Black (beer) Friday

Jason the Magnificent - 11-26-2010 at 03:49 PM

So I go like an idiot downtown this morning @ 7am to grab a bottle of Goose Islands Bourbon County "Rare" stout. An imperial stout aged 2 years in 25 year old Pappy Van Winkle bourbon barrels. It's 21deg out and the beer doesn't go in sale till 9am but I'm still 112 in line...people were there with tents since way before dawn.

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I then decide since I froze my ass of for 2 hrs I'm going to get a second bottle for my trouble (way too much per bottle)....and also snag some more Coffee and Vanilla since it's about to go the way of the dodo once the 250+ people in line get through.

Then after my purchase went across the street to the actual brewpub where it was on draft as a one time deal...and waited in line for another 30 minutes...at least the sun was out.

But...I'm a glutton for punishment...so I drove a bit further north to Half Acre brewery whom I had still yet to try do to the fact they have very minimal distribution. I grabbed 2 4 packs of their Pale Ale tall boys.

The spoils...with my fantastico picture taking skillz.

Then decided to round it out with a stop at the infamous Kuma's Corner...for the "High on Fire" burger....

My stomach needs therapy right now.

Dave - 11-26-2010 at 04:05 PM

Awesome!

Discipline - 11-26-2010 at 04:18 PM

I could never stand in line like that for beer. Of course, I'm not a big beer drinker like some of you guys on here. I stick to beers I know I like and whiskey.

Jason the Magnificent - 11-26-2010 at 04:27 PM

Believe me...at around 8:15 after being out in that cold for over an hour I was seriously starting to question my judgment. Luckily they handed out those tickets and everyone got to go warm up for a few in their cars before re-lining up at 8:45 to be let in.

I almost shit when I saw the line at the brewpub...but I figured I was out there already and wasn't going to be opening the big bottles anytime soon.

Vanilla Gorilla - 11-26-2010 at 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Dave
Awesome!

JawnDiablo - 11-26-2010 at 06:15 PM

looks like you have a good night ahead of you

Jason the Magnificent - 11-26-2010 at 06:34 PM

Looking at beer advocate they sold out of around 150 cases before 11am. That's like $70k in beer sold in 2 hrs...nuts.

All those bombers are getting put up to age. I'll probably bring one of the "rare" ones from today to the P's at xmas...but the rest are special occasion beers. I've already had one of the Vanilla's yesterday and 2 of the coffee's this year...so I'm in no rush now. Especially since all of them were such a pain in the ass to get.

They'll develop up to 5 years in the bottle...so I'll have to dream up some special occasions over the next couple years! They're actually stellar cigar beers...with all that chocolate and bourbon flavor.

Jason the Magnificent - 11-26-2010 at 06:36 PM

The Daisy Cutter's though...those are fair game...and one hell of a pale ale.

I wish I could get them a little easier by me...but as I mentioned their distribution, coupled with crooked ass Chicago pay to play liquor practices makes it hard to get em outside the city proper.

Have a feeling I'll be swinging by there though a bit more often when I'm near the north side of the city.

JawnDiablo - 11-26-2010 at 06:39 PM

I'm headed to the beer store after dinner tonight... ..

BDx13 - 11-26-2010 at 10:12 PM

quite a haul!
are the 'rares' the ones in the green boxes?

Jason the Magnificent - 11-26-2010 at 10:24 PM

Yeah...I'm afraid to even open it and look inside. it is kind of cool that the packaged it like that though.

newbreedbrian - 11-26-2010 at 11:29 PM

Nice! So how was it on draft?

Jason the Magnificent - 11-26-2010 at 11:49 PM

It was pretty amazing. Very very smooth. I don't know that the quality of bourbon mattered as much as the quality and age of the barrel. Plus the stout being in there barrel for 2 yrs had to help. I really would have liked to have another one, but I was about at my limit for nonsense. I was hungry and tired from being in the cold all morning and they had ONE poor girl tending bar to like 200 people at the brewpub so it was taking FOREVER to get them. I wanted to get to Half Acre and get home.

This whole batch this year has been pretty stellar.

The coffee was insanely good fresh...I had one a month ago and it wasn't as impressive so I'm going to let the others sit.

The Vanilla basically tastes like their normal Bourbon County, just with a tad more vanilla at the end. Mostly hype, but at $13 a bomber it was a steal if you can find it, because it was still pretty damn delicious.

Discipline - 11-27-2010 at 12:17 AM

I still find the idea of chocolate flavour in kind of odd. They've been mentioned quite favourably on here a few times. I decided I wanted to to try out a couple but couldn't find any at the time I looked.

Jason the Magnificent - 11-27-2010 at 12:34 AM

Well it's not like its a bar of chocolate type chocolate flavor, though some like Youngs and Founders do the whole actual chocolate thing.

It's more of a hint, you can get notes of chocolate from a guinness, anything with roasted malt is going to give of that flavor.

newbreedbrian - 11-27-2010 at 01:21 PM

I've had a bottle of the regular Bourbon County we got in the states, it was really good. Got to try a sample of the coffee BCS at ACBF this year as well. The flavors were nice but they were having some carbonation problems as it just went on tap so it was severely undercarbonated when we got it, and really suffered for it. Can't see the others being anywhere to be found by the time we make it to the states again.

Mike, the LCBO selection pretty much sucks (though still better than our government liquor store). If you want to try a good stout with nice chocolate flavors, they are carrying Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout again. A stellar beer if you want to give that one a shot. I'll warn you, if you get into good beer, you'll really hate being in Ontario (and Canada for that matter). Your only option then will be to pay bar prices at Beer Bistro or Bar Volo (at least you guys have that option, we certainly don't) or to cross the border.

Discipline - 11-27-2010 at 02:41 PM

Might drop into the liquor store and see if they have any in stock.

JawnDiablo - 11-27-2010 at 04:01 PM

think I am hitting Pinochio's pizza today.
best singles selection in my area....
experimentation time.
i love talking beer....

Jason the Magnificent - 11-27-2010 at 05:00 PM

These Half Acre tallboys of their Daisy Cutter pale ale are so damn good...smells like a super hoppy IPA...is smooth like a nicely hopped yet malty pale ale and is foggy like a hefe.

newbreedbrian - 11-27-2010 at 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Discipline
Might drop into the liquor store and see if they have any in stock.

Just checked the store stock for ya, the only store listed as having any at the moment is :

City Address and Intersection Telephone Inventory
Date Quantity
On Hand
1. TORONTO-CENTRAL 2 COOPER STREET
QUEENS QUAY & YONGE (416)
864-6777 Nov 25, 2010 1

Looks like they one have one left. As often happens in all the shitty province run liquor stores (*sigh*), when something really good comes in they sell out really fast. Checked the stock for Peche Mortel as well, and quite a few stores seem to have it still in stock at the moment (including the one I listed). If you like good coffee, that's about the nicest beer/coffee marriage you're gonna find IMO.

JawnDiablo - 11-27-2010 at 08:19 PM

on my way out
I am sure I can find some good ones here:
http://www.pinbeer.com/pinbeer.asp

JawnDiablo - 11-27-2010 at 09:27 PM

I'm not nearly as well versed in beer as some of yous like Jason are, but here is what I picked up tonight at a place nearby :

Tröegs Mad Elf
Victory Baltic Thunder Porter
Victory Yakima Glory
Founder's Dirty Bastard
Oskar Blues Grill & Brewery Old Chub
Dogfish Head 90 minute Imperial IPA

I'm gonna be feeling nice real soon

BDx13 - 11-27-2010 at 10:30 PM

careful with that mad elf!
i had three of those with lunch the other day.
at 11%, they made for a great train ride home.

Jason the Magnificent - 11-27-2010 at 11:23 PM

Oskar Blues makes GREAT beer. I love craft beer in cans because it's always fresh. I had some of their stuff at the GABF a couple years back.

That Founders Dirty Bastard is my moms favorite beer lol...I got her hooked brining it up to their place in MI as Founders is halfway to their house.

JawnDiablo - 11-28-2010 at 12:31 AM

the Old Chub is something of an inside joke amongst me , my friend Ed and my friend Tom who used to bartend at the Khyber.....one night were in there and ed is looking at the beer list and says, "Tom, can I have an Old Chub?" Tom :"Nobody's ever asked for that, not sure what it is"...digs, digs in the cooler, and then pulls out the Old chub. It turned out to be a tasty joke.

Jason the Magnificent - 11-28-2010 at 04:29 AM

Oskar Blues is one of the many breweries I cant get due to Chicago beer politics...

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20101120/ISSUE01/3112...

Vanilla Gorilla - 11-28-2010 at 10:56 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jason the Magnificent
Oskar Blues is one of the many breweries I cant get due to Chicago beer politics...

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20101120/ISSUE01/3112...

that sucks i just watched a documentary called beer wars which was about the exact same thing and how each area has 2 or 3 distributors one that carries Anheuser Busch and another one or two that carry Miller and/or Coors and any microbrews, essentially locking out all the small brewers.

Oskar Blues makes some good stuff i am a fan of old chub, and Dale's Pale ale.

newbreedbrian - 11-28-2010 at 11:28 AM

Yup, Ten Fidy frickin' rules. I really enjoyed Gubna as well.

JawnDiablo - 11-28-2010 at 11:51 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Vanilla Gorilla

Quote:

Originally posted by Jason the Magnificent
Oskar Blues is one of the many breweries I cant get due to Chicago beer politics...

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20101120/ISSUE01/3112...

my local bar had Dale's on draft all fall. I was pretty happy about it because the guy had $2 pints of it during the world series and playoffs.
Old Chub was $2 a can last night.

BDx13 - 11-28-2010 at 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jason the Magnificent
Oskar Blues is one of the many breweries I cant get due to Chicago beer politics...

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20101120/ISSUE01/3112...

"That's good news for fans of Miller Lite and Bud Light"