Tag Archives: Hopaddict

Tasting Room

Philadelphia Breweries – 2nd District and Crime and Punishment

Leave a comment

I combined the two breweries into one because I had only one beer at 2nd District. 2nd District is down in an area where you absolutely don’t want to try to park. Then again you are better off not driving at all in Philadelphia if you can help it. We had a car because we decided to stay in Ardmore near Tired Hands. Getting down to 2nd District takes quite some time whether you are driving yourself or riding in an Uber because of some tight streets that move pretty slowly.

2nd District

The view of the building from outside. Second District is inside an old brick building.

Like other breweries in the area and a lot of New England in general, beers are priced such that it makes a lot more sense to order a larger pour. Thus, I only had one beer at 2nd District and a few sips of my husband’s. The most interesting beer on the menu was their biere de garde with black pepper called Petite Villain. It was a fantastic complex beer blending spice notes, fruity malts, very mild pepper, and a dry earthy finish.

My husband ordered their dry Irish stout and he enjoyed it. It was typical of the style, made smoother on nitro, with good roasty character and a dry finish. I would have liked to have spent more time here but we had to move on to other spots. Second District seemed like a solid brewery. I would recommend taking public transit down there if you are staying downtown.

A reminder of the previous occupants of the building.

Crime and Punishment Brewing

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I visited Crime and Punishment because they didn’t say much on the menu about whether the IPAs were hazy or not. I soon saw all the hazy beers everyone else was ordering and got very interested. Though first I started with their berliner weisse. Crime and Punishment is slightly north of downtown Philadelphia though a quick uber ride to get there. They have a large indoor space with plenty of seating and a full food menu.

I started with the berliner weisse, which I chose over the fruited gose after tasting both. The berliner was very light in alcohol with a crisp finish and mild citrus notes. While enjoyable I could have used some more complexity or body in the beer. Space Race hazy IPA was the highlight of the visit. It was creamy and delicious with tons of fruit and citrus with mild hop acidity and a soft body. It compared well to the best I had from Monkish. Sadly the two other double IPAs didn’t have the same character.

Space Race hazy IPA

The Repeat Offender double IPA was done well but was hardly hazy at all in the modern sense. I got some herbal notes and malt sweetness but no characteristics of a hazy beer. The Visions Fugitives was hazy and soft but fairly average in the aroma department. Though it did have high hop acidity I didn’t get a lot of fruit. Since I ordered both DIPAs together I combined the two at the end and then it actually tasted like what I expected at that point.

The two double IPAs.

Despite the disappointing double IPAs I would still recommend visiting them because Space Race showed me they sometimes strike gold. They also had a BBA imperial stout on tap that I didn’t try because again I was ordering 10oz pours due to the pricing of the tasters.

Top Beer:
Space Race Hazy IPA
If they don’t have Space Race I recommend trying a splash of one of the IPAs before ordering.

Paul McGuire

Paul McGuire is a craft beer enthusiast. He likes to travel with his husband and enjoy the great outdoors. In his day job, Paul is a divorce attorney serving clients in San Diego California.

More Posts

Follow Me:
TwitterPinterestGoogle Plus

Brewery/Restaurant

Tired Hands Brewing Company – Ardmore Pennsylvania

Leave a comment

Tired Hands is located in Ardmore, a 30 minute drive or 1 hour public transit stop from Philadelphia. I opted to stay in the area to make it easier and I’m glad I did because I had to leave during one of my visits to take care of some work for a client for a few hours before going back. Being a short drive away made things easy. They have two locations very close to each other, the brewery and the Fermentaria (their version of a brewpub but with more fancy food). I stopped by the brewery the first night and had a couple of beers though I had the most variety at the Fermentaria as well as eating lunch. Both locations are quite loud both with the noise of people talking and the music played in the background.

 

I started in the evening at the brewery with their cask ESB, done old school with a smooth light body and notes of caramel malts. It was even smoother thanks to being served on cask. I also tried their wacky Birthday Cake Double Milkshake, a hazy double IPA with huge amounts of adjuncts, including chocolate, vanilla, and the addition of an actual cake. They take advantage of the super soft creamy mouthfeel of their double IPAs and it works fairly well in the same way as other breweries serve white stouts with lactose and coffee. It is a super popular style but I didn’t personally care for it and I am a bit surprised I ordered a full 10 ounce pour after tasting it.

I started trying other beers at the Fermentaria the following day. Their Hop Hands, the flagship hazy pale ale, was fairly thin with notes of citrus, grass, and pine, though a bit too bitter for the style. Their other flagship, Saison Hands, was delicious, a classic saison with notes of citrus and spice with a dry finish. It paired quite nicely with the Veggie Banh Mi and the hot peppers. I was so impressed by this that I later ordered a few other farmhouse ales they had. My husband ordered the Coffee Only Voyd, imperial stout with coffee, which was thick and smooth with tons of roasty coffee as you would expect from the style.

The Oat Tao, oat saison aged in barrels, had a funky barnyard nose and a soft and chewy mouthfeel. It was delightfully complex with earthy notes, mild citrus, and some green-apple lambic character. It reminded me of something similar from Hill Farmstead. I enjoyed it so much that I ordered a pint when I finished, though many others who visited around the same time thought it was their least-favorite.

The So It Goes red sour ale was quite funky with notes of caramel, cherry malt character, and a mild tart bite. I quite enjoyed this one I think in part to the hgher alcohol which gave it an increased sweetness that kept it from being one-note. The Tongue Extinguisher hazy DIPA was soft and pillowy with tons of pineapple and grapefruit hop flavor. It had minimal bitterness, hop acidity, or alcohol bite. It was like drinking Monkish fresh from the source, and immediately I understood where all the hype for them comes from.

If you go out to Tired Hands, I recommend planning to stay in Ardmore if you can. I loved he quiet area without the insane traffic of Philadelphia and one could easily spend days trying everything they have to offer. Since they price things to encourage ordering larger pours, I suggest trying a splash of a couple of beers to ensure you enjoy what you order. Not only was the beer a highlight of my trip but I can see myself returning to the area again to enjoy the slow, quiet feel of the surrounding town. I highly recommend the Fermentaria not just for beer but for their high quality food with plenty of vegetarian options to go with it. Just bring your ear plugs if you prefer a quiet brewery experience.

Top 3:
Tongue Extinguisher DIPA
Saison Hands
Oat Tao Saison

Paul McGuire

Paul McGuire is a craft beer enthusiast. He likes to travel with his husband and enjoy the great outdoors. In his day job, Paul is a divorce attorney serving clients in San Diego California.

More Posts

Follow Me:
TwitterPinterestGoogle Plus

Tasting Room

Other Half Brewing – Brooklyn New York City

Leave a comment

UPDATE: November 2017 Visit

A short few months after my initial visit to Other Half they had their larger tasting room open next door and a massively larger list of beers available. I found that the IPAs were significantly better than the last time such that I would have brought cans home if it worked with my trip. Now I consider their Hazy double IPAs to be up there with Tired Hands and Trillium in flavor. I was also floored by how delicious their imperial stouts were since last time they only had IPAs.

Larger new space

I only had three tasters in this visit because I also went to LIC Beer Project after and they don’t offer tasters. The All Infinity Everything was super creamy with notes of tropical fruit, pineapple and overall dripping with hop juice. It had a light hop acid finish and excellent drinkability for 8%. The DDH All Green Everything was 10% but tasted like 7, one of the best triple IPAs I have tasted. It was super smooth and crushable with light haze, minimal alcohol bite, and tons of tropical fruit and light grass on the finish. This one as well was dripping with hop juice.

My 3 tasters.

Other Half didn’t have a stout when I last visited but this time they had a bunch. I went for the biggest non-barrel aged stout on the menu with the Smoke Screens and Oil Slicks. This beer had the most flavor in a 11.5% stout that I’ve had without loading it full with adjuncts. The alcohol was hidden quite well and I got notes of cherry and light smoke with a bitter chocolate finish. The flavors balanced so well. It is a hard choice whether to drink the IPAs or stouts at Other Half now because they were both so amazing.

Massive beer list at the new location.

Original post —

Other Half Brewing is one of the handful of breweries that has rocketed to fame, success, and trade value through their limited release hazy IPAs in cans. At the time when I visited they still had a fairly tiny tasting room near the subway stop for Smith and 9th. They offered either 5 or 10 ounce pours of most of the beers but due to the pricing I went for he 10oz pours of most of them. The beers available were almost all hop-forward and there were no sours or stouts to be seen. I tried 4 out of the total beers available because I was ordering larger pours. I focused on the higher ABV offerings for which they had cans available and then double IPAs because in general I find hazy double IPAs to be more flavorful than the lighter versions.

The Still Shining IPA was a solid Hazy IPA with mild acidity and bitterness but not a ton of hop aroma either. It didn’t stand out from all he other hazy offerings I have had. The Citra Everything was much thicker and had a fantastic mix of citrus and mild pine with a sticky finish. I thought that the hazy double IPAs I tried could have been softer and have more hop kick but they were well done. All my criticisms about these beers come from comparisons to the best of the best and my own preference for a hazy IPA because the style is not clearly defined yet officially.

The galaxy-hopped double IPA, Space Diamonds, was similar to the Citra in style but flavor wise had a lot of sticky overripe papaya and citrus. The overripe fruit flavor wasn’t really my thing in part because it reminded me of a few actual experiences with overripe papaya. Next the Forever Simcoe was a tasty citrus-forward hazy beer without much noticeable pine. I was glad that it wasn’t like sipping a pine tree but I didn’t love it enough to get cans and think about the logistics of getting them home with our other stops still to come.

Overall, I’m glad I made the trip to Other Half to try their beers. I found Tired Hands and Crime and Punishment brewing to be the most impressive though of the East-Coast hazy beers this trip with Trillium coming up behind them and Other Half after that. If a beer is sold for $20 a 4 pack I have to really be blown away by it to bring it home when so many San Diego breweries do the same style really well. When I visited, Other Half had a tiny tasting room but they are opening a larger location soon that should hopefully make for a more relaxing experience.

Though I didn’t find them to be as impressive as a few others in neighboring areas, it is absolutely worth stopping by for a few tastes and some cans if you are in the New York City area. My descriptions can hopefully help you decide if this is the style of hazy IPA you like. Unlike Brooklyn Brewing, they are quite close to the nearest station, making it easy to get there. Just don’t expect to find anything other than hoppy beers and make sure you bring a cooler to keep the cans cold on the subway. Even if it is cold outside, they tend to keep the subways toasty. Also keep an eye out for a new location to open soon as I heard that is in the works too.

Known For:
Come to Other Half for hazy IPAs. They haven’t branched out much from the hoppy beers so this is not a stop for people who aren’t into IPAs.

Paul McGuire

Paul McGuire is a craft beer enthusiast. He likes to travel with his husband and enjoy the great outdoors. In his day job, Paul is a divorce attorney serving clients in San Diego California.

More Posts

Follow Me:
TwitterPinterestGoogle Plus

Tasting Room

Novo Brazil Brewing Company – Chula Vista San Diego

Leave a comment

I only made it down to Novo Brazil because I came back from a flight into Tijuana airport and was on my way north. To get there you have to take quite the drive as they are not just far south but also far east. Still, they are a great addition to the southern San Diego beer scene. I tried 8 beers when I visited and most of them were quite good.

The Chula Pils was fruity and crisp with a nice clean finish. A tasty hoppy pilsner. The berliner was a pilot batch so I wasn’t expecting much. It needs some work, lacks in complexity and has a mild tart finish. The Otay IPA was good and balanced in the classic West Coast style, resinous and fruity with some mild citrus kick. The beer was neither too malty or too bitter.

The Samba Haze was delightful, soft and fruity while not particularly bitter. Most lighter alcohol hazy beers don’t do much for me but I could have enjoyed many pints of this one. The Ipanema double IPA was solid. It hid the alcohol well though it had a bit of a sweet finish it lacked the strong alcohol bite or bitterness that often comes with this style.

The wine aged brett beer was solid for the style even if it could have dialed down the sweet aftertaste. It largely hit the notes I expect for the style. The Corvo Negro is a fantastic imperial stout with tons of coffee, no noticeable alcohol, and a smooth mouthfeel. The bourbon barrel aged version though, not so much. It seemed overly sweet with tons of molasses and didn’t taste like bourbon at all.

Overall Novo Brazil was an impressive spot with only a couple misses from what I tried. The two best were quite good and stand up to other local versions of the same style.

Top 2:
Samba Haze hazy pale ale
Corvo Negro Imperial Stout

Paul McGuire

Paul McGuire is a craft beer enthusiast. He likes to travel with his husband and enjoy the great outdoors. In his day job, Paul is a divorce attorney serving clients in San Diego California.

More Posts

Follow Me:
TwitterPinterestGoogle Plus

Tasting Room

Faction Brewing, Alameda, Bay Area California

Leave a comment

The Bay Area is large and can often take quite a while to get from one area to another. So while there are some amazing breweries elsewhere, there is a benefit to knowing what you can visit without going too far. My husband’s cousin and her family are in Alameda and we often stay with them while we are in the Bay Area so I visited the brewery on a lazy Sunday during my last trip. If you can’t make it out to Berkeley for Fieldwork or San Francisco for Cellarmaker, the IPAs at Faction are excellent and will satisfy most enthusiasts.

Faction Brewing 04

Faction Brewing 03

There were so many beers on the board that there was no way I was going to try them all at $2.50 a taster (fairly standard these days). But most of what I tried was quite impressive. I started with the Southern Aroma pilsner, SAPA (pale ale with South African hops), Penske File pale, Norcal Beer Geek IPA, and Cafe Latte. I then got tasters of NZ IIPA, Blitzen IIIPA, Hop Soup IIPA, and the Oatmeal Stout.

Faction Brewing 05

The Southern Aroma was an excellent pilsner with a clean dry finish and mild citrus kick. The SAPA had tons of pine and resin with a bitter finish and hints of orange peel. The Penske File had a strong bitter grapefruit kick with hints of pineapple behind that. Norcal Beer Geeks IPA was my favorite of the day. Super smooth and balanced it has notes of pine and resin with some citrus and a mellow bitterness. This is a more classic style IPA but done very nicely.

Faction Brewing 07

Cafe Late was a bit strange tasting because it was an older batch but it is also made with cold brew coffee rather than adding coffee beans to the beer. I would recommend trying a splash before ordering a full pint. The oatmeal stout was excellent with a medium body and tons of roast with a smooth mouthfeel. The NZ IIPA was thick and dry without being overly bitter or sweet and tons of fruit notes from the hops. Other double and triple IPAs were similarly well-crafted. The hop soup had more resin and pine notes with a hint of grapefruit and floral notes behind it. Blitzen was a dangerously easy drinking beer for the alcohol and had nice notes of citrus and pine.

Faction Brewing 06

While they aren’t yet doing the juicy hazy IPAs you can get at Cellarmaker and Fieldwork, the beers at Faction I tasted were all nicely done and would be plenty to satisfy most hop heads. They have a very unique location out on an old navy hard with high ceilings and a large outdoor seating area and a separately large indoor seating area behind the large tasting room. It has quite an echo and the tasting room gets loud with only a few loud people. I brought a growler of the Norcal Beer Geek IPA to share when I left and my husband’s cousin’s husband really enjoyed it. Hopefully he will return regularly now that he knows what to order.

Faction Brewing 02

Known for:
Come for their wide selection of IPAs. Try the Norcal Beer Geek, my favorite of the bunch.

Paul McGuire

Paul McGuire is a craft beer enthusiast. He likes to travel with his husband and enjoy the great outdoors. In his day job, Paul is a divorce attorney serving clients in San Diego California.

More Posts

Follow Me:
TwitterPinterestGoogle Plus