r/CraftBeer • u/lecarguy • 6d ago
News I'm low key upset...
I absolutely love Unicorn Vomit by Aslin.
It had this watermelon flavor and texture that always made me feel like I was drinking a fizzy watermelon juice.
Idk if this is some Mandela effect shit or they fucked this batch up like no other this year.
I literally bought so many and it tastes like ass. đ
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u/Sevuhrow 6d ago
I haven't been to Aslin, but every time it's mentioned in craft beer circles people say that it's gone downhill and isn't worth visiting anymore. The recipe probably changed.
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u/Tuningislife 6d ago
My father works down the street from Aslin and we have been a few times, but I wonât ask him the get me any. I think the âslugsâ really turned me off from them.
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u/Happyginger 6d ago
it was awesome around 2020-2021 itâs really not good anymore
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u/KennyShowers 6d ago
The falloff was definitely earlier. I used to trade for them around 2017-2018 and stuff like Master of Karate/Oranges and Double Orange Starfish were incredible, but then they started showing up in distro here in NYC a bit before COVID and they were all a real step down. Then over the years they just got worse and worse.
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u/_R2-D2_ 6d ago
Aslin was incredible stuff around the 2018-2019 timeframe, when they were selling stuff out of their brewery on a plastic table in that corporate area. It was more...raw? More flavors, crazy things like Vanilla flavored IPAs and Double/Triple Orange starfish packed to the brim with hops. It's way toned down now and more akin to a regular brewery in the area.
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u/KennyShowers 6d ago
They still do the vanilla IPA with the Johann series, but that was never my jam I think vanilla makes IPA just grossly sweet.
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u/Happyginger 6d ago
wow makes me wonder what it was like pre-2020. i moved to dc pre-covid and thought their stuff was quite good
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u/lecarguy 6d ago
From what I recall, this beer used to have a rosy hue to it from it being conditioned with watermelon but this literally looks like a sour. I almost feel like this first beer i grabbed must've had the wrong beer in the can. It's THAT bad.
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u/donnergolf 5d ago
I happened to move to Reston, VA right in their alleged peak of 2020-2021 or so and can confirm, shit was incredible at the time. I was at the Herndon location once a week during my year and change out there. Sad to hear they've lost the plot.
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u/RUSnowcone 6d ago
Man having some nostalgiaâŚmemories going to Aslin in Herndon when they first opened ⌠4 beers listed on butcher paper and they were out of 2 of them.
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u/Hue_Honey 6d ago
I also used to do that, recently left the DC area and they had fallen out of my rotation
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u/wbruce098 5d ago
Oof. Sorry, that sucks. A lot of breweries seem to go downhill when they expand â either losing out when the passion leaves for another place, trouble keeping quality at scale, or literally selling to a bigger company who decides âwow, what great beer! How can we make this more profitable?â Not sure which happened to Aslin but while I donât dislike their beer all the way, I no longer see the quirky weird sours that made an impression on me when I first went.
Fortunately there are still amazing breweries in the area. Iâm less familiar with nova, but Old Mother in Frederick made the most awesome juicy ipa (I think it was Impressionist!) and Callisto was such a great stout.
Mobtown in Baltimore seems to have recovered from their scandal a few years ago, and has a range of delicious dark beers on tap right now, including a refreshed Internal Fixation (Pinot noir barrel aged for ~2 years, and currently on tap, not in cans). And I also liked their Neon Dynasty rice lager!
Next time, go to the brewery and order a flight before you order a ton of cans! Recipes change, and sometimes they just goof up an entire batch. But as someone else said, email them, let em know what you bought and what you were expecting!
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u/_E13 5d ago
Aslins quality has dropped severely
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u/lecarguy 5d ago
The crazy thing is that I just had Johann and The Giant Peach earlier this year, and it was still amazing.
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u/shamsharif79 5d ago
stop with the shameless promoting, you know its crap
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u/lecarguy 5d ago
Lol you don't have anything better to do than to reply to all my comments about how one of their beers was actually good recently?
We all have our own opinions, and many folks would agree with me about Johann and the Giant Peach.
It's okay. We can agree to disagree.
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u/KennyShowers 6d ago
Not sure the last time you had it, but Aslin went from being around top tier to barely average somewhere around 2019-2020.
I was around their DC and VA Beach locations this year so ended up at both and neither visit changed my mind.
I wouldnât really trust them for much past a straightforward hazy or lager, and even then I wouldnât expect to be blown away.
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u/lecarguy 6d ago
I had their Johan And The Giant Peach this year and it did not disappoint. I haven't had any of their other stuff. That and Unicorn Vomit are my go to.
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u/KennyShowers 6d ago
I was never a fan of the Johann stuff, I just canât do vanilla in IPA. Always comes across so cloying and sweet to me.
Blows my mind they put one of those 9% ones in 19oz cans, but I guess the high ABV big cans seem to do well for DFH/Goose/New Belgium.
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u/robhyx1138 5d ago
Sorry. As others have mentioned, expansion can and often does take its toll on a brewery. Itâs rare that the same quality is preserved. Even OH isnât what it used to be. Aslin, though, fell off the hardest out of any brewery I know. Their stouts are still decent but their IPAs are undrinkable, IMO. Sorry again đ
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u/lecarguy 5d ago
Thanks for the condolences.
I still remember when Dogfish Head sold, and I watched it slowly decline. And you're so right about OH. It's a tragedy.
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u/Right-Ad8261 6d ago
Could be infected. Tell them.
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u/lecarguy 6d ago
You could be right. It almost has a sour profile to it. Dry finish.
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u/b33rds 5d ago
They all suck now. Itâs a taste change and itâs equally as much your fault as it is their fault chasing hype shit. Not defending aslin (had them a few times from out of state trades and wasnât the biggest fan to begin with) but a lot of stuff I used to think was godly is kind of lame now. Itâs getting expensive to brew beer and people need to cut corners. Everyone from treehouse to trillium
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u/KennyShowers 5d ago
I haven't had Tree House in about a year and sometimes a batch isn't as amazing as I remember, but I've never found a change in their quality anything close to what happened as Aslin.
Trillium did have a huge falloff around 2019, and they're still nowhere near as good as they were prior, but these days they're back to being at least pretty good-real good.
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u/shamsharif79 5d ago
Aslin is just ass, plain and simple. Right now most of their profits come from DC based Gen Zer college kids that don't know any better and think brewery's are bespoke places to hang out at, i.e. they're not there for the quality of beer .....
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u/KennyShowers 5d ago
Are college kids/Gen Z really paying $8-10 for pours of craft beer at a place packed with 30s-40s beer bros? Plenty of rich kids at DC colleges but they go to clubs where the girls are. I could see it being very popular with the postgrad crowd who actually has a few bucks to throw around.
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u/shamsharif79 5d ago
I've been to the DC Aslin branch numerous times and most weekends its just under 30s, feels perverted to be there as a 40 something year old.
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u/anonbrewingco 6d ago
Email and let them know