Beer in the new era

Still haven't really warmed much to the BCBS, just feel gross when I drink it

I'd sell every beer in my closet right now for 10 grand.

Don't the BCS labels say up to 5 years on them? Could that be why the 2007 was a letdown? I also figure they've been getting better and better at this. Do you remember how much the ABVs varied?

― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, November 30, 2014 7:45 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It does say 5 years. 2007 was the worst, but 2006 and 2005 tasted much better. Not great, and a shell of its former self, but still drinkable. The ABV's did vary, and evidently, GI is better about putting the right ABV on the bottle now. That's why you see two different batches of the current BCS, 13.8% and 14.4%.

still need to try it, but huge heavy stouts i can enjoy every once in a while, but really i am not as into them as i used to be. i had the anderson valley bourbon barrel-aged stout on draft the other night and it was awesome, only 6.9% and it felt nice to drink a barrel-aged stout that wasn't 12% or some shit.

agree w/ feeling gross sometimes with heavy alcoholic stouts. though i could definitely be into splitting a bottle w/ someone when it's -10 outside and i'm sitting by a fire.

The Evil Twin stouts are like 9 and 10%, I think. I find that to be about my limit of drinkable beers.

also noticed when i smoke a little weed stouts are like the grossest fucking thing

Maybe balance it with a bowl of ice cream?

wdyll when holding a 3l bottle of dragons milk

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B3zYMBIIYAAHGlM.jpg

xps - i don't see any problem whatsoever with boozy beers in cold weather. in the middle of august - no thanks. but december when it's 34 degrees and raining? yes please, i need something warming.

i broke down and supported the AB-InDevil by buying a couple bcbs 4-packs over the weekend and i have to admit - it's tasting pretty delicious. i also had the 10 barrel rum-barrel aged pumpkin thing and it was damn near perfect for thxgiving dessert. to atone for my sins i made sure to buy a couple of bottles of the also-recently-released deschutes abyss, and a midnight sun berserker (not as much of a bourbon-bomb as bcbs of course, but red wine/chocolate/tobacco/dark fruits for days. my current favorite RIS)

and not to be a west coast cliche, but IPAs + w33d amirite?

hell yeah

+1

yep

Also all you folks regifting the 5 rabbit grapefruit beer should send it my way because I bet I would love it

http://thebrewbuzz.com/5-bourbon-barrel-aged-stouts-better-than-bourbon-county-brand-stout/

saw lots of angry facebook frothing at the mouth about this one

it's so dumb when people compare beers with national distro to beers that are available in like a small region of a single state.

oh goodie http://buy.rogue.com/rogue-sriracha-hot-stout-beer/

official brewery of baconism

got a couple bombers of my favorite beer from this year's Great Taste of the Midwest, 'Convenient Distraction' by O'So (imperial porter w/coffee & vanilla beans).

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:CBpF_i6iazkJ:www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/walgreensgate.234398/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

Lol @ the drama that unfolds around these things. Evidently a Walgreens had that they would start selling at 12:00 noon, but someone talked a night manager into selling it a case at the time at midnight. Hilarity ensues. This is the response of one guy that bought some of the cases and his justification. Basically, "you guys would have done the same thing!!!"

incredible post.

Yeah, I saw that! Pretty silly, this stuff. There does seem to be a consensus that it was harder to find this year, but there are also strong rumors that GI is planning to up its BCS to year-round, with other limited releases scattered throughout. At the least the new barrel aging warehouse is supposedly Raiders of the Lost Ark huge.

Anyone local considering this:

SUN JANUARY 25, 2015
1:00 PM
(1:00 PM DOORS)
UPPERS & DOWNERS

A Festival of Coffee Beers from Intelligentsia Coffee + Good Beer HuntingFor over a year, Intelligentsia Coffee + Good Beer Hunting have been working with some of the most creative brewers and roasters in the country to create and showcase innovative coffee beers. Through a series of educational and competitive events, the series has inspired some amazing creations, such as a coffee saison, coffee quad, and even a cascara cider among many others.

This event brings many of those concoctions together for the first time, as well as some of the best coffee beers on the market, a multi-roaster coffee bar, cocktails, home-brew competition winners, small bites from Dusek’s, and new-to-the-world beers from a series of one-off experiments with Goose Island and Solemn Oath breweries.

Each ticket offers up to 15 tastings. Passed small bites included.

I haven't found any bcbs at all this year, even at the sweet spot where I got all varieties last year. The booze guy there told me three different stories: first he said they'd be getting some of everything early last week, then that he didn't think they were getting anything and that the GI rep said they weren't making the bombers until January, and finally that they had only gotten the regular stuff. As far as I can tell, absolutely none of these stories have been true.

Almost every shop or store I've talked to said they were hosed. And those are the honest ones. Meanwhile, pictures proliferate of piles and piles of the stuff at Costco and Walgreens and whatnot, with no purchase limits. I dunno. It's good, but it's also only beer.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/i-think-i-got-duped-feedback-please.234718/

Just read that this morning. I would be annoyed.

Holy crap, I just watched every ep of Just Keep Tastin' for the first time. Any local dudes know these dudes? Anyway, in the off chance someone here hasn't seen this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIyV0J2IEGI

I follow PK on twitter, he's pretty funny.

These are pretty good too: http://dontdrinkbeer.com/

The should really chug a whole bottle of Utopias.

holy crap that BA thread, remind me to only trade with ppl itt

yeah even in the annals of trader insanity that thread is insane

http://firstwefeast.com/drink/craft-beer-mules-exposed/

Secret world of beer muling.

I mean, I get that this shit always has been going on and always will be going on, but stuff like this:

a Beerz 4 Fearz Chicago operative spent most of November going around to area retailers offering to buy their entire allotment for 20% over cost—so long as they would assure him the beer would never hit their shelves. While you were scrounging for a meager four-pack, he acquired literally thousands of bottles.

just really sours me on the whole special release thing completely.

Yeah that's incredibly lame, and the "you'd do it too if you could" justifications hold little sway with me.

welp, i've seen enough. time to set up a rival ilx beer mule network/cartel and give these assholes some competition

A retailer who thinks so little of his customers that he would sell an entire allotment to one asshole and promise the beer would never hit their shelves is as lame as the beer mules imo.

It's basically like ticket scalpers hiring people to stand in line/call for them. Totally lame. But then, there are shops (http://www.archerliquors.com/Goose_Island/Goose_Island_Bourbon_County_2014.html) and breweries who do it right, so, the buck ultimately stops with the distributors for not finding an equitable solution. There is really no reason the BCS should have hit Costco, let alone Walgreens. If they have a product hyped enough to get hundreds of people to line up, they should have a system to reward those willing to line up.

There are also shops totally gouging on this stuff, which is an asshole thing to do, too.

god this shit is so fuckin stupid

lol @ all these ppl desperate to buy InBev products

TBF, as lame as InBev is, the BCS is still done locally and on a small scale, afaict.

i don't even care if it's inbev, there are so many good beers to drink that are widely available that i really do not understand this absurd hunting down and coveting and collecting of what in the end is just another good beer

Amazingly, Sam’s only met two fellow group members in person. One was a loathsome tub of lard from New Hampshire who was as bad as you could possibly imagine a beer geek being

lol this has to be 4d4m j4ckson

lol i had the same thought

we moved recently and so i stopped by the place closest. Was browsing around their modest yet smart beer section, grabbed a 32oz of Lagunitas Sucks. Dude at that counter asked if i'm into craft beer. I say sure i'm down and he pulls out a bunch of BCS from under the counter! i haven't even searched for it this year. grabbed a 2 reg, coffee and a vanilla rye.

only bcbs i'd go out of my way to drink this year is proprietors which is soooo good

I'm just amazed that someone can get 81 bottles of a rare release. I don't have the time, money, connections, or resources to get anywhere near that. Usually I just want to find two!

these dudes need to fucking chill out about this stuff tho. it's a nice treat but it's not all that.