We ranked the members of Three Heads' The Kind family, because why not
We ranked the members of Three Heads' The Kind family, because why not
I sat down with Nick Mesrobian, a veteran Rochester brewer, over lunch and we sampled, then ranked all the members of The Kind family of IPAs
Three Heads Brewing’s The Kind IPA is billed as “Rochester’s IPA” in marketing materials, billboards, and commercials across the region.
It’s hard to argue with that assertion. The West Coast-leaning IPA remains one of the best-selling craft beers in our market and serves as a workhorse flagship for the Atlantic Avenue brewery. First released 11 years ago through contract brewing agreement with Custom Brewcrafters in Honeoye Falls, The Kind has evolved into a family of IPAs that now counts nearly 10 members strong. (Though only seven are active.)
And so I’ve had an idea that has been percolating for a bit. I thought it would be fun and informative to sample through the members of The Kind family and then rank them. I thought it would be even more fun to do this exercise with a valued and knowledgeable member of our beer community — former Roc Brewing head brewer Nick Mesrobian, who actually brewed a lot of 3HB beers during his time at CB’s.
So what follows is a brief history of The Kind, provided by 3HB co-founder Dan Nothnagle, and then a discussion between Nick and myself. (Note, for transparency’s sake: 3HB kindly provided the beers used in this exercise.)
The Kind history
Before Nothnagle, Todd Dirrigl, and Geoff Dale opened the brewery, they were neighbors in Brighton homebrewing together. It was definitely a shared passion. And that’s where you find the origins for their brewery’s best-selling flagship.
“I was fascinated with the second-wave craft beer brands that came out from the West Coast, like (Ballast Point) Sculpin IPA in the 22s (ounce bottles) before they expanded, some of the Stone products, some of the product you’d get from the Seattle area,” Nothnagle said. “And then a magical hop called Citra came out in like 2008 or 2009. It had incredible notes of pineapple. So one of the best beers we ever made was called Holy Pineapple and it was made with 100 percent Citra hops at all of the different points in the boil.”
Nothnagle said he didn’t find Citra to be a very good bittering hop. But they liked how aromatic it was and the flavor profile it added to beers. Moving away from traditional English-style IPAs with a heavier malt bill (or a heavy dose of Crystal 60, Nothnagle said), “We made The Kind with a very light touch of Carahell malt, like a bag per 30-barrel batch. The Kind has always been a very simple beer with a first wort hopping, a bittering charge, and then lots of hops in the whirlpool and dry hop. The Kind evolved from that heavy Citra beer to a little bit of a balance between Simcoe and Cascade in smaller proportions.”
The Kind was deviation “from the caramel-ly IPAs we had in the early 2000s,” Nothnagle said. He said the “recipe has mildly evolved,” noting that it accounts for more than 50 percent of their total production. “We’re fortunate to have a flagship,” Nothnagle said.
The discussion
I’ve long considered this core question: Why does Rochester love The Kind so much? I think you can boil it down to four key factors: 1. It’s a damn good IPA; 2. The marketing/label is pretty damn perfect; 3. It’s pretty much always fresh; 4. It’s reasonably priced.
Here’s an abridged and potentially redacted transcript of our lunchtime ranking session.
Will: I’m not sure why this was a good idea. I might’ve been drunk when I came up with it and posted it on social media. But there’s no going back now.
Nick: What are you talking about? It was a great idea.
Will: And then you responded to my tweet.
Nick: So this is my fault. I see what you’re saying.
Will: Kind of.
*Pops open Tiny Kind, pours vigorously.*
Will: So here we go.
Nick: Cheers!
Tiny Kind
Will: We’re starting with Tiny Kind and working our way up. It’s one of the newer members of The Kind family. This is supposed to be the session IPA version of The Kind. So give it a drink and give me your impressions.
Nick: It comes in a tiny can, sick. (Of note, Nick often makes terrible jokes, but they’re always endearing and kind of cute.) It’s light, crisp, clean. It’s good. It’s hop forward. It’s not overly bitter. It’s very easy-drinking.
Will: Does the bitterness or the flavor profile remind you of The Kind? I think that’s probably what they were going for.
Nick: Yeahhhhh, a little bit. Yeah, probably.
Will: Right off the bat, I’m not a huge fan of this one. I’m not a session IPA fan, in general. I want something heartier when I’m drinking an IPA.
Nick: I’m not a big New England IPA fan. That said, I will still rate it as objectively as I can. I have to make them all the time, so I have to try them all the time.
Will: It’s fun that you’re from New England and hate New England IPAs. So you basically hate yourself, right?
Nick: Yep, I’m a self-hating Mainer. (Lets out a hearty chuckle.) I think it’s pretty well-rounded for a session. It’s pretty perfect if you don’t like lagers and want to have nine of them on the golf course. Maybe not nine.
Will: Yeah, 10.
The Kind
Nick: I’ve actually brewed many versions of Kind variants when I worked at CB’s.
Will: And now we’re onto the flagship, which they proudly brand as ‘Rochester’s IPA.’ I get it.
Nick: They sell a lot it. It’s everywhere. They do a great job.
Will: Dan said it’s over 50 percent of their production.
Nick: That’s what (3HB brewer) Derek (Armstrong) says, too. I’ll ask, ‘What are you brewing?’ The answer is usually, ‘Kind, Kind, Kind. Oh, I’ve got a small batch beer coming out, too!’ (Note: 3HB’s pilot system is Roc Brewing’s original 1-barrel system.)
*Pops open The Kind, pours*
Nick: Yep, that’s it. That’s it for sure. Subtle changes. It’s a classic. I get it all the time, if I don’t want something crispy.
Will: If I see this on draft in Rochester, I can pretty safely assume it’s gonna be fresh and I’m gonna enjoy it. There’s something to be said for that reliability.
Nick: They know what they’re doing. And the bigger system obviously helps them with consistency. This is definitely, in its essence, the same beer I brewed at CB’s more than 10 years ago.
Will: I think this beer used to be a little more aggressively bitter and I think it has softened a bit, maybe just a little bit to meet trends and kinda modernize it.
Nick: Solid. This beer really has become a classic. And I don’t think it needed to force its way into becoming a classic. It hit all the checkmarks for what you’re looking for in a classic, pre-New England-inundated world.
Will: They’ve said they were inspired by Sculpin, Stone, some of the Green Flash stuff and there wasn’t really anything in our market at that point that could compete.
Nick: We had to install bigger tanks at CB’s to meet the demand for The Kind. Honestly, Roc’s Badass (DIPA) was a lot like this. We took a lot of inspiration from the West Coast, and then sorta put your own spin on it. It’s an East Coast version of a West Coast essentially.
Will: The Kind has that clean, refreshing bitterness. It makes you want to take another drink.
Nick: It seemed more bitter when we brewed it 10 years ago, but fuck, who knows. That was a decade ago.
Will: That could be true. Palates have changed so much since then.
Too Kind
Nick: This used to be my favorite back when we brewed it at CB’s. It still rules. So I’m going into this totally unbiased.
Will: I had one of these on draft at a show there recently and forgot how much I enjoyed it. It really hit the spot.
Nick: It’s great – balanced bitterness with a little bit of sweetness.
Will: This has always been my favorite. It hits so many notes I want it to hit.
Nick: Lately, I’ve been going to classic, non-hazy IPAs. You know I love my crispies (lagers), but if I’m going to have a couple, I want to it to have a little more impact.
Will: It’s a fucking good beer.
(Note: At this point, the conversation devolved into a fond remembrance for Roc’s Badass DIPA and the cease and desist from Kid Rock that effectively killed the beer. That legal document once graced the walls at Roc. But good luck finding any mention on the internet about this ordeal. It doesn’t seem to exist. It’s more like an urban legend at this point.)
Pineapple Yuzu Kind
Will: So this is the newest member of The Kind family.
Nick: This is pretty fucking good, man.
Will: I’m surprised how much I like this one. The pineapple really amplifies things. There is a surprising amount of balance here.
Nick: The yuzu is a little bit lighter, but it’s there. It’s delicious. Very not bad.
(Admission: I didn’t know what yuzu was until I googled it. Asian citrus btw.)
Will: I wouldn’t mind seeing this one in 3HB’s regular rotation. I am still bugging them to bring back Kind Kitty.
Tropical Kind
(Note: This was the oldest can in our tasting session, dating back to January 2023.)
Will: Pineapple Yuzu dovetails nicely with Tropical Kind and I know they’ve been doing that beer forever. That’s an old CB’s beer.
Nick: I added fruit to the first one of those (Tropical Kind). And it sucked, because there was a shitload of it. (Maniacal laughing.) It was like everyone was one their way out, ‘Oh, by the way, put a metric ton of fruit in this beer tonight before you go home.’
Will: What’s in this one again?
Nick: Mango, passion fruit, pineapple.
*Opens can*
Nick: A little oxidized but that’s OK. For 10 months old, it held up really well.
Will: This is gonna be more difficult than I thought. I actually like these more than expected. I thought I would have a clear no. 1. That’s not the case.
Nick: It’s a good lineup they have. It’s fairly well-rounded and covers all of the bases.
Kinda Juicy
Nick: Wow, that is quite juicy.
Will: This one was meant to add something new to their portfolio. As you see stovepipe sales rising, it made sense for Three Heads to try to compete there.
Nick: This is incredibly juicy smelling. They don’t add fruit to this, do they?
Will: Nope.
Nick: The hop aroma you’re getting is crazy. It’s got some of those dank, somewhat herbal things going on. Almost oniony. But then it hits you with overripe mango and passion fruit. It’s good. It’s a little on the sweet side. It is a big-ass beer though. It’s good. And I know they don’t use lactose in it, so that’s nice. You almost get like a peach ring thing to it.
Will: And it’s a $3 can. It’s got that hop candy flavor going on, too. It’s good.
Tres Kind
Will: This is Tres Kind, another CB’s-inspired classic. It’s from April. So it may be an American barleywine by this point.
*sniffs*
Will: Oh, wait, it kinda does smell like an American barleywine at this point. It’s got that pleasant oxidation on the nose. This beer always got me in trouble when it was on draft at Acme.
Nick: I remember drinking this out of the tank before it was released. So I guess I can’t say I’ve always hated hazy beer, because if you drink it out of the tank, it’s gonna be hazy. It is oxidized a bit. No fault of their own. It’s from April. That’s definitely holding up well. It’s good. I am sure everything has been tweaked, because it’s been a decade, but I still makes me think of the Tres we made.
Will: It used to be way bigger bodied, I think. It had to have been.
Nick: I am wondering how close it is to the original. I am sure it’s changed.
Will: My first (Untappd) check-in to this is Jan. 15, 2014. I said, ‘Impressive. Extremely bitter. Balanced by a bright and citrusy character. Hot. Winner.’ You don’t drink a beer like this without wanting to get your ass kicked. So there we go, we’ve tasted the entire Kind family. Time to rank ‘em!
Nick’s rankings
1. Too Kind
2. The Kind
3. Tiny Kind
4. Pineapple Yuzu Kind
5. Kinda Juicy
6. Tres Kind
7. Tropical Kind
Will’s rankings
1. Too Kind
2. The Kind
3. Pineapple Yuzu Kind
4. Kinda Juicy
5. Tres Kind
6. Tropical Kind
7. Tiny Kind
A final plea: Three Heads and Rohrbach, please bring back the Kind Kitty DIPA. That beer ruled.
How would you ranks the Kinds?
Heroes, Nine Spot among breweries stepping up to help those impacted by fires in Maui
Heroes Brewing and Nine Spot Brewing, both Rochester-based breweries, are among the 1,000 breweries worldwide brewing and releasing the Kokua Relief Beer, a session IPA, to help raise money and awareness for those impacted by the recent wildfires in Maui.
One beer, brewed by many.
Heroes co-founder Greg Fagen said he has visited Maui numerous times and wanted to do whatever he could to support recovery efforts there. Chris and Marina Nothnagle from Nine Spot called Kokua “the ultimate collaboration.”
The Heroes version will be released Oct. 25 at the brewery tasting room, 543 Atlantic Ave. Both breweries will make a donation to the Global Empowerment Mission nonprofit.