Tired Hands beers: Get 'em while you 'can'

Now you see PUNGE.

Now you don't.

That's because this amazingly fresh double IPA was one of the latest issues in the weekly spontaneous can series from Tired Hands' Fermentaria. And it was gone in a blink.

Owner and brewchief Jean Broillet IV has always stoked long lines for special releases at the original Tired Hands Brew Cafe.

At his larger Fermentaria in Ardmore, the arrival of an in-house canning line has given Broillet the flexibility to can two special hop-centric beers at will each week and announce their sale with just a day's notice via social media (@tiredhandsbeer).

The practice has created a steady stream of 5 p.m. beer flash mobs on Cricket Terrace, with enough people showing up to buy out the entire 400-case production within two hours.

The thing is: The beers live up to the hype. PUNGE (short for "pungent"), which Broillet promises to repeat, is one of the best DIPAs I've ever tasted, the organic Nelson Sauvin and Motueka hops so amazingly fresh, their natural bitterness (and the unpasteurized beer's heady 8.5 percent alcohol level) are elegantly wrapped inside a softly carbonated cloud of pineapple-y and citrus fruit flavors.

The popular Alien Church and Only Void Imperial stout were other recent releases. As for next week? Aside from a hyper-fresh batch of the house HopHands, Broillet says wryly: "I cannot say with 100 percent certainty."

- Craig LaBan

Tired Hands spontaneous canned beers, $3-$5 a can, Tired Hands Fermentaria 35 Cricket Terrace, Ardmore. Follow on social media @tiredhandsbeer for release info.