HB helles or kolsch (fermented with Wyeast CA lager) - a hellosch? A hair darker than designed due to about half Belgian pale ale malt (shop was out of German) but wonderfully bready and light. And then an old, soon-to-be-extinct favorite.
I think something like a blonde or cream ale would be a great intro to all-grain. I really enjoyed Northern Brewer's Cream Ale kit, and no corn or adjuncts are used. And there are some great HBT classics in the recipes section that are easy and people love them, like the Centennial Blonde or...
Probably helps not to be in San Fran or probably CA in general. Wish they considered relocating and/or downsizing. Kind of feel that there was some mismanagement involved.
As far as i know, cali lager was mainly only used in the Steam beer. Unless you're talking about their ale yeast which was used in most of their other beers, which is pretty distinct, and i could see some people not liking it.
All good points. However, New Belgium has "adapted" by becoming a different brewery with a different lineup lol, I'm not sure if that's a good way to hang on to their old audience, but maybe they don't care to - but I guess new ownership will do that sometimes. And I wonder if the trends...
It's like the others in that it's a big change that people will probably be disappointed about. Steam is one of my all-time favorites and I loved the Christmas beer. Relieved they'll still be in business though...at first i thought they were folding.
Yeah, it's New Belgium in name only now. I'll never quite understand how people can sell out and allow what they've built to be transformed into something unrecognizable, but maybe i wouldn't be a good business person.
I had the "remastered" Sam Adams recently. That's another loss. For me...
I'm also not a big fan of Mandarina. It's too orange-y or something, which I guess is the point. Same reason i wasn't crazy about Citra when it first came on the scene, but it has changed/developed (for the better). I prefer more grapefruity hops in terms of citrus. But maybe using Mandarina in...