The Beer Thread • Page 66

^Definitely gonna be on the lookout for that.

 

Better than Hop Slam?

 

One would hope...

 

For those in Chicago, Hopsoulution is being tapped at Division Ale House on Friday:

Bell's Beer Release Party! DIPA; Sweet Potato Stout; Oatmeal Session Ale & More!

 

IMO, IPA's from Bells go: Hopsolution >> Oracle >>>>> Hopslam. I find Hopslam to be widely overrated. It's a fantastic beer, don't get me wrong, but it's not as killer as the hype implies. For instance, there's a brewery in SW Michigan called Greenbush who makes what is essentially a year-round Hopslam called Brother Benjamin. It's 10% and brewed with honey. It's bitter and the hop profile is very similar to Hopslam.

I will say that 2016 Hopslam I thought was significantly better than 2015, but it's still not as good as Oracle (another DIPA from Bell's that I'm not sure how far it reaches; comes out in the fall) or in the same league as Hopsolution.

For me, Bell's best beers are something like: Expedition > Hopsolution >> Oracle >>>> Hopslam >> Two Hearted. Not including some sours I've had from them (Lappel du Vide; Wild One) or barrel-aged versions (had multiple Expeditions that were barrel-aged and they're always phenomenal) or their tap-room-only stuff like Sweet Potato Stout, Deb's Red, or any of the Planet Series from last year (though the Black IPA and the Stout and the Mars DIPA in the planet series were serious standouts for me).

Hope you're able to go and grab some (if you haven't had it before).

 

Well, I regret making game night plans with a friend now.

 

I haven't but I'm on the lookout for it. Unfortunately I can't go to this, there's no way the wife will let me go out for a night of drinking while she's at home with 2 one-month olds.

Cancel 'em! Or bring the games to the bar.

 

I can probably send some if you can't find any around the city. My store has around 15 cases.

 

Applebee's sucks but I underrate getting founders centennial for $6 per 20+ ounces

 

Really wanted a good beer to sip while I watch the Warriros/Thunder game, and I'm out at the moment...or so I thought. Just remembered I stashed away two White Oak Jai Alais for a rainy day. Yessir.

 

Great Lakes Chillwave tonight.

 

How is it that I live in New York and have had more Black Note than you?! It's a phenomenal beer. Haven't gotten my hands on Hopsolution yet but I looked on Beermenus and it's around, so I'll definitely check it out!

I thought the Oracle was great.... but how do you not like Two Hearted?! I'll take a two-hearted any day of the week over Hopslam. Might be the most overrated beer for me besides Dark Lord. If you're going to call a beer "HOP-SLAM" make it a gd Hopslam! Shit should have been called Maltslam. Bleh.

Now THAT beer is phenomenal.

 

Just found out the webshop I normally get all my beer from had FFF Alpha King up this morning. Sold out in seconds. Gutted to miss that.

 

I went through a large Bells-hating period in my life and then never really tried to track down Black Note. Always focused on other beers.

I like Two Hearted just fine -- Hopsolution is 8% and has the body of Two Hearted, I think -- but I've had so much of it. My beer journey when I was in my early 20's was blue moon -> Oberon -> Two Hearted and I stayed there for years.

I concur that Hopslam isn't nearly hoppy enough, but I think it's still very good. Just not as good as the hype implies. My store sold out of 127 cases in about 6 hours. It's insane. And that's a one-case limit per customer.

Chillwave is great, though it gets a bit sweet for me (so does Hopslam) so I can usually only have one.

 

What shop? I use Craft Beer Kings and was able to purchase a Fou Foune a few weeks ago. That was epic.

Ah gotcha, I definitely understand cooling on a beer when you drink so much of it for so long. That happened to me with Brooklyn Lager.

Oberon is great and I typically dislike wheat beers. I think for Hopslam I just expected so much more and was so taken back. It's like the new Sam Adams beer that's supposed to be a Heady Topper clone with hops all over the can, yet it tastes like a malty mess.

 

I'll let you know. Some of the local bottle shops get shipments today, so it may be coming in. I'm going to run out and check on my lunch.

 

I just passed on a bottle of Hopsolution the other day, I might have to go back and pick one up.

I've only had one Great Lakes beer I've enjoyed, and it was the Alberta Clipper. Is Chillwave good?

 

No Hopsoulution (yet) but I did grab a 4-pack of Chillwave and 4 bottles of 120 Minute, which I'll put away for aging. Probably have one each at 2, 4, 6, and 8 years.

 

Just realized how much beer I've had at the bottle share that I've been going to for the last year. Likely going to hit 2500 unique on untappd tonight, and I celebrated hitting 1000 at the share about a year ago. Took me like 4 years to get to that 1000, then a year to 2500. Insane.

 

do you include sampling when/if you go to a beer festival? or only full 'servings'/flights?

 

I don't go to a ton of fests, but I've checked in stuff at them in the past. Bottle share is the same idea anyway, definitely not having "full" servings there. Used to actually not be able to check in to stuff like that on untappd because they would limit your amount of check-ins within a certain timeframe, but I think they changed that a few years ago.

 

If you want to trade something for Alpha King, let me know. It's pretty easy to come by around here...even if it is a bit overrated, IMO.

 

I live in Scotland, so it's a UK shop.
Nice on the Fou Foune. Have you opened it yet? I still have couple of bottles stored away from my trip to Cantillion.

Thanks for the offer, but I live in Scotland and I have a feeling postage for anything would be insane.

 

Going to Cologne next week for a conference. If anyone has any recommendations let me know! My per diem is €123 A DAY so we'll see if i can get bars to mark some of my drink items down as food for receipts haha.

 

@jaimej yeah that makes sense. Oberon is okay. I don't know if it's actually changed or if my tastes have but I am not a big fan of it. I wouldn't turn it down but I tend to pick other beers over it.

@kid_lightning okay cool. Let me know if you want some.