Tag: Daisy Cutter

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Selected Daisies

Hard to believe that Daisy Cutter from Half Acre Beer is 15 but time does fly.  In honor of that anniversary comes DC Select Double IPA, a collaboration with Sierra Nevada Brewing.

“For Daisy Cutter Select Double IPA, both teams hand-selected special lots of freshly harvested Centennial from CLS Farms, a fifth-generation family hop grower in the Yakima Valley. All agreed on a selection that presented punchy notes of sweet, bright citrus, with a touch of background earth. We used it to build a recipe that echoes the ages – Classic IPA.”

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Beer Cage Match – Review # 6 – Double Daisy Cutter from Half Acre

Next is review number five from the City Beer Store of San Francisco beer purchase. By the end of the month, I will rank all six.

Currently Side Pull is one with IPL is Dead second, Lenticular Cap third, Working for Tips at 4 and pulling up the rear, I Feel Better Now hazy IPA. Where will the final beer rank?

The final beer comes from Chicago and Half Acre. It claims to be fully saturated, whatever that implies. The aroma is bright and right there when you pop open the can. I get a fifty-fifty combo of pine and candied orange peel. The ABV shows its full 8% and there is a big wallop of bitterness.

I am going to put this at #3. I almost went second place but the other two were just more unique.

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Half Acre Taste Test

Now that sixteen oz. cans are rolling into L.A. from Chicago’s Half Acre Beer, it is time to compare a few of their offerings. Daisy Cutter being too popular at the moment to get my hands on a can.
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Pony Pilsner – pours a light clear yellow. Bit of a potpourri aroma. A little slick. A bit of bubblegum. Would like a little more carbonation.

Akari – loads of wheat and toast notes here. Little tropical hop notes at first. But this is a wheat beer first and foremost.

Vallejo – Quite the impressionistic can design. Don’t remind me of Chicago much though. Beer pours a muddy yellow. Good balanced hop presence. Some fruit. Some pine resin. Crushable. Light.

I have had both Pony and Akari before so maybe the newness of Vallejo gave it a head start. I did like the balance of the IPA the best though. Pony was a bit too viscous and Akari weighted to wheat whereas Vallejo had a solid balance to it. Hopefully, more Half Acre is to be had in the future.

P.S. I also sampled a trio of Half Acre beers at the wonderful 38 Degrees in Alhambra. The ever-popular Daisy Cutter which is great as well as the Rainbow Never Ends which was a little too dank-centric for me as well as the Hot Tropic IPA which married coconut to hops in a better fashion than most I have encountered.

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Review – Half Acre

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On a beautiful Autumn day with a light crispness on the air. I walked from Wrigleyville to Lincoln Park and the Half Acre taproom.

The space is next door to their growler/merchandise store and had tables as you walk in with the bar and tap handles in the back right corner.

You first notice this cartoon looking bear head over the taps with no beer names on them. Only emblazoned with the Half Acre name.
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The leather bound menu augments the board on the wall with the day’s available beers.
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I started light with the Pony pilsner. It poured a pretty yellow color and hit all the marks of a craft pils. A little more fizz might have helped but it was a promising start to my tasting.

Since it was October, I went for the Okto/Marzen next and it was the surprise beer of the trip. Big nutty taste, a little touch if sweetness and a firm spicy hop note. If it weren’t for the next beer, it would have been my choice as best of the trip.

And that beer is the famed Daisy Cutter. A perfectly balanced pale. Great fruit punch hop notes on top a bed of light malt. One of those rare hoppy beers that mixes hops so that the sum is greater than the parts.

Oddly enough, the two wet hop beers that I was psyched to see on the menu were only so-so. I would rank them behind the pilsner.

The Half Acre tap room is my kind of place. Quirky vibe with a great selection of beers.
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Tall Boys

The can movement is picking up steam. How do I know? Tall boys are back.
“We’re pleased to announce that Half Acre will be installing a canning line at the end of this month. Craft beer and cans are a great combination and we’re eager to make this change. What does this mean for you? Once we’re rolling out cans from the brewery we will begin to transition from six-packs of 12oz bottles to four-packs of 16oz cans. That’s right, Tall Boys! We’ll begin by canning two beers, Daisy Cutter Pale Ale and Gossamer Golden Ale. That means Half Acre cans will be a reliable friend come late April.”
Now craft beer is pushing it’s way into another industrial beer stronghold.
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