
I mean, I do that, I make time for that.
Hop Showers
I have seen so many people seeking out these iconic cans and I feel that this is the best example of infectious marketing this side of those insufferable Rogue bottles. Sadly, the beer itself is nothing to go crazy over. It feels like some two row that was fermented too high and somehow still has a residual sweetness to the body that calls back to the Founders ipas from days past. There is a notable sense of honeydew and almost menthol herbaciousness to the swallow.
You get that link I sent you of a woman havin sex wit a bee?
I guess it’s greatest sin is that it doesn’t really command your attention or demand contemplation . For some people that would be a massive merit to their IPAs, but not for this salty worn out leather donut of brackishness. The can art carries the day for what would otherwise be a forgettable entry. Not bad but nothing you need to open an incognito tab for.
The fact that this is sold in any kind of multiple can format is amazing and horrifying at the same time.
All green everything TIPA
Ah yes the triple ipa. A style no one but novice hopheads begs for, a style breweries continue to fuck up time and time again by scaling up ineffective DIPA recipes, an often flabby mess replete with crystal malt or honey or some other stupid shit. This is the style that elevates the beta casual hop lover Into the trading and reviewing ranks. Thank god for this style, for its unending comedic effects. The line for Pliny the Younger extending longer with soccer moms and asian foodies every year, Sunset magazine running spreads on Triple IPAs, disenfranchised cousins sending you TIPA links at work, ah yes.
last week fucked around and got a triple double
Sadly this beer is one of those 5% of TIPas that are actually exceptional. It is really good and still svelte to an extent. It never raises to a fusel problems, never stumbles into a dank american barleywine, and fails to oil its hop cones in the bedsheets. This finishes slick and woody like shop class, I love the weight of the mouthfeel and this lacquer closer reminds me of an amazing lemon pledge cocktail: that sounds gross but this is amazing. It has power and balance like a young Bo Jackson in his prime. The first taste is oddly clean with grapefruit and Twbgerine zest. This draped over the long line finish makes for a really great beer.
There’s likely nothing like this available at retail and this comes scary close to the Boneyard Notorious levels of God tier greatness. ISO this. Srs.
If there were a farmhouse in NYC that shit would look like the house in UP
Barrel aged Brett saison
No brewery can be the master of everything, go try Hill Farmstead’s dortmunder and you’ll know what I mean. That sentiment is what gave me pause when I poured this other half saison, it looked pretty tasty. The nose was present and accounted for, some Brett c and cardboard paper, mandarian oranges. It feels genuine and inspired from a hop focused brewery, this can’t be right. The taste brings things back into the “pretty good” realm enjoyed by the likes of Prairie. This beer reminds me of a more tame version of Jester King biere de Miel, not overly sweet, not annoyingly acidic, a fantastic Orange Julius mouthfeel but lacing a haymaker to compel your returning attention. If this is priced in the $12 range, stock the fuck up like the T-virus was just unleashed on raccoon city. If this is in that ridiculous $20 realm, then perhaps it’s time to diversify your portfolio with some Vapeur or Blaugies.
So as to be expected, some amazing offerings, some forgettable ones, but in sum, Other Half is certainly worth a once over and there appears to be great things on the horizon.
Sip sippin on dar sizzurp
Sixpoint has enjoyed that happy medium of creating local buzz that satiates locals but never creates a fever pitch loud enough to ruin things for locals. It is that sweet Beachwood Brewing and Selin’s Grove spot. Once a husky manchild grabs the conch and starts offering up crazy trades, the chum is in the waters and locals might as well write that brewery off. Resin was a solid offering and the buzz was not insubstantial for this adjunct extravaganza.
always flickin them beans, stayin on that grind
Sixpoint Brewing, New York
10% Baltic Porter, skinny stout
“With the addition of Madagascar vanilla beans, 4BEANS takes Sixpoint Imperial Porter to the next level. Romano beans used by bygone brewers provide body, as the flavors of dark malt, cocoa and coffee are rounded out by smooth vanilla. The result is a quadrality of roasted, savory, and complex flavors. Modern formulation meets Baltic tradition and BKLYN partnership…it’s Mad Science.”
At the outset I rolled my eyes at reading the list of ingredients like when you see the trailer for a Kevin James movie, making stark predictions. This is like if the Kevin James movie was directed by Lars Von Trier and somehow depth and character were massaged from the assumptions. The look is the thinnest stout/baltic porter this side of Sexual Chocolate/Kern River Class V stout. It appears more pleasantly watery as a result. In a field of tanks, the agile healer is a welcome respite.
The nose is also excellent and presents waves of coffee with whoppers, malt balls, kit Kat bars and a lingering baker’s chocolate. If you were expecting some tactless car crash, there’s plenty of other lackluster failures to choose from, this beer is far too nimble and poised to fall into mediocrity.
The taste drinks more akin to a robust coffee Porter and shockingly conceals the Abv and substantial malt profile well. It is incredible that it can keep all the adjunct balls in the air and never seem unfocused. This is a clear example of a beer that doesn’t call out for barrel aging simply because the base beer stands so confidently on its own.
Everybody loves Romano
BUT SRS WHAT DAFUQ IS DEM ROMANO BEANS
This is certainly worth seeking out and you would be remiss to overlook this svelte barista’s embrace.
INTERMISSION: Julius is still banging out of the can. People justifiably ISO this hard, as they well should.
BACK TO THE PA/NY TIP MUSHING:
Night shift has presented a checkered past. There are few breweries with more inconsistent valleys in quality between their releases. For every exceptional weiss release, another viva habanero nightmare is sure to follow. Then most recently they absolutely crushed it out of the park with the apple brandy el elechedor. They are like a smoking hot, albeit abusive ex girlfriend whom you never quite know when to write off completely.
inb4 grout work jokes
Nightshift Whirlpool
Session IPA? Pale Ale? ZFG
4.5% APA
Fear not, this offering pulls Nightsift firmly into the ranks of facebook official. Whirlpool pours an unbdolutely beautifully refreshing hue of meyer lemon and silky foam. It might just be two row, but God damn it is servicing the session segment hard on aesthetics alone.
The nose delivers on the visual promises and serves up raked leaves, tangelo zest, orange rind, and a resinous watery conifer slider high and inside.
If you loved the likes of Ponto and dare I say even Edward, this does a fantastic job of bringing equal or higher quality to an ever teeming segment crowded with so many cost saving stripped down pale ales. The mouthfeel is incredibly crisp and dry, there is less on the fruit and citrus front, but the extremely dialed in grass trimmings make this finish like something Jester King would make if they every decided to use a California ale strain FOR ONCE IN THEIR LIVES.
For a style that has to work three times as hard to impress, Nightshift killed it with this one, it’s like watching highlight tapes and saying “holy shit that is an amazing nose guard.” Imagine how fast and controlled this has to be to warrant comment.
I need to lock down that apple brandy lecherous hotness.
This motherfuck drives around in an apple. How is that even possible, Richard Scary?
I know reading two positive reviews is no fun to read, SHEESH. Don’t worry guys, I am sure someone will send DDB some Big Sky beers soon enough.
I am gonna go ahead and guess that this is a trubby mess that is a mango overload. Early predictions.
Now here’s a candy joke about ur mama that u mite not lyke.
“Trade was for the gobstoppers but I threw in this shitty overused threadbare joke as an extra!!! Lol it’s still funny to me! PORXH destoryed!!!”
Man, people were fucking pissed that DDB content was published by Thrillist, DDB is getting called a sellout/child rapist/holocaust denier/lion murderer, everything under the sun. In the interest of fairness, here is the 1100 word piece that Thrillist passed on, hopefully this listcream serves to alleviate some of those anal fissures caused by your feelings of entitlement to thousands of words of free content on a daily basis:
THE NINE TYPES OF SHITLORDS YOU SEE AT EVERY BOTTLESHARE
In the world of rare craft beer, there is a grinding undulating ritual that occurs amongst sticky neckbearded basement dwellers: the bottle share. This ritual of iniquity used to be about meeting with friends who shared a common love for beer and opening them together. Given the influx of new money to the world of craft beer, coupled with covetous dipshits and skyrocketing values of rare bottles, beer traders are now forced to unite and share the tiniest of pours with people they may not even like or know. Tips will be mushed. Space will be docked. Since these vulgar proceedings are becoming de rigeur, it seems only fitting to chronicle the types of assholes you will see at a beer bottleshare, should you decide to debase yourself and attend one.
1) The Moleskin Baller
Don’t even try to talk to this asshole. This is the beer enthusiant who is obsessed with chronicling his life as a real time documentary instead of actually living it. You will see his trilby gazing downwards, scribbling in a notebook pithy adjectives that no one cares about. If you attempt to engage this introvert he will like mutter something about “monoculture saturation” and get back to his srs bznezz journal. Don’t waste your time.
bottle clutching deviants
2) The Imaginary Badge Enthusiast
Some beer nerds break their cocks in half trying to earn badges on Untappd. This dude pushes things to the limit with his self-aggrandizing app and will check in every single drop of beer that he tastes, even if it is a lukewarm meniscus, the single digit reviews will be forthcoming. God forbid two of these dipshits sit next to one another at one time, the furious grinding of toasts and badge comparisons will resonate anechoic through your soul.
3) The DSLR Dipshit
If you thought beer was about candid discussion or enjoying the company of others, then you will want to avoid captain Canon 70D at all costs. This is the type of person who brings a lightbox to a tasting with multiple lenses acting like that shit is somehow socially acceptable. Watch your elbows while pouring because this squatting misanthrope will be taking low angle high F-stop pics to make sure every bubble of that predictable ass carbonation is documented. Because that’s what you want at an event where you get getting completely rekt, some officious Annie Leibovitz pushing a telescopic lens into your greasy red face saving every candid moment in 21mp and 4K HD video.
WHICH NUMBR R U THO
4) The Undergrad Johnny Come Lately
Inevitably at any bottle share someone will bring a beta casual friend who knows fuck all about beer. These people usually start off nice enough but after a couple pours, prepare yourself to hear all about some shitty smoked vienna lager that he had when he studied abroad. This person gets brassier as the night goes on and will ask a litany of questions to anyone within earshot. If you feel like explaining what yeast is, how mashing works, what a lambic is, and listen to endless TRAPPIST anecdotes, feel free to sit next to this dude.
5) The Incredibly Tolerant Asian Girlfriend
At any share full of obese, red-faced, grimy manchildren, there will always be one incredibly forgiving Asian girlfriend with her arms folded. While grown men debate over sugarwater, she will endure on, quietly suffering the tired banter and quips from the shameful attendees. At some point in the proceedings she will be subject to latent misogyny or condescension from some cocksure guest who wants to feel relevant in his niche hobby. She always knows as much or more about beer than most of the people at the party by virtue of being subjected to the constant prattling about barleywines on a daily basis. This person will remind you that bottleshares are the worst and that you should eat some Pirate’s Booty and leave this stupid hobby predicated on excess.
hot bitches at all my shares bruxellis
6) Captain Categorical Statement
This guy will loudly provide his opinion on each and every beer before you even taste it. You will be able to spot him in his brewery screen print t-shirt immediately. This is the type of person who provides you with ordinal rankings of every beer in each style, extroverted to a fault. Prepare for sweeping generalizations, absolutes, and contrarian banter from this type of dipshit. Just nod when you hear him proclaim “SAISONS WITH BRETT IN THEM AREN’T REALLY SAISON” or “ALL BLACK IPAS SHOULD BE CALLED CASCADIAN DARK ALES” or “KING HENRY IS THE BEST BARLEYWINE THAT HAS EVER BEEN MADE AND IT WILL NEVER BE MADE AGAIN.” You dont need to know this guy. He likely works at an Enterprise Rent-A-Car by day and this is all he has. Just leave him alone.
7) The Fermentation Revisionist
I hope you love living in the past, because if you sit next to this dude, it is all that you will be hearing about. Just try taking a sip of this year’s vintage and prepare for this guy to spin some yarns about how LAST YEARS BATCH WAS MORE ATTENUATED or THE HEAD BREWER LEFT and THEY CHANGED THE RECIPE or THIS HAS FALLEN OFF SINCE I LAST HAD IT. This is the real world equivalent of the high school cicerone who got injured and his palate was never able to go pro. God help you if you haven’t tried every single beer from the mid-90s onward, because this man will pepper you with references to beers you could never have tried, namely because you were 11 at the time. Don’t engage this person, he is an endless beer wikipedia full to the brim of useless bullshit.
WILL THERE BE A SEAT AT THE TASTING FOR MY REAL DOLL? I dont want her to b jealus
8) The ABV Obsessor
Invariably there will be someone new to craft beer whose sole barometer of quality is the alcohol by volume in a beer. The WOOOO! Probability Index is off the charts with this one, and heaven help you if someone opens up an old ale. First pumping will be forthcoming, with pithy phrases like “AT 13% ABV IS IT EVEN BEER AT THAT POINT! LOLOL!!!!” This is the party responsible for piss on and around the bathroom rug.
9) The Designated Driver
This person will be subjected to the arrows of outrageous fortune and bear it grimly, sipping Perrier with gritted teeth. In the age of Uber, you probably wont be able to comprehend what type of person would put themselves through a bottleshare sober when you can barely tolerate these Fedex Ballers while shithouse drunk. He is a figure of herculean strength and stoicism worthy of your reverence. Again, don’t talk to him, your eyes are mirrored pools that reflect your own fun times, a grating reminder of his abstinence. Don’t rub it in.
OH FUK Bottleshare badass detected ABORT
Don’t go to a bottleshare, ever. No matter what they are opening, it is not worth it. Take up Gundam models or Magic: the Gathering instead, craft beer is an undulating pit of disgusting sugary chest hair and you’re better off avoiding it altogether.
Side Project has established an undisputed pedigree in the realm of wild ales, and a formidable legacy in the saison world. Lest they be accuse of being a one trick pony, they are now extending their Missouri tentacles into other more salacious markets.
The barrel aged stout and barley wine world has long been the icy seat of the Midwest shitlord
. Where they were markedly deficient in IPAs and wild ales in the past, their hateful reign would always raise the banner of stouts and barley wines to hold the dissenting tongues in place.
14% Abv Barrel aged Barleywine
Batch 1 – Single barrel release of an American Barleywine that was aged for 18 months in a Blanton’s barrel. Sold exclusively through The Wine and Cheese Place in St. Louis Missouri.
Now Side Project has presented another jewel to be placed in the infinity gauntlet of Midwest terror: a barrel aged barley wine to rest balefully next to their catalogue of tart offerings. But is this the gem to bind them all? Do those St. Louis boys perform as well as their Chicago and Michigan brethren? Let’s pop ANABASIS and find out in today’s review.
This beer pours that almost TOOOO offensively mahogany meets near blackness that the habitual line stepper King Henry was guilty of on more than one occasion. It has a massive sheeting to the legs that seems to uphold a 14%+ abv and a sort of menacing viscosity that clings together like beads of chocolate mercury.
The nose is waves of all the English toffee sweet elements you are expecting from that Straight Jacket type of execution: caramel, flan, rolos, pan dulce, burnt brown sugar, cream of wheat, etc. However, it also exhibits this barrel forward, oaky, bitter, shop class, booziness to it that hovers in the realm of American barley wines. It is like the barley wine mom was banging the milk man whose name could have been Great, BA Gratitude, BA Behemoth, or something in that line of servicemen. She was draining a lot of BALs is what I am saying.
The taste again gravitates more towards the massive American barley wine sector than the traditional romp in the Cambridge countryside that you may be expecting. There are elements of burnt toast, nougat, and coconut, sure, but on the long, lingering finish is this deep barrel influenced character of pine and spice like a high rye content bourbon such as four roses would exhibit.
The mouthfeel is oddly sticky sweet on entry and dry and dismissive upon exit, like when you officiously try to buy someone a drink at the bar. This is unquestionably amazing and shoulders the titans of this genre like Kuhnhenn BBBW and Voodoo K13. Sadly, unless they ramp up production on this bad boy from the barely triple digit range, most people will have to pop a Sucaba and dream about what could have been. This shit is ridiculously hard to lock down and has torn families apart due to abusive fathers spending all their cash on underground raffle slots while their children walk bowlegged with feces-filled Pampers.
These are the priorities of beer assholes, so as a result, expect a deluge of 1oz pour ratings on this one and phrases like “AINT EVEN ALL THAT FROM WHAT I HAD IN SKEETER’S SWELTERING BACKYARD, ALL 13 OF US AGREED.”
This is the fucking world we live in these days.
dontdrinkbeer 