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Y-Hat posted:My college's beer bar (in Allentown, PA) opened a tap room in Reading. I've never had the urge to go to that city, but after getting an email from them (I'm still on their email list to remind myself of what I'm missing) about their upcoming events, I kinda want to go there. I will definitely be there. And early. I have my 2 bottles of Better Half, and a case of last year's KBS... but I must have it on tap.
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Mar 15, 2012 00:45
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bartolimu posted:I'll be in Anaheim this weekend for the Bruery Reserve Club event. Are there any bottle shops in the Anaheim/Orange/Tustin area that could supplement the selection at Bruery Provisions? The provisions store is also great if you never been. But that's more of the same bruery stuff you'll be drinking. Take the few mile drive to go over to Bootleggers Brewery. The Tustin Total Wines and Whole Foods also have a great selection of bottles.
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Mar 15, 2012 01:05
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As recommended, I picked up some of the 2009/2010 Orval I found locally. drat this stuff is acidic. The tasting note at the store was all about hops, but I guess those have fallen off in the three years since bottling. Or is sour Orval a sign that horrible things have happened and I am about to poo poo my pancreas out?
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Mar 15, 2012 01:45
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ShaneB posted:It was kind of a spontaneous thing, sorry bro. I'd like to get in on next, too  I'll see if I can scrounge up something interesting, and maybe I can shoot some ideas for my group's innovation beer by you...Julio Cesar Fatass posted:As recommended, I picked up some of the 2009/2010 Orval I found locally. drat this stuff is acidic. The tasting note at the store was all about hops, but I guess those have fallen off in the three years since bottling. Orval should be funky, dry and tart after that long, but not outright acidic. Hop flavor and aroma falls off before almost anything else in beer, but I'm surprised that your batch seems as lambic-y as you make it sound. You may indeed have an infected batch, or maybe just one that was kept in improper conditions (e.g. on a fluorescent-lit store shelf at fluctuating temperatures for years on end). And no, sour beers will not make you ill, since nothing pathological to humans can live in beer. You might have some bad gas though. 
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Mar 15, 2012 01:52
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Tonight its just a little Sumpin' Sumpin'... and that's what's up.
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Mar 15, 2012 02:36
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Haven't read this thread in a while...here is my update: Day of the Living Ales (like two weeks ago?) was awesome. Some really cool beers there to try (and some crazy ones, curry IPA?!). I loved the Baume, chocolate rye stout, by Half Acre that ended up winning. Great to see some of my favorite places like Piece represented there too! Downside, got far far far too drunk. Awesome time. I ended up being a runner up in the Cipher contest by Half Acre too! Here was the haul that I got today:  In addition to a few tastings with the people working, and a nice tour of the facility! Such cool people. Came home with a growler of their Chocolate Camaro (Chocolate Milk Stout) as well. Just tried it, and while stouts aren't quite my thing yet...pretty decent. Not quite as sweet as I was expecting(I think I expect too sweet when I hear milk stout), but I think that is the chocolate cutting that a bit. Don't regret the growler at all! E: Just read back to the BCS Bramble Rye report...I kind of agree. I seem to have liked it more than you guys, but the bottle was split 4 ways so it probably just didn't wear as much on us. ChiTownEddie fucked around with this message at 03:40 on Mar 15, 2012 |
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Mar 15, 2012 03:35
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Kudosx posted:Yeah, the one with the blue cap is called BORIS 100, and was brewed with different malts. I agree that regular BORIS is the better than both BORIS 100 and BA BORIS. Yeah I think the standard BORIS just uses US 2-row malt, while the 100 used Maris Otter as the base, which is kicks it up a notch, to say the least, in the maltiness department....BAM Kudosx posted:I was really disappointed when I read your post at first because I thought you were talking about Columbus Brewing Company's IPA. I then remembered that Columbus is also a type of hops! Yeah, I don't know when they started making that, but a friend and I have gotten a pretty good clone brew going, we used citra with a bit of simcoe background and it seemed to mimic Columbus's pretty well.
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Mar 15, 2012 03:59
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Guess I'll avoid the limited BORIS then, Hoppin Frog's Silk Porter is decent though, nice balance of the roasted, toasted and caramel malts giving it a nice sweetness but not too sweet like a lot of beers with caramel malts seem to be. It's definitely thicker though than most porters, especially for a 6.2% beer, it's pretty much full-bodied, just a bit thicker than I'm expecting.
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Mar 15, 2012 04:23
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What a day for beer! Went to the Dogfish Head brewpub today. Between my friends and I, we had a 2009 Old School and almost all of their currently offered pub-only offerings. Dirty Fermentini: Never had a beer with olive notes in it before. I'm not a huge fan of dirty martinis, so the aftertaste wasn't so great for me. A lot saltier than I would expect in a beer. Black Lodge: A bit mis-marketed, I think. It's extremely roasty, which ends up dominating any other flavors. Certainly didn't taste like cherry. Bricolage: At this point my tastebuds were a bit worn out so I can't weigh in that much on it. The pepper was really awesome, as it just introduced a lingering warmth that helped round out the other spices. Worth trying a sample, but not necessarily something I'd bite at the bit to get bottled. El Diablo Verde: Holy poo poo. This was surprisingly good. Even though I'm a huge hot sauce enthusiast, I generally don't like spicy beers. They usually end up unbalanced and a bit gimmicky. El Diablo is a pretty stand-out exception to this, and I am really sad this doesn't see bottling. Definitely worth a shot if you can get it. Given access to DFH's taps, I at long last lived the dream. I got a Heaven and Hell: a black and tan with 120 minute and World Wide Stout. Had it in a sample glass 'cus I wasn't sure if I'd like it.  Most of the time I find myself hating black and tans. The beers are usually different enough that it just feels like drinking two separate beers with a sort of grey area in between that's unenjoyable. 120 minute works really well, since it wasn't very hop-forward and meshed well with the alcohol burn of the World Wide Stout. The stout's roast flavors actually transitioned well into the sweet-and-boozy 120, which I didn't expect. Although I can't really get behind it enough to recommend that everyone should drop $20 on two bottles and do it themselves, it's certainly worth a shot if you enjoy both brews. Especially if you can get them on tap.
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Mar 15, 2012 06:13
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Angry Grimace posted:In San Diego news, Hess Brewing, a "nanobrewery" that operates out of a tiny, garage like space, is moving to North Park and starting a canning operation. We're going to have two canned craft beer places after Pizza Port opens its cannery next year. Also, about 4 new breweries opened this month. You would think you'd hit market saturation at some point. This list is ridiculous: http://www.westcoastersd.com/sd-brewing-industry-watch-2012/ Also, I REALLY want to try Wet 'N Reckless Brewing, sounds like a total "A Random Dude That Makes & Sells Beer" sorta place and he's got some good variety on tap. Market saturation will hopefully be tempered by the continued rise in beer tourism...it's crazy how that's becoming the next big chic reason to travel that all the DINKs seem to be doing. Of course, it doesn't matter if they don't crank out good beers, and with more breweries there'll also be an increase in the number of inevitably mediocre places looking to capitalize off the craft beer explosion.
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Mar 15, 2012 06:38
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wattershed posted:This list is ridiculous: http://www.westcoastersd.com/sd-brewing-industry-watch-2012/ It's totally true that we have plenty of wannabees that don't produce anything of note, like Mission Brewery, which only exists so some guy can relive his fantasy of owning the old pre-prohibition Mission Brewery. I'm not a huge fan of Lightning either. It's very expensive and all just ho-hum lagers. I appreciate that they're trying to do something different, but it's not like it's amazing stuff; Iron Fist is kind of like that too, just way too expensive. That's kind of a problem for me; a lot of these places I'd like to try are either in the sticks or all their stuff is way too expensive for super new breweries of no particular repute. I had to laugh when I visited Hess and was looking at their growlers and the glass itself was like 20 bucks. I couldn't believe a place operating out of a car repair garage had the stones to do that. Angry Grimace fucked around with this message at 07:49 on Mar 15, 2012 |
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Mar 15, 2012 07:41
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TenaciousTomato posted:Tonight its just a little Sumpin' Sumpin'... and that's what's up. I'm oh so jealous. The past two nights I've been drinking Stone IPA. I had tried it before, but it was just a 4 oz sample. I really got to enjoy it with a 6 pack, definitely a top tier IPA.
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Mar 15, 2012 08:13
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A friend of mine is one of those beer drinkers that will appreciate the most complex barleywine, but still kick back with Bud Light Lime. Every once in a while he gives me a beer since he knows I like to review beers on ratebeer. He gave me a Shock Top Wheat IPA not too long ago and I was putting it off for as long as I could, unfortunately that night had to happen tonight. There was nothing I enjoyed about it in all honesty, the beer was loaded with orange flavor which took the entire palate. The best I could describe this as drinking a very watered down, but carbonated, low pulp orange juice that happens to have alcohol in it. I don't see anything to be happy about here. Midorka fucked around with this message at 08:55 on Mar 15, 2012 |
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Mar 15, 2012 08:50
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Last night I was offered one of those Shock Top Wheat IPAs by a friend and drank it because I'd never had it. You are correct in saying that it's watered down and the only flavor is orange. What pisses me off though, is that when I tried to tell my friend that it was made by Anheuser Busch, a glance at the bottle says that it's brewed by Shock Top Brewing. Sneaky bastards.
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Mar 15, 2012 09:49
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Angry Grimace posted:It's totally true that we have plenty of wannabees that don't produce anything of note, like Mission Brewery, which only exists so some guy can relive his fantasy of owning the old pre-prohibition Mission Brewery. some of the Mission beers are pretty well-regarded; i certainly enjoy Dark Seas quite a bit. the final stop of the trip was Greenville Beer Exchange, which we were supposed to hit on the way down, and goddamn is that a good shop. dunno if he's the manager or part-owner, but Zach, the younger guy running the place, really knew his poo poo, and after we talked for a few and he figured i wasn't a beer speculator (and we trashed one particular BA member who happens to come to his shop a lot), he pulled a bunch of awesome poo poo out of the back room for me. made his day when i swapped what is apparently a Europe-only bottle of Cantillon for the US version and gave him a bottle from VA that he'd never had before, so he gave me a t-shirt. doubt i'll wear it, but i appreciate the gesture and highly recommend checking the place out (their location in Charleston does online orders if that's not possible).
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Mar 15, 2012 10:48
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Y-Hat posted:My college's beer bar (in Allentown, PA) opened a tap room in Reading. I've never had the urge to go to that city, but after getting an email from them (I'm still on their email list to remind myself of what I'm missing) about their upcoming events, I kinda want to go there. drat, I have an interview in Reading tomorrow, what's the name of this place?
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Mar 15, 2012 11:42
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It looks like they made a much larger batch of Hoptimum this year, because last night I snagged a 4pk for $9.20 - last year a 22oz bomber was, I think, $8? $10? Either way, this won't be hard to get for anyone who looks. I really enjoyed this beer for the pure "gently caress your face" quantity of hops present. The smell is straight-up earthy, fruity, and pine, and the taste is more or less the same but with some nice maltiness going on as well. However the slightly astringent alcohol taste is there as well (this is a 10%ABV beer) but that didn't seem to make it any less drinkable. Not my favorite DIPA (that honor goes to NEBCO's Gandhi-Bot) but a drat good one. I'll buy more before it's gone.
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Mar 15, 2012 12:31
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ChiTownEddie posted:I ended up being a runner up in the Cipher contest by Half Acre too! Here was the haul that I got today: *edit* I was able to read the beer on the left. Anything special with that Small Animal Big Machine? That label is not the regular one.
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Mar 15, 2012 13:21
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Kudosx posted:I'm oh so jealous. The past two nights I've been drinking Stone IPA. I had tried it before, but it was just a 4 oz sample. I really got to enjoy it with a 6 pack, definitely a top tier IPA. If you like their IPA, then you should definitely check out Sublimely Self-righteous, their black IPA. It is one of my favorite beers.
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Mar 15, 2012 13:28
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funkybottoms posted:some of the Mission beers are pretty well-regarded; i certainly enjoy Dark Seas quite a bit. Glad you liked it. I'm not sure if the two are owned by same guys or what, but they are an amazing group. Represent the T-shirt! Those guys deserve all the advertisement they can get. I send everyone there.
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Mar 15, 2012 15:14
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quantegy posted:I've been in there once, they seem to have nice selection. But - they're only open Mon-Fri. Jack Skeleton posted:The provisions store is also great if you never been. But that's more of the same bruery stuff you'll be drinking. Take the few mile drive to go over to Bootleggers Brewery. It's interesting you mention Bootleggers. I just tried their holiday Chocolate Mint Porter last night. It was easily the best mint beer I've had, lots of minty aroma and strong mint/anise/peppery notes in the taste. What else of theirs do you particularly like? I cracked my bottle of Bruery's 2011 Cuir last night as well in an effort to make room for new Bruery stuff. It's aged very well: super-leathery aroma with a background of plum. It's not a pucker-power kind of sour, just a smooth, funky brew with some stone fruit and leather/tobacco. Really pleasant, to the point that I'm considering buying more if Provisions still has it for sale. So much for making room for new stuff.
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Mar 15, 2012 15:41
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Paul Proteus posted:Anything special with that Small Animal Big Machine? That label is not the regular one. I only vaguely remember what they said about it: A limited run beer in collaboration with some others. Belgian style (two different types of yeast was mentioned), made with cherries and currants. I think it is a sour? I also think he mentioned that this is a cask aged version of it.
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Mar 15, 2012 15:57
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Wamsutta posted:It looks like they made a much larger batch of Hoptimum this year, because last night I snagged a 4pk for $9.20 - last year a 22oz bomber was, I think, $8? $10? Either way, this won't be hard to get for anyone who looks. I'll buy more before it's gone. This is now because Hoptimum is now a six month release. They're doing batches of it for six months, then batches of a new Imperial Stout for six months, then cycling again.
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Mar 15, 2012 16:09
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Angry Grimace posted:It's totally true that we have plenty of wannabees that don't produce anything of note, like Mission Brewery, which only exists so some guy can relive his fantasy of owning the old pre-prohibition Mission Brewery. I've never consumed anything from Mission Brewery. That's probably not fair to their lineup, but I have to go off recommendations and reviews and when they hit solid 3.7s on BA or RB I'm not opening my wallet for that. Lightning's got a Biere de Garde (they call it an imperial farmhouse ale), Electrostatic Ale, which is loving great to my palate. Even among their small lineup, it seems many places don't stock that beer, but seem to have the rest of their stuff. If I could replicate that beer on my own I'd be a happy man. Bubbly, earthy, yeasty, grassy, just so much going on. Bine & Vine's got it for $4.50 right now I think, and I'm dumb for not stocking up at that price. Iron Fist hasn't appealed at all to me. Doesn't help that they tried to roll out a $25 'limited' bottle that you can still find everywhere in town (again, the $25 bomber price isn't helping), but after hearing nothing tremendously shining about their operations or quality I haven't bothered. And yeah, effort to get there has to factor into the equation too. When Hess makes a beer worth checking out, let me know...they advertise a lot on local beer sites/magazines but I don't think I've read anyone talking about 'that delicious beer they had at Hess.'
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Mar 15, 2012 16:10
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ChiTownEddie posted:I only vaguely remember what they said about it: A limited run beer in collaboration with some others. Belgian style (two different types of yeast was mentioned), made with cherries and currants. I think it is a sour? I also think he mentioned that this is a cask aged version of it. Ah ok. Yea they did a collaboration with Pipeworks and De Struise. It was pretty awful when they first released it, marginally better when I drank my last bottle a month ago. It's lightly tart, but definitely not sour. Maybe the extra aging helped it?
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Mar 15, 2012 18:33
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I guess this is a little old at this point, but I couldn't help but laugh and laugh and laugh...some beer nerd sperging over at BA posted:I blame myself for not getting KBS, as I got there at 6:30. I assumed that would be early enough (4.5 hours early) my level of entitlement you guys  This post isn't even the funny part, its the fact that there are dozens of people agreeing with it and being mad at Founder's because they decided to drive 6 hours to buy beer and there were no staff members outside at 2am passing out tickets.
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Mar 15, 2012 18:49
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Founders sounds like a lot of dicks. Who do they think they are? The audacity!
Midorka fucked around with this message at 19:04 on Mar 15, 2012 |
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Mar 15, 2012 19:01
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Sirotan posted:I guess this is a little old at this point, but I couldn't help but laugh and laugh and laugh... I like how. That guy types. As if he doesn't have word-wrap on.
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Mar 15, 2012 19:13
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He types like he's writing lyrics.
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Mar 15, 2012 19:15
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Wamsutta posted:He types like he's writing lyrics. Poetry. With a beat.
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Mar 15, 2012 19:18
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Is there some reason Founder's couldn't have allotted spots online? I guess having a line double-wrap your building is a nice spectacle, but I don't see why they'd prefer people camping out for two days to a more orderly system that doesn't send people away disappointed. Obviously they can't be there 24/7 to manage a line, but they could have taken reservations online and said "first come first serve" for the no shows.
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Mar 15, 2012 19:28
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Those Founders events sound really lovely and I can understand that guy's frustration, but his delivery is just so stupid and annoying to read.
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Mar 15, 2012 19:31
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The people swearing away Founders are big babies but it's pretty obvious that Founders needs to make some changes to their events if this is the type of turnout we'll see going forward. Maybe an online ticket system or something.
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Mar 15, 2012 19:37
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I don't think they expected it to happen at all. Two years ago the KBS release had people going back a few times to get another case. Last year I think they still gave out full cases and most everyone was happy about it. Now this year they have people camping out starting at 5pm the day before. I don't think the CBS release even had that kind of turnout (correct me if I'm wrong). And the (BA) people in Michigan/Grand Rapids complaining about only being able to get it by going to the release are so full of poo poo. There's tons here, every tiny grocery store in my area is getting like 3-4 cases. Next year they are tripling production and people will probably still bitch about it.
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Mar 15, 2012 19:48
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A few years ago Avery had to limit its turnout for release events because the crowd partied too hard and it became a liability. People were getting sick and passing out in the parking lot/lawn and being found the next day. If a brewery is going to do a ridiculous "show up and we'll see" event, they should make it an event that everyone can enjoy, even if they don't get the coveted special bottle. Even a raffle would be better than an overnight box office line. edit: don't get me wrong, there's a reason I don't go out of my way for special release events.
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Mar 15, 2012 19:50
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Paul Proteus posted:Ah ok. Gotcha. Well I shall go in with very tempered expectations then. Hopefully the aging helped it a bunch.
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Mar 15, 2012 20:08
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CalvinDooglas posted:A few years ago Avery had to limit its turnout for release events because the crowd partied too hard and it became a liability. People were getting sick and passing out in the parking lot/lawn and being found the next day. I know it's not that funny, but I always think it's hilarious when I run across people who I run across in public that are passed out from drinking too much. Here's to hoping they don't die from alcohol poisoning!
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Mar 15, 2012 20:21
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Sirotan posted:I don't think they expected it to happen at all. Two years ago the KBS release had people going back a few times to get another case. Last year I think they still gave out full cases and most everyone was happy about it. Now this year they have people camping out starting at 5pm the day before. I don't think the CBS release even had that kind of turnout (correct me if I'm wrong). Line wise, I think CBS and KBS were equivalent. Granted, people didn't start lining up for CBS at 6 pm the night before.
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Mar 15, 2012 20:25
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Sirotan posted:I don't think they expected it to happen at all. Two years ago the KBS release had people going back a few times to get another case. Last year I think they still gave out full cases and most everyone was happy about it. Now this year they have people camping out starting at 5pm the day before. I don't think the CBS release even had that kind of turnout (correct me if I'm wrong). When I went in 2010 I arrived at like... 8ish??? and you could buy 2 cases each. I easily got my case. This year was absurd. Glad I didn't go. I'm drinking one of my 2011's in memory of last years visit *pours one out* ShaneB fucked around with this message at 22:05 on Mar 15, 2012 |
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Mar 15, 2012 21:59
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ShaneB posted:When I went in 2010 I arrived at like... 8ish??? and you could buy 2 cases each. I easily got my case. This year was absurd. Glad I didn't go. The only reason it's worth going to these crazy events is bottle sharing in line. Granted, I'm sure a lot of people have a bunch of beer nerd friends who have tastings, but it's nice to try 6-7 sought after beers without tracking them down.
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Mar 15, 2012 22:13
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