FIB War Room

[Hopping Tiger]

No, just straight jacket in cans

Would you say more, the same, or less SJ in distro as last year?

I need to know because I am going to try to buy all of it.

 

[beeraficionado]

Would you say more, the same, or less SJ in distro as last year?

I need to know because I am going to try to buy all of it.

in the ballpark of last years quantity, but keep in mind we’re releasing it at a better time of year with the holidays and *all* of Winter still ahead ahead of us, so it might move a little faster than when it comes out in January.

 

[rmalinowski4]

in the ballpark of last years quantity, but keep in mind we’re releasing it at a better time of year with the holidays and *all* of Winter still ahead ahead of us, so it might move a little faster than when it comes out in January.

Hitting distro this week?

 

[purephase]

I will never not be amused by BCBS fans getting angry at Noel's reviews.

 

[kodt]

I will never not be amused by BCBS fans getting angry at Noel's reviews.

I love the people accusing him of giving critical reviews only because he is mad about getting shut out from the media tasting event.

 

[jdhende]

I personally really liked prop 19. It's sweet, but I think it still works and the flavors meld. Cafe de Olla though is a weird hodge podge that just doesn't really come together. Was far and away my least favorite variant I tried at Prop day.

 

[oN3xM]

I personally really liked prop 19. It's sweet, but I think it still works and the flavors meld. Cafe de Olla though is a weird hodge podge that just doesn't really come together. Was far and away my least favorite variant I tried at Prop day.

Had it on draft at Prop Day and all I could taste was orange peel. Opened a bottle the next day and the coffee more of a presence (could simply be the temperature difference of 40F at Prop Day vs 68F room with the bottle). Either way, it's reminiscent of Midnight Orange but with coffee added

 

[thewimperoo]

Had it on draft at Prop Day and all I could taste was orange peel. Opened a bottle the next day and the coffee more of a presence (could simply be the temperature difference of 40F at Prop Day vs 68F room with the bottle). Either way, it's reminiscent of Midnight Orange but with coffee added

Soooooo it's terrible.

 

[thewimperoo]

Dovetail Kolsch is where it's at. Damn.

 

[Hopping Tiger]

Dovetail Kolsch is where it's at. Damn.

dear god yes thats good

 

[ClCardinal84]

I did not win the Goose lottery for whatever bottle that was. Can’t even remember what I signed up for.

 

[rmalinowski4]

So, how long is the line?

 

[Dunt1]

It's way nicer sleeping in today than standing in line

 

[SAISON FUCK]

It is way nicer being at work today than standing in line.

 

[thewimperoo]

It's way nicer sleeping in today than standing in line

Went to grab bread and cheese at Whole Foods this morning, and they still had everything except 2yr Reserve. No line, no fuss.

 

[kodt]

I had a ticket to the tasting session at Clybourn at 9am. Rolled up around 8:40, saw there was no line at Binnys and walked straight in and got a full allotment with no line. Then at the tasting session they gave you a Prop and a ticket which allowed you to buy a bottle of Double Barrel (for about $61 after tax).

No lines.

Saw plenty of people going through getting their 3rd or 4th allotments when I got there though. Not sure what you would do with that much BCBS...

 

[ClCardinal84]

I prefer to spend my cash on the Cruz Blanca barrel aged beers at a better price point nowadays.

 

[kodt]

Also Paw Paw at Off Color is great.

 

[BobCobb1]

I had a ticket to the tasting session at Clybourn at 9am. Rolled up around 8:40, saw there was no line at Binnys and walked straight in and got a full allotment with no line. Then at the tasting session they gave you a Prop and a ticket which allowed you to buy a bottle of Double Barrel (for about $61 after tax).

No lines.

Saw plenty of people going through getting their 3rd or 4th allotments when I got there though. Not sure what you would do with that much BCBS...

That’s about as good as it gets. Also saw Clybourn had VR on tap in the morning.

For me, after Prop Day and Fobab, no desire to go out at all. Mainly just felt it was (mostly) another set of duds, at least compared to 2014 and earlier. Each year have been chalking it up to just some experimental ones that missed. Now 3+ years running, not sure it will ever get back to that.

 

[yeahnatenelson]

I have a soft spot in my heart for Bourbon County but I wasn't really not energized to wait in the cold for the "good" variants or willing to pay secondary, not that there's anywhere to do that business now locally.

As poorly thought out as the adjunct variants have sometimes been* I'm more worried that they plan to go further down this boring** barrel treatment path and we'll end up in 2020 with the hottest BA stouts of 2009, as if they were completely unaware that FiftyFifty Eclipse gathers dust at a significantly better price point (in $/fl.oz.) than the BCBS reserve stuff they're currently parading.



*I think the GI brain trust have done the thing that lots of well-meaning people do, that is, to conflate being boring with being sophisticated and being unintelligible with being clever. "Neapolitan Ice Cream BCBS would be stupid and childish. What's really cool is Luxardo cherries, candied pecans and mashed Anaheim chilies."

**I say boring not because barrel treatment BCBS is uninteresting, but rather that they don't have the guts to do anything meaningfully different than the base. They made an Ardbeg BCBS and ultimately wimped out on releasing it as BCBS. We're not going to see anything in package more adventurous than an EC11->EC12 "double barrel".

 

[Hopping Tiger]

I still buy bottles of regular when I come across it at a good price. That's mostly just out of habit and fond memories. But I haven't had a pour of any variant that I've liked enough to have a second one of in 3 or 4 years now. They are all hot and sweet and pointless imo.

 

[RedCoffee]

I don't think very many of us are the target demo for BCBS anymore. The only people I ever see talking about it with great enthusiasm are chronic FOMO beer fanatics. The only time I ever hear about it in real life now are Boomers saying something like "You know this whole craft beer thing? I heard they have a beer that was aged in a bourbon barrel and Goose Island is the only company that makes it."

 

[middlebrow]

I don't think very many of us are the target demo for BCBS anymore. The only people I ever see talking about it with great enthusiasm are chronic FOMO beer fanatics. The only time I ever hear about it in real life now are Boomers saying something like "You know this whole craft beer thing? I heard they have a beer that was aged in a bourbon barrel and Goose Island is the only company that makes it."

yes and hell yes...again those overly sweet go wait baitin opiate for the masses, i try at FOBAB but aint buying.... but that pie i had with the fancy cherry one is probably better than any variant i've ever had.

 

[yeahnatenelson]

I don't think very many of us are the target demo for BCBS anymore. The only people I ever see talking about it with great enthusiasm are chronic FOMO beer fanatics.

I agree that we are not the target demo but I don't really think Goose knows what their target demo wants, or who they are.

What I keep looking back to are the two red herring TTB label approvals from last year: horchata and Neapolitan. The FOMO tickers would've gone ape for those beers. Instead, they got Bananas Foster, Terry's Chocolate Orange and a blueberry...muffin(?), combinations probably more attuned to those boomers who would get a kick out of knowing those beers exist but obviously wouldn't be interested in actually drinking it, and definitely not shelling $28 for a beer.

Goose is [clutches pearls] very concerned that they will no longer be seen as innovators in the barrel-aged beer space, so instead of following the trend lines they make make flavored stouts that are meant for nobody. They're scratching their heads to make a sophisticated flavored dessert stout -- which maybe doesn't exist? -- but end up making something dull or nonsensical (again, pepper mash and Luxardo cherries). And this is all before they started cribbing from FiftyFifty's 2009 portfolio.

 

[middlebrow]

if you wanted a picture of what craft beer is in 2019

 

[RedCoffee]

if you wanted a picture of what craft beer is in 2019

Who the **** is that? Are they owned my Mike Bloomberg/Tom Steyer?

(#Spillover)

 

[ClCardinal84]

Who the **** is that? Are they owned my Mike Bloomberg/Tom Steyer?

(#Spillover)

Assuming you’re talking about this? I’ve been to their tiny ass taproom in Highwood because my in-laws live 5 minutes up the road in Lake Forest. Nice owner but the most averagely normal beer alive. No clue in hell how they got the capital.
https://www.globenewswire.com/news-...icts-Brewing-Co-to-Acquire-Ballast-Point.html

 

[danbanana]

Assuming you’re talking about this? I’ve been to their tiny ass taproom in Highwood because my in-laws live 5 minutes up the road in Lake Forest. Nice owner but the most averagely normal beer alive. No clue in hell how they got the capital.
https://www.globenewswire.com/news-...icts-Brewing-Co-to-Acquire-Ballast-Point.html

Per Noel, the dude sold his hotel chain a few years back. Googling shows he got around $10m for it.

People are reading this all wrong. It's not a tiny brewery buying a big one. It's a PE group buying a big brewery, oh and one of the PE folks has a vanity brewery already. This isn't anything different than what happened to, say, The Bruery other than the marketing leverage of the little brewpub.

 

[ClCardinal84]

Per Noel, the dude sold his hotel chain a few years back. Googling shows he got around $10m for it.

People are reading this all wrong. It's not a tiny brewery buying a big one. It's a PE group buying a big brewery, oh and one of the PE folks has a vanity brewery already. This isn't anything different than what happened to, say, The Bruery other than the marketing leverage of the little brewpub.

I assumed PE was involved with the purchase but never assumed deep pockets after visiting the taproom. Figured it was just some locals that opened a brewery that would eventually fizzle out. Clearly not as more news on the owners background has come out today.

 

[SAISON FUCK]

I will say that I enjoyed when the buyer was asked about the price of the acquisition of Ballast Point, he just said that it was less than a billion dollars.