Bay Area Thread

[matedog]

Founders is cool and all, but I'm not exactly in desperate need for more good IPAs and stouts.

 

[archagon]

If that's your criteria, then yeah, I guess Founders is as good as anything else. However, you live in the Bay Area so I'm guessing you have access to some combination of Cellarmaker, Fieldwork, Altamont, Russian River, Alpha Acid, etc on draft (albeit possibly not easy growler fills depending on where you are). You've got tons of fresh, high quality hoppy beers right in your backyard, getting excited about midwest IPAs to the point of stocking up - and Founders' IPAs are solid, I'll drink the **** out of All Day IPA when I'm in their distro footprint - seems silly.

You sir, need to give up on hoppy shelf beer in the bay area, get yourself some growlers, and pay some breweries a visit once or twice a week. With Cellarmaker, Russian River, Fieldwork, Faction and Berryessa in our backyards, how can you still be dealing with the annoyance of holding a bottle of Sucks up to the light in Safeway and trying to read Julian date stamps.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I do that too. But it's nice to have a bunch of cheap, easy 12oz bottles lying around for everyday drinking.

(Plus, growler beer can be expensive.)

 

[MrDave]

Oh, don't get me wrong, I do that too. But it's nice to have a bunch of cheap, easy 12oz bottles lying around for everyday drinking.

Aside from growlers, I've pretty much been rotating cans of Easy Jack, Pinner, and Grapefruit Sculpin. All seem to hold up well in the cans and are usually pretty damn fresh anyhow. Used to rotate GoTo into the mix but the fresh factor went south in my neck of the woods.

 

[MrDave]

(Plus, growler beer can be expensive.)

That's the bay area for ya.

That's another rad thing about Berryessa that I really like; they price their growler fills like many places in Oregon do. $10/64oz, regardless of abv.

 

[CommanderofAwesome]

Alameda and Contra Costa weren't on the distribution list that was posted the other week.

SMH figures

 

[CommanderofAwesome]

You sir, need to give up on hoppy shelf beer in the bay area, get yourself some growlers, and pay some breweries a visit once or twice a week. With Cellarmaker, Russian River, Fieldwork, Faction and Berryessa in our backyards, how can you still be dealing with the annoyance of holding a bottle of Sucks up to the light in Safeway and trying to read Julian date stamps.

Not into growlers, at all.

- Almost never do I want 64 OZ of the same beer.
- They don't last well unless its from a crazy growler filling station that Torpedo Room has. -
- Almost never have the good **** that you can get in growlers
- I rarely drink 64oz of beer in a day
- and in my exp growlers are about the worst at keeping carb.

In short, growlers can **** off unless it's for a share, or a backyard BBQ.

/QQ rant about growlers

 

[archagon]

I have a 32oz flip-top SS growler and it's pretty great. Keeps carb for days with no issues. Expensive, though.

(Unfortunately, if you like variety, even 2 pints is a bit of a commitment. I'm only good for 1 beer after that at most.)

 

[stupac2]

Founders is cool and all, but I'm not exactly in desperate need for more good IPAs and stouts.

If I can get kegs of FBS I'll be a happy boy.

 

[MrDave]

To each their own, but...

Not into growlers, at all.

- Almost never do I want 64 OZ of the same beer.
most places fill 32's, 1 liters, or even 750s

- They don't last well unless its from a crazy growler filling station that Torpedo Room has. -
I have found they last pretty damn good for up to a week if filled properly. Also, Berryessa has that crazy thing too.

- Almost never have the good **** that you can get in growlers
With regard to hoppy beers, I'm only talking about the good ****.

- I rarely drink 64oz of beer in a day
Repeat, most places fill 32's, 1 liters, or even 750s

- and in my exp growlers are about the worst at keeping carb.
In my experience, I have only run into carb issues if too much headroom or a bad seal

Not trying to be argumentative, just countering a little. As the other poster pointed out, in the central bay area, growlers aren't priced too reasonably. That's my only grief with them for the most part.

 

[archagon]

So, a nearby store says they're getting 11 SKUs of Founders tomorrow. That sounds like a lot, but I'm not too intimately familiar with their lineup. Does anyone know if they're distro-ing any of their more rare beers this time around? Or is it just their standard fare?

 

[CommanderofAwesome]

To each their own, but...



Not trying to be argumentative, just countering a little. As the other poster pointed out, in the central bay area, growlers aren't priced too reasonably. That's my only grief with them for the most part.

Yeah I get it, I was more or less talking about opening a growler having a pour and going back to the growler the next day, 2 days from then, etc....

 

[archagon]

Yeah I get it, I was more or less talking about opening a growler having a pour and going back to the growler the next day, 2 days from then, etc....

Yeah, I don't think there's any way to make that work unless you have a matryoshka-like collection of growlers in decreasing sizes.

(Actually, I do have an empty 12oz flip-top bottle of √225 that serves this role sometimes...)

 

[MrDave]

(Actually, I do have an empty 12oz flip-top bottle of √225 that serves this role sometimes...)

Ha! I keep my empty √225 on the growler shelf just for that reason should it ever arise. So far it has not.

 

[AndresR]

So, a nearby store says they're getting 11 SKUs of Founders tomorrow. That sounds like a lot, but I'm not too intimately familiar with their lineup. Does anyone know if they're distro-ing any of their more rare beers this time around? Or is it just their standard fare?

Founders has never hit the shelves in California. So really, it's all kinda Rare if you think about it.

 

[jedwards]

People. There is an "easy" solution to this problem.

 

[archagon]

I've been wondering recently if there's some sort of CO2 tablet (or some other gas?) that could be dropped into a half-finished growler to re-pressurize it.

But then I remember that I'm fussing about preserving 1-3 pints of beer.

 

[Sage1]

I've been wondering recently if there's some sort of CO2 tablet (or some other gas?) that could be dropped into a half-finished growler to re-pressurize it.

Well uh solid CO2 is dry ice which even if you have ready access to it will definitely ruin some of the flavor compounds once it hits the beer. Plus, I don’t know this for sure, but I imagine a lot of it will almost immediately come out of solution.

 

[archagon]

Yeah, but it's hard to keep dry ice lying around! I was thinking more along the lines of Alka Seltzer or brewers' sugar tablets.

The point wouldn't be to re-carbonate the beverage but to increase the pressure in the bottle to prevent the liquid from losing its carbonation. My science is rusty here so I could be completely wrong, but my understanding is that half-full growlers go flat because of low pressure + empty space in the bottle. If the growler could be pressurized, then maybe the beer would stay carbonated longer?

 

[theLostWizard]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MC7O3LQ/?tag=talkbecom09-20

or just drink it all, never seems to be a problem here.

 

[RyanG1]

Didn't think there was anything worse than national coffee day today, but glad I found it.

 

[Arbitrator]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MC7O3LQ/?tag=talkbecom09-20

or just drink it all, never seems to be a problem here.

Mine blew out the canister in the first use. Never bothered to use it again.

I like growlers, but compared to 2-3 years ago, it's pretty rare that I'll fill one for myself locally. I'd much rather get a sixer, which is undoubtedly a better value -- if only so much beer weren't so. damn. old.

 

[HeavySpeedway]

Yup- hitting tomorrow! The only "special" bottles are Curmudgeon's and Blushing Monk. Oh and Alpine bottles tomorrow. At least in the Peninsula.

I'll have to check out some of the usual suspects - those two may be worth a try, especially the latter.

Alpine bottles? Bestill my beating heart. Maybe I'll buy a Nelson* so I can take a photo of it and make some sort of edgy joke here or on Facebook. LOL

 

[archagon]

I'm kinda hoping that the great Whole Foods beer purge of 10-2 will help clear out some of those old shelf bottles... but I don't know if people in the outside world know about it. I haven't seen it advertised anywhere in-store.

 

[tosh1]

I'm kinda hoping that the great Whole Foods beer purge of 10-2 will help clear out some of those old shelf bottles... but I don't know if people in the outside world know about it. I haven't seen it advertised anywhere in-store.

Everytime I go into a Whole Foods for the last month I have been told about it by whatever employee is near the beer section. Many of the staff are very excited about the sale. More excited than I am given the current selection at the Whole Foods I go to.*

*I am sure I will find a selection of 6 beers to get a 30% discount.

 

[archagon]

I wonder if the shelf display of Cascades at my local Whole Foods will finally go...

$20/bottle is tempting. (Maybe the Cuivre too.)

 

[jedwards]

I am looking forward to once again scooping up all the Rochefort and Orval. Sadly the Ola Dubh I got last big WF sale has yet to be replenished.

 

[stupac2]

I am looking forward to once again scooping up all the Rochefort and Orval. Sadly the Ola Dubh I got last big WF sale has yet to be replenished.

I should actually get down to a WF this time. I always want to pick up that sort of stuff but never manage to get to the sales.

 

[Wino1]

What WF are we talkin here?

 

[drgarage1]

I am looking forward to once again scooping up all the Rochefort and Orval. Sadly the Ola Dubh I got last big WF sale has yet to be replenished.

Best one I ever had, I got 3 $15 Peche n Bretts.

 

[grrrah]

What WF are we talkin here?

I believe all NorCal