The Swamp

Brontoburglar wrote:
OK, I'm even more confused. If the average guy is drinking craft beer in Colorado already, how is this bad for craft?

ETA: I see what you're saying that GI is going to get cold shelf space -- but if it's not a "preferred" beer already, why are we worried about people's preferences worsening?

1. The majority of shelf space is going to be held by big craft Sierra Nevada, etc. or the "crafts" owned or produced by InBev and the like, not by those local breweries. Currently the only "local" crafts you see in groceries are Breckenridge and Blue Moon, both owned by big beer. If this passes their just going to bring in more big beer "crafts" and maybe the nationally distributed local big boys like New Belgium, Avery, etc. NOT self distributed or small distribution beers from local breweries. This very much hurts local and small liquor stores and craft breweries.

2. Currently you cannot have a chain of liquor stores owned by the same person/group. This doesn't apply to grocery stores. The grocery chains will get better prices from distributors and force liquor stores to lower their prices. Also as GoodKarma mentioned there are a lot of little liquor stores either right next to or in the same strip as grocery stores. The average consumer is just going to buy beer at the grocery rather than making an extra stop to get beer, even if it's next door.

3. I am also not a fan of the tactics that big beer (who is behind the initiative) are taking. There are a number of brewery/craft groups in real life and in social media and those in favor of the law have created groups with similar names/logos to try to sway those not in the know. They are collecting signatures outside of grocery stores and if they are all given the same talking points that I was told the other day they're not telling the whole truth. They cite the lower prices, etc. but neglect to speak of the impact on actually locally owned businesses (I believe that the major grocery chains here are all owned by out of state corporations.)

Rush2112 wrote:The average consumer is just going to buy beer at the grocery rather than making an extra stop to get beer, even if it's next door.

ESPECIALLY if that average consumer now sees her/himself as a "Sculpin drinker" in the way s/he would have been a "Bud drinker" a decade ago.

Brontoburglar wrote:
$10 is expensive for a six-pack in the midwest. Score one for me.

Fuck, I just bought a 4-pack for $18.99.

OK, so this is only tangentially related to craft beer. But, it's cute!

Kane (NJ's far and away best brewery) on the cover of Beer Advocate this month. They don't leave the state and only release bottles as one-offs, so hopefully this forebodes some sort of expansion plans.



Article: http://www.beeradvocate.com/mag/10907/k ... g-company/

mister d wrote:Kane (NJ's far and away best brewery) on the cover of Beer Advocate this month. They don't leave the state and only release bottles as one-offs, so hopefully this forebodes some sort of expansion plans.

Article: http://www.beeradvocate.com/mag/10907/k ... g-company/

My understanding is Kane is trying to ramp up regular canning of Head High, but there have been issues with the early runs. People found the first run had a metallic taste. I would love to see Kane distributing cans. Growlers aren't a great option for me.

I've been having an easier time finding Carton cans now that Buy Rite N. Plainfield is very active on Beermenus. They keep Carton hidden, so I haven't had a problem getting there before they sell out. I just got some Carton/Barrier SS Cream, which is made with Carton's cream ale malt base, Kolsch yeast, and the hop profile of Barrier's Money IPA. The hops were amazing. This is the first Barrier beer I've tried. The cream ale was overshadowed by the huge IPA hops, but it was interesting when it peaked through. I rarely notice yeast, but it stood out in this beer since it was off-style. Fantastic beer. I rarely like collaborations, especially when they are a crazy experiment, but man this was great. I need to get a hold of some Barrier.

I've done a sampler at Barrier and, atleast in my opinion, Money far outshines anything else they produce. Their collab with Other Half, which I think I wrote about before here and was just Money + Hop Showers, was elite.

govmentchedda wrote:

I thought that was a joke. What the hell is going on?

For Rass, Cerrano, Sybian, and of course, Mr. D :

Ha. Fuck those NJ losers.

I almost posted that to the "Real or the Onion" thread before checking here. I can't believe that's not a joke.

Johnny Carwash wrote:I almost posted that to the "Real or the Onion" thread before checking here. I can't believe that's not a joke.

...

My favorite casino downtown just added 10 craft beers taps to their video poker bar. This is more rare than you would think. So suffice to say it will remain my favorite casino.

Craft Beer Week in lexington. Lots of events. GOnna try to hit a couple up. Next saturday is almost assured to have zombie dust, but costs $35 to get in.

A_B wrote:Craft Beer Week in lexington. Lots of events. GOnna try to hit a couple up. Next saturday is almost assured to have zombie dust, but costs $35 to get in.

Going to a locals only beer festival here tomorrow. It's pretty low-key, but usually a lot of fun as you get to meet all of the brewery owners around town as opposed to the huge festivals where you're shuffled away from the booths as quickly as possible. Temps tomorrow should be perfect (about 90) for outdoor beer drinking.

ETA: And by "locals only" I mean the beers, not the attendees. That would probably be illegal.

Had another Prairie Bomb tonight. Yum.

3 floyds behemoth barley wine. Holy shnikes. Good and hitting like roughned odor.

A_B wrote:Craft Beer Week in lexington. Lots of events. GOnna try to hit a couple up. Next saturday is almost assured to have zombie dust, but costs $35 to get in.

Is $35 a cover charge, then pay full price for beer?

You get twenty beer tickets. 3-4 ounce pours.

A_B wrote:You get twenty beer tickets. 3-4 ounce pours.

I wonder how much they honor that. 75% of the ticket per beer fests I've been to they tickets don't mean shit. The other 25% they were fucking pour Nazis.

At 35 still cheaper than what you'd get the 7 pints of good craft for if you were getting 60 ozs at full price, well unless it's one of those that charges more than a ticket for certain beers.

I think some do charge two tickets. But the last time I was at an event like this they gave pretty good pours.

A_B wrote:You get twenty beer tickets. 3-4 ounce pours.

Seems like a damned good deal to me, especially if they have good beers. If they have beers like Zombie Dust, it's a steal. It is much nicer to have unlimited pours. If a beer isn't all that good, you have no problem dumping it. Around here, beer festivals ar in the $50-$100 range, more for VIP tickets, where you get some limited and experimental beers and a chef doing food pairings. VIP tix get expensive.

I may have an in to get me $5 off as well. So it's almost definitely a go.

Doesn't that work out to $7 pints on 4 ounce pours per ticket, which I imagine is pretty high in the ol' midwest?

mister d wrote:Doesn't that work out to $7 pints on 4 ounce pours per ticket, which I imagine is pretty high in the ol' midwest?

Yeah. It isn't cheap, but I will probably be able to taste several beers I have never had before. Here is the list of brewers showing up:

http://us.alltechbrewsandfood.com/breweries

Frowned upon to just stand in front of Three Floyds handing over your tickets?

mister d wrote:Frowned upon to just stand in front of Three Floyds handing over your tickets?

Last time you had to get one, then go back to the back of the line. All depends on how much traffic there is.

Indy Brew Fest is this Saturday. VIP Tix.

Get hyped. Drink the FFF. Drink more of the things. Stumble around downtown Saturday evening.

Picked up a couple of these the other day, Dogfish Head Beer to Drink Music to.



It's excellent if you're a fan of tripel. It has an interesting twist with some vanilla. I also picked up one bottle of 120 Minute. Haven't drank it yet though.

Co-worker just came back from a business trip to Indianapolis.

He brought me back a bottle of Zombie Dust. I acted like a fool.

Cried and kissed him on the mouth then chugged it warm?

mister d wrote:Cried and kissed him on the mouth then chugged it warm?

Basically. Between this and Guy Clark it's been an emotional roller coaster for AB this week.

A_B wrote:Co-worker just came back from a business trip to Indianapolis.

He brought me back a bottle of Zombie Dust. I acted like a fool.

I sincerely hope it's everything you want it to be. A lot of people here have swung the other way because it's gotten "too mainstream". I think it's a phenomenal beer, but at the end of the day, it's a beer. There's tons of good ones.

Getting it cold from the tap however...

Its not the biggest or the best or the hoppiest or whatever, but if I had to have one fridge beer forever, I wouldn't think twice. Love citra.

This was my Moby Dick, but if instead of the whale killing me, someone killed it first and brought it to me for free.

mister d wrote:Its not the biggest or the best or the hoppiest or whatever, but if I had to have one fridge beer forever, I wouldn't think twice. Love citra.

That's a good question. If you could only drink one beer forever, what would it be?

I'm going to have to think about this one. So many options!

Sabo wrote:

mister d wrote:Its not the biggest or the best or the hoppiest or whatever, but if I had to have one fridge beer forever, I wouldn't think twice. Love citra.

That's a good question. If you could only drink one beer forever, what would it be?

I'm going to have to think about this one. So many options!

Founder's All Day IPA is a strong contender for this title for me.

BSF21 wrote:Founder's All Day IPA is a strong contender for this title for me.

It's on my short list.

Jackie O’s Hop Ryot
Pacifico
Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald
Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold
Founders All Day IPA

Despite the porter being on this list, I'm trending toward lighter beers because I'm factoring in needing a beer when it's 90 degrees outside and I've just finished cutting the grass and when it's -10 and I've just finished shoveling the driveway. A porter fits the bill for the latter but sounds really gross for the former.