The Beer Thread

i totally skipped on harvest ale this year.  there beers do seem to have more variance from year-to-year than other breweries do. either that, or my taste-preference changes too often.

You know it's a banner beer day at your Whole Foods when they have Goose Island BCBS, Firestone Walker Double Jack, Dupont Avec les bons Vouex, Backwoods Bastard, and Ten Fidy on tap at the same time. And then when the first two run out, they have Delirium Noel and Dogfish Old School 2010 ready as replacements.

In the last few weeks, I've picked up a four-pack of Backwoods Bastard, BCS, and a bottle of Mikkeller Beer Hop Breakfast. Also had to get a four-pack of Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout, was only $7.99 and it's a terrific stout. BCS is heavenly.

Has anybody picked up a fresh sixer of Victory Yakima Glory? If so, what was the "enjoy by" date?

I went to three different stores and all had "new" sixers with the enjoy by date of 11/30/12. The enjoy by date is normally a year out.

One of the stores (Ricks) was sending theirs back. It remains on the shelf for sale at other two stores.

$12.99 for a six-pack of DC Brau Citizen at Schneiders - is this the typical price?  seems way high.

HoyaSaxa03 wrote:
$12.99 for a six-pack of DC Brau Citizen at Schneiders - is this the typical price?  seems way high.

Schneiders usually shades to the high side on beer, so I imagine that is fairly close to the going rate around town, but not significantly higher.  I've only ever bought sixers of DC Brau straight from the brewery on Saturdays and it's 10 bucks there, so you figure a few markups get you to $12.99 pretty quick.

i really should have gone to dc brau over the weekend.  mainly to stock up on $10 six-packs (most stores they are $11, fwiw), and they had that barrel-aged and soured burial at sea english mild special release.  anybody ever try that?

stevewizzle wrote:

imbecile wrote:
How odd.. I just read an article about ABInbev and their new CEO, which mentions Goose Island.  The article is meh, but I kept going as I was tired of election coverage and needed a distraction from my distraction from work.

http://www.businessweek.com/printer/articles/78040-the-plot-to-destroy-americas-beer

To sum up - ABInBev buys something, increases prices and decreases production costs, usually by sacrificing flavor, makes a lot of money and then repeats the process.  Doesn't bode well for Goose Island.

wut a sensationalist headline.  inbev sucks, their beer sucks, and the idea of sending money oversea's for beer bought in america sucks the most.

but breweries are popping up all over, and there's nothing inbev can do to stop it.  they will continue to fail in the US market, and instances like walkie taking note of goose island's shitty production as of late will only perpetuate their failure. we are developing our own beer culture throughout the states, and it has everything to do with locality, fresh ingredients, and innovative beers.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/food/stew/chi-new-brewery-john-laffler-20121127,0,6788177.story

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-11-16/news/chi-john-hall-to-leave-goose-island-as-ceo-20121115_1_anheuser-busch-urban-wheat-ale-goose-island

my take: the non-compete and/or retention bonus dates just hit, so the big wigs are taking the money and running.  my prediction is that goose island will continue to slide downhill.  oh well, it was nice while it lasted.

i just drink beer because it tastes good.

wut a sensationalist headline.  inbev sucks, their beer sucks, and the idea of sending money oversea's for beer bought in america sucks the most.

the american story in a nutshell:  nativist racists marketed prohibition as a way to address the german threat at home during WWI, then a century later these same "german" breweries are so goddamn american that the country gets all up in arms when they're sold to international conglomerates.

James wrote:
I paid 7.75 Euro for a single bottle at a bottle store in Bruges. That's about $10, right?

FYI according to page 19 of the May/June'09 issue of Zymurgy (magazine of the American Homebrewers Association, which I just joined), when you buy a case of Westvleteren directly from the abbey a bottle comes out to about $2 (36 euro, or about $48, for a case of 24).

How much does a daily car rental cost to get you out the abbey? Because public transportation isn't getting you there.

sweetcell wrote:

James wrote:
I paid 7.75 Euro for a single bottle at a bottle store in Bruges. That's about $10, right?

FYI according to page 19 of the May/June'09 issue of Zymurgy (magazine of the American Homebrewers Association, which I just joined), when you buy a case of Westvleteren directly from the abbey a bottle comes out to about $2 (36 euro, or about $48, for a case of 24).

James wrote:
How much does a daily car rental cost to get you out the abbey? Because public transportation isn't getting you there.

according to the article, you can in fact get there by train and bicycle.  obviously you won't be carrying much beer back with you…

my point was that the mark-up on what you paid was abnormally high.  it's damn expensive to ship beer from anywhere, but you don't get a 3 to 5 time markup like that. 

mind you, if i was in that bottle shop i would have gladly paid $10 for a bottle ;D

HoyaSaxa03 wrote:

wut a sensationalist headline.  inbev sucks, their beer sucks, and the idea of sending money oversea's for beer bought in america sucks the most.

the american story in a nutshell:  nativist racists marketed prohibition as a way to address the german threat at home during WWI, then a century later these same "german" breweries are so goddamn american that the country gets all up in arms when they're sold to international conglomerates.

why do you hate freedom

And how much would a round trip train ticket and a bike rental cost? Multiply that by the three people we had in our party, and factor in a four year old riding a bike on country roads might have been a wee bit tough going.  ;)

sweetcell wrote:

James wrote:
How much does a daily car rental cost to get you out the abbey? Because public transportation isn't getting you there.

according to the article, you can in fact get there by train and bicycle.  obviously you won't be carrying much beer back with you…

my point was that the mark-up on what you paid was abnormally high.  it's damn expensive to ship beer from anywhere, but you don't get a 3 to 5 time markup like that. 

mind you, if i was in that bottle shop i would have gladly paid $10 for a bottle ;D

Last night finished the last of the 18 Heady Toppers we bought three months ago at the brewery. Wasn't nearly as good as the first, but still held up remarkably well for the three month mark.

Sigh. I guess I'm stuck going back to drinking Sculpin and Ruination for my hop fix. At least until we make the trip to Chicago, Ohio, and Indiana and bring home some Zombie Dust, Alpha King, Daisy Cutter, White Rajah, Dreadnaught, Headhunter, and whatever else we can drink in two or three months, while still saving room for the Hopslam arrival.

James wrote:
Sigh. I guess I'm stuck going back to drinking Sculpin and Ruination for my hop fix. At least until we make the trip to Chicago, Ohio, and Indiana and bring home some Zombie Dust, Alpha King, Daisy Cutter, White Rajah, Dreadnaught, Headhunter, and whatever else we can drink in two or three months, while still saving room for the Hopslam arrival.

don't forget to also save some room in the car for that cute kid of yours ;D

She can ride on the roof with the dog. Mitt style in subfreezing temps for 13 hours.

Priorities, man.

sweetcell wrote:

James wrote:
Sigh. I guess I'm stuck going back to drinking Sculpin and Ruination for my hop fix. At least until we make the trip to Chicago, Ohio, and Indiana and bring home some Zombie Dust, Alpha King, Daisy Cutter, White Rajah, Dreadnaught, Headhunter, and whatever else we can drink in two or three months, while still saving room for the Hopslam arrival.

don't forget to also save some room in the car for that cute kid of yours ;D

James wrote:
Last night finished the last of the 18 Heady Toppers we bought three months ago at the brewery. Wasn't nearly as good as the first, but still held up remarkably well for the three month mark.

Sigh. I guess I'm stuck going back to drinking Sculpin and Ruination for my hop fix. At least until we make the trip to Chicago, Ohio, and Indiana and bring home some Zombie Dust, Alpha King, Daisy Cutter, White Rajah, Dreadnaught, Headhunter, and whatever else we can drink in two or three months, while still saving room for the Hopslam arrival.

Soo.. Ballast  Point has arrived?  I still haven't ran across any, but wasn't actively looking until I heard some confirmation that it was starting to show up in stores.  I'm excited now, been looking forward to this.

Saw Sculpin and Big Eye sixers at Foggy Bottom Whole Foods yesterday. Saw Big Eye and Pale Ale sixers at P St Whole Foods today. I recommend the Sculpin. And the six pack was $3 cheaper (at $14.99) than the VA Whole Foods prices.

FYI, VA has been getting Ballast Point fora couple of years now, draft, bombers, and sixers. Though we just started getting the Sculpin sixers.

Also just has Victory at Sea for the first time on draft tonight. They have it at Smoke and Barrel and Meridian Pint.
That shit was fanfuckingtastic.

imbecile wrote:

James wrote:
Last night finished the last of the 18 Heady Toppers we bought three months ago at the brewery. Wasn't nearly as good as the first, but still held up remarkably well for the three month mark.

Sigh. I guess I'm stuck going back to drinking Sculpin and Ruination for my hop fix. At least until we make the trip to Chicago, Ohio, and Indiana and bring home some Zombie Dust, Alpha King, Daisy Cutter, White Rajah, Dreadnaught, Headhunter, and whatever else we can drink in two or three months, while still saving room for the Hopslam arrival.

Soo.. Ballast  Point has arrived?  I still haven't ran across any, but wasn't actively looking until I heard some confirmation that it was starting to show up in stores.  I'm excited now, been looking forward to this.