Yummy beer score today, and a challenge for HBT

Went to get my quarterly haircut, and the guy who cuts my hair had moved to a new place next to a bottle shop. This is what I bought today:


Left to right is Pliny the Elder, Stone Kona Coffee Macadamia Coconut Porter, Stone Vertical Epic '08, and Stone 13th Anniversary.

I also talked to the guy who does the purchasing there, who sold me his last two Coconut Porters that he had removed from display and was saving for himself. He said he can get, and I am literally quoting here, "any beer you want."

So, I've already given him a few beers I'd like to try, that I have found difficult to get here in Los Angeles. These include Bell's Two-Hearted, Founder's Breakfasat Stout, and Three Floyds Dreadnaught IIPA. But I'm asking you, the denizens of HBT, to come up with some beers that are *must have* and that I cannot normally find in LA, to ask this guy if he can come up with them. Naturally, this only applies to bottled beers. Maybe he could get me kegs, but I don't have the setup for it anyway so it's a moot point.

Let's hear what you've got!

Bell's Expedition Stout.

Gaffel Koelsch

Westvleteren 12, Rodenbach Grand Cru... hope he has connections in Belgium

To be fair I've had Rodenbach Grand Cru. So, while delicious, I'm unlikely to buy a bottle. Also, I know where I can get more.

If you are a Pliny fan....SKA's Decadent and Modeus Hoperandi.....if your beer guy cant get them, let me know....I need some Pliny....

Palmetto Amber or Palmetto Pale Ale. Good luck - haven't found it outside of Charleston, SC...

If you are a Pliny fan

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That's a mild understatement. It's probably my favorite beer.


Also for what it's worth, a guy I know is bringing me some Cigar City stuff in a week or two, including apparently the last of the Guava Saison.

Dogfish world wide stout?

Upland Kiwi Lambic

Seriously though if you like lambics any of the Upland series is good. PopSkull from 3F's would be another good one.

Are we talking year round distro's here or do you mean "any" when you say any beer?

Jolly Pumpkins La Roja, or Bam Noir ro anything else you can get.

Chardo

Normally, I'd be right there with you on the Jolly Pumpkin, but as it turns out, Stone is now distributing their stuff, and I had plenty of La Roja and its compatriots recently at the 13th Anniversary Fest. So, I know where I can get some nowadays.

The Upland Lambic is one I've never heard of before.

He said "any beer". I don't want to read too much into it, but I'm hoping for the best. Of course, there are some beers that I'm just not going to even ask about if it's so rare that I'm going to be shelling out hundreds for a bottle.

I'd be interested to see if he can really get the Bell's stuff. I've talked to some pretty connected bottle shops in the Seattle area, and was basically told Bell's stuff just doesn't get shipped to the West coast. The last guy told me (in a nice way) to get in line behind the 50 or 60 customers who have asked ahead of me.

He may have connections with other bottle shops who are willing to swap.

Right, that's exactly what I was thinking. I already asked him for Bell's, so we'll see if he can come up with some.

my understanding is that bells doesn't ship west of the plains..however if you can try to get arcadia's jaw-jacker or their hop-rocket both are at least IIpa's and after drinking one i can't really drink a regular ipa.

sweet find man, I'm down south in San Diego and I have yet to find pliny bottled. best I can find is on tap consistently at toronado here is SD. don't have a sweet bottle connection though... jealous

Ask him if he can get anything from the Dragonmead brewery in Roseville MI. Their Tripel ane their wee heavy are both incredible. http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/335/40671 and try for this one too.

See if he can get some Dark Lord of any vintage Wouldn't be 100's of bucks even if he could, probably around $30 or so (sells for $15 at the brewery). You could ask about the other vertical epics but they get very expensive, I was surprised you got '08 there, pretty cool.

conpewter said:

See if he can get some Dark Lord of any vintage Wouldn't be 100's of bucks even if he could, probably around $30 or so (sells for $15 at the brewery). You could ask about the other vertical epics but they get very expensive, I was surprised you got '08 there, pretty cool.

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where can you find this for $30 around us? Everyone wants $50+

Just had a Rodenbach Grand Cru last night, that is a delicious beer!

Zen_Brew said:

I'd be interested to see if he can really get the Bell's stuff. I've talked to some pretty connected bottle shops in the Seattle area, and was basically told Bell's stuff just doesn't get shipped to the West coast. The last guy told me (in a nice way) to get in line behind the 50 or 60 customers who have asked ahead of me.

He may have connections with other bottle shops who are willing to swap.

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I had no idea how lucky I was to have such easy access to Bell's. Before I ever even started brewing they were some of my favorite beers, but I assumed it was just a Michigan thing. I really didn't know people were loving this beer across the country until I got on to these forums.

DurangoHomeBrewMafia said:

If you are a Pliny fan....SKA's Decadent and Modeus Hoperandi.....if your beer guy cant get them, let me know....I need some Pliny....

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Are you associated with SKA at all? I'm from Denver and have tried SKA brews on occasional and have never really been that impressed. I don't like bad mouthing on the internet so to be honest I haven't really given them a fair shot. I certainly haven't had anything that would compare to Pliny, but not much compares to Pliny

I was in Durango for Oktoberfest a few weeks ago and the first beer I went for was the Ska Blonde. I tried a sample at my local bottle shop a few months ago and it was good. The guy pulled a pint that was two thirds head and kinda gave me attitude when I asked him to top it off. Left a "bad taste in my mouth".

Anyway, we ate at Carver and Steamworks and I was impressed with both. Both had excellent beer and food. The Steamworks IPA was the best I found in the city.

All in all Durango is a awesome beer town. Can't wait to go back.

Sorry for the OT post OP.

RC0032 said:

where can you find this for $30 around us? Everyone wants $50+

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http://cgi.ebay.com/2009-Dark-Lord-...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item53dd520710

for $35 probably can ask to pick up instead of shipping. But a bit

is it worth the cost? Im going next year!~

Basically anything from Jolly Pumpkin and Edmund Fitzgerald from Great Lakes Brewing.

Are you associated with SKA at all? I'm from Denver and have tried SKA brews on occasional and have never really been that impressed. I don't like bad mouthing on the internet so to be honest I haven't really given them a fair shot. I certainly haven't had anything that would compare to Pliny, but not much compares to Pliny

I was in Durango for Oktoberfest a few weeks ago and the first beer I went for was the Ska Blonde. I tried a sample at my local bottle shop a few months ago and it was good. The guy pulled a pint that was two thirds head and kinda gave me attitude when I asked him to top it off. Left a "bad taste in my mouth".

Anyway, we ate at Carver and Steamworks and I was impressed with both. Both had excellent beer and food. The Steamworks IPA was the best I found in the city.

All in all Durango is a awesome beer town. Can't wait to go back.

Sorry for the OT post OP.

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Dave-

Not affiliated, but my office is about 50 feet from their new prod facility/tasting room!!!.....a couple of their beers I don't care for as they aren't my style (Blonde, ESB, Pinstripe a red), but others I really enjoy (Blonde Dubbel, Modeus Hoperandi, Decadent, Milk Stout).

One of the beers I really liked at Octoberfest was Steamworks dry hopped brown.....

And on the Pliny note, I would agree, not much compares....we were getting RRB stuff down here for a few months then Elite Dist out of Denver decided they didn't want to drive down here anymore....so the 2 Pliny's I have in my fridge are prob all thats left in town.....where is the best place in Denver to find it? Applejacks?? Lukas?? We have a place up there so we make it Denver a few times a year....next will prob be around Thanksgiving.

As far as Durango being a great beer town, I def won't disagree...a town of about 14,00 with 4 very strong breweries is pretty good.

Chris

If you can get your hands on bell's stuff, the third coast old ale is a must have. I like it even better than the expedition stout (and that's saying a lot).

mc_eric said:

If you can get your hands on bell's stuff, the third coast old ale is a must have. I like it even better than the expedition stout (and that's saying a lot).

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Yeah, you have to be careful though, my local guy "ordered" this for me and it just ended up being the regular Third Coast ... the Old Ale is something very specific, and I've only seen it at the "big box" bottle stores. It's mind-blowing though, aged, 10%, soooo warm in the winter....

Yeah, if he can get anything, have him find some 01.01.01. I think even Stone's low on that one

As for the more recents... I think I can still find the 07s at a store around here, if someone wants to trade for something. (well taken care of, too; the guy knows his stuff)

DurangoHomeBrewMafia said:

Dave-

Not affiliated, but my office is about 50 feet from their new prod facility/tasting room!!!.....a couple of their beers I don't care for as they aren't my style (Blonde, ESB, Pinstripe a red), but others I really enjoy (Blonde Dubbel, Modeus Hoperandi, Decadent, Milk Stout).

One of the beers I really liked at Octoberfest was Steamworks dry hopped brown.....

And on the Pliny note, I would agree, not much compares....we were getting RRB stuff down here for a few months then Elite Dist out of Denver decided they didn't want to drive down here anymore....so the 2 Pliny's I have in my fridge are prob all thats left in town.....where is the best place in Denver to find it? Applejacks?? Lukas?? We have a place up there so we make it Denver a few times a year....next will prob be around Thanksgiving.

As far as Durango being a great beer town, I def won't disagree...a town of about 14,00 with 4 very strong breweries is pretty good.

Chris

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I'm right outside of Denver in Westminster so Total Beverage is my local joint. They stock RR Pliny, Blind Pig, and Damnation. The Pliny goes quick so call ahead and maybe you can get them to hold some for you. Another smaller store around here that stocks it is Mondo Vino. It moves a little slower there which is both a good thing and a bad thing. I need those hops fresh!

Also, if you haven't been to Falling Rock Tap House downtown they're the only place I know of that has Pliny on tap. Definitely a different beast.

Dave-

The place we own is the Lodo/Riverfront park area so we used to do many brewery/Tap House bar crawls when friends came in from out of town. Great location for walking to the GABF as well! Is mondo vino the one over in the highlands / 32nd and Lowell area? I used to go to the Total Bev on 104th (I think) when we lived there and got kegs from Colorado Liquor Mart down in the area of Shotgun Willies.

I am looking forward to a little city time here in 6 weeks or so!

Chris

Saccharomyces said:

Westvleteren 12

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It's got to be bad juju to piss off the monks. They don't like reselling of their beer.