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After The Final Pour S4E5 - Short's - $plurge
117 Plays4 years ago
This week we discuss a delicious DIPA from Short's, "$plurge".
$plurge is a Double IPA made with a lavish blend seven varieties of hops. Slightly hazy and light copper in color, the frothy white head has huge aromas of tropical hops. Leading with super fruity citrus and pineapple flavors, this medium-bodied beer is deceivingly smooth for the higher ABV. Treat yourself to this indulgent, tropical hoppy brew!
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Transcript
Introduction and Segment Overview
00:00:30
Speaker
When life gives you an empty cup Just crack a smile and fill it up, fill it up After the final pour, we're here. I'm one of the hosts of the Malting Hour and this segment we do. After the final pour, Tony Golic always joined with
00:00:55
Speaker
And sometimes the elusive and mysterious sprinkled amongst other episodes when the recording equipment might be working.
00:01:11
Speaker
Oh, the fans are not happy.
Guest Appearance and Reminiscences
00:01:14
Speaker
Uh, hey, Clark. Um, thanks for joining us for an after the final board. I feel like you haven't been on many. Uh, I have to be here. I think the last one was with Stephanie and that went really well. Oh yeah. That was great. Everyone remembers me on the whole episode. I spoke for what? 20 to 25 minutes. Just really spewed a lot.
00:01:30
Speaker
Really went with it. If you guys haven't listened to it, he's the last two minutes of the episode because the recording didn't work. That's a good minute. I got my point across. That's all that counts. Yeah. I found the best part of the entire interview where you were like, yeah, this beer tastes like this and I like it like that and this is what it tastes like. I'm Clark.
00:01:50
Speaker
Uh, Clark, wait, was it recording of me? Yeah. Yeah. That was actually the, I just, I have that clip. Yeah. Totally. Totally. I said, Brandon, can you have that ready to go? Because I'm going to do, uh, I'm going to reference that episode. Uh, and I knew you were going to, so we threw straight to it, but,
Exploring Shorts Brewing
00:02:07
Speaker
uh, Clark, you chose the beer tonight, uh, for after the final pour.
00:02:12
Speaker
It is, and I feel like I don't know if you guys or we have talked about this brewery all that much or if at all on the podcast. Probably in passing, I think. In passing, yeah, but we're talking about Shorts Brewing out of Bel Air, Michigan, a brewery that I guess you could say is near and dear to my heart and sort of myself getting into the beer game.
00:02:34
Speaker
Me too. I really like them as well. It was kind of how you and I bonded on craft beer, to be honest. That's for sure. Back in the day, as some of you may know, Shorts was only available in Michigan up until three, four years ago. Yeah, something like that.
00:02:49
Speaker
Yeah, and I'd go up to my family's house and every weekend it was, Tony, I'm going to go look for some new shorts. And I'd bring back a six pack or two of shorts beer. And I was like, I don't care about what kind of pants wear you're buying. Well, they got some good stores up there. I just wanted some cargo shorts.
00:03:07
Speaker
Sorry. We're all getting the jokes. We're all on top of it this week. We're not going to miss the hilarious jokes. Yeah. Okay. Good. Thank you. So, but, but now available in Chicago year round shorts, a brew. We are talking about today about splurge.
Tasting 'Splurge': A Double IPA Experience
00:03:25
Speaker
Splurge is a double IPA made with a lavish blend of seven hops. What? I didn't realize it was that many hops. You guys want to know what kind of hops are in this beer?
00:03:37
Speaker
Do you? Sure. I thought the listeners were going to respond. Oh, listeners say, yeah, man. Do it. OK, they said, yeah, man. So Simcoe. Citra. Delicious. Eldorado. Outstanding. Azaka. Azaka. Cascade. Cascade. Cascade. Also delicious. Amarillo. Amarillo. One of my favorites. Amarillo. Don't know what. Oh, Amarillo. And Mosaic.
00:04:07
Speaker
Slightly hazy and light cop color. The frothy whitehead has huge aromas of tropical notes. Does. Leading with super fruity citrus and pineapple flavors. This medium body beer is deceivingly smooth for a higher ABV. 9.1 ABV. Jesus Christ, it's 9%. Get into it, boys. Oh my god. I'm glad. Yeah. I guess I didn't need to drink that drooly before we're doing this, but it wouldn't have been after pie and pour, but it didn't. This is really good. I would not.
00:04:39
Speaker
I specifically didn't look at the ABV or much information about this because you you picked the beer for us. And I just wanted to see the name. I mean, I saw the ad for this beer because of the the bottle label, which is the silt.
00:04:55
Speaker
Salt guy but throwing hops. Salt bay. Salt bay but it's hops bay. Or like double IP bay. This guy gets it. Shorts gets it. So I didn't really do much reading other than that. This does not drink like a 9% beer. It's really good. It's pretty sweet. It really has that kind of
00:05:19
Speaker
old school classic IPA taste to it even with all that whole mix of like more than that more but like heavy mosaic and Citra in there you would expect something maybe a little more juicier these days the way those hops are used. This is this is tasty. It's a piney. It's a fruity. It's sweet, bitter, and nice.
00:05:40
Speaker
Good night, everybody. Yeah, I wouldn't have said, or I wouldn't have thought that there was seven different hops in here. That's actually, I mean, it's interesting to note, but kind of what you said, like the ones that are standing out is kind of like the mosaic. And I think didn't, you know, last, after the Final Four, I don't know, something we drank one of the last times. Oh, on the last episode. I don't remember anything after the Final Four.
00:06:03
Speaker
So the last episode we had, there was one of the beers had mosaic in it, and that's kind of what stood out to me. I think it might have been the experimental one, but it had mosaic in it, too, I think. I don't know. Anyway, but I feel like I that's that's a familiar flavor to me. I mean, more recently. And that's kind of what I'm getting. But yeah, dude, seven hops is awesome. And seven hops every 10 percent is. Yeah. Well, every time I hear every time I hear of, you know, multiple, you know,
00:06:32
Speaker
more than two or three hops in a beer. It always goes back to that stupid beer we tried to make.
Homebrew Follies and Lessons Learned
00:06:38
Speaker
The fateful 212. The hop lottery. Let's just grab a bunch of hops, not factor in any of the alpha or beta acids or how these hops would work. We're just going to everybody buy a couple ounces of hops. We're going to make three batches, throw it in, and it'll be fine. They all sucked. The best part of it was nobody said this was a terrible
00:07:01
Speaker
All right, you guys didn't even know who was bringing what hop. You just went and all bought different hops and it just could have been the worst blend or all the same. Yeah, and I don't know if it was because of the hop blend or because of how we fermented or sanitation or the actual brew day. Everything tasted like muddled, hoppy apple juice.
00:07:23
Speaker
So it was not good. Sounds good. Oh, I mean, sorry, we don't have any more for you. Clark, Clark, how are you? How do you how do you feel about this one, man? I really like it. And sometimes when I get before we did, I picked it up about two, three weeks ago when I was up in Michigan.
00:07:42
Speaker
Cause I thought it was a Michigan only cause they still do, uh, some Michigan only beer, sort of like goose Island. Give us a three week old beer. You son of a bitch. Yeah. Well, you know, so I'll explain that after the show, but I picked it up.
Beer Buying Adventures with Clark
00:07:56
Speaker
I think it was Michigan only. And then I, of course I saw it here in Chicago a week or two ago, but anyway. Yeah. Binnie sent an email about it.
00:08:02
Speaker
No, I had drank it, drank it, drank it two weeks ago, two, three weeks ago, and enjoyed it then. But I thought I'd save it for you guys to talk, since we haven't talked too much about shorts. But I enjoy it. Usually, some of the hoppier beers from shorts that do say, oh, we've thrown tons of hops in, gets a little too bitter for my liking. And it's just a little overload. I suppose it's a little overload on hops. But for the hops, it's very well balanced in that sense. I don't think it's going too crazy.
00:08:32
Speaker
Was you and i were talking before we started recording i'd mentioned that the beers that i pretty much have left which i pretty not pretty much not drinking beer now because i have left her barely beers in my refrigerator and the cherry kettle sour.
00:08:47
Speaker
Excuse me. On tap because my gauze is gone and so is my smash ale. So, um, no, no, it's very sad. Uh, but drinking this, um, I don't feel like it's a lot of it's, it's not overpowering as far as like bitterness or hoppiness. So it's kind of, I thought I'd be a little more sensitive to it. Like as you're describing it, um, it's kind of nice with seven different hop varieties. Um, all.
00:09:10
Speaker
They're all kind of along the lines of like, I want to say they're more citrusy, like, I mean, Amarillo, Citra, Cascade. They say Simco already? I'll say it again, Simco. No. I'm Jose. Don't forget Amarillo. Ah, yes, Amarillo. It's different than Amarillo. Yeah, like, that's just a place in Texas, stupid.
00:09:37
Speaker
Yeah, this it all definitely comes off as a like a nice fruity note with a bit of pineyness to it. I am starting to notice that it is nine percent, though, like at first, as you were saying, like, oh, yeah, look, can you guys I don't know if you guys can tell my my face is a little more flush than when we started. It's a little kind of creeps up on you. The first couple of steps, you're like, oh, nine percent. This is, you know, I did start with this tonight. Oh, how is that? Truly lemon tea. Yeah, just get the lemonade.
00:10:06
Speaker
I mean, unless you really like iced tea, which is okay. I think iced tea is okay. He's a great actor on SVU. But as far as like, as a drink, I would not drink that all the time. I do like the lemonade. So you would not buy that beer again? Or you would? If I had to choose, if it really, really came down to it. I would not buy that hard seltzer.
00:10:37
Speaker
Oh, boy. Wow. Jeez. Oh, wait. That's a different thing we do. Right. Here comes Michael Myers.
00:10:48
Speaker
Um, you know, it's, it's funny that we haven't had more, uh, shorts beers just based on Clark, you and I, our experience with, uh, shorts in general, even before you were on the show, you were, uh, an avid listener, a fan favorite. Uh, Brandon and I tried to shut that down as much as we can, but then you bombarded your way onto the show and now you're a part of it.
Favorites from Shorts Brewing
00:11:09
Speaker
It would be nice to go back and try to do a short episode, whether we have them on or just drink through some of them. But I remember some of my favorite beers, like some of my favorite experience in craft beer.
00:11:24
Speaker
was with when you and I were trying a whole bunch of beers from Michigan. I mean, Greenbush, you know, going through their whole lineup of beers, all the shorts and like shorts anniversary beer is so good. I mean, we were huge fans of that and sought it out all the time when it was released all the time. Yeah, there's some all time favorites. I guess you could say all time favorites of mine from shorts. Yeah, I had forgotten about the anniversary one. That's that's an interesting one that I
00:11:51
Speaker
So like a blood orange, is that a blood orange double IPA? Yeah. Blood orange IPA, but it was like very much like very blood orangey.
00:12:00
Speaker
Yeah, high gravity wheat wine made with blood oranges. You're right, it was. Ah, wheat wine. So yeah, not it. And I remember the first time we had it, we both were going, hmm, that's kind of weird and kind of strange. And then I think we finished it and said, hmm, wait a second. That was delicious. And so anytime I see it, I try to grab it. And another favorite of ours was Pangalactic Gargle Blaster. Oh, yeah, just the label itself. Yeah, label. It's like the actual name. Yep. Yes, sir. And the label is what's the game I'm trying to
00:12:30
Speaker
think of, it's like Mega Man and, can we find it space and I thought it was a reference to like the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy. I'm sure it is. But the label itself has a video game. No, a short episode would be great.
00:12:47
Speaker
They've got all sorts of crazy beers too. There's a peanut butter and jelly one I know I've seen on the shelf. I think it's just an ale, some type of ale, cream ale. What is there? Humpa-lumpa. Humpa-luma. Huma-luma-lupa-licious. Huma-luma. Yeah. That IPA is very tasty. That's my Michigan go-to IPA. It's better hoppy, but those go down quickly, even though they're 6.5%. I mean, we can always revisit. It's pretty high.
00:13:12
Speaker
We can always revisit the Greenbush lineup as well. It's been a while since I've had some of their bass. I love Greenbush, man. I used to love Greenbush. I don't want to get into it now. Play the piano. Play the piano song. There we go. If you really want me to get into Greenbush, how can I get into Greenbush? Greenbush used to...
00:13:34
Speaker
It used to really be something, and I used to be
Greenbush Brewery Reflections
00:13:37
Speaker
a big, big fan of Greenbush. I'm a mug club member, okay? I'm a mug club member. Let's not beat around the bushes. And it was a brewery I went to a lot as I started my craft beer journey. I went there a lot. I went there all the time. I'd stop on the way up to my family's place in Michigan. I'd say, I gotta stop. I gotta go get these beers. Sometimes my mom would pay for the beer and it'd be so expensive.
00:14:01
Speaker
jesus christ exactly thank you tony so we remember that then she gets scalded by the uh person behind the counter for saying that but that's another story green bush is good i think they got a little
00:14:16
Speaker
I don't know, I can't get into it. But it got a little boring, to be honest. I think they started tailoring to the general beer crowd. Because they didn't always, I think the rule when they started was that they didn't brew a beer lower than 6%. So it was for serious beer drinkers. But now, I just don't love their beers. And that's all I have to say about that.
00:14:45
Speaker
But I'll still drink their beers and I will buy Greenbush again. All right. All right. All right. That's good. We should be. I think we could be a beer like a morning radio beer show. You know, if someone to give us money to do it, we just drink for all the raging alcoholics. I need to listen to drugs.
00:15:06
Speaker
We got crazy Clark up in the sky. It's 9 a.m. and you cracked your barrel aged coffee stout this morning. Time to start the day with your bae and by bae I mean double IP bae because that's what we're drinking. We're drinking splurge from shorts. Splurge. We could have ended the episode just there. You've been splurged.
00:15:33
Speaker
Ooh, let's not do that. By the way, I didn't realize the piano sad song was that long. Never did I. I was motioning to wrap it up because I was like, dude, it's getting to the end from the last time. Yeah, I don't think we need to find out how long that is anymore. Yeah, we do. That's Clark's, well, we'll think of a name for it, Clark's Cry Time. It's a little clean.
00:15:56
Speaker
Welcome to Clark's Cry Time. Oh, that's a news segment for sure. And when that piano starts, Clark, you got to go right into it. OK. Welcome to the show. I'll try to make it more interesting next time. Well, that was pretty good. I feel like I went off for two minutes and didn't really say much.
00:16:12
Speaker
You said you just got over it. I got over it. Thank you for saving us a lot of time. You just got over it. That's it.
Comparing 'Splurge' and Hopslam
00:16:22
Speaker
I don't know how much more we can say about this beer other than it's very good.
00:16:29
Speaker
It's, you know what, the one thing that did kind of hit me was that, I mean, the 9% was that it kind of reminds me a little bit of hop slam without being as, I want to say a stringent. Uh, but you know, hop slam does have that like sharp bitterness. I mean, with how much hop hops are in there, even with the seven hops and this seven different hops in there, it doesn't have that like punch. It's more citrusy than it is. Piney and not as a stringent, but it.
00:16:58
Speaker
You know, a side by side of these two beers would be pretty good, I think. Yeah, I mean, the crazy thing, it's super like easy drinking. And yeah, I can't. I can't. Yeah, if I didn't know it was nine and nine point one percent, like that point one is what's going to get you. I'd be like, oh, I'm going to have another one, but it just goes down so smooth. You know, like.
00:17:23
Speaker
Drink it in, it always goes down smooth. Outstanding, outstanding. Well, you guys got anything else you want to say about this splurge? No, I think I said it all. No, not necessarily about this, but I definitely think we should, we need to hit more short spears. For sure. I'm looking at their
Anticipation for New Releases
00:17:43
Speaker
release schedule. They do a really good job online of telling you, and a lot of breweries do this now, but they tell you what's coming out, when it's coming out, where you can get it. And I'm looking at,
00:17:53
Speaker
It looks like May, so I'll keep my eye out. It's called Sabrotage. Play on the Beastie Boys. And with Sabro Hops, I'm assuming. You got it. Looks like a little IPA, so I think that's the next go. For me, it's hit or miss when it comes to the Sabro Hops, man. I agree. I'm not a big Sabro fan, but with that name and take a look at the label, it's pretty cool.
00:18:17
Speaker
I'll do it when we're done recording, I guess. Yeah, it would be nice to have some more short beers on this. And I'm sure we will. I'm sure we will. Brandon? There's a lot of beer and a lot of drinking.
00:18:33
Speaker
I know there's one thing I wanted to talk about. We're not going to get to it because we're talking about one Michigan brewery. We're not going to go to the other Michigan brewery. We're going to talk about two. Not going to bring up bells. I just brought up bells. Oh, my God. Oh, God. I'm like, you do it. I did. OK, well, this aggression will not stand, man. OK, well, I got to end on that then. Clark.
00:18:52
Speaker
Brandon, after the final pour. Love you guys. This was great. Good beer, Clark. Thank you. Good job, man. Pleasure. Great time, gentlemen. Great time. See you guys. Hey, I'll see you guys on the flip side. I'm going to use that as my catchphrase. See you guys on the flip side.
00:19:11
Speaker
This has been The Malting Hour.
Engaging with Listeners Online
00:19:12
Speaker
Be sure to follow us on all social media by searching The Malting Hour and at themaltinghour.com. You can also follow us on social media platforms individually. Branded can be found on Instagram as bmdub81. On Twitter, bdub81.
00:19:26
Speaker
On Untapped, B-Dub drinks beer. Tony can be found on Instagram and Untapped under AsafelpChicago. On Twitter, TheAsafelpChicago. Clark can be found as Clarkhouseki on all three. Be sure to subscribe, like, and rate the show on your preferred podcast listening platform. Until next time, cheers from all of us at The Malting Hour.
00:20:06
Speaker
Comin' at ya!