Let's Remember Some Beers (In Memoriam: Old Whales)

[RyanG1]

First time I heard of this blond aged in oak battery acid barrels ago I was excited. Now ded.

 

[Lutter]

Was definitely ISO this for a while.

Ha. I remember when I started trading back in the day this and Tart of Darkness were some of the biggest pulls.

Pulling out a Tart of Darkness at a bottle share would make the entire room quiet down, lol.

Now?

 

[matedog]

Any of the older fruited (2013-ish) Bruery stuff still good? Looking at you Sour in the Rye

I had a four or five year old bottle of SITR and it was an oxidized mess.
Edit - it was a six year old bottle.

 

[matedog]

First time I heard of this blond aged in oak battery acid barrels ago I was excited. Now ded.

I think stupac2 brought that to a GG Park share a year or two ago. It wasn’t terrible.

 

[flexabull]

Apparently, I am one of the few people that wasn't into the whole Bruery craze. I'm sure I had a few, but the only Bruery beer I really remember trying (and liking for that matter) was Humulus Lager.

 

[FoudreGuy]

Amazing how this beer went from "whale" to "limited seasonal release that requires trading for, but not outrageous" to "sitting on shelves in states 2000+ miles away". First time I had it was in 2013 at a share at teddyarrowhead's place, and was super-stoked to finally tick it. Last time was last year where I grabbed a 375 off the shelf at my local bottle shop so I could do a #properglassware pic with some random Logsdon glass I'd acquired somewhere along the way.

Logsdon has had an interesting journey. The farmhouse brewery was closed to the public due to road issues, then they opened a tasting room in Hood River, then they closed it down for a remodel, then opened it again and then closed it permanently. The owner left and the head brewer left to start up Little Beast then the new brewer came on and they opened up a taproom in Washougal, WA in the old Amnesia Brewing space.

Anyway, I don't mind that no one wants PnB anymore. More for me and the 375ml bottles are super nice.

 

[user 306349]

Logsdon has had an interesting journey. The farmhouse brewery was closed to the public due to road issues, then they opened a tasting room in Hood River, then they closed it down for a remodel, then opened it again and then closed it permanently. The owner left and the head brewer left to start up Little Beast then the new brewer came on and they opened up a taproom in Washougal, WA in the old Amnesia Brewing space.

Anyway, I don't mind that no one wants PnB anymore. More for me and the 375ml bottles are super nice.

looks like the new batch is 500ml, wondering if that is the new format across the board or just a temporary thing.

 

[matedog]

Amazing how this beer went from "whale" to "limited seasonal release that requires trading for, but not outrageous" to "sitting on shelves in states 2000+ miles away". First time I had it was in 2013 at a share at teddyarrowhead's place, and was super-stoked to finally tick it. Last time was last year where I grabbed a 375 off the shelf at my local bottle shop so I could do a #properglassware pic with some random Logsdon glass I'd acquired somewhere along the way.

I had PnB at some nice beer bar in Akureyri Iceland in 2016. I was drunk AF with the wife on our anniversary and the bartender was happy we bought it because we shared with him and it was probably really expensive.

Longwinded story: You can get PnB in Iceland and not even in Reykjavik.

 

[Saind]

I had PnB at some nice beer bar in Akureyri Iceland in 2016. I was drunk AF with the wife on our anniversary and the bartender was happy we bought it because we shared with him and it was probably really expensive.

Longwinded story: You can get PnB in Iceland and not even in Reykjavik.

What I got from this is that there's Iceland outside of Reykjavik

 

[yeahnatenelson]

What I got from this is that there's Iceland outside of Reykjavik

Well, yeah. That's where the witchcraft museum is: Not Reykjavik.

 

[matedog]

What I got from this is that there's Iceland outside of Reykjavik

Apparently Akureyri is the fifth largest city in Iceland. I swear it felt like the second.

Here was the bar: https://r5.is/

 

[JCastle1]

I had PnB at some nice beer bar in Akureyri Iceland in 2016. I was drunk AF with the wife on our anniversary and the bartender was happy we bought it because we shared with him and it was probably really expensive.

Longwinded story: You can get PnB in Iceland and not even in Reykjavik.

Bartender at Mikkeller almost convinced my drunk ass to drop coin on an Aquavit Dark Lord. So also BADL in Iceland.

 

[mjohnson171]

Bartender at Mikkeller almost convinced my drunk ass to drop coin on an Aquavit Dark Lord. So also BADL in Iceland.

He was thinking “stupid tourist, I’ll get this sucker.”

 

[JCastle1]

He was thinking “stupid tourist, I’ll get this sucker.”

He admitted he wanted to try it (and I was also super curious about the Aquavit character). But I hate any and all Dark Lord so I convinced myself not to buy it.

 

[matedog]

He admitted he wanted to try it (and I was also super curious about the Aquavit character). But I hate any and all Dark Lord so I convinced myself not to buy it.

Mikkeller Reykjavík has some old ass Belle Vue they were hocking for a few hundred dollars US. It crossed my mind until I did the currency translation.

 

[Jnorton00]

Amazing how this beer went from "whale" to "limited seasonal release that requires trading for, but not outrageous" to "sitting on shelves in states 2000+ miles away". First time I had it was in 2013 at a share at teddyarrowhead's place, and was super-stoked to finally tick it. Last time was last year where I grabbed a 375 off the shelf at my local bottle shop so I could do a #properglassware pic with some random Logsdon glass I'd acquired somewhere along the way.

10 bucks a bottle at the store by me.

 

[swivelhips1]

Anyway, I don't mind that no one wants PnB anymore. More for me and the 375ml bottles are super nice.

I remember finding PnB at Far Bar in LA in 2014 or 2015 for $15 a bottle and thinking it was a fantastic deal. I think we ordered 3 bottles.

 

[GetchaPull]

I opened that beer with a friend. I kept saying how it was gonna be perfect for the pool, easy drinking, kinda like a Bellini... boy was I wrong, one of the sourest beers I can ever remember. It was a chore to finish.

I think this is the beer I traded an OGV 07 (non-Valentijn) for in 2012...all the ragrets. And the recipient is among us. At least it wasn't my worst decision trade-wise.

 

[GetchaPull]

I remember finding PnB at Far Bar in LA in 2014 or 2015 for $15 a bottle and thinking it was a fantastic deal. I think we ordered 3 bottles.

Still love that beer.

 

[yeahnatenelson]

I think this is the beer I traded an OGV 07 (non-Valentijn) for in 2012...all the ragrets. And the recipient is among us. At least it wasn't my worst decision trade-wise.

I feel like this is a marker for how long you've been around in the beer trading scene: did you trade 3F for hyped fail whales? Anyone who says no either wasn't there or is a liar.

In our defense, this stuff was a lot easier to get a hold of. And cheaper. Case in point, my first BIAB invoice (Oct 2011):

 

[stupac2]

I think this is the beer I traded an OGV 07 (non-Valentijn) for in 2012...all the ragrets. And the recipient is among us. At least it wasn't my worst decision trade-wise.

I'd have to check my spreadsheet but I bet that was me!

I feel like this is a marker for how long you've been around in the beer trading scene: did you trade 3F for hyped fail whales? Anyone who says no either wasn't there or is a liar.

In our defense, this stuff was a lot easier to get a hold of. And cheaper. Case in point, my first BIAB invoice (Oct 2011):

I certainly never did, I've always been the guy giving up the hypewhales. I figured out pretty early on that trading for American beer is kinda dumb.

Although, I suppose to be far, I have traded some whalier 3F beers for quantity of less whaley 3F beers...

 

[yeahnatenelson]

I feel like this is a marker for how long you've been around in the beer trading scene: did you trade 3F for hyped fail whales? Anyone who says no either wasn't there or is a liar.

I certainly never did...

Please leave.

 

[stupac2]

Please leave.

If only it were that easy to get rid of me!

 

[matedog]

I feel like this is a marker for how long you've been around in the beer trading scene: did you trade 3F for hyped fail whales? Anyone who says no either wasn't there or is a liar.

In our defense, this stuff was a lot easier to get a hold of. And cheaper. Case in point, my first BIAB invoice (Oct 2011):

FF for 35E in 2011 is higher than I thought it would be. That makes me feel less bad about not jumping on that bandwagon at the time. That 16E LPG tho...

 

[sherm10161]

I did the Unwanted Whales BIF back in the day (4.0 IIRC). I believe I sent a 2011 Brandy Dark Lord and received a DDG B1. This was right around the time that someone's Brandy Dark Lord exploded in their fridge, and I had already had the GOAT with Brandy Vanilla DL, so I was ok parting with it. The DDG ended up getting drank at a tasting with B1, B2, and B3 DDG. B1 was the winner at that point.

My bottle of CW 1414 was not accepted into Round 5.0.

 

[stupac2]

I did the Unwanted Whales BIF back in the day (4.0 IIRC). I believe I sent a 2011 Brandy Dark Lord and received a DDG B1. This was right around the time that someone's Brandy Dark Lord exploded in their fridge, and I had already had the GOAT with Brandy Vanilla DL, so I was ok parting with it. The DDG ended up getting drank at a tasting with B1, B2, and B3 DDG. B1 was the winner at that point.

My bottle of CW 1414 was not accepted into Round 5.0.

Was that the Math trade urbancaver ran? I did one of them and turned an Iced Eclipse into a Malvassia Rosso, that one sure worked out for me...

 

[sherm10161]

Was that the Math trade urbancaver ran? I did one of them and turned an Iced Eclipse into a Malvassia Rosso, that one sure worked out for me...

It was run by urbancaver, but I think the Math BIFs were different. It was literally called Unwanted Whales. The threads are still over on BA I think.

 

[trickytunadicky]

Was that the Math trade urbancaver ran? I did one of them and turned an Iced Eclipse into a Malvassia Rosso, that one sure worked out for me...

neorunner always did the math bif as far as I know.

Unwanted Whales was urbancaver and khazaddum asked him about a million questions up front about how the BIF was done to figure out whether or not it was a scam to end up with the whaleiest beer himself.

Shocker, some folks ended up mad.

He also ran a one bottle BIF at Dark lord Day where the rumor was because he was flipping bottles into and out of his backpack that he was swapping bottles he had for bottles he wanted when no one was looking. A buddy gave me his bottle to swap in the BIF and I walked up right when someone else did and made sure to take the bottle he had just been given. End result was guy who went first traded down (shocking...) and we ended up about even. I felt a little bad, but we had spend about exactly enough time around the guy to know how far we could trust him and are not surprised at all he has faded from the scene. Dat Beau voicemail though... One of my favorite DLD memories.

 

[JulianB1]

https://urbancaver.wordpress.com/unwanted-whales-bif-2/unwanted-whales-bif/

https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/unwanted-whales-rankings-hints-hauls.12477/

There's other, later editions as well. It's interesting to see how the beers ranked, and how much different many of those rankings would be today.

 

[stupac2]

neorunner always did the math bif as far as I know.

Unwanted Whales was urbancaver and khazaddum asked him about a million questions up front about how the BIF was done to figure out whether or not it was a scam to end up with the whaleiest beer himself.

Shocker, some folks ended up mad.

Ah, that's right, I remember that there was some crap about him massaging the rankings in a way that got him the best stuff, but it worked fine for me!

I always think it's the math BIF because the principle was the same, except instead it being algorithmic and maximizing utility overall it was hand-done to maximize one person's utility...