[quote=“freddbird, post:1842, topic:1221”]
Already had my hands full when I saw these Bourbon County variants. How are the prices on these? $25 for variant, $55 for toasted, $40 for 30th anniversary. [/quote]
Those prices seem pretty standard. Definitely for the variants, but I think across the board.
I’d be stunned to see variants on the shelves around me, but I think it’s less surprising than it used to be, for a few reasons:
After seeing consumers lining up overnight to buy these beers, and having these beers sell out in an instant, GI has been willing to significantly increase the pricing to get more in line with demand. That’s pissed off a bunch of beer drinkers, but I’m not sure what else you’d expect - in how many other industries is it natural for companies to maintain low prices in the face of enormous demand (including secondary markets at much higher prices)? It’s similar to Bruce Springsteen letting his ticket prices go up to balance supply and demand.
There’s a much deeper set of available alternatives. Barrel-aged beers are a dime a dozen now, but I think the most obvious examples are local: Revolution puts out absolutely killer barrel-aged beers at very affordable prices (say, $35 for 4-pack of coffee stouts). And 3 Floyds puts out occasional affordable bangers, like Dismembers Only.
If I saw those on the shelf, I would probably buy one or two just because I’ve trained my muscles to automatically buy “rare” beer when I see it, but I’ve come a long way in reversing that tendency now that I’ve finally realized all this “rare” beer in my basement is just going to waste.
I’m trying to fix the problem where I buy a lot of special beer that ends up just sitting in my basement, because what I tend to actually reach for on a day-to-day basis is a basic IPA. So I try to be intentional on days like Christmas, and dig out saved beers instead of just grabbing one from the front of the fridge.
First Christmas beer was a Drie Fonteinen Zenne & Frontera:
This is basically lambic aged in 40-year old Sherry casks. I was excited when 3F made this available on its website and my fast fingers got a package before it sold out. That being said, I had no idea what to expect, and I was a little leery of what the sherry would add. It turned out to be a good news/bad news situation, with the good dominating the bad. The short story is that I thought it was excellent and I will happily drink it again (good!), but I’m not sure I could identify it in a blind tasting against 3F’s regular (also excellent) gueuze (bad!). The theme of, “Just buy regular gueuze instead of all these harder-to-find variants, you idiot” continues.
Second bottle:
2013 Goose Island Bourbon County Barleywine
This is different from what they currently sell, in that it’s not just a barleywine aged in a bourbon barrel. Instead, it’s a barleywine that was aged in a third-use barrel that orginally held bourbon, but was then used to age Bourbon County Stout. So flavorwise, it’s hard to identify this as a barleywine or a stout.
Either way, it’s absolutely phenomenal, and I wish they’d try this experiment again. Completely holds up after almost 10 years and I gulped this down while playing Mario Kart with the kids. I have several more of these and can’t wait to get into them.
Fat Heads, out of Cleveland, is one of my favorite breweries. It makes a killer, widely-available IPA - Head Hunter. What’s odd is that they come out with a bunch of different IPAs throughout the year, but I’m not sure I could tell them apart in a blind taste test. This is tonight:
Pretty good, but I’m not sure I liked it more than the base KBS. I’m not super enthusiastic about getting through the rest of the 4-pack (which was about $24 - a price that I don’t think is exorbitant for a barrel-aged stout).
An internal investigation by the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission, obtained by The Associated Press via public records request Wednesday, concluded that Executive Director Steve Marks and five other agency officials had diverted sought-after bourbons, including Pappy Van Winkle’s 23-year-old whiskey, for their personal use.
Had one of these this weekend. Absolutely incredible. Far better than what I remember from prior batches, and it might be the best barrel-aged stout I’ve ever had. Easily the best one in recent memory.
I know there are some fellow Pseudo Sue from Toppling Goliath fans here. I saw their Triple IPA version Seismic Sue, picked some up. Quite good but honesty I still think Pseudo Sue is the best version.
