Tapped on Thursday. I got myself a taste and a growler. Tasty brew. Bourbon is not overbearing at all, which is nice because the base beer can play work hand in hand with it.
Just saw on F.B. the the New World Tavern is tapping a cack of Lashes Hopbock Lager. Don't think I can make it but gonna try.
Just updating everyone. I went to the brewery today. Cool place and the people there are very nice. Framinghammer will be out very soon. No clue as to when or if they're going to barrel age some, though. I did ask about the Coffee Smoke & Dagger and I was told that it's not currently in the works but that it should be brewed again because it was extremely popular. I also left with a growler of the barrel aged Saxonator which is delicious. Extremely sweet, but the bourbon is subtle enough where you know it's there but not overpowering at all.
here's the phoenix article previously mentioned. it was written by the bros. really psyched for the spring DIPL. they're hoppy beers are all homeruns. http://thephoenix.com/Boston/food/150217-beeradvocate-jacks-abby-gets-larger/
Can anyone tell me if their upcoming "Private Rye Biere de Garde" is the same beer as last year's "Biere de Garde Rye Lager" just with a different name? I'm very pleased that this will be in 4-packs as it is one of their absolute best and I think it should be a year-round offering. Oh, and don't forget to do the barrel aged version with Brett in Sauvignon Blanc barrels again, too!
Just growlers of Fram and Sax. Just concerned about freshness. How soon should I drink? Do u loose carbonation in a growler?
The last growler of Hoponius I got was half flat the second day and completely flat shortly after that.
Yes, Private Rye is the same Biere de Garde that we released last year. We are in the process of adding 4 seasonal beers that will be out for a couple months and available in 4-packs. We did not have a winter seasonal ready for this year, but there will be one next year. Late Winter/Spring: Private Rye Biere de Garde Summer: Leisure Time Lager Fall: Copper Legend Octoberfest Late fall/Early Winter: Lashes Hopbock(or something similar)
Had hopponius union last night after a day in VT swilling hill and Lawsons. It got a strong meh rating. I'll be heading north to VT every time before driving to Mass for a brewery that overall can't begin to touch Hill or Lawsons.
If you drank that stuff all day, your palate took a pounding. You should try cracking one again when you haven't already had a hop assault like that.
A great IPL that can be found in many locations at a great price point without having to make a 6 hour round trip (which I do a lot).....we in Mass will take it.
there's room even in my very selective drinking for heady / lawson's / HF as well as more widely available, better malt-backboned hoponius. plus standouts like kiwi rising (which i see now i forgot to review... my notes called it the GUBNA of new zealand hop beers; all funk, not much fruit--but great), etc.
I held a growler of Framinghammer for two weeks and the carbonation was perfect. Got a growler of Ba Saxonator in the Fridge with plans to consume on super bowl Sunday. I just tighten up the cap as much as possible and keep my fingers crossed.
Closed I assume? I was just talking about open, I rarely ever buy growlers but I was hoping for more than a day or two before it was completely flat.
Well consider this: a Lawson's IPA is ~$8/22oz HF is $15-18/67.6oz hoponious is ~$10/64oz Personally, as a Vermonter, I'd love having a quality, lower cost, lower ABV option like JA available in bottles.
Right closed. When I am looking to drink the rest of a growler the next day I close tight and give it a good shake. It seems to me that releasing some carbonation into the empty space of the growler keeps it fresher. I do the same thing with 1/2 full bombers using a wine cork.
Last year I kept a bottle of BA Framinghammer for a good 4-5 months before opening it, and it was still carbonated, not stale, and delicious. I do think the growlers and free samples from Jack's Abby's tasting room tend to be a little undercarbonated. I think they turn down the CO2 pressure to aid in doing proper growler fills, but maybe they leave it that way all afternoon or maybe even all day. And with any growler, you should drink it all the day you open it or else expect that it will get flat and stale very very quickly. All this adds up to me really preferring bottles over growlers.
I have noticed the staying power of unopened JA growlers being very good - they CO2 purge them before they fill, which is better than a topfill, even if it's not counter-pressure. But yeah, a growler going flat after you open it is just par for the course. I wouldn't shake it, because once you close it, the oxygen is already there (the headspace isn't "empty", it's filled with air, which is nitrogen/oxygen/etc.), and I have no interest in getting it into solution in the beer any faster than it would have already. Releasing some CO2 into the headspace will only force O2 into the beer. Unless you have some way to replace the oxygen in the headspace with CO2 before you close it (if you have a CO2 tank for a home keg and a good regulator, I bet you could do your own CO2 purge of the growler headspace), it's going to oxidize pretty fast, and that's just that.
D'OH, I meant growler. I did use the word "growler" four times in that post, I guess it should have been five.
Hoping for a killer DIPL out of the collab. Were there any other announcements? I would have bet on New Hampshire draft expansion for sure.
I don't want them to expand distribution, at least until they can keep Hoponius Union on shelf in MA a majority of the time. They're in my state right now, mine, mine, mine!
It is going to be released in May, brewed at Jack's Abby, available in Mass and Vermont. It will use lager yeast and maple syrup. That's all the info I got. They are also doing a collaboration with DC Brau for the ACBF.
But I want a Kiwi collab...hopefully this one goes well so we can see a collab next Nov/Dec called double Kiwi Then I would be a really happy camper.
Per last nights Podcast, Jack said that as of right now, they are not going to expand distro. They are going to stay in the Mass market for right now.
