Bay Area Thread

[CommanderofAwesome]

What in the hell are you talking about? 2 years ago you couldn't find a decent canned craft beer around here if you tried. Now there are a bunch. Is that seriously something to complain about?


Sure, it would be great to get a few more (good) canned sours or other styles, a la Oregon or even SoCal, but we're on the right track. Plus, unless you're a complete idiot, you'd rather see cans of hoppy beer than bottles.

Live one here! First off, don't worry, the beer lords don't consult me when they plan to can a beer, thus the next canned IPA on the shelf is safe ![Not trying to be dick with this statement or an internet tuff guy. Apologies if it came off that way] I agree with stupac's point as well (even though it wasn't my main point), a new decent IPA at $4? I'll pass.

To answer you other questions: Yeah, I'm sick of breweries releasing decent IPAs, then releasing another one with a slightly different hop variation at hype value. Rather see some variation esp from a middling brewery like henhouse. How about they dial in a great saison and can the **** out of that instead of a new mediocre IPA? Must make some money, but it's nonsensical to me. IPAs are almost like the new adjunct lager. At Berk Bowl over the weekend, I saw cans TG Sue on the shelf at $5 a pop and they were flying off. I don't get it. IPA hype train has to die down at some point right?

 

[abecall98]

Live one here! First off, don't worry, the beer lords don't consult me when they plan to can a beer, thus the next canned IPA on the shelf is safe ![Not trying to be dick with this statement or an internet tuff guy. Apologies if it came off that way] I agree with stupac's point as well (even though it wasn't my main point), a new decent IPA at $4? I'll pass.

To answer you other questions: Yeah, I'm sick of breweries releasing decent IPAs, then releasing another one with a slightly different hop variation at hype value. Rather see some variation esp from a middling brewery like henhouse. How about they dial in a great saison and can the **** out of that instead of a new mediocre IPA? Must make some money, but it's nonsensical to me. IPAs are almost like the new adjunct lager. At Berk Bowl over the weekend, I saw cans TG Sue on the shelf at $5 a pop and they were flying off. I don't get it. IPA hype train has to die down at some point right?

Just wait until more Bay Area Breweries start canning more Hazy IPAs. Sacramento is blowing up right now with those. Actual beer lines in Sacramento, ******* nuts.

 

[AndresR]

I'm not particularly excited when they're all $4 a can. (Though those ones are "only" $3 and $3.50.)

New Glory Wakey Wakey cans were $3 last week. Damn good coffee porter!

 

[buzzword]

I'm not particularly excited when they're all $4 a can. (Though those ones are "only" $3 and $3.50.)

16 oz cans for $4? what's a pint at cellarmaker cost? $6-7? not mad about it.

 

[Arbitrator]

16 oz cans for $4? what's a pint at cellarmaker cost? $6-7? not mad about it.

Pricing has traditionally been more premium at a bar / brewery by more than a few bucks. But if they find out that my secret desire is to drink conveniently at home and avoid people, prices might hit $10 a pint can before I actually stop buying them.

I said **** beer week a few years before it even started.

But i am a miserable bastard who hates crowds.

I'm pretty much going just to crotch-grab people and tell them I'm HaveUSeenMyCellar. I wonder if I can find a dildo hat.

 

[archagon]

Could somebody explain this standing-for-12-hours-in-line-for-IPAs thing? Is this a SoCal phenomenon? Because it's completely beyond my comprehension. Fieldwork and Cellarmaker release cans/bottles every few weeks and you can mostly get them without a line a few hours later. Alvarado cans show up regularly on the shelf. Pliny is pretty much guaranteed to be in stock if you know where to look. PseudoSue is sitting on the shelf in a few places. Even things like the SARA+Alvarado collab was fairly easy to get. What the heck is going on down there? Why are people doing this? For IPAs?

If it's solely because of the New England/haziness thing, that makes even less sense to me. It's not as if the style is better or somehow more difficult to make than your plain old IPA/DIPA. Certainly not 12 hours in the freezing cold better. It's not Pappy!

At least crazy PtY/TIPA lines or festival-esque BA releases make some lick of sense. This really, truly reads like an Onion article.

 

[theconductor]

I said **** beer week a few years before it even started.

But i am a miserable bastard who hates crowds.

And invitations for free beer and lodging. . .

 

[CommanderofAwesome]

16 oz cans for $4? what's a pint at cellarmaker cost? $6-7? not mad about it.

Eh to each their own but I wouldn't compare price of a beer at home to beer at a bar. I'd compare the price of a solid IPA to other solid IPAs. Once you do that, the facade drops quickly.

 

[abecall98]

Could somebody explain this standing-for-12-hours-in-line-for-IPAs thing? Is this a SoCal phenomenon? Because it's completely beyond my comprehension. Fieldwork and Cellarmaker release cans/bottles every few weeks and you can mostly get them without a line a few hours later. Alvarado cans show up regularly on the shelf. Pliny is pretty much guaranteed to be in stock if you know where to look. PseudoSue is sitting on the shelf in a few places. Even things like the SARA+Alvarado collab was fairly easy to get. What the heck is going on down there? Why are people doing this? For IPAs?

If it's solely because of the New England/haziness thing, that makes even less sense to me. It's not as if the style is better or somehow more difficult to make than your plain old IPA/DIPA. Certainly not 12 hours in the freezing cold better. It's not Pappy!

At least crazy PtY/TIPA lines or festival-esque BA releases make some lick of sense. This really, truly reads like an Onion article.

It's all pretty much the Haze craze. Pretty much all the breweries in the article make them. I'm noticing it a lot lately as more breweries jump on the ship. Just wait for a reputable Bay Area brewery does a brewery only hazy IPA release. Only a matter of time before these lines hit here. The few fieldwork released cans sold out almost instantly in Sacramento.

 

[BrandoSF]

Pricing has traditionally been more premium at a bar / brewery by more than a few bucks. But if they find out that my secret desire is to drink conveniently at home and avoid people, prices might hit $10 a pint can before I actually stop buying them.



I'm pretty much going just to crotch-grab people and tell them I'm HaveUSeenMyCellar. I wonder if I can find a dildo hat.

I'm not sure what I expected to see when I google image searched dildo hat.

 

[tosh1]

Could somebody explain this standing-for-12-hours-in-line-for-IPAs thing? Is this a SoCal phenomenon? Because it's completely beyond my comprehension. Fieldwork and Cellarmaker release cans/bottles every few weeks and you can mostly get them without a line a few hours later. Alvarado cans show up regularly on the shelf. Pliny is pretty much guaranteed to be in stock if you know where to look. PseudoSue is sitting on the shelf in a few places. Even things like the SARA+Alvarado collab was fairly easy to get. What the heck is going on down there? Why are people doing this? For IPAs?

If it's solely because of the New England/haziness thing, that makes even less sense to me. It's not as if the style is better or somehow more difficult to make than your plain old IPA/DIPA. Certainly not 12 hours in the freezing cold better. It's not Pappy!

At least crazy PtY/TIPA lines or festival-esque BA releases make some lick of sense. This really, truly reads like an Onion article.

The first Fieldwork can release appeared to follow the trend, since then some level of normality has taken hold thankfully.

Damn i hate beer, sometimes i question why i ******* drink.

 

[buzzword]

Could somebody explain this standing-for-12-hours-in-line-for-IPAs thing? Is this a SoCal phenomenon?

no, it's not.

 

[tosh1]

Arbitrator with the bait and tease once again

 

[stupac2]

16 oz cans for $4? what's a pint at cellarmaker cost? $6-7? not mad about it.

Besides what Arbitrator said (you should compare it to a growler, if anything) I look at comparable bottles/cans. IIRC Lagunitas 12th of Never (or whatever that canned IPA thing was) ended up being like $1.25-$1.50 a can, even using the higher price point for a 12 ounce can that's half the price for a product that was just as good as pretty much any of the Alvarado or whoever cans I've had. Plus if you have a kegerator you can pretty easily get something that's in the $1-$1.50/pint range, and while variability is nice, if I just want to relax after work or have a beer with dinner, there's no reason to pay 2-4X as much.

And this **** adds up when you drink as much as most of us do, if you're having a pint or two a night (say average 8 a week), if you're paying $1 for that pint vs $4 you're looking at saving over a grand per year!

I'm honestly curious what the margins on these cans are, because I bet it's absolutely stupid. Which, you know, fine, good for them. But I'm not going to buy that **** unless it's a special occasion when I can get something just as good for way, way cheaper.

 

[CommanderofAwesome]

Never thought of it like that before, even better argument than the the quality difference is the same.

 

[AptosBeerDrinker]

Eh to each their own but I wouldn't compare price of a beer at home to beer at a bar. I'd compare the price of a solid IPA to other solid IPAs. Once you do that, the facade drops quickly.

So Alvarado St. Contains No Juice for instance...what "solid" and cheaper IPA are you going to compare that to because I don't see anything in the market that's even in the ball park.

Edit: OK, Lagunitas I'll give you since some of their hoppy beers are "solid" but we're comparing costs for a giant company like Lagunitas vs. Alvarado St. putting out these small canning runs. Seems like apples and oranges to me.

 

[CommanderofAwesome]

So Alvarado St. Contains No Juice for instance...what "solid" and cheaper IPA are you going to compare that to because I don't see anything in the market that's even in the ball park.

Edit: OK, Lagunitas I'll give you since some of their hoppy beers are "solid" but we're comparing costs for a giant company like Lagunitas vs. Alvarado St. putting out these small canning runs. Seems like apples and oranges to me.

Lagunitas has always been on the cheaper end. I would put Bear Republic Hoppy offerings, Founders, Ballast Points (Sculpin is around $2 a can in a 6er), Great Lakes, SN, Modern Times, **** the list is almost endless.

 

[AptosBeerDrinker]

Lagunitas has always been on the cheaper end. I would put Bear Republic Hoppy offerings, Founders, Ballast Points (Sculpin is around $2 a can in a 6er), Great Lakes, SN, Modern Times, **** the list is almost endless.

Those are all fine totally solid beers but I don't really see a comparison with Alvarado St., Fieldwork, etc. Overall I see your point though. Granted I can't get MT where I live for the most part and Sculpin is a shell of its former self but hey.

 

[rrryanc]

Those are all fine totally solid beers but I don't really see a comparison with Alvarado St., Fieldwork, etc. Overall I see your point though. Granted I can't get MT where I live for the most part and Sculpin is a shell of its former self but hey.

I honestly think that a lot of those beers are better than the average beer coming out of Alvarado, Fieldwork, etc. They have their occasional hits, but a lot of time there are a lot of off flavors, muddled flavors, etc. Alvarado especially, I have trouble getting through more than a midwest pour of their IPAs before they become cloyingly sweet. Can't figure out exactly why, but assume it has something to do with the yeast.

 

[abecall98]

Am I the only who doesn't treat West Coast IPA and these Hazy IPAs as the same? It's easier for me to justify the higher and hyped price of these cans compared to the regular West Coast IPA style I've been drinking for years. They are different enough for me to treat them as a completely separate style. They aren't yet easy for us in the Bay Area to come by, so having to pay $4-$5 a can is pretty much the norm, whereas I usually would settle for a sixer of Lagunitas, Sierra, or Fresh Squeezed for a cheap West Coast IPA fix.

 

[AptosBeerDrinker]

I honestly think that a lot of those beers are better than the average beer coming out of Alvarado, Fieldwork, etc. They have their occasional hits, but a lot of time there are a lot of off flavors, muddled flavors, etc. Alvarado especially, I have trouble getting through more than a midwest pour of their IPAs before they become cloyingly sweet. Can't figure out exactly why, but assume it has something to do with the yeast.

Agree to disagree but I recognize not every thing they put out is a home run. Still, I don't see anything from those breweries mentioned hanging with Mai Tai, Contains No Juice, etc. and I'm willing to pay a little extra for the difference but to each their own.

 

[AptosBeerDrinker]

Am I the only who doesn't treat West Coast IPA and these Hazy IPAs as the same? It's easier for me to justify the higher and hyped price of these cans compared to the regular West Coast IPA style I've been drinking for years. They are different enough for me to treat them as a completely separate style. They aren't yet easy for us in the Bay Area to come by, so having to pay $4-$5 a can is pretty much the norm, whereas I usually would settle for a sixer of Lagunitas, Sierra, or Fresh Squeezed for a cheap West Coast IPA fix.

For me it's less about the style itself and more about a really pronounced freshness and hop character. I'm totally down to drink a SN Pale Ale or a Racer 5 but comparing it to something that's coming from a small production brewery that's a couple days old? I don't see the comparison.

 

[abecall98]

For me it's less about the style itself and more about a really pronounced freshness and hop character. I'm totally down to drink a SN Pale Ale or a Racer 5 but comparing it to something that's coming from a small production brewery that's a couple days old? I don't see the comparison.

I completely agree. My point was more so comparing West Coast IPA to these Hazy. It's easier to compare Pliny to Fresh Squeezed than it is to compare Pliny to Contains No Juice, that's pretty much comparing apples and oranges at that point IMO. I've passed on the Alvarado St. West Coast IPA at $18 a 4 pack because I have many other cheaper offerings for the style, but I don't waste time getting that $20 4 pack of Contains No Juice.

I just think the style of these Hazy IPA are so different than the standard IPAs we are used too here in Cali, that I just can't compare the prices when discussing them. I pay $4 for and get multiple cans of YOJO and don't even think twice about it, but I hesitate at $11.99 on Fresh Squeezed sixer because it isn't on sale for $9.99.

 

[matedog]

Mark me in the "I don't think $4 for 16oz cans is particularly bad" group. Growlers and kegs are just aren't convenient for me, particularly for something that has be drank fresh. I enjoyed 12th of Never, but I generally don't think Lags (or SN or BR, etc.) is of the same caliber as Fieldwork, Alvarado St, C-maker. So the extra dollar for a can isn't a big deal for me. Particularly when I'll drop $10-$20 for a single bottle of a sour. Granted, drinking sours on the reg is cost prohibitive.

 

[abecall98]

Mark me in the "I don't think $4 for 16oz cans is particularly bad" group. Growlers and kegs are just aren't convenient for me, particularly for something that has be drank fresh. I enjoyed 12th of Never, but I generally don't think Lags (or SN or BR, etc.) is of the same caliber as Fieldwork, Alvarado St, C-maker. So the extra dollar for a can isn't a big deal for me. Particularly when I'll drop $10-$20 for a single bottle of a sour. Granted, drinking sours on the reg is cost prohibitive.

Thank god for those $5 cans of Alvarado St. Berliners, cheap quick sour fix, or I just wait for the whole foods beer sale and grab 6 bottles of Almanac sours for $7 a bottle. Makes it easier to buy less expensive Rare Barrel bottles.

 

[CommanderofAwesome]

Mark me in the "I don't think $4 for 16oz cans is particularly bad" group. Growlers and kegs are just aren't convenient for me, particularly for something that has be drank fresh. I enjoyed 12th of Never, but I generally don't think Lags (or SN or BR, etc.) is of the same caliber as Fieldwork, Alvarado St, C-maker. So the extra dollar for a can isn't a big deal for me. Particularly when I'll drop $10-$20 for a single bottle of a sour. Granted, drinking sours on the reg is cost prohibitive.

Guess I'm in the minority, I actually prefer Racer 5/Sucks to just about any FW IPA.

 

[benbikes4beer]

Guess I'm in the minority, I actually prefer Racer 5/Sucks to just about any FW IPA.

wat

 

[stupac2]

Growlers and kegs are just aren't convenient for me, particularly for something that has be drank fresh.

You'd be surprised how little difference age makes with kegs. I had a half-barrel for probably a couple months and was enjoying it just as much at the end as I did at the beginning.

Also, I think one big difference between me and most people is that I think of this in terms of "enjoyment", not "flavor". Is Drake's 1500 anywhere close to those Alvarado beers in terms of flavors? Well, no, of course not. But are you really sitting back and savoring those flavors as you down a pint after work or with dinner? I doubt it! The vast majority of the regular drinking we do is perfectly well served with "good enough" beer, whatever that threshold may be.

 

[pen15clubmember]

Could somebody explain this standing-for-12-hours-in-line-for-IPAs thing? .

I don't normally suggest reading comments on articles, but there are some goodies on this one.

"Out here we don't even drink the stuff that ships outside the county. Stone, Ballast Point and even Modern Times are for others, we have Fall and Green Flash, Alesmith, Prodigy..."

Also liked that the brewer's name from Other Half is Sam Richardson.

"Richard T. Splett. Don't know why I said 'T'; my middle name is John."

 

[drgarage1]

That's ghost whale status these days.

Seriously, though.

http://thefullpint.com/beer-news/stone-brewing-addresses-fate-old-guardian-imperial-russian-stout/