Best (and worst) beers you've ever had

[AUFAN78 3,889]

On 12/11/2017 at 8:45 PM, Barnacle said:

Love me some BT. It and Elijah Craig are my go-to's under $30.00. Lately I've become more preferential to Elijah Craig, but I usually have a bottle of each. I need to re-up on my Blanton's. Its been a long time since I've owned a bottle. Probably 4 years. I do have a miniature bottle, but I don't want to open it because it looks so cool. Problem is, I dropped some serious coin on that bottle of George T. Stagg and Elijah Craig 18 years, so I'm trying to earn back some brownie points. Although, to that point, a friend's dad always tells me (about brownie points), "They're non-redeemable, and they don't accumulate over time." 

What did you think about the EC18? How much did you pay? 

I think I paid approx $137 and at that price, disappointed. I'll stick to Blanton's. 

Think I paid around $60 for some EC Barrel Proof. Not overly impressed with that either. Did enjoy the burn, but at 124.2 what would one expect? Simple. More.

[AUFAN78 3,889]

3 hours ago, Grumps said:

I need to try Devil's Harvest again.

Yep

[Tiger Refuge 6,660]

Tried these two tonight at my local bottle shop. Me likey. 

 

On on the subject of bottles v growler, I prefer bottles. Simply for the same reason Shocks said. Committing to a growler of high ABV beer can be fun and very painful.

[Grumps 3,693]

For a follow up question:

If the general consensus is that bottles are at least as good, then why does the trend seem to be to have dozens of beers on tap? Why not just have a huge selection of bottles?

[Tiger Refuge 6,660]

2 minutes ago, Grumps said:

For a follow up question:

If the general consensus is that bottles are at least as good, then why does the trend seem to be to have dozens of beers on tap? Why not just have a huge selection of bottles?

I know our local small brewery can have fun making one off beers in smaller batches and just keg it instead of bottling. It’s just easier.

Also, I imagine costs are lower per beer sold for kegged beer.

As far as a big bottle selection, I’ve seen some bars with a huuuge selection ie World of Beer.

[Barnacle 9,064]

7 hours ago, AUFAN78 said:

What did you think about the EC18? How much did you pay? 

I think I paid approx $137 and at that price, disappointed. I'll stick to Blanton's. 

Think I paid around $60 for some EC Barrel Proof. Not overly impressed with that either. Did enjoy the burn, but at 124.2 what would one expect? Simple. More.

I think I paid about the same. 

I don't know how excited I am about it right know. I've really only sampled it, and I need to break into it again for a longer study. 

I'm more excited about getting into the Stagg. 

[McLoofus 35,182]

11 hours ago, AUFAN78 said:

What did you think about the EC18? How much did you pay? 

I think I paid approx $137 and at that price, disappointed. I'll stick to Blanton's. 

Think I paid around $60 for some EC Barrel Proof. Not overly impressed with that either. Did enjoy the burn, but at 124.2 what would one expect? Simple. More.

Oh wow,. I loved the EC18, but not at $100+. Glad I tried someone else's, lol. Agreed that Blanton's is a better buy.

[McLoofus 35,182]

8 hours ago, Tiger Refuge said:

I know our local small brewery can have fun making one off beers in smaller batches and just keg it instead of bottling. It’s just easier.

Also, I imagine costs are lower per beer sold for kegged beer.

As far as a big bottle selection, I’ve seen some bars with a huuuge selection ie World of Beer.

Well said. Bottling/canning requires a lot of resources. You have to be able to justify that, i.e. make a lot of beer. There are lots of reasons to *not* make a lot of every beer, even some of the best ones. 

From a retailer perspective, there are some reasons not to stock certain beers. Shocks could probably speak most intelligently to that, but the biggest reason is "see above"- some beers just aren't ever bottled/canned.

From a consumer perspective, it's a way to get said beers that are otherwise unavailable, or to get extremely fresh beer from the brewery you're at, or simply just to keep the party going once you've safely arrived home. A 64 oz go cup, if you will. 

8:30 AM on a Thursday and I'm thirsty. THANKS, GUYS.

[ShocksMyBrain 9,362]

1 hour ago, McLoofus said:

Well said. Bottling/canning requires a lot of resources. You have to be able to justify that, i.e. make a lot of beer. There are lots of reasons to *not* make a lot of every beer, even some of the best ones. 

From a retailer perspective, there are some reasons not to stock certain beers. Shocks could probably speak most intelligently to that, but the biggest reason is "see above"- some beers just aren't ever bottled/canned.

From a consumer perspective, it's a way to get said beers that are otherwise unavailable, or to get extremely fresh beer from the brewery you're at, or simply just to keep the party going once you've safely arrived home. A 64 oz go cup, if you will. 

8:30 AM on a Thursday and I'm thirsty. THANKS, GUYS.

Some beers just don’t move. And having a customer come up to the counter asking for a discount or telling us we have out of date beer is embarrassing as hell. We don’t have a giant selection, but we do have a good amount of beer and we kill off SKUs all the time for beers that simply don’t sell. 

As a buyer, in some cases I don’t like a huge selection. I’ll have a hard time deciding what I want and if the brewery doesn’t put their best by or bottled on date on the package I run the risk of buying “old” beer. 

Furthermore, carrying more beer will entitle you to some of the allocated stuff. We don’t sell much Bell’s(except Two Hearted), hence why our competitor got a case stack of Black Note. 

[Tiger Refuge 6,660]

2 minutes ago, ShocksMyBrain said:

Some beers just don’t move. And having a customer come up to the counter asking for a discount or telling us we have out of date beer is embarrassing as hell. We don’t have a giant selection, but we do have a good amount of beer and we kill off SKUs all the time for beers that simply don’t sell. 

As a buyer, in some cases I don’t like a huge selection. I’ll have a hard time deciding what I want and if the brewery doesn’t put their best by or bottled on date on the package I run the risk of buying “old” beer. 

Furthermore, carrying more beer will entitle you to some of the allocated stuff. We don’t sell much Bell’s(except Two Hearted), hence why our competitor got a case stack of Black Note. 

This is me...all damn(durn?) day long.

[ShocksMyBrain 9,362]

Oh and our bourbon raffle is tonight. Prepare to drool. I am too because I won’t be able to afford 3/4 of it. 

[ShocksMyBrain 9,362]

Just now, Tiger Refuge said:

This is me...all damn(durn?) day long.

Places like Hop City and Binny’s in the Chicagoland area are overwhelming. 

Although, I think I’ve experienced enough beer that Hop City won’t be so daunting next time I’m in. But Binny’s carries so much beer that doesn’t make its way south and is local that I’ll spend an hour just walking up and down the aisles on my phone looking at ratings. 

[Tiger Refuge 6,660]

1 minute ago, ShocksMyBrain said:

Places like Hop City and Binny’s in the Chicagoland area are overwhelming. 

Although, I think I’ve experienced enough beer that Hop City won’t be so daunting next time I’m in. But Binny’s carries so much beer that doesn’t make its way south and is local that I’ll spend an hour just walking up and down the aisles on my phone looking at ratings. 

Exactly. The last time I experienced a new beer store, I spent over an hour in what was essentially a crawl space wringing my hands over the new choices. 

[McLoofus 35,182]

1 minute ago, ShocksMyBrain said:

As a buyer, in some cases I don’t like a huge selection.

I've found that nothing makes me happier than a short-ish and expertly curated list. Wal-Marts of beer like Taco Mac and Yardhouse don't really do it for me anymore. (Haven't been to the WoB on Hilton Head yet.)

There's a pub in Atlanta called Steinbeck's that is sneaky awesome. They rarely go in on social media, they never host brewer events, they've got maybe 8 or 10 taps... but their list is always gorgeous and you'll almost always find something special there. They're the kind of place that can and will keep a keg of CBS on for a couple days because they're not courting the hardcore beer geek crowd. They just serve what they want to drink themselves. Killer food, too.

Damn, I miss Steinbeck's. 

[Tiger Refuge 6,660]

30 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

I've found that nothing makes me happier than a short-ish and expertly curated list. Wal-Marts of beer like Taco Mac and Yardhouse don't really do it for me anymore. (Haven't been to the WoB on Hilton Head yet.)

There's a pub in Atlanta called Steinbeck's that is sneaky awesome. They rarely go in on social media, they never host brewer events, they've got maybe 8 or 10 taps... but their list is always gorgeous and you'll almost always find something special there. They're the kind of place that can and will keep a keg of CBS on for a couple days because they're not courting the hardcore beer geek crowd. They just serve what they want to drink themselves. Killer food, too.

Damn, I miss Steinbeck's. 

*discretely adds to list*

[AUld fAUx@ 2,584]

11 hours ago, Tiger Refuge said:

I know our local small brewery can have fun making one off beers in smaller batches and just keg it instead of bottling. It’s just easier.

Also, I imagine costs are lower per beer sold for kegged beer.

As far as a big bottle selection, I’ve seen some bars with a huuuge selection ie World of Beer.

 

2 hours ago, McLoofus said:

Well said. Bottling/canning requires a lot of resources. You have to be able to justify that, i.e. make a lot of beer. There are lots of reasons to *not* make a lot of every beer, even some of the best ones. 

From a retailer perspective, there are some reasons not to stock certain beers. Shocks could probably speak most intelligently to that, but the biggest reason is "see above"- some beers just aren't ever bottled/canned.

From a consumer perspective, it's a way to get said beers that are otherwise unavailable, or to get extremely fresh beer from the brewery you're at, or simply just to keep the party going once you've safely arrived home. A 64 oz go cup, if you will. 

8:30 AM on a Thursday and I'm thirsty. THANKS, GUYS.

and at least in my corner of AL, the resources to jump through the hoops for off-premises distribution can be pretty dear as well

[McLoofus 35,182]

8 minutes ago, Tiger Refuge said:

*discretely adds to list*

I normally don't recommend it to out-of-towners because it's not on the beaten (and worthy) Atlanta beer trail, but it's not particularly far from Brick Store and is in the same neighborhood as Ale Yeah!, which is my favorite bottle shop in town. Bonus points for usually having a crusty old Irish bartender who finishes most sentences with "fer fook's sek". Or sometimes that's the whole sentence. 

Definitely PM me if ever over that way and I can give you the full rundown of the area. More great food and booze in Decatur and Oakhurst than you could ever hope to conquer. That goes for everyone here.

[McLoofus 35,182]

2 minutes ago, AUld fAUx@ said:

and at least in my corner of AL, the resources to jump through the hoops for off-premises distribution can be pretty dear as well

Imagine what it's been like for GA brewers all this time who, until very recently, could *only* distribute off premises. 

[AUld fAUx@ 2,584]

6 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

Imagine what it's been like for GA brewers all this time who, until very recently, could *only* distribute off premises. 

The bulk-from-keg distribution in AL is still pretty recent, and fairly volume-limited (case-equivalent).

Gained some local notoriety for being the first (and second) to take out the crowler limit from Fairhope Brewery. Also first to bring in a friend to carry out 2x.

[McLoofus 35,182]

Just now, AUld fAUx@ said:

The bulk-from-keg distribution in AL is still pretty recent, and fairly volume-limited (case-equivalent).

Gained some local notoriety for being the first (and second) to take out the crowler limit from Fairhope Brewery. Also first to bring in a friend to carry out 2x.

Fairhope needs men like you on that wall.

[AUld fAUx@ 2,584]

2 hours ago, McLoofus said:

...

8:30 AM on a Thursday and I'm thirsty. THANKS, GUYS.

 

16 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

Fairhope needs men like you on that wall.

As an aside,

I'm on my second,

and have a brewery/shopping trip planned today.

[Tiger Refuge 6,660]

3 hours ago, AUld fAUx@ said:

 

As an aside,

I'm on my second,

and have a brewery/shopping trip planned today.

Maker’s for me this afternoon. I’m off for 11 days. God help my liver.

[ShocksMyBrain 9,362]

[ShocksMyBrain 9,362]

I think I’m gonna go with one of these two if my name gets called. 

[McLoofus 35,182]

13 hours ago, ShocksMyBrain said:

I'll have the Saz 18, please.

Also... jeeeeeeeeez.