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Episode 155 - Dry January 2025
59 Plays1 month ago
This week we kick off the New Year with some NA offerings from Untitled Art, Maplewood and Hop Butcher For the World.
Beers and Beverages on this episode:
Untitled Art - Juicy IPA NA
Untitled Art - Italian Style Pilsner NA
Maplewood Brewery & Distillery - Rad Hyroz Bodacious Berry Lemonade
Hop Butcher For the World - Hop Water For the World
Theme music provided by Myke Kelli (@mykekelli)
Outro music provided by @FluidMinds
Check out all our episodes at www.themaltinghour.com
Recommended
Transcript
00:00:01
Speaker
Just keep going back to the well. ah That's kind of what it tastes like as well water. A little bit. yeah Is that the joke?
Introduction to Dry January 2025
00:00:09
Speaker
This week, we begin dry January 2025. This is episode 155 of The
00:00:43
Speaker
Welcome to The Malting Hour and one of your hosts, Tony Gold, joined Always With. brandon winningninger It's an official Happy New Year, even though last week's episode after the final pour was the first episode of the New Year, but this is our first episode of the New Year that we're recording this. Indeed. How's it going, buddy? Good,
Tony and Brandon's Dry January Plans
00:01:00
Speaker
how are you? Pretty good, man. So, a little different this year. You were doing Dry January, I am not. However,
00:01:07
Speaker
That does not mean we are not going to do at least a couple of NA episodes. And I feel like already because it's, what is it, the ninth? Yep. So we have, that's the ninth day, but it says 13, two more, three episodes based around NA. We need to, we need to do some research because you're excused.
Exploring Non-Alcoholic Beers
00:01:28
Speaker
Um, we do some research because I went to beer on the wall and when I was there,
00:01:34
Speaker
What I got today for this episode are the only things that we haven't had. Everything else they had there, we have had. Interesting. Yeah. So, and that's just one place. Um, Binnies does have a wide selection, but we're also committing then to, I don't know, maybe we should check and see if they have single cans. Buying six packs or four packs. Yeah. Well, and there's also like any spirits in wine now. There is.
00:02:03
Speaker
So I mean, I think maybe we can do a mocktail episode o ah or one where you drink water. but I drink bourbon and we just talk. There we go. Do we just see how drunk I can get while you try and keep me like on topic?
00:02:18
Speaker
I like that idea. We should do that. We might try that, actually. That's not a bad idea. No, I like drinking with you. It's way more fun. So the first two, ah which we we have had NA beers from them before, I think one of the ones I saw was a chocolate stout, which I believe we've had from Untitled Art before. I believe so. so when i saw i will i mean Let me go back a little bit. There were two more beers that I saw that we haven't had, so we do have two more options.
00:02:45
Speaker
And I think there are some hop waters out there that we haven't tried yet. I do have one hop water. I know we haven't tried. And one hard seltzer and a hard seltzer. So it's just a flavored seltzer. It's just seltzer water. and did We haven't gone through everything from like go brewing, have we? No. In fact, maybe we need to make a trip to go brewing, grab grab some beer from them and do a full episode on that. We need to go to go brewing. Yeah.
00:03:15
Speaker
Not a terrible idea. We should probably talk about that off mic. Anyway, so I've got two beers here from Untitled Art, two non-alcoholic beers. I kind of want to start just because you and I Really enjoy the Sam Adams Just the Haze, which is their NA Juicy IPA. This is the Juicy IPA, which is called the Non-alcoholic Untitled Art Juicy IPA. Contains less than 0.5% ABV.
New Year's Eve Recap at Chicago Brewery
00:03:45
Speaker
This is for Matthew, who's not here.
00:03:53
Speaker
Full disclosure, I had two beers before I came here tonight.
00:03:59
Speaker
two actual beers and they were Maplewood charlatans. o Which by the way, congratulations to Maplewood. I don't know, if you did you see this? They're expanding? Yep, I saw that. So I actually ah found out about that when I was there for New Year's, which by the way was also a lot of fun. um Gosh, that was that was a lot of fun that New Year's.
00:04:16
Speaker
um If anybody lives in Chicago and you want to have a great time for a New Year's Eve at a brewery, that was the place to be. It was fantastic. I had two barrel aged beers and a whole bunch of cocktails. Ooh, I was going to say only two barrel aged beers? Well, it's the same barrel aged. Well, yeah, only two barrel aged beers and then two IPAs and then the rest were cocktails. Nice. And some of the rum punch. And I Uber'd home. And then I stayed up till five.
00:04:47
Speaker
That's the way to do the ears. No drugs were involved and it was bourbon after once I got home. It was great. What do you think, what are you getting on the, uh, specify no drugs are involved because I'm 42 years old staying up until 5 a.m. What are you, uh, what are you getting on the, uh, like a tropical. Yeah. It, at first I got, um, homebrew, which I think is very common for NA beers, but very tropical. Yeah.
00:05:17
Speaker
Ooh. This one's good. That's really good. I like it. um I like this a lot. And this is me coming off of a couple beers. Comparing it in my head to just the haze, I feel like, and again, this is not a knock on the beer, I feel like it's a little less body. Yes. It's a little thinner.
00:05:38
Speaker
slightly watery, um but the flavor is fantastic. I feel like they're not overdoing it with the hops to mask the beer. So yes, it does kind of have that grain flavor that I think we get from NA beers, but whatever hops they used,
00:05:59
Speaker
I feel like complimented really well. I think I like this more than Just the Haze. Yeah, I would love- I mean, this is first impression of the course. Yeah, and I would love to do, I would do a side-by-side with those too, because Just the Haze was fantastic. And this one is fantastic too. There's nothing really bad I can say about it. Saying that it's a little watery and the body's a little thinner,
Review: Untitled Art's Non-Alcoholic Juicy IPA
00:06:19
Speaker
that's not a knock at it. It's a different beer, but it's extremely, extremely well done.
00:06:26
Speaker
Great color on it, too. It's got like a nice, orangish, straw-ish hues to it. Yeah. You know, it's...
00:06:34
Speaker
If I was drunk and somebody gave this to me, I probably, I probably wouldn't know right off the bat. Yeah. I think, I think you're right. I feel like, Oh, this is, this must be like a fresh batch or they're trying something new because I'm getting kind of a fresh brewed beer vibe. It's very tasty. Agreed.
00:06:58
Speaker
and I got my phone here. I do have my glasses with me. I'm very happy about that. I am going to get an eye exam soon. I think I may have said that before. ah Yeah, it's it's time. Because I can't see and I'm tired of just using readers um to read everything. Okay, here we go. Untitled art. They have a not, what? They have an NA mix pack. Ooh, what the hell?
00:07:25
Speaker
There's only 55 calories and 12 carbs. There you go. For all you... But I wanted to see like the actual... Like if it said what hops they used or... There we go. Yeah, I wanted i wanted to know a little bit more about the beer.
00:07:43
Speaker
and Okay. Yeah. Thank you.
00:07:46
Speaker
Um, this is great podcasting when I'm not talking. Okay, here we go. Why do you grab a protein? Ooh, good. Hey, get your protein. I'd drink this during lunch. I'm not gonna lie.
00:07:59
Speaker
There we go. The NA Juicy IPA was our first foray into the world of non-alcoholic beer and we couldn't be more proud of how it turned out. That's crazy. This was their first NA beer. Good job. Good job. And this is why I like it. Brewed with citra and mosaic hops and bursting with, well, juicy tropical citrus notes and aromas. Our membrane filtration technology allows us to brew fully fermented beer and gently remove the alcohol without losing the aromas and flavors of your favorite styles. All flavor, no alcohol.
00:08:30
Speaker
Now we'll say this. Price point on this, the six pack. And this is, this is tough. $17.99. Ooh. I get it, though. um Yeah, I mean, there's extra work that goes into making these beers. I mean, it sucks for people that don't regularly drink. This is a $3 can of beer. Yeah. At at Beer on the Wall. It was $3 for this. But I will say this, if I'm if i'm building a NA mix pack, this is in it. This is in it 100%. Oh, I would agree. I would do this one again 100 times over.
00:09:03
Speaker
This is probably the first NA beer, other than, oh shit, who was it that, athletic, when I had their... Their sour? Yeah, Soul Sour, which was my favorite, but also, it was a sour beer, I'm not knocking, I'm not saying like that, but like, it's a sour beer, it's tart, it was refreshing, it was like the perfect time to have a sour beer. Yeah.
00:09:27
Speaker
This might be one of my favorite NA beers of all the time. o like this is This to me is better than Just the Haze, and Just the Haze is fantastic. yeah But there's something about this. it just However, they use the Citroen Mosaic, it tastes like a nice, juicy beer that almost masks the flavor of that bready, grainy cereal flavor that we get from any
Discussing Non-Alcoholic Beer Prices
00:09:54
Speaker
beers. Yeah. And and the funny thing is, i I don't hate that flavor. No, neither do I. And and we've talked about that before.
00:10:02
Speaker
I appreciate the you know them putting the you know the work in to make sure that the hops were the kind of the star of this. Definitely makes for a great beer. um I would love to try like the regular version of this. like Now, I'm going to go back and they have the mix pack. So one of the other ones we're going to have is ah in it the NA Italian-style Pills. I thought a Pillsner would be ah a fun way to do it. They have a West Coast IPA.
00:10:31
Speaker
and American Gold Citra Haze, which was an untapped winner in 2023. Okay. The Chocolate Milk Dark Brew. I'd like to go back and find out how how that... I think we liked it. I'm pretty sure we liked it. And then a Mango Dragon Fruited Sour. That sounds good. Yeah, that that sounds really good. I want to... They have a super... Geez, they have a lot. A super-cold, snotty alcoholic. Australian-style sparkling brew. So the non-alcoholic sampler, which...
00:10:59
Speaker
Again, the price point is pretty high, but 24 beers for $49.99. It's on sale. But you get three of the American Gold Juicy IPA 10 style pills, Citra Haze Orange Peel Wit, Mango Dragon Fruit Sour, Dragon Fruit Sour, West Coast IPA, and Grapefruit Radler. Okay. So I mean, if, to be honest, I mean, for dry January, if you want to get something that has a bunch of flavor and you're not sitting around. I mean, you're not going to sit around it. I don't think so. But you and I have not, during dry journey, we'd be like, I'm getting a six pack of NA beers and I'm going to drink them all right now. Yeah. I think maybe I've had like- I'm trying to catch a buzz at that 0.5%. I've had like, you know, A, I think doing these episodes is the only time I've had more than one NA beer in one night.
00:11:50
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, same for me, even like when I go out, yeah if I go somewhere and I grab one, I don't think I've done more than one. Maybe if they had something different. There was only one time that I did, I think we've talked, or I've talked about this, Heineken, Heineken Zero went out for a friend's birthday and I drank like five Heineken Zeros because it tastes like Heineken. Now that I love the taste of Heineken, but I was like, oh,
00:12:16
Speaker
it It tastes like I'm drinking beer. Yeah. Like it was just kind of like a placebo effect of like being at a bar, hanging out with people who were drinking and I'm drinking the NA Heineken. So it was like, Oh, this is good. And I just, I had like four or five of those that night. Yeah. So I take that back. Um,
00:12:34
Speaker
I went to a Bears game, I don't know if it was last January or the January before. It was last January, I know which one you're talking about. Yeah, and I had a bunch of Heineken Zeros there, I think too. Not a bunch, but I think I had like three. Yeah, I think that was yeah a year or two ago, because I think it was around the same time.
00:12:47
Speaker
that I did it, that you did it as well. So I don't think it was last year. I think it was the year before. Yeah. Sounds about right. That was my last beers game. It wasn't, we're in Bourbon County is being thrown in your face too. Yes. Not thrown in your face, but they were present. Yeah, because I went with Pat, and Pat literally just had a box. Pat's got to come back, baby. Pat had a box of beers in his car, and he was like, oh, I've got some Bourbon County in here. So we tailgated for a couple of minutes, and I just kind of stood around. I was like, yeah, cool.
00:13:17
Speaker
Yeah. How you guys doing? Yeah. I mean, like, dry January, surprisingly, is not hard for me, considering how much. I mean, I don't drink a lot like it. And it's been a lot easier this month because I've like most of December and November, I think I kind of stopped drinking during the week unless we were recording. Yeah, you and I talked about. um So like kind of doing this, I was like, was fle bro I was like, oh, it's the ninth. I was like, oh, OK. And it was like, I not really had any desire to drink, really. So um yeah, it's been it's been kind of kind of nice. But this um this ah kind of satiates the need for beer and currently. Yeah. I mean, in all honesty, if I was doing Dry January,
00:14:04
Speaker
I might go out and spend the $18 on the six pack of this because it just tastes good like maybe to have like while watching a movie or like after dinner kind of deal like oh I'm gonna treat myself and I just want something not like because it's beer but it's like oh it's like better than soda yeah you know what I mean like I'd rather drink that than a coke yeah agreed to be honest Brandon how many empty Cans of beer are you giving this since it's January? I'm going to go four or five. Yeah, man. I'm right there with you. Four or five. 100%. This is fantastic. And I don't know what we gave just the haze, but dude, that is a perfect NA beer. That might be the most perfect NA beer I've ever had. Very well done. I'm excited for the next one. Yes. I'm going to get a little swish around here in my glass real quick. By swish around, I mean pour some water.
00:14:56
Speaker
I just went to the bathroom when I got here and all this water and liquid pouring is making me need to go again. This break better come soon. All right, here we go.
00:15:08
Speaker
It's like hoppy water. All right, here we go. So this is the non-alcoholic untitled art Italian style pills. Contains less than 1.5% alcohol. Interesting. Again, here we go.
00:15:21
Speaker
So the Italian Pilsner, I believe I've said this with Matthew was around, I'm like, what the hell makes an Italian Pilsner? And I don't know. And I don't think anyone knows. It's a certain style, it's the fucking Pilsner. What makes an Italian Pilsner? It's gotta be made by an Italian guy. So I couldn't make this, I couldn't, I couldn't make this beer. I'm just saying everybody, so I can do that, I can do that accent. Are you telling me Brandon, I couldn't make it as a beer? Indeed.
00:15:50
Speaker
okay Okay, so I'm kind of getting the same, the same aroma. Fresh. Oh, okay. Swirl it. Did you swirl it around a little bit? Swirling it around kind of opens up a bit more of a Pilsner smell. Yeah. But I'm getting that like grainy smell off the bad hairs we get in most NA bears.
00:16:20
Speaker
Brandon and I both have. Yeah, yeah yeah you take a sip. And I'm going to take a sip now.
00:16:31
Speaker
I want to know what you think about this first before I say what I'm going to say. I don't taste a lot. um Where do you want me to go? no So what what's interesting is I get like pills in there right away.
00:16:47
Speaker
And then it fades very quickly. Okay. um Into like nothing. That's interesting because I'm gonna do one more sip.
00:16:59
Speaker
I get Pilsner and then all of a sudden I get like, I don't know, like some type of stone fruit. Interesting. Like a stone fruit hop.
00:17:16
Speaker
Okay, here we go. Oh, bless you. Salut! An Italian Pilsner is a hoppier version to your standard Pilsner and we love them.
00:17:27
Speaker
I got a burp coming in, I'm sorry everybody. We made this non-alcoholic version with hell or two in middle fro and strata hops for a floral aroma and crispy, pleasantly bitter finish.
Review: Untitled Art's Italian Style Pilsner
00:17:39
Speaker
It's interesting. so By the way, this is 40 calories, eight carbs. I just got, so I took another sip, switched it around a little bit. Got the pils in there and then I got some floralness.
00:17:52
Speaker
you it Maybe in my head because I heard you so stone fruit so maybe not stone fruit, but maybe that's for I don't know there's just like There's something it doesn't taste floral to me it tastes fruity to me yeah, but I really like it Mm-hmm, but it is like pills around the tip of my tongue and then fruit party in my mouth
00:18:11
Speaker
Sorry, there's a fruit party in your mouth. It's true. What can I say? Can you hear me? um Yeah, I mean, I enjoy it. it So like when i first when I first sipped it, and I don't know if I still had some lingering of the previous one in there, and that's kind of where my expectations were, but like it was Pilsner and then kind of nothing.
00:18:34
Speaker
But then as I took a couple more sips, I think it was kind of clearing my palate. And then I started getting, that's where I was kind of getting that like floralness, um slightly fruity. The body on this is, you know, it's it matches a Pilsner form. Absolutely. It's definitely less body than the last one. Agreed. I feel like I would like it to be a tad more carbonated. It could be because of the temperature too. It's not yeah super cold, but I think you're right.
00:19:04
Speaker
But other than that, it's another really well done beer. Let it sit on your tongue for a second. I think it's because it's not that cold. I could be wrong about that, but like I let it sit on the tip of my tongue and there's a lot of like bubbles going on in there. But yeah, I'm getting like this fruitiness in the back end. Like, I don't know, like that's... I didn't expect that. And I'm not totally familiar with Strad... Okay, so here we go.
00:19:35
Speaker
I feel like I'm right. Strata has notes of passion fruit, melon, strawberry, grapefruit, cannabis, and dried chili peppers. Is it cannabis? Yeah. Reefers. um Yeah. when i When I let it sit on my tongue a little longer. Oh, alpha acids on this too. Kind of swish it back a little further. I was getting kind of like some melon. Yeah. Me melon is what I'm getting.
00:20:01
Speaker
Maybe, I think that's what I'm picking up. yeah Stone fruit was, I was going off of fruit, and I don't know why stone fruit, this is definitely not a stone fruit, but but i this is really enjoyable. This is really enjoyable. And again, it was...
00:20:16
Speaker
almost like, I don't know, like misleading with the aroma until I switched it around and it smelled like, you know, Pilsner's and that's, that's a noble hop. Some people say it's like skunky kind of, that's kind of what reminds me. It didn't didn't sell skunky. It just, that's the first thing that comes in my head because, you know, that's why I related, you know, Pilsner's.
00:20:36
Speaker
when we were drinking like fucking rolling rock and crannikins when we were younger. Ah, the good old days. Ah, the good old days. That's what my brain goes to, but it's it's noble hops. And this is this is really good, man. I'm really impressed. I'm almost...
00:20:56
Speaker
tempted to say, do you want to split a 24-pack of their mixed? I would probably do that. ah You know what? Still owe you a little bit. Let me buy it. I'm chipping away at stuff there. But I might do it because i'm I'm now very interested in what the West Coast IPA tastes like, the dragon fruit, sour, ah the golden ale. And we've had the other ones, the chocolate, this one. And i'd actually, I'd really like to revisit the chocolate style because I'm almost positive we really liked it.
00:21:26
Speaker
Yeah. And they, again, these are just two from them and I feel like they did a fantastic job. Um, and right also regular untitled art beers are very good. Yes. Uh, I've checked in some this year that have been very tasty. Yeah. I don't know last year when the last time I had an untitled art, but, um, needless to say, you know, if there are any beers are this good. I mean, you can't really go wrong. We're trying some of their other stuff. How many?
00:21:56
Speaker
Melons. I'm really bad already. How many melons are you giving this one? I'm gonna go four. I'm giving this ah i'm also gonna go four or five on this. okay this is is is i'm I'm really impressed. Now, would I say this is a Pilsner? Probably not. I would lean more towards a, I don't know what I would lean towards. I don't i don't know what style I'd call it. There's some bitterness up front. The aroma's kinda there, but then I get that like melon.
00:22:25
Speaker
and it's just, I really enjoy it. It almost reminds me of like a low-bittered pale ale almost. I could see that. Or maybe just a low-hopped, I don't know, but Pilsner's, you know, have like a nice little bite to it.
00:22:40
Speaker
But again, Italian pilsners apparently are hoppy pilsners. And I guess that, according to the style, as I said, I didn't know what it was until they just, ah man, my nails are disgusting. They're so dirty. Sorry. um i I just looked at them now, but I cleaned them.
00:22:57
Speaker
I think if this is what an Italian Pills are supposed to be, I think I should be leading into Italian Pillsers a little bit more because this is definitely in my wheelhouse and this is fantastic. Yeah, I know. I know we've had an Italian Pills. Have we? Have you had an Italian Pillser? I don't know. I don't know if you've had one on the show. Oh, God. I know. Maybe to get it. I've had one somewhere at some point. Yeah, and I don't remember.
00:23:24
Speaker
We've had this conversation with Matthew, I think, right? Yes. Yes, that's the he's the Matthew of Texas. When you hear this, we have had the conversation of what an Italian Pilsner is. And I think you gave a sarcastic answer, which is why you're not on this episode. Yeah. So I don't I don't. Yeah, I can't remember if we've actually ever had one. but news It was like a New Zealand IPA. What is like Italian beer? It's like Peroni. Yeah. And that's a that's a Pilsner, but it's not.
00:23:51
Speaker
but that's Well, it's a logger, at least. I know it's ah a logger. I don't know if it's a Pilsner. What is Pilsner? Yeah. Let's get out. yeah like Google-Chon 3000. I know. I grabbed my phone, and I got a fucking computer sitting right in front of me. That's funny, because I was about to type in Patron. I don't have my phone. It has your push.
00:24:11
Speaker
It's a pale logger. So it's not a... It's not a pill, it's a pill logger. Okay. and So do with that information what you will. But I will say this, uh, what a solid start to our first dry January episode, two really good beers that I would call beers. Like I would, I would serve these to guests. You know what I mean? Like,
00:24:38
Speaker
not even to be like, hey, I'm gonna trick you and that's not a beer. I'm gonna be like, hey, I want you to try this and tell me what you think of it without saying anything else about it. You know what I mean? Yeah. Just to see what someone thinks. Oh yeah, that tastes really good. You know what I mean? Or to see what they think. I think people would hands down thoroughly enjoy both of these have you had oh here it comes the big reveal um double sass from hop butcher no it's according to uh untapped that is an italian pilsner okay i did not know that double sass okay
00:25:21
Speaker
And I know that microphone does one where they use the Italian, the Chicago the pizza logo box. Yeah. Uh, which probably should try that how next time I see it. Um, yeah, I think I'm going to be more on the lookout for Italian pilsners.
00:25:36
Speaker
Cause this is what an alcoholic one tastes like. I can only imagine that the ones with real booze in it, it's going to be pretty good. It's kind of funny though. I'm looking through this list. It was like the 12 best, um, Italian Pilsner's of 2022. None of them are Italian. It's all these us beast because I feel like it's a us made up style. Yeah.
00:26:01
Speaker
crazy American okay hold on so beer advocate breaking news has a description if somebody wrote a description Brandon while you read that description I really have to pee again okay hope you can stretch this out for at least 45 seconds Italian style for the Italian pillars whatever happened that There is a belief that a Pilsner that incorporates dry hopping yields an Italian Pilsner since the Augustino Arieoli discovered dry hopping for his Pilsner Tipo Pils back in 1996. I posted the blow in a past thread. but buth blah blah According to Arieoli, the Italian style is defined by simple metrics. It must be light in color between 4 and 5.
00:26:43
Speaker
5.4% alcohol by volume and most critically should be dry hopped using only traditional German or Czech hops, also known as noble hops or new varieties that resemble the traditional ones. Okay, so just a dry hopped Pilsner basically.
00:27:02
Speaker
That's what it sounds like. Yeah. So I'm reading through all of this and that's literally what I'm getting out of this. So like literally it's a dry hopped Pilsner. Okay. You dry hop it with noble hops. All right. That's a good, you know, I'm glad listeners got, wow when I go back and edit this, I'm going to listen to that and see if you said anything shitty about me too. Yeah. No.
00:27:22
Speaker
um Yeah and it said like the style was discovered by some dude in 1996 so it's not like some old world thing. It's definitely more modern. and yeah to It's definitely become more popular within the last five years. I would say even last like three years.
00:27:42
Speaker
Yeah. and Well, because, you know, more places are popping up with it. And I think, um, in this, the the untapped thing I was reading too, it was talking about the 12 best. It started off by talking about Pivo pills from Firestone Walker. Ah, and that's a hobby. Those are for sure. But I've always looked at that as like supposed to be like a Polish beer is a Pivo. Interesting. Yeah. I guess I kind of thought about it the same way. Cause Pivo in Polish is little, I think.
00:28:13
Speaker
Pretty sure. you know So we're doing, you know, lessons.
00:28:21
Speaker
We're learning. We're learning right now all together. Pivo... Oh no, it's beer. Sorry, beer. Yeah, never mind. So it's a beer pills? Are they called it beer pills? Apparently so. Yeah, Pivo from that little. Russian Pivo means beer. Middle Russian, Old East Slavic means drink beverage. Proto Slavic means drink beverage. Proto Indo-European. Pivo comes from Proto Indo-European. I can't pronounce that. Okay, beer. It's basically a beer. So...
00:28:51
Speaker
Beer Pilsner. What do you go for? It does sound cool though. People Pils does sound cool. um Yeah, fantastic. Two great beers to start this dry January with you buddy. And I think right now would be probably be a good time to take a break.
00:29:11
Speaker
And we're back. Welcome back everybody to our first dry January episode of 2025. We already, oh, I meant to bring this up. We've already gone through two beers and they were from Untitled Art, and I wanted to talk about that I did have at least one other beer checked in from Untitled Art, not an A beer, but I had a barrel-aged midnight toffee stout. Back in March of 2023, and I put it really taste of the toffee.
00:29:40
Speaker
chuck Chocouabud barrel too. ah Pretty sure I was feeling pretty good at that point. To which Clark replied, I love, in quotes, Chuck Hoot and Virginia Barrells. Yeah, it was. Shut up, Clark. Yeah, Clark, shut up. It was pretty good. I remember really liking that beer and really being able to taste the, I gave it a 4.5, so that seems to be the okay but running um check-in a rating for me for Untitled Ark. The next thing we have is from, as I mentioned earlier, Maplewood.
Tasting Maplewood's Rad Hydro
00:30:14
Speaker
This is rad hydro sparkling hop water. It's a bodacious berry lemonade with mosaic hops. It has zero calories, zero sugar, zero alcohol. There's nothing in this. Also, the percent of daily value of vitamins tells you that the nutrient is serving a food, contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used in general nutrition and advice.
00:30:38
Speaker
Carbonated water, hops, natural flavor, and citric acid. It's gluten-free, vegan, and non-GMO. Thank God. So basically, this is just, you get a nice little pour. So, Brandon, I think you and I are the same. You're a healthy pour on this. You enjoy sorry sparkling carbonated water. Indeed. Like flavored ones. Yes. All the good, ooh, fuck.
00:31:06
Speaker
I'm part of my French on that. Holy cow. Here for you to give a whiff of this. I love flavored carbonated water. To me, it's delicious. It's an easy way to drink a bunch of water. And it's, you know, there's nothing wrong with drinking carbonated water. It's a good way to get some water in you. I like drinking regular water.
00:31:25
Speaker
But flavored carbonated water to me is is top notch. What do you think in the aroma of this? but You know what it smells like to me? And I don't know what flavor of it. It smells like crystal light. Pink lemonade. Pink lemonade. That's probably what it is. Crystal light. And this smells like pink lemonade, Kool-Aid, pink lemonade, Wyler's, pink lemonade all around. It's got a little bit of pink lemonade in the flavor. What is what is it again? Blackberry.
00:31:50
Speaker
from the bottom uh oh bodacious berry lemonade with mosaic hops this is really good yeah i i agree i can drink this all the time ah yeah i will like i will seek this out and like not even for a dry january thing this is just a fun drink a carbonated hop water that Now, with that being said, the hop water, I don't get a lot of the mosaic. yeah I definitely get like berry lemonade. and That's enough for me. and Oh yes absolutely yeah, absolutely. It's just interesting that mosaic is involved. I wonder what this would taste. I wonder if it would be more like an artificial, weird flavor if there wasn't mosaic in there. Because mosaic is off-putting to some people. I would say to people, Clark, that if you don't like mosaic, you might like this because
00:32:47
Speaker
It does not give off a strong mosaic hop flavor, which some people perceive much like cilantro is soapy.
00:32:57
Speaker
I like cilantro. And I like mosaic too. Yeah. ah yeah So I kind of agree. um the The hops are lost on me, um but maybe that's just because the berry and lemonade are coming through so prominently. ah But for a you know a carbonated water, really well done. Here's here's some things about carbonated water that I don't know.
00:33:23
Speaker
I don't know if a lot of people do it, but I feel like, you know, I think, especially with hoppy carbonated, I shouldn't say carbonated water, with hoppy hopped carbonated water, I feel like they would be good for mixers. Especially something like this, where if you made a cocktail that called like, say it was like vodka and lemon, you could add this,
00:33:48
Speaker
into that to give you that fizz and still like add like a berry of more of like a lemonade flavor to it. I think like it would make it for an interesting cocktail. When you said cocktails, I don't know why the first thing my mind went to on this was gin. I can see that. um And I hate gin. I i don't like gin that much either.
00:34:05
Speaker
um But yeah, for some reason I was like, oh, this could compliment some, some gyms really well. But yeah, the vodka thing too. I think that that would, that would be a winner. Um, I don't see any other spirits really that I think would go well with this, but I think vodka, vodka and gin probably the only two.
00:34:22
Speaker
Yeah. um But yeah, really well done. I love the carbonation on it. It's you know it definitely more carbonated, I think, than any beers that we had. Yes. But I expect that from you know essentially like a seltzer water, yeah flavored seltzer water. But extremely well done. ah I was going to be like, oh, the body on this tastes like water. It's water. Yeah.
00:34:50
Speaker
Yeah, the aroma's great. Yeah, the only thing I'm missing is the hops. And I'm missing it in flavor, but you know I'm not missing it overall, because I still kind of enjoy this. so Yeah, I just kind of switched it around my mouth.
00:35:05
Speaker
I get berry, you know what I mean? Like I get a berry flavor. I thought maybe I would get something else. Like maybe, maybe I'd get some mosaic, but I don't really get much mosaic at all. Which again, I don't think is a bad thing. I don't think it's something that's a negative to this drink. I do think as far as hot waters go, and you and I were discussing it when we were on break,
00:35:33
Speaker
I'm pretty sure we've not had Revolutions, Zero Hero, I think is what it's called. Yeah, or Super Zero. Super Zero um on this, so we can have that because I will definitely buy a six pack of that. and Even if we have had it, we're gonna drink it again because I do love that. No, my thought is I wonder if the hops have fallen off. Is this an old can? When do you think this was can? I would hope sometimes this year or in November.
00:36:04
Speaker
July 18th, 2024. Okay. Now I don't know the stability of hops in water. Yeah. But we are clearly, I guess the September, October, we're November, December, six, almost six months to the day, almost six months to the day. I would think that the hop stability would be pretty good coming from a brewery in making water, but I don't know how long hops stay in carbonated water. And I don't know how much was actually in there to begin with. True. So I'll tell you this though, for being almost six months today, it's still fucking tasty. Oh yeah. Yeah, I would still, I wouldn't drink this, but now that makes me more ah inclined to want to find a ah fresher can of this to see if the hops do come through. Yeah.
00:36:51
Speaker
um Because that may change my perception of the beer, but but the weighter beer the the water, but the way it is right now, I think it's <unk> fantastic. Yeah, I really like this and i I've never seen it before, so I'm surprised to hear that this is canned in July. Yeah. I thought that this was something for dry January, that it was a popular thing to do.
00:37:19
Speaker
and I've never seen this or heard of it. Also, I've never really been on the lookout, but I feel like I'm pretty in tune with hop water, at at least local hop water. yeah So, im I don't know, that's that's crazy. I would like to know if there's some freshies out there that I can try and find. um I don't know, maybe maybe maybe they did ah maybe it was released in July, and you know Beer on the Wall is not known for,
00:37:47
Speaker
having older things sit around, at least that I know of, that I've noticed. I feel like everything kind of moves fast, so. Yeah. And I will say, so according to the Maplewood website, there is a series of these. So we've got the bodacious berry lemonade, but there's also also totally tropical. Oh, looks like those are the only two hot waters that they do. OK.
00:38:12
Speaker
But it's still laying. Yeah, I think I'm going to have to be on the lookout for these because it's fantastic and I wonder how often they make them. I have to inquire about this. And Maplewood has a line of THC seltzers. Yes, that I knew as well. I thought about buying some on New Year's. Glad I didn't. Probably drinking when I got home and that would have just... I'm having water. I'm drinking water.
00:38:36
Speaker
Brandon, how many lemonade stands are you giving this one? I'm gonna go 425. Yeah, I'm with you on that. 425, I was like we have between four and 425. This is, it's solid. It's really tasty. I would drink this all the time. I think it's better than some of the other hop waters that I have or have had because there is that bodacious berry and and lemonade, lemon in there. Yeah. um I feel like that is what is,
00:39:04
Speaker
Setting this apart from other hot waters that I've had in the past. Yeah um Because a lot of the the stuff we've had it's literally just hopped water Yeah, and there's nothing wrong with that. Like yeah, we have we pretty sure again not totally sure Have we had all of the Laguanitas hot waters on this podcast? I don't even know if I've had all the I think we've just had the regular one. Yeah. there's up Hey, look at this. We're filling in the weeks right here, right now because the other flavored ones are fantastic and those are good. sort deaf I'm pretty sure there's a grapefruit one or no, there's a blood orange one, I believe. I think I saw that one before. That's a 12 pack i can I would definitely buy and and get for the podcast because it's it's delicious. I know Whole Foods sells it.
00:39:51
Speaker
so the hop, uh, Lagunitas. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, again, I feel like that's something that would be good for cocktails. It's already like a flavored seltzer that, uh, and just the regular a hop, uh, water that they do is really good. Yeah. Speaking of hop water, we got one more local.
00:40:07
Speaker
And this is Hop Butcher's Hop Water
Trying Hop Butcher's Hop Water
00:40:10
Speaker
for the World. If I'm not mistaken, this might be the second or third time they've done this. So this is Citro Mosaic and El Dorado Hop Non-Alcoholic Sparkling Hop Water. And this was packaged on just when I thought maybe the Maplewood one was, November 21st, 24. So this is, by the way, that Maplewood was a 16 ounce can, which costs the same amount of money if I'm not mistaken as these other 12 ounce NA beers. yeah So I will say that's a little bit better. And I'm super excited about this because um hot butcher,
00:40:49
Speaker
They know hops and I just went in for a sniff and that is Hoppy Baby. um you know they They do a bunch, they're I would say they're primarily known for their hazy IPAs and big double dry hop IPAs and even their stouts have become ah very big beers. But they also do very nice lagers and very nice pale ales and very nice just straight up IPAs. But they know hops and they know hops very well and this is definitely Ooh, that is hoppy. Yeah. All right. It smells to me um and like when you drop hops into the wort. OK. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's boiling. And you get that like hop aroma coming off of it. that's what ah That's what I'm getting. I get that. And I also get almost like this woody, earthy smell from it too.
00:41:44
Speaker
like Maybe if you're picking fresh hops, I don't know. Alright, going in for the sip.
00:41:55
Speaker
Hmm. It's hoppy. Hoppy but not bitter. No. I need another sip of this.
00:42:11
Speaker
There's an aftertaste to me. There's an aftertaste that I'm not caring for. Agreed. I don't know what it is. Yeah, it's, it almost, it starts off like it's gonna be like a stringent.
00:42:26
Speaker
and then almost metallic, and then, I don't know, it's just like a muddled. Yeah, oh man, I was. I was looking forward to this. Me too, oh no. What did you do? I, you know what, maybe it's the hop combo, maybe it's, all right, I gotta look into something here real quick, hold on, here we go. There, oof.
00:42:56
Speaker
there is and here here's what's interesting is the tasting notes on here it says fresh citrus pleasant dank and bright pineapple i am not getting pineapple i'm getting way more dank like a bad dank so El Dorado says tropical fruit watermelon and stone fruit with a distinct sweet flavor. And I also see Eldorado's perfect dual purpose hop that carries wonderful pineapple aroma and flavor.
00:43:37
Speaker
I don't get that at all. No. And Citra and Mosaic, I don't get that at all. There is this, i okay, hop butcher.
00:43:54
Speaker
Talk nothing but good things about you guys and how much I love your beers. And I did that right before we did this. It's the water we gotta go after. I apologize, but we gotta be honest. We'll be honest. This tastes like... You ever leave water in the car in a plastic bottle? Yep. On a warm day.
00:44:16
Speaker
And you come back to it after a few hours and it's a little warm. And there's this weird plastic. The chemicals have leaked in. Yeah, it tastes like yeah, it tastes like there's like a chemical water and and not in an a stringent way. It's just this very weird.
00:44:34
Speaker
Plastic, chemical, I just, I do not care for this. No. And again, this is just me and Brandon. There might be people, I mean, I know that they've made this before and they wouldn't keep making it if people didn't like it. Just for me, this is definitely not for me. And maybe, I don't know, maybe that's something to do with us coming off of the berry lemonade.
00:44:54
Speaker
Possibly but but we've there have been beers though that way there have been drinks and beers that we've gone to That drinks beers beers that we've had and we're like, oh, maybe it's cuz that beer that we kept drinking like, okay Now I get this but I keep getting that same aftertaste just and to me the more I drink it the more powerful it's become Maybe now I'm just honed in on it, but like it is... That's all I taste. yeah I can't do it anymore. The hoppiness has kind of ah disappeared completely. I just took like a big gulp and all I get is like this weird... i Man, I'm so bummed. Yeah. I definitely did not want to do a bummer review of a hot butcher product. Anything. Especially a hot water because...
00:45:41
Speaker
I just love hop water so much. And this just does not, there's just something not pleasant for me. Yeah, it would have been nice to have this in the rotation. And again, there's a possibility that it's an off batch or something like that. Or it's us. Yeah, it could be us. Maybe, maybe these set out, maybe something happened. Would I seek it out if I go to another place where I get a single can? Sure. I'll try it one more time.
00:46:07
Speaker
Yeah, i would I would be interested. I wonder, do they ever have this kind of stuff at the taproom? I don't know. And if they do, ah we should, one of us at least, needs to go and and check it out. Let me check something real quick.
00:46:23
Speaker
Okay. Go once to menu, visit us, taproom menu, here we go. Downloading the PDF, because I need another PDF saved to my phone.
00:46:37
Speaker
Hop water for the world. They have it on tap? Yeah. Interesting. I'd see. I would like to. $2.50. I'd be interested in trying it on tap. Yeah, I would too. They also have a hard seltzer called the vacation mode right now on tap. Ooh. Now, I did. ah So while I was just, you know, while I was at um Beer on the Wall, buying these, I did by myself my own four pack of of beers dry. And one of the ones that I got was from Hopputure. And this is an initial one, it's called the Zombie Hopsicle 2. Part two, if you will, with our friends at Beer Zombies, this time fruited with the styles of kiwi and watermelon. Okay. It's a hazy double IPA. So, yeah, man, I'm kinda bummed. Like, I'm actually sad about this, ah this hop water.
00:47:26
Speaker
gosh yeah it's a cool can too i like the the can design yeah because i've never i mean i don't think i've ever had a hop water that i was just like no no they've all just been like you know they've been like good or this one's like oh they're okay this one is just it's not okay yeah like
00:47:48
Speaker
I just did one more sip. The aroma is so deceiving. I can't. I can't do it. I don't like this. Oh, yeah. It's just, it's not good. Just keep going back to the well. ah That's kind of what it tastes like as well water. A little bit. Yeah. Is that the joke? Is that the joke? How about you? Your goodness to drink what? No, I'm just joking. Brandon, I hate to do this. How many butcher knives are you giving this?
00:48:19
Speaker
Ooh, I feel bad, but I'm like 1.75. I'm a solid one. Yeah. That was being nice. Yeah, I know. And I was going to do like a two and a half. It's $2.50 to get. I gave it two and a half, but it was a one. I don't...
00:48:36
Speaker
I will pay the $2.50 to try this again on tap to see if if if maybe it has something to do with the pack. But it tastes like artificial, chemical, plastic. Something's just not good. Sorry, Hot Butcher. I love you guys. I really do. I love your beers. And I... Yeah, I don't know if we've ever had a Hot Butcher on here that we didn't like, so... Yeah. And I've talked about them enough, but this is just...
00:49:03
Speaker
This isn't for me, but everybody else, if you want to give it a try, give it a try. Maybe it's... Yeah, let us know. Yeah, I actually would be interested. Yeah, so if you have tried this, let us know your thoughts on it, or if you do try it, same thing, let us know. Just comment on the socials of this episode, or you know send us an email, info at themultinghour.com. Brandon, if you were to rank all these in order, what are you going to rank these?
00:49:31
Speaker
So first up I would do the, what do we got here? The Juicy IPA, Italian Pills, the Rad Hydros, and then the Hot Butcher. So the exact order that we drank them? Yep. That's exactly where I was going to go to. It's just convenient that it worked out that way. Absolutely. You know what? The Pills? You call it the Pivo Pills, I think. No, that's just my head. Italian Pills, it's almost took over the Juicy IPA just because I really like that melon flavor yeah that was in it but both were really good and it happens to be in that order and I would put I mean honestly those three could easily be tied and interchangeable. Oh yeah. Unfortunately hot butcher you've been chopped just something something's not resonating with us but I will say this not bad for our first
00:50:26
Speaker
dry January episode and if you're out there also doing dry January, it's super important. Super, super, super important. You go out there and you still support your local breweries and any place else, your bar, whatever, if you can get a growler to go, a crawler to grow.
00:50:43
Speaker
stopping, grab a four pack, a six pack, a gift card, or just him just to have some food. Put money on the table and leave. leave yeah If your brewery sells food, go there for dinner you know and have ah have a diet coke on me. and Please don't charge me. Just make sure that you're still supporting local businesses, especially in January, it's the toughest. We all have, you know, holidays have come and gone. We're all a little less money in our pockets and stuff like that. But this is the most important time to support local businesses and local breweries because a lot of people do do dry January, which is great. It's good. You should do dry January if you want to do it. But also just remember, there are businesses out there that are counting on our dollars to keep them alive.
00:51:29
Speaker
Indeed. Yeah, and but the same thing goes too. So you don't necessarily have to go in and buy a four pack of beer. You could go, like if they have non-alcoholic offerings. Yes, good good example. yeah You can go to the source and get it from them. In a lot of places, and I know like there's breweries out there that don't do their own NA stuff, but a lot of them serve other things. So if you are going for food, um check their NA options. you know there's There's stuff out there. So if there's something you haven't tried that you are interested in trying, like now's the perfect time.
00:51:56
Speaker
You think about all the stuff. Yeah, you may have your goals of of but you know losing weight and getting in shape and stuff. Doesn't mean you can't go out to dinner once a week yeah for four weeks. It's fine. A lot of these places have you know salads and shit like that. And also, maybe make that the day where you just maybe cut down your calories. Your cheat day. Yeah, it's your cheat day. If you want to call it a cheat day. Or just plan your meals better during the day. You're going out to dinner. you know It'll be good. Get your shit together, man. Because when yeah, when February, fuck February, when the summer rolls around and you want to go sit on a patio at a brewery.
Supporting Local Breweries During Dry January
00:52:30
Speaker
You want it to be there? Yeah, you're going to have to be there. it Yeah, you want it to be there. Exactly. So it's definitely it's's definitely really important ah to support local breweries if you're doing Dry January. And even if you're not doing Dry January, just make sure you go out there. If you're not drinking that much anymore,
00:52:45
Speaker
Just hop in, grab something to go if you need to, or just have a beer, something, because these these these businesses need support during this time of year. Agreed. With that being said, Brandon, I love everybody. Love you too, man. We'll see everybody next week. Bye.
00:53:04
Speaker
This has been The Malting Hour. Be sure to follow us on all social media by searching The Malting Hour and at themaltinghour.com. You can also follow us individually on social media. Brandon can be found on Instagram as bmdub81, on Twitter, bdub81, and on Untapped as bdubdrinksbeer. Tony can be found on Instagram and Untapped under Ace of Hope Chicago. On Twitter, The Ace of Hope Chicago. Clark can be found as Clarkowski on all three. Dan can be found on Instagram as hip underscore underscore hops and to hip hops on YouTube. 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.