Beer in the new era

God fucking dammit. No Dark Lord Day for me this year. Fuck it all. It was the one bright spot keeping me going through this bleak winter. Getting tickets gets to be a bigger and bigger clusterfuck every year.

Motherfucker. I hate life.

I wish I had a hobby for which I could actually do the fucking things I want to do. I'm so tired of being shut out of concerts, events all. the. fucking. time.

Bummer

Its just frustrating. It's literally the only thing on my calendar all year that was, selfishly sure, MY thing to do. Like something I did solely because I enjoy it, not to make sure someone else happy. So that's gone. And, somehow, every single person I was going to go to it with got tickets, but not me.

Just had dogfish head 61 minute ipa. It's infused with wine and really crisp and refreshing.

Sorry you didn't get tickets j/v/c. I don't try because I have to work that same weekend every year.

Maybe try another upcoming event at Chicago Craft Beer Week? Beer Under Glass tickets go on sale April 1st. West Loop Craft Beer Fest, the Half Acre party, there will be tons of good events. Certainly not like DLD, but maybe good enough. Or you can come over and we can drink beers.

Every beer related event I've tried for in the past year has resulted in zilch, nada. It's not worth trying for anymore. Craft beer is a scene increasingly for the independently wealthy. I mean, I get why people do "exclusive" because it works very well for most breweries, but I'm tired of that being the be all end all of craft beer enjoyment.

I mean, I try not to let it get me down, but it bums me out just how much of the craft beer scene is about hyping up stuff thats virtually impossible to try. "This beer is amazing! Oh, but sorry you can't get it".

I've even tried to get into trading, but I'm finding it as maddening as Dead tape trading was before the internet. Unless you have something amazing, no one is going to trade with you, so you're stuck.

idk man you just gotta set parameters that work for you, there's lots of good stuff to try that isn't crazy hyped. you have access to great stuff in the midwest that can trade well to either coast on a locals-for-locals basis, i'd totally offer to do that with you if i didn't have three trades currently on the books.

me personally i had a really good run getting some rare stuff but it's prob over, and i don't chase stuff on the shelves anymore outside of bourbon county each winter.

i thought that was the case, but the people i contacted for trades totally scoffed at my offer of local stuff. i guess there's just too much stuff floating around. BCBS is the only "rare" thing i get and that's only because i live in Chicago. i've never gotten anything else "rare" ever - no KBS, no Parabola, no nothing. it sucks to always be shut out of stuff thats supposed to be "amazing".

there are dudes reading this thread who i know would trade locals with you, i don't trade outside of this community anymore because i like the people here and i don't really like the people elsewhere.

ive def hit a sort of frustrated point with aspects of craft beer atm, so i feel you jvc. i can never do beer events because it pretty much overlaps my store hours and music shit i gotta do, so less that, but more the graily ultra limited vibe going on. i feel like one of the reasons i am such a sierra nevada evangelist is that i think its cool that they are committed to seasonals, but in the "oh hey i get to drink celebration for 2 months and then i don't, but next year i can again" way instead of the way that surly or whoever does shit.

Craft beer is a scene increasingly for the independently wealthy. I mean, I get why people do "exclusive" because it works very well for most breweries, but I'm tired of that being the be all end all of craft beer enjoyment.

― an enormous bolus of flatulence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, March 17, 2014 3:41 PM (31 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I mean, I try not to let it get me down, but it bums me out just how much of the craft beer scene is about hyping up stuff thats virtually impossible to try. "This beer is amazing! Oh, but sorry you can't get it".

― an enormous bolus of flatulence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, March 17, 2014 3:43 PM (29 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yea, this is OTM. i've spoken here before about feeling priced out of the craft beer movement sometimes, so i just quietly enjoy my $8-$11 six-packs of perfectly high quality craft beer without fretting too much about some bullshit that would cost me $30 bottle. here and there my either richer or more devoted craft beer friends will share stuff they get, and that's awesome and generous of them, but i don't try to keep up anymore

yeah, i get that there are always going to be "grails" out there and that's fine. i just feel like those get way too much attention. one of the things i like about this thread here is that people are always talking up stuff that's underrated or flying under the radar. but man, it just seems like every brewery wants to only focus of either a limited event or limited beer, hoping they'll be the next Three Floyds. (and believe me, i'm well aware of the irony here after bitching about not being able to go to Dark Lord Day. but that wasn't so much about the beer itself to me, as it was the awesome metal bands they always have and just having an excuse to hang out with cool people all day and drink great beer).

there are dudes reading this thread who i know would trade locals with you, i don't trade outside of this community anymore because i like the people here and i don't really like the people elsewhere.

This. I've liked trading within this thread, would never try one with someone from the BA/RB communities.

i have never, and hopefully will never, "engage" with either of those communities beyond just scanning the boards every six months.

yeah i should point out that i'm sympathetic too, i'm always super cranky about this shit. craft beer ppl get it from both ends imo--on one side there's every mediocre asshole who found enough cash to start a "craft brewery" and pawn product off on uninformed consumers, and on the other end there's the legitimately world-class stuff which is impossible to get because unfortunately enough ppl who know their shit are in on it.

xpost A lot of the beers you mention - KBS and Dark Lord in particular - are hard for everyone, and made harder by hoops like tickets, camping out, lines and stuff. But I want to say stuff like the KBS is the exception. Next tier down (up?) like the Firestone Walker, or Hopslam or whatever, BCBS, is doable if you're flexible, but you're right, people tend to grab everything that's more elusive. Options include:

1) Getting yourself known at your favorite beer place, big or small
2) Making lots of phone calls and being prepared to go out of your way for a bottle. Or just being prepared when the bottles drop (like I wasn't re: Parabola this past weekend).
3) Being content with how much great stuff we get in quantity that others crave (like Lagunitas Sucks).
4) Joining and contributing to and stalking some beer forums. I occasionally browse a couple, and excited people are always posting pictures of stuff I see sitting on the shelf all the time. But on the plus side, you learn when shipments get in or bottles arrive in various markets.

I will say this: if there's anything specific any of you are looking for, I'm happy to keep an eye out and even grab for you, if I find any.

Speaking of starting a brewery, this is a good article about why I would never ever do that: http://t.co/l3vQGhIJHn

I will say this: if there's anything specific any of you are looking for, I'm happy to keep an eye out and even grab for you, if I find any.

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, March 17, 2014 4:32 PM (27 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

also yeah this--if there's anything in national distro or new england that you're dying to try get at me and i'll do what i can

Another nice surprise I learned about and mentioned upthread is that big stores like Binny's typically cellar a few of their hard to find brews, and sneak them out at the end of the year to loyal customers or even to people who politely ask.

1) I try #1 constantly at the stores by my, but I get the feeling that they just don't want to try to befriend everyone and their always pretty gruff.
2) Having a 2 year-old makes it a lot harder to just hop in the car for a day and drive all over the place to not end up finding anything anyway. I've been burned way, way, way too many times calling a place and being told they have it and would hold it for me, then driving an hour only to hear, "oops no we don't". I won't go through that again.
3) Eh, I also got shut out of Hopslam this year. And Firestone Walker. I get nothing good.
4) If I come across a online beer comunity worth joining, sure, but ime they're just full of gloating assholes stroking each other over their rarfied trades.

Ugh, fuck Binny's. I've never had anything but terrible experience with them. See my #2 above.

Not having a car limits what I can get as far as rare releases go. I follow all the local beer shops on twitter and they post when they get stuff in, but I'm at the mercy of the CTA for getting there. So unless I'm close already, I miss it. It would take me an hour to hit two Binny's (assuming I'm at home and not at work) in the time some people could get to 3 or 4 (or more) of them.

I know a lot of people love Binny's, but I think they are pretty much one of the worst stores out there. They have a great selection, but the one closest to me (Skokie) is staffed by people who are either completely clueless about craft beer or shady as fuck and hide beer for their friends.

I was in that store a couple of years ago on the day of Hopslam. I politely asked if they happened to have any more of it, dude laughs in my face and tells me no. Fine. I go pick some other stuff out and I'm standing in line to check out about 20 minutes later. Another dude comes in and asks for this same employee by name. The guy comes out and they give each other a big bro hug, then the employee proceeds to pull out three sixers of Hopslam for him.

idk what it's like in the rest of the country but i have to imagine that if it's anything like philly there is tons of under the radar + even limited release stuff that isn't so hard to get. i didn't end up shlepping out to troegs for that barrel aged troegenator but apparently they had bottles for about a week before selling out. similarly there are so many great smaller breweries around here that are constantly putting out fantastic stuff that it's hard to really starve for great beer. nb i also missed hopslam this year! but whatever, it's good but not amazeballs kill yourself to get it good.

Binny's in the city: PIA
Binny's out in the burbs: better luck. I've found that any of the Binny's off the beaten path a bit - Hyde Park, Elmwood Park, River Grove, even in the city on Grand - can bear results. But everything out here in the burbs, even around Oak Park (where I am), is a hair easier. I just got off the phone with two shops expecting shipments of Parabola tomorrow, albeit apparently tiny shipments.

I feel like it's easier to get rare beer these days than in the past*, for what it's worth.

*colonial India.

and although i have earned my way into a huge hookup hid this for you vibe with my local beer store (which luckily is amazing and staffed by good dudes) A)more and more of that ultrarare stuff is more weird than good honestly and B)ive spent TONS of money there to get to that point, which means that my fortune is costing other dudes from even having a shot at getting any of this stuff

xpost and yeah so that was a post from half an hour ago so feel free to ignore

I think the problem in Chicago is that there are just way, way, way too many dudes with tons of disposable money to throw at this thing. Sure, if I spent a couple hundred dollars a week at a local shop maybe they'd set some stuff aside for me. But if I spent a couple hundred dollars a week on beer, I'd also be homeless and divorced. So.

Nice surprise on my way home, stopped into the overpriced liquor store and they had Three Floyd's Permanent Funeral in the cooler. Thought I had missed out on it.

to be fair, I kind of think disposable time is more valuable in this case then disposable income.

Fair, I think it's a little bit of both. Having the time to track things down certainly helps, but it also helps to be a big spender at your local so they'll hold things for you.

Man U guys live in a different world, here the focus is all on taps and growlers, I have zero interest in chasing limited bottlings and don't really get it.

they don't have any three floyds anything near me

xp i live in a place where most taplists are terrible so

some of my fave ny breweries don't bottle anything, so taps are the only way to get 'em..
singlecut, barrier, and other half all do great stuff but ya can't get it outside of growlers/pints.

If I still lived near Revolution I'd be getting growlers, at least now that their product has leveled up. I'm not really into making trips across Chicago just for beer, though, and there are no decent bars near my current place. Finding rare stuff can be entertaining but I'd still take a well-produced, consistent product that's fresh and easily acquired any day of the week.

Unrelated: I drank too much beer and cider in Portland.

I'd still take a well-produced, consistent product that's fresh and easily acquired any day of the week.

so otm

For me the economics of growlers are not as good as bottles (unless it's some ridiculous growler-fill deal/blowout day).

For the most part, 64oz. growlers are usually priced > 72oz. 6-packs (or sometimes more than 3x22oz bombers!!!) and that is exclusive of the growler deposit ($5-9).

I'll get growlers of #rareshit but most of the time I'm dealing in bottles.

Taps are a completely different story as (unless you're at a brewery or taproom) you are out drinking at an establishment rather than purchasing at a liquor store, so there's the social element of being with your buddies. Then there's things that only show up in kegs so if you want to enjoy it, of course you have to belly up to the bar.

But back to bottles, anything that I'll get a chance to cellar (wilds and sours or anything bottle conditioned/aged), you need to deal in bottles to enjoy that stuff unless your local gets vintage kegs from breweries.

xp i live in a place where most taplists are terrible so

― call all destroyer, Monday, March 17, 2014 6:20 PM (58 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This makes sense, thanks

my wife doesn't drink beer and most nights i rarely have more than one beer most nights, unless i'm hanging out with friends, that for me growlers would go flat before i could finish them

yeah I should clarify that I don't buy growlers at all, but they sure seem popular in the PAC NW. We just hit a tap room or brewery if we want fancy, but we never get it to go.

I never go out drinking (that is, where drinking is the point) and when I have a beer out it's usually either one at lunch (with a low ABV) or one at dinner (one that won't put me to sleep). So I tend to avoid heavy beers out and about. If any of you think chasing down hard to find bottles is a rich man's game, I would counter that going to bars is a rich man's game, since the prices are exponentially higher for stuff like beer and whiskey, and I still have to factor in transportation costs and (in my case) babysitting. I mean, how can I say $20 for a six pack of Hopslam (or whatever it costs) is expensive, when a shitty beer at a Cubs game sets me back $8? But anyway, if I can find beers that I like in the stores, which I can then cellar to share with my friends or family, I'd prefer to go that route, which to me is easier, more convenient and more cost effective. Plus, I get to try a variety of beers I otherwise wouldn't try.

It is with great pride and humble excitement that I present to you the next chapter in the life of Tired Hands. Located at 35 Cricket Terrace in our fair town of Ardmore, this beautiful building will serve as our production facility (capable of producing up to 10,000 barrels of our Strange & Beautiful beer per year) as well as a secondary brewcafé (focusing on a very different culinary theme than our existing café). Both establishments will offer wildly different draft offerings as well (we will soon have room for hundreds of oak barrels).

While we don't have a proper name for our new facility just yet, we are all unbelievably excited to increase our contribution to the blossoming Philadelphia brewing scene.

Thank you all for your love and support throughout the past (almost) two years of operations. Stick with us... We are just getting started.

(that's a quote obv i'm not speaking as a rep of tired hands)

good for them

yeah I should clarify that I don't buy growlers at all, but they sure seem popular in the PAC NW

lol i buy growlers all the time, but then again i live with 3 others who are usually down to share and we live just a few blocks from a grocery store with two taps and a "growler station" with like 40 amazing taps so i def acknowledge that we are blessed. they're perfect if you want to drink beers a notch above the usual bottle offerings (which, as i have mentioned several times here, are also great) and still way less $$ than drinking them on-site. more often than not we just acquire growlers that people bring at potlucks or dinner parties, akin to a bottle of wine

just finished a growler of block 15's caves saison, it was sour and amazing and just $12. also the growler place will discount things based on demand, so ie: tonight i will probably grab a $6 growler of a solid cigar city/widmer collaboration chile beer that other people avoided