Fiddlehead Brewing

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Respirologist

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Hi Everyone, so I've never had Fiddlehead beer before but all I'm hearing about lately is the canning of Second Fiddle their DIPA and how damn good it is.

It is available today and they are canning it next Thursday July 17th as well AND canning Hodad their Coconut Chocolate (Vanilla?) Porter which I've heard nothing but good things about.

I've heard people say they should be mentioned as part of the big 3. Which would make it the big 4 Alchemist, Hill Farmstead, Lawsons , Fiddlehead. Do you agree or disagree ?

So the questions loom.....

Why hasn't there been a Fiddlehead Thread created yet? (Besides the one I just made)

Is the brewer on Talkbeer to answer questions ?

Are they that damn good ? What have I been missing out on ! Can we use this thread to update info such as can releases?

Any and all opinions are valued.

Thanks Todd
 
I had a few of their things when I was there -- regular IPA and Hodad last fall. As draft and growler-only, they were good but nowhere near the level of the Vermont Big 3, though Hodad was remarkably flavorful for a beer of 5.5 percent. I have heard amazing things about the double IPA, though, and it's exciting that they're canning. Locls might have more to say.
 
I've been missing out on these cans too...
 
Disagree. Not on the level of HF/Alchemist/Lawson's. But they're the next tier and nothing to scoff at. Greatly enjoy both HODAD and Second Fiddle

Can you compare Heady vs. Second Fiddle for me please ?
 
I'm a complete Heady fanboy so there's no comparison IMO. I've also only had Second Fiddle once though, so I'm not the best judge

Disclaimer: I am a Heady fanboy as well. I wasn't a fan of:

Blind Pig
Pliny
Epriham
Zombie Dust (APA i know)
Jai Alai

Wondering if Second Fiddle even without Conan yeast is delish ?!?!
 
Disclaimer: I am a Heady fanboy as well. I wasn't a fan of:

Blind Pig
Pliny
Epriham
Zombie Dust (APA i know)
Jai Alai

Wondering if Second Fiddle even without Conan yeast is delish ?!?!

I love BP and Pliny (to be fair Pliny was the first big hype beer for me), like ZD, not huge on Ephraim or Jai Alai.
 
**** is serious! i've had Second Fiddle, Hodad, and the barrel aged sap beer (i can't remember the name right now, something with Frog in it) loved them all, the sap beer was like Lawson's Maple Triple lite haha
 
****, I disagree. Hodad was a huge bummer for me. I felt t was pretty cola-ish and thin and with Hodad up against say, HF Porters/Twighlight - there's no reason to add them to the trifecta for Hodad. With that, I haven't been hassled to score second fiddle yet.

Fiddlehead share a tier with Lost Nation, with LN climbing quickly.

****kng off now.
Cheers
 
****, I disagree. Hodad was a huge bummer for me. I felt t was pretty cola-ish and thin and with Hodad up against say, HF Porters/Twighlight - there's no reason to add them to the trifecta for Hodad. With that, I haven't been hassled to score second fiddle yet.

Fiddlehead share a tier with Lost Nation, with LN climbing quickly.

****kng off now.
Cheers
Was this the canned batch of Hodad? Off the tap, it was definitely not cola-ish...
 
fiddlehead is great, they are not 'big 3' level, but they are a notch behind.
2nd fiddle is great, hodad is good but not a personal favorite.

confident I've had more Fiddlehead IPA than anyone else here. great price for what you get (when getting a keg).
 
Was this the canned batch of Hodad? Off the tap, it was definitely not cola-ish...
Had both, first tap @ pro pig before they did their can release and then cans from the first canning run.
I feel guilty and finger-waggled at trashing a vt brew.
sad-jon-snow.gif


But....
 
Fiddlehead is ok but most certainly not with the top 3 of VT, or even other top breweries in New England.
HoDad is decent for a 5ish% flavored porter. 2nd Fiddle is ok as well, if you like the sweeter IPA side of the spectrum (I don't). the other 3-4 brews I've had from them have been anywhere from bad to ok at best. (kind of like Lost Nation - they have 1 good brew and rest are meh)
 
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This run of second fiddle was extremely disappointing (coming from someone who raved about the first run of it)

Hodad on draft has a special place in my heart, but I have not had any of the cans.

Fiddlehead IPA is honestly their best offering and is quite good, just a different take on the IPA than the other locals.

Not "big 3" material.
 
ShawDeuce22 found a 2nd Fiddle can yesterday that was canned within a few days. Split between us two and DonFrap. We concluded that it was definitely not in league with the VT big 3 and not close to Heady

I still need to try The Substance, but I don't see where these chucklehead jokers get the idea that those newcomers are contenders with the other New England pale ales
 
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ShawDeuce22 found a 2nd Fiddle can yesterday that was canned within a few days. Split between us two and DonFrap. We concluded that it was definitely not in league with the VT big 3 and not close to Heady

I still need to try The Substance, but I don't see where these chucklehead jokers get the idea that those newcomes are contenders with the other New England pale ales
Yeah it was canned 7/10. I wouldn't even put it in the top 50 DIPAs that I've had. But Frank said it was a bad run, so maybe that was it. I'll give it another shot next go round.
 
ShawDeuce22 found a 2nd Fiddle can yesterday that was canned within a few days. Split between us two and DonFrap. We concluded that it was definitely not in league with the VT big 3 and not close to Heady

I still need to try The Substance, but I don't see where these chucklehead jokers get the idea that those newcomers are contenders with the other New England pale ales

The Substance is not in the same league as any of this stuff we're talking about. Maybe approaching canned Be Hoppy level, which is nothing to get upset about, but also nothing to go crazy for. I'm very happy to drink it, but it's just another addition to the "very solid, fairly available" IPA tier, not the next step up...
 
The Substance is not in the same league as any of this stuff we're talking about. Maybe approaching canned Be Hoppy level, which is nothing to get upset about, but also nothing to go crazy for. I'm very happy to drink it, but it's just another addition to the "very solid, fairly available" IPA tier, not the next step up...
I never had the first run of 2nd fiddle, but the can of substance I had a couple weeks back courtesy of HevvyMetalHippie was much better than the can of 2nd fiddle from this weekend, however, neither are on the level of the big 3, or alpine, or Pliny, etc.
It just seems that locals in New England are yearning for an easily accessible replacement for heady. We do it down here also with trillium. Yes trillium is great, and i have no problem drinking the **** out of it, but it's not big 3 level (yet). Same thing in VT and ME. Hell someone told me one of Henniker Brewing IPAs in NH was on heady level.
 
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I had Second Fiddle from a growler last year after the brewers fest and it was really delicious. I haven't had any of the cans; the growler was great but not comparable to the other VT powerhouses.
 
Fiddlehead is doing a canning run of their Master Mind DIPA today. They start selling in about 10min and there's maybe 80 people in line.
 
Fiddlehead is doing a canning run of their Master Mind DIPA today. They start selling in about 10min and there's maybe 80 people in line.

Holy ****. I thought they werent on the level and considered part of the top 3 but this speaks otherwise.

I had Hodad the other day for the first time. Really great non BA Porter. Damn solid beer !
 
Quality aside, it seems like if you do small batch canning runs of IPAs in VT people will come line up for it.

Don't get me wrong I enjoyed second fiddle and expect master mind to be a quality offering as well. But I do think it's ridiculous I need to line up to get it at this point.
 
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Quality aside, it seems like if you do small batch canning runs of IPAs in VT people will come line up for it.

Don't get me wrong I enjoyed second fiddle and expect master mind to be a quality offering as well. But I do think it's ridiculous I need to line up to get it at this point.

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So it turns out this is f$&king delicious. Nice and bright. TONS of citrusy hop goodness.
 
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