|
ChickenArise posted:That's great news. They sent some here for a tap takeover and I enjoyed the leftovers. It's crazy how over the last ~10yrs I've gone from 'fruit beer is ok sometimes i guess' to 'fruit beer isn't very good' and now to 'give me more fruit beer ASAP' I kinda bitched out the dude who writes Deadspin's beer column because of the title of this column. He agreed with my complaints, and half-apologized for the click-bait title. But while I agree that beer nerds are totally into fruit beers now when that was somewhat sacrilege a decade ago, I think it has more to do with the quality of those beers as it does their ingredients. Fruit beer (non-lambic) was the haven of bad attempts by the macros and smaller brewers alike to appeal to women (because women don't like beer, amirite?!) and people who liked sweet drinks. I mean, outside of New Glarus, I can't think of another brewery who was doing a fruited beer in the early 2000s that wasn't awful.
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2015 22:32
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 19, 2024 05:17 |
|
|
I'd agree completely about beer quality and how it's changed. Things like Pyramid's Apricot or MH #9 did actually help me get into beer, but they are pretty gross messes to me now.
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2015 22:38
|
|
|
danbanana posted:outside of New Glarus, I can't think of another brewery who was doing a fruited beer in the early 2000s that wasn't awful. You've got me even thinking now ... Cascade? Upland? That's a good question.
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2015 22:40
|
|
|
air- posted:You've got me even thinking now ... Cascade? Upland? That's a good question. Upland didn't start doing their sours until probably 5 years ago or so. I have no idea when Cascade did. Russian River? And AWAs are kind of a cheat, since in most cases, it's just American breweries replicating the fruited lambic tradition. Something like Lilikoi Kepolo (which I haven't had but sounds delicious) or good fruited IPAs are very much "new." The stigma is off just tossing in fruit because you think it'll taste good, and I really think that is important: good brewers making good beers with fruit in them. Because seriously, this didn't really happen until recently.
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2015 22:50
|
|
|
danbanana posted:Upland didn't start doing their sours until probably 5 years ago or so. I have no idea when Cascade did. Russian River? I agree, Allagash, Russian River, Lost Abbey, and Jolly Pumpkin were all focused more on replicating the lambic tradition and Belgian styles. Hmm.. Cascade's fruit beers got my attention sometime in 2008/2009 when I traveled to CO for the first time, tried La Folie, then wasn't long after that when I had Enigma for the first time. Found out what 3F and Cantillon were and it all kinda went downhill from there. I turned 21 in 2006, so I certainly wouldn't be surprised if Cascade's history goes even further back, though I was always under the impression that Cascade and NG are generally considered pioneers for American breweries using fruit in beer.
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2015 23:08
|
|
|
Pyramid Apricot Ale won gold at GABF in 1994, and in 2014.
lament.cfg fucked around with this message at 23:17 on Jan 30, 2015 |
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2015 23:13
|
|
|
Cascade made a lot of crappy beers in the early 2000s at Raccoon Lodge. My theory is that they were always fighting infection issues, and then just finally embraced it and because the Cascade that everyone knows today. Edit: It looks like it was around 2007-2008 where Ron really started going all in with the sour beers. http://beervana.blogspot.com/2008/02/raccoon-lodge-brussels-on-west-side.html toenut fucked around with this message at 23:24 on Jan 30, 2015 |
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2015 23:16
|
|
|
Also ... I know the only time I had Enigma was before Untappd but uhhhhh Holy poo poo 
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2015 23:16
|
|
|
air- posted:Also ... I know the only time I had Enigma was before Untappd but uhhhhh Already have two 4pks headed my way.
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2015 23:18
|
|
|
Alpine needs to maybe reconsider their customer service policy... (Patrick is the _owner_. Smh.)  
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2015 00:31
|
|
|
a worthy uhh posted:Alpine needs to maybe reconsider their customer service policy... Wow, dickish. Do you think Green Flash's takeover may fix that?
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2015 00:48
|
|
|
Nth Doctor posted:Wow, dickish. Do you think Green Flash's takeover may fix that? Bwaaaahaha
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2015 01:12
|
|
|
Bag of Sun Chips posted:Bwaaaahaha 
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2015 01:14
|
|
|
a worthy uhh posted:Alpine needs to maybe reconsider their customer service policy... That's exactly how Pat always acts. I've actually been late to an AleSmith pickup and everything was fine, but there's no chance I would have tried that with Kiwi Herman. Zam fucked around with this message at 02:01 on Jan 31, 2015 |
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2015 01:54
|
|
|
Zam posted:That's exactly how Pat always acts. I've actually been late to an AleSmith pickup and everything was fine, but there's no chance I would have tried that with Kiwi Herman. That's a perfect summary of Pat/Alpine. I don't see why he'd be like that - there's just no upside to being a cock in that industry, it'll create a real insular business as time goes on. That said...it's not like the rules were vague here. I guess it's easy to be a jerk when the rules are on your side.
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2015 03:40
|
|
|
Found sculpin for $13. Good stuff though not as amazing as I was thinking it would be. Now to crack open a Hopslam. I just wish Toppling Goliath had a wider distribution and I could get Psuedo Sue more easily. I have yet to find a beer that good. The hunt continues... I think Sue is all citra and Ale Asylum has an all citra beer coming out in the next few days so we'll see how that is. Also had some Daisy Cutter on new years on tap and was pretty disappointed. Didn't really stand out much. Harminoff fucked around with this message at 03:57 on Jan 31, 2015 |
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2015 03:53
|
|
|
wattershed posted:That's a perfect summary of Pat/Alpine. I don't see why he'd be like that - there's just no upside to being a cock in that industry, it'll create a real insular business as time goes on. I'm a little more forgiving of the consumer, mainly because I recently had an issue with De Garde - Last year in June, I paid for two Keepers memberships - a friend of another local beer nerd lived out there, and he was more than willing to trustee for me because he was going out there for almost all of their releases. Total cost of the two memberships - over $300. He reaches out to me last week - says he has some family issues and he has to move back to his hometown this week, but he has a friend who is willing to trustee for me. I reach out to De Garde, they tell me the rules clearly state that "no trustee transferring is allowed". I see if there's anything they can do - they insist that it isn't something they want to handle due to increased administrative duties. I ask for a refund, they tell me that isn't possible, and I basically threaten to request a chargeback with my credit card company. Finally, they let up, and tell me they are willing to hold my bottles until the end of the year party in December (bottles are typically forfeited after the next quarterly release). It looks like I may be taking a quick weekend trip to Portland and De Garde in December to pick up bottles. I'm not complaining.
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2015 04:28
|
|
|
dont buy beer from people who are shitheads (who gives a gently caress how good the beer is)
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2015 05:53
|
|
|
wattershed posted:That's a perfect summary of Pat/Alpine. I don't see why he'd be like that - there's just no upside to being a cock in that industry, it'll create a real insular business as time goes on. "Sorry, but we did our best to make it clear that no late pickups would be allowed and that your bottles would be forfeited. Unfortunately these things happen, but I hope you get a chance to enjoy this beer in the future!" i'm kinda drunk and don't work for Alpine, but that took thirty seconds and wasn't difficult at all
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2015 05:55
|
|
|
dont buy beer. buy armagnac
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2015 05:56
|
|
|
funkybottoms posted:"Sorry, but we did our best to make it clear that no late pickups would be allowed and that your bottles would be forfeited. Unfortunately these things happen, but I hope you get a chance to enjoy this beer in the future!" The other thing is you could not have that policy to begin with. Its kind of a lovely thing and reeks of a cashgrab or looking to screw people over. I understand if they don't get it within a window of several days, but it feels like they are basically trying to make it as difficult to get a hold of as possible. Either way, there is no reason to be a dick to the people that buy your beer, especially when you are in an area with loads of competition.
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2015 06:00
|
|
|
swickles posted:
i work retail and would like to shoot a good percentage of my customers in the face, but i am nice to them because that is my motherfucking job
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2015 06:15
|
|
|
It's done because beer that's not picked up is a liable asset on the financial balance sheets. The period of time in which you've accepted money for the asset and which it's written off means during that time you can't count it as earnings. So while their policy (which, mind you, is identical to Lost Abbey's) of aggressively requiring you to pick up beer within a certain window is not exactly customer friendly, it can also be derived from a reasonable place when you're a small business with limited liquidity. That said, I don't particularly think that what he said was the best PR move and it's not how I would have approached things, but he also has the brewer who makes Duet and the recipes for the ridiculous stuff they make so it's hard to fault him for feeling like one customer one way or the other won't matter.
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2015 06:16
|
|
|
funkybottoms posted:"Sorry, but we did our best to make it clear that no late pickups would be allowed and that your bottles would be forfeited. Unfortunately these things happen, but I hope you get a chance to enjoy this beer in the future!" Or how about this: "Unfortunately our policy clearly states no refunds but I'd be more than happy to give you an equivalent amount of currently available Alpine beers or credit you towards any future releases." Seriously, I understand that most of these guys got into the business as beer enthusiasts and brewers and not businessmen, but good customer service is like grade school-level business practices. You have to be either a gigantic rear end in a top hat that doesn't give a gently caress or a huge loving naive idiot to act like that.
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2015 06:16
|
|
|
wodin posted:That said, I don't particularly think that what he said was the best PR move and it's not how I would have approached things, but he also has the brewer who makes Duet and the recipes for the ridiculous stuff they make so it's hard to fault him for feeling like one customer one way or the other won't matter. actually, it's pretty easy to fault him in this instance- if i were on the receiving end of this i would both tell everyone what a dick the guy is and and not give him any more of my business
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2015 06:20
|
|
|
Harminoff posted:Found sculpin for $13. Good stuff though not as amazing as I was thinking it would be. Now to crack open a Hopslam. Just picked up a 6 pack of Grapefruit Sculpin on my way home, been waiting for it to come back in stock here. Now that I sit here and thank about it I wish I had bought a second 6 pack, but I wanted to leave some for anyone else in town who wanted some. I also got some Almanac sours, and I had forgotten how much I love their beers. Their farm to barrel series is really solid in terms of sour I think, aging them in wine barrels gives them an extra layer thats nice.
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2015 06:21
|
|
|
funkybottoms posted:actually, it's pretty easy to fault him in this instance- if i were on the receiving end of this i would both tell everyone what a dick the guy is and and not give him any more of my business More than that: at best this poor schlub is a guy who was super busy and completely had a brain fart about picking up some beer he paid for. At worst he's an absolute moron that can't read. In neither instance is the appropriate response laughing in someone's face (someone that potentially will give you a bunch more money) and going even further to literally rub it in his face that he won't get the beer or the money. Seriously as someone in the business world AND as someone who loves beer, this makes me very angry.
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2015 06:26
|
|
|
Porkchop Express posted:I also got some Almanac sours, and I had forgotten how much I love their beers. Their farm to barrel series is really solid in terms of sour I think, aging them in wine barrels gives them an extra layer thats nice. I stopped by my local liquor store as I heard they had a Farmers Reserve Blueberry by Almanac but when I got there I couldn't even find a trace of it. I walked out with a more expensive (but tastier?) Boysenberry Sour by Hermitage instead. As far as Grapefruit Sculpin is, I actually find it vastly superior to the original Sculpin because of the extra grapefruit added. A very easy to drink IPA which someone could drink too much of.
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2015 06:28
|
|
|
funkybottoms posted:actually, it's pretty easy to fault him in this instance- if i were on the receiving end of this i would both tell everyone what a dick the guy is and and not give him any more of my business I can't believe you're making me argue the side of an outright rear end in a top hat, but you have a product where you place an onerous restriction on the conditions of sale, it sells out in less than 30 minutes, and then someone who fails the conditions complains to you. As much as I'd like to believe that people who start small businesses are generally benevolent and/or kind, the fact that his product is in such high demand that he gets those kind of numbers suggests that any individual customer is replaceable. Now, it's also probably true that in 3-4 years he will deeply regret the combined ramifications of that kind of behavior, but right now it's not going to make a wet fart on his bottom line whether the Alpine/RR collab sells out in 5 minutes or 10 minutes.
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2015 06:29
|
|
|
wodin posted:I can't believe you're making me argue the side of an outright rear end in a top hat, but you have a product where you place an onerous restriction on the conditions of sale, it sells out in less than 30 minutes, and then someone who fails the conditions complains to you. As much as I'd like to believe that people who start small businesses are generally benevolent and/or kind, the fact that his product is in such high demand that he gets those kind of numbers suggests that any individual customer is replaceable. Yes the purchase restrictions in that beer totally required him to laugh in his face and then taunt him by telling him how good the beer was. Seriously you're a loving idiot for even coming close to justifying that poo poo. You either lack common decency, common sense, or reading comprehension skills. Jesus Christ.
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2015 06:35
|
|
|
a worthy uhh posted:Alpine needs to maybe reconsider their customer service policy... I'm fully on board with calling Alpine dicks, but seriously they make it clear to you about 40 different ways that if you don't pick up your beers by the date, you lose them and you don't get poo poo. The guy pulling the "aww shucks can I please get my beer? OK THEN WHERE'S MY MONEY?" is just him being a loving tool and he deserves to be mocked. swickles posted:The other thing is you could not have that policy to begin with. Its kind of a lovely thing and reeks of a cashgrab or looking to screw people over. I understand if they don't get it within a window of several days, but it feels like they are basically trying to make it as difficult to get a hold of as possible. They made it pretty damned clear on the website: Starting this week, you will be able to purchase (2) bottles of Kiwi Herman, our strawberry-kiwi sour blonde. You may pick up your bottles beginning January 13, 2015 through January 18, 2015. Any bottles not picked up by January 18, 2015 will be surrendered to Alpine Beer Company. No exceptions. That's the first paragraph. And it went on sale very shortly before the pickup window, it wasn't like it was months ago and he had time to forget. Maybe it's because I've worked in customer service but this guy reminds me of every rear end in a top hat forgets to pay their bill and then feels somehow like they deserve compensation when their service is turned off for not paying the bill.
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2015 06:36
|
|
|
MunchE posted:I'm fully on board with calling Alpine dicks, but seriously they make it clear to you about 40 different ways that if you don't pick up your beers by the date, you lose them and you don't get poo poo. The guy pulling the "aww shucks can I please get my beer? OK THEN WHERE'S MY MONEY?" is just him being a loving tool and he deserves to be mocked. You're another idiot that I'm glad doesn't own a business. I can't believe you think that it's ok for any adult to act like that to any other adult, let alone a business owner to a customer.
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2015 06:38
|
|
|
Mahoning posted:Yes the purchase restrictions in that beer totally required him to laugh in his face and then taunt him by telling him how good the beer was. ... I think you misunderstood what I said. I'm not justifying it, I'm explaining why it's easy to understand that he would do it. There's an important difference there. He has a license that turns plants into gold, someone complained that they could not give them their gold for wheat, and he taunted them because they wanted the plants so badly because there were literal thousands of people who would replace the complaining individual. quote:I talked to some of the brewers and they said that it's probably going to be pretty expensive, though. Something like $16 for a 6 pack. He also made it sound like it was going to go to distro, not be a brewery release. Obviously all of that could change when they actually get up to making it happen. That's Sculpin price, which while not great isn't particularly ruinous for a beer that good. wodin fucked around with this message at 06:43 on Jan 31, 2015 |
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2015 06:40
|
|
|
wattershed posted:They're canning Lilikoi Kepolo. Seriously. So fuckin amped, hope they do a decent release of it so I can buy enough to last me the summer. I talked to some of the brewers and they said that it's probably going to be pretty expensive, though. Something like $16 for a 6 pack. He also made it sound like it was going to go to distro, not be a brewery release. Obviously all of that could change when they actually get up to making it happen.
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2015 06:42
|
|
|
wodin posted:... *uses entire previous post to justify lovely actions* *claims to not be justifying actions*
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2015 06:47
|
|
|
Mahoning posted:*uses entire previous post to justify lovely actions* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWdd6_ZxX8c In happier news, what's the best beer you drank today? Mine was A Stein's Throw (the Bruery/TAPS Fish House collab), which after two years has lost a lot of the treacle-sweet nature that originally dogged it and matured into a well-rounded barleywine with a slightly fruit-forward start and a lot of mellow caramel on the finish.
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2015 06:59
|
|
|
This is why we can't have nice things, people.
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2015 08:17
|
|
|
air- posted:Also ... I know the only time I had Enigma was before Untappd but uhhhhh Oud Bruin was massively disappointing so this review isn't exactly positive. Edit: "Far too young" does that mean it's a summer release?
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2015 08:18
|
|
|
MunchE posted:I'm fully on board with calling Alpine dicks, but seriously they make it clear to you about 40 different ways that if you don't pick up your beers by the date, you lose them and you don't get poo poo. The guy pulling the "aww shucks can I please get my beer? OK THEN WHERE'S MY MONEY?" is just him being a loving tool and he deserves to be mocked. I am not debating the clarity of the policy. I am saying the policy is dumb to begin with. Regardless, even if the customer had to go and get a notarized form saying he understood the rules, it doesn't justify the seller acting like a total dick. The response could have been what was posted before, a statement of "I am sorry, but this is the policy." It would have been nice if there was a credit or refund, but no one is even expecting that. All they are expecting is for some guy to do something other than laugh and taunt a guy that they just took money from in return for no goods or services.
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2015 08:22
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 19, 2024 05:17 |
|
|
Hey let's talk about breweries that aren't run by curmudgeonly mountain cranks! Finally made it to one of San Diego County's better non-distro breweries, Rip Current. Well, their tap room/restaurant. Quick version - food was great, space was airy/bright/open, bartenders were friendly/attentive. Locals should go. They have a vanilla Baltic porter that's like Victory At Sea but less coffee and more vanilla. This could be an epic beer that beer nerds would cream over if it were BA or 12% instead of 10. They also do a barleywine that's more like an American quad that's heavily hopped than a regular barleywine. I'm working through a growler of it now and as it warms it's becoming very nuanced. So, in conclusion, Pat = lame-o, Rip Current = a local gem we'll be able to hold onto for a few more months all to ourselves until they start bottling in the spring.
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2015 08:59
|
|