FIB War Room

[Treebs]

I think that batch actually arrived in mid-December since I bought a 4 pack around then. I actually think people just didn't buy a ton of it.

Once people figured out they couldn't buy it and then try to trade it for rare beers they stopped buying it.

 

[LSMroz]

Once people figured out they couldn't buy it and then try to trade it for rare beers they stopped buying it.

Or was it the fact that every Binny's couldn't tweet out any more, "Super fresh, super limited Abrasive, ask for it at service desk!!!"

 

[kawilliams81]

You think 12/5/15 Abrasive is bad, Algonquin Binny's has 11/5/15 Fist City stacks of cases sitting on the floor. Not sure what Rev's "good to/freshness" period is? Pretty sad I have to pass on Chicago brewery IPA's because they're old as ****!

 

[ClCardinal84]

For some it might not be worth the hassle but Binny's has an e-gift card promotion going on of buy $10 get 10. I bought a $10 card (cost $11.50 with fee) and got a free $10 card. Used them both. So basically got $8.50 off my purchase.

Link: http://ltrk.co/q/s/RM7dk


Also a couple cases of Abrasive at St. Charles Binny's. Hard pass for price and being canned 12/5/15. Sad we can't get super fresh Surly down here. They are like a 6 hr drive from us. Why is everything a month or more old when it gets here?

I bought 12/1 canned on 12/10 I believe so it was super fresh and super delicious. First time I can remember getting Surly product that close to canning date.

 

[Mugatu]

You think 12/5/15 Abrasive is bad, Algonquin Binny's has 11/5/15 Fist City stacks of cases sitting on the floor. Not sure what Rev's "good to/freshness" period is? Pretty sad I have to pass on Chicago brewery IPA's because they're old as ****!

Honest Question... Do we think the "freshness" issue is caused by Distributors holding inventory in their warehouses too long? Retailers not putting beer on the shelf fast enough? Consumers not purchasing quick enough (oversupply of IPAs in the market or maybe just IPAs are "out of season" at the moment)?

I've heard a lot more arguments for distributors like Wirtz holding micro/craft brewers beer at their warehouses beyond what is a reasonable amount of time. Not sure who distributes for Revolution but I think it may be more a distributor issue than a retailer or consumer problem. I know last night I walked around Binny's looking for some fresh IPAs and couldn't find a single one... Half Acre cans weren't dated so I'm assuming those were made pre-December, Pipeworks had no dates on them, Revolution was made in november, and many more... ultimately I was pleased to just pick up the copper lager (vienna?) and bright lager from Metropolitan.

 

[mdomask]

You think 12/5/15 Abrasive is bad, Algonquin Binny's has 11/5/15 Fist City stacks of cases sitting on the floor. Not sure what Rev's "good to/freshness" period is? Pretty sad I have to pass on Chicago brewery IPA's because they're old as ****!

I thought the general "freshness period" was 90 or 180 days, assuming bottles aren't stored in direct sun or other stupidity.

 

[SSTroller]

Honest Question... Do we think the "freshness" issue is caused by Distributors holding inventory in their warehouses too long? Retailers not putting beer on the shelf fast enough? Consumers not purchasing quick enough (oversupply of IPAs in the market or maybe just IPAs are "out of season" at the moment)?

I've heard a lot more arguments for distributors like Wirtz holding micro/craft brewers beer at their warehouses beyond what is a reasonable amount of time. Not sure who distributes for Revolution but I think it may be more a distributor issue than a retailer or consumer problem. I know last night I walked around Binny's looking for some fresh IPAs and couldn't find a single one... Half Acre cans weren't dated so I'm assuming those were made pre-December, Pipeworks had no dates on them, Revolution was made in november, and many more... ultimately I was pleased to just pick up the copper lager (vienna?) and bright lager from Metropolitan.

Not sure who takes care of Rev, but I can consistently find week old cans of Fist City or Anti Hero at my local Jewel, but rarely find those same cans as fresh at any Binny's near me.
Might be a matter of a store only buying a large load maybe once a month or two vs. a store buying a smaller quantity more frequently?

 

[RedCoffee]

I thought the general "freshness period" was 90 or 180 minutes, assuming bottles aren't stored in direct sun or other stupidity.

 

[ChicagoGuy]

I went to the big LP Binny's on Saturday for the 15%-off-wine-and-spirits madness, and took my sister with so she could stock up as well. I also noticed that a lot of the locals (except Blood of the Unicorn) were old.

On top of that, the mix-six section looked more like a dumping ground for old **** they wanted to get rid of...bunch of old-ass Oktoberfests and Christmas ales, and not much else.

She was looking for a couple specific liquors, and was told that one had been discontinued, and the other was "out of stock at the distributor". Only she works for the company that makes both of the items she was looking for, and knows for a fact that both are still very much in production and that the distributor has plenty. I was miffed because one was a rather pricey scotch that she was going to buy for me using her annual product allowance.

So basically, the usual liquor section shenanigans are going strong, and standards have dropped in the beer section after vav left. On the plus side, I did score some discounted Orin Swifts and a bottle of Belle Meade 10yr.

 

[trickytunadicky]

Got some undated Lizard King that tasted awesome from Binny's over the weekend. Placebo effect? Don't know. Don't care.

 

[trickytunadicky]

I went to the big LP Binny's on Saturday for the 15%-off-wine-and-spirits madness, and took my sister with so she could stock up as well. I also noticed that a lot of the locals (except Blood of the Unicorn) were old.

On top of that, the mix-six section looked more like a dumping ground for old **** they wanted to get rid of...bunch of old-ass Oktoberfests and Christmas ales, and not much else.

She was looking for a couple specific liquors, and was told that one had been discontinued, and the other was "out of stock at the distributor". Only she works for the company that makes both of the items she was looking for, and knows for a fact that both are still very much in production and that the distributor has plenty. I was miffed because one was a rather pricey scotch that she was going to buy for me using her annual product allowance.

So basically, the usual liquor section shenanigans are going strong, and standards have dropped in the beer section after vav left. On the plus side, I did score some discounted Orin Swifts and a bottle of Belle Meade 10yr.

We were also there. Snagged some Signatory bottles, just a few beers and got the F out of dodge.

 

[SSTroller]

Got some undated Lizard King that tasted awesome from Binny's over the weekend. Placebo effect? Don't know. Don't care.

I've gotten some undated Lizard King cans couple weeks ago too, but know they were fresh since Open Bottle tags all their stuff when it comes in. Maybe the PW coder may not work all the time?
I've also been loving the recent LK batches! They must still be tweaking it cuz the last 4pk I drank was the cloudiest LK I've had so far...like War Bird cloudy. Just picked up a 01/14/15 4pk last night, so we'll see how this one is.

 

[kawilliams81]

It seems like a lot of the PW 4 packs haven't been dated for awhile now. Not sure what's going on but I really hate buying hoppy beers that I'm not sure what the canned date is.

 

[Ferowcious]

I bought 12/1 canned on 12/10 I believe so it was super fresh and super delicious. First time I can remember getting Surly product that close to canning date.

If only we could get Hopslam within 4 weeks of it's bottling/canning.

 

[sleuthdog]

I've gotten some undated Lizard King cans couple weeks ago too, but know they were fresh since Open Bottle tags all their stuff when it comes in. Maybe the PW coder may not work all the time?
I've also been loving the recent LK batches! They must still be tweaking it cuz the last 4pk I drank was the cloudiest LK I've had so far...like War Bird cloudy. Just picked up a 01/14/15 4pk last night, so we'll see how this one is.

Nice plus that Open Bottle does this. Just picked up some LK out of the cooler there this past weekend. Never had it before, enjoyed it. I looked for some fresh Anti Hero at multiple spots in the south suburbs with no luck.

 

[thewimperoo]

I've gotten some undated Lizard King cans couple weeks ago too, but know they were fresh since Open Bottle tags all their stuff when it comes in. Maybe the PW coder may not work all the time?
I've also been loving the recent LK batches! They must still be tweaking it cuz the last 4pk I drank was the cloudiest LK I've had so far...like War Bird cloudy. Just picked up a 01/14/15 4pk last night, so we'll see how this one is.

Nice plus that Open Bottle does this. Just picked up some LK out of the cooler there this past weekend. Never had it before, enjoyed it. I looked for some fresh Anti Hero at multiple spots in the south suburbs with no luck.

The only thing you have to be careful with that is he puts a sticker on the day he gets it even if there's a bottle/can date on the package. I know someone that bought some Hailstorm stuff that was canned in November but Open Bottle had a sticker from December on it.

It's still better than nothing, but just something to keep an eye on.

 

[SSTroller]

The only thing you have to be careful with that is he puts a sticker on the day he gets it even if there's a bottle/can date on the package. I know someone that bought some Hailstorm stuff that was canned in November but Open Bottle had a sticker from December on it.

It's still better than nothing, but just something to keep an eye on.

Right!
But you have to wonder why What **** is Hailstorm is sending that old of product out when its like a mile away?

 

[sleuthdog]

Right!
But you have to wonder why What **** is Hailstorm is sending that old of product out when its like a mile away?

So true!

 

[Unbreakabolt]

Not sure who takes care of Rev, but I can consistently find week old cans of Fist City or Anti Hero at my local Jewel, but rarely find those same cans as fresh at any Binny's near me.

8.99 Target six packs are the jam.

Pipeworks just got a new date coder and should be good to go going forward. Believe me, I read it on the internet.

The cans of gone away in my fridge suggest a taco pairing along with the date code and it was good advice.

 

[jeblikesbeer]

Todd the Axe Man on at Monks. Tasting awesome. I see it is on tap at Surly too so must be new batch. Would love to see cans again if they are doing semiannual batches.

As dude who does **** part time for surly. I can confirm we are doing it time to time and it'll be a yearly thing. That being said. Blakker is about to roll, and just you wait til summer I what comes this summer

 

[vav1]

I went to the big LP Binny's on Saturday for the 15%-off-wine-and-spirits madness, and took my sister with so she could stock up as well. I also noticed that a lot of the locals (except Blood of the Unicorn) were old.

On top of that, the mix-six section looked more like a dumping ground for old **** they wanted to get rid of...bunch of old-ass Oktoberfests and Christmas ales, and not much else.

She was looking for a couple specific liquors, and was told that one had been discontinued, and the other was "out of stock at the distributor". Only she works for the company that makes both of the items she was looking for, and knows for a fact that both are still very much in production and that the distributor has plenty. I was miffed because one was a rather pricey scotch that she was going to buy for me using her annual product allowance.

So basically, the usual liquor section shenanigans are going strong, and standards have dropped in the beer section after vav left. On the plus side, I did score some discounted Orin Swifts and a bottle of Belle Meade 10yr.

I stopped by last Wednesday to drop off some of my beer and say hi to my old friends. It looked a bit different from the way I left it.

 

[SAISON FUCK]

Any pre-thoughts on Hopewell? A lager-centric, but not exclusive brewery opening soon near the border of Logan Square and Avondale.

 

[RedCoffee]

Any pre-thoughts on Hopewell? A lager-centric, but not exclusive brewery opening soon near the border of Logan Square and Avondale.

I'M BORED!

Call me back when they start selling a thin hop paste in a bottle.

 

[Unbreakabolt]

Any pre-thoughts on Hopewell? A lager-centric, but not exclusive brewery opening soon near the border of Logan Square and Avondale.

I walked by there last night and the space looks like it's going to be really impressive. That stretch of Milwaukee is about to blow up and the renovations to crown liquors are awesome if anyone hasn't been able to stop by. They gouge like a ************ every time they get a nice keg but it's usually pretty low key and a fun vibe.

 

[PHBoiler]

As dude who does **** part time for surly. I can confirm we are doing it time to time and it'll be a yearly thing. That being said. Blakker is about to roll, and just you wait til summer I what comes this summer

Is it finally the bottles of misanthrope that got label approval last year? Or is it cans of cacao bender? Or did they Brett Cynic cans? If it's not one of those it better be really exciting.

 

[Lansman]

So basically, the usual liquor section shenanigans are going strong, and standards have dropped in the beer section after vav left.

Glad that I'm not the only one who feels like something is "off" of late. Bringing in the shady South Loop group to manage some of the LP Binny's stock has been a disappointing change, to say the least.

 

[Tooch4321]

middlebrow shoot me that email when you get a chance!

 

[middlebrow]

middlebrow shoot me that email when you get a chance!

that was pete's baby...I still have no idea what exactly he was looking for. I'll talk to him in a bit, figure it out and shoot you an email.

and to keep this like on topic or somethin....any reviews of the food at half acre?

 

[Tooch4321]

that was pete's baby...I still have no idea what exactly he was looking for. I'll talk to him in a bit, figure it out and shoot you an email.

and to keep this like on topic or somethin....any reviews of the food at half acre?

When did the kitchen open at Half Acre?

 

[jeblikesbeer]

Is it finally the bottles of misanthrope that got label approval last year? Or is it cans of cacao bender? Or did they Brett Cynic cans? If it's not one of those it better be really exciting.

Summer drinker. It's excellent and none of those options. You'll find out cone may