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

[JCastle1]

I think it was 2011? when I started trying to tick the BA Top 250 at the time. Got it down to these 32 left after finally ticking Cuvee de Castleton when it hit Boston a couple months ago. Slow and steady.

Brute is still one of my favorite beers I've ever had. Man I would love to go back to that bottle.

Damn, Hill Farmstead Nor... did they ever rebrew that? I think that was the first HF I ever tried the first time I went up.

 

[sherm10161]

Damn, Hill Farmstead Nor... did they ever rebrew that? I think that was the first HF I ever tried the first time I went up.

I never got to try the HF versions, but Cigar City Either/Or were both phenomenal.

 

[regularjohn]

Found some old pictures....


First Belgian haul from 2007

My beer fridge from April 2009.

Beer fridge later that year

My 1st "white whale" tasting from when I actually had whales. Pretty much everyone at this share has "quit" beer, lol.

In the last picture, what are those two New Glarus beers?

 

[sherm10161]

In the last picture, what are those two New Glarus beers?

Olde English Porter
Imperial Saison

 

[jmgrub]

One that immediately comes to mind is Captain Lawrence Cuvee de Castelton. This is a brewery I probably haven't had a beer from since this beer was hyped.

A friend of mine in LA had until recently (and maybe still has) a bunch of old Captain Lawrence whaley beers. I think I ticked CdC, Flaming Fury and Little Linda's Liquid (lol that name) last year.

 

[flexabull]

A whale that I still have. Just waiting for a random reason to open it. I still have the original price tag on it which says $8.99.

When I joined BA years ago I was looking for VE 02. Needless to say I never found it and quit searching shortly there after. But I did have a party where I opened 03-12. It was fun even though the beers were a mixed bag.

 

[Phin1]

A friend of mine in LA had until recently (and maybe still has) a bunch of old Captain Lawrence whaley beers. I think I ticked CdC, Flaming Fury and Little Linda's Liquid (lol that name) last year.

If you didn't already know, Little Linda is named for Scott's mother. Back in the day, she helped out at CL on occasion. Meanwhile, his father, "St. Vince" helped out fairly often on Saturdays in the early days. Still have 1 bottle of the Dubbel made in Pleasantville. They never made Little Linda's Liquid again.
Meanwhile as others noted, CdC & FF have both been recently released with wide distribution. I even saw that an Instagram pal in Sweden bought it off the shelf there.

 

[jmgrub]

This a was blind "whaley" share (with some obviously non-whaley bottles thrown in) that we did back in 2014. I guess people still care about some of these because they are lambic, but Twisted Spoke, Le Woody Brun, Sanctification, old Veritas - these new tickas just don't care.

 

[jmgrub]

If you didn't already know, Little Linda is named for Scott's mother. Back in the day, she helped out at CL on occasion. Meanwhile, his father, "St. Vince" helped out fairly often on Saturdays in the early days. Still have 1 bottle of the Dubbel made in Pleasantville. They never made Little Linda's Liquid again.
Meanwhile as others noted, CdC & FF have both been recently released with wide distribution. I even saw that an Instagram pal in Sweden bought it off the shelf there.

I didn't know, thank you for enlightening me!

I still think "Little Linda's Liquid" is a gross name for a beer.

 

[liquiddegenerate]

One beer that I haven't seen mentioned yet and would trade large part of my "cellar" for is Bell's Barrel Aged 9k. That beer was magical IMO.

Somehow I was able to acquire 3 bottles of it... domed 2 of them and shared the other a a pre-huna day share.

 

[JCastle1]

One beer that I haven't seen mentioned yet and would trade large part of my "cellar" for is Bell's Barrel Aged 9k. That beer was magical IMO.

Somehow I was able to acquire 3 bottles of it... domed 2 of them and shared the other a a pre-huna day share.

God damn that beer was spectacular. Had totally forgotten about it.

 

[thebandit1]

One beer that I haven't seen mentioned yet and would trade large part of my "cellar" for is Bell's Barrel Aged 9k. That beer was magical IMO.

Somehow I was able to acquire 3 bottles of it... domed 2 of them and shared the other a a pre-huna day share.

******* that beer was great.

 

[MooseLang]

I remember when I first decided I wanted to try “sours.”

So I went to my local place outside of Pittsburgh that specialized in Belgian Beer.

I bought a Rose de Gambrinus and 3F Kriek for $15 and $20, respectively (750ml bottles).

These were my first “sours.”

This is not a whale story, but always fun to reminisce about the halcyon days.

 

[NeedsMoreDog]

A whale that I still have. Just waiting for a random reason to open it. I still have the original price tag on it which says $8.99.

What are you guys drinking tomorrow for Drink it Now?

 

[yeahnatenelson]

Different times, man...

 

[jmgrub]

Do people still care about corked and caged La Folie?

 

[yeahnatenelson]

Do people still care about corked and caged La Folie?

New Belgium does.

 

[jmgrub]

New Belgium does.

Whoa. Had no idea.

 

[Brez071]

4 pages and no one has even mentioned Isabelle Proximus yet?

The one and only white whale I still care about. I have a friend who works for Allagash and just hope one day he surprises me...

 

[JCastle1]

Do people still care about corked and caged La Folie?

I do, I really want that new batch. Maybe someday I'll find one...

 

[yeahnatenelson]

Do people still give a **** about Veritas releases? The last ones I remember people getting remotely geeked on were Cable Car Kriek-esque V012 and Yellow Bus-ish V015.

 

[sacrelicio]

Different times, man...

Had the exact same year. Tasty.

 

[sacrelicio]

One beer that I haven't seen mentioned yet and would trade large part of my "cellar" for is Bell's Barrel Aged 9k. That beer was magical IMO.

Somehow I was able to acquire 3 bottles of it... domed 2 of them and shared the other a a pre-huna day share.

Someone opened one last year for Dbijnagte's birthday. Spectacular.

 

[yeahnatenelson]

Maaaan, BA9k... Glad to hear that beer is still awesome.

 

[stakem1]

Meanwhile as others noted, CdC & FF have both been recently released with wide distribution. I even saw that an Instagram pal in Sweden bought it off the shelf there.

Not sure which is more shocking

- that FF was so widely dispersed that it was on a shelf in Sweden
- or that a ******* keg of it showed up in middle of nowhere Pennsylvania last year

 

[Gonzoillini1]

One beer that I haven't seen mentioned yet and would trade large part of my "cellar" for is Bell's Barrel Aged 9k. That beer was magical IMO.

Somehow I was able to acquire 3 bottles of it... domed 2 of them and shared the other a a pre-huna day share.

God damn that beer was spectacular. Had totally forgotten about it.

******* that beer was great.

Maaaan, BA9k... Glad to hear that beer is still awesome.

Obviously cellar conditions / provenance / etc... mean everything, but Powzy opened up a bottle of BA 9K at the Cycle Barrel Aged Day a few months back and it was shell of its former self.

We were all kind of sad about it.

 

[ExPimp]

Do people still give a **** about Veritas releases? The last ones I remember people getting remotely geeked on were Cable Car Kriek-esque V012 and Yellow Bus-ish V015.

I showed up at a tasting last month and the group was opening 15-18. No idea what they traded for them, but the bottles were all pretty good. Never ticked the 005 super whale, but the 004 I had in 2014(?) was still fantastic.

 

[sherm10161]

Obviously cellar conditions / provenance / etc... mean everything, but Powzy opened up a bottle of BA 9K at the Cycle Barrel Aged Day a few months back and it was shell of its former self.

We were all kind of sad about it.

I would have just assumed that a few years in zubaz pants would do any beer good. Sad, really.

 

[Gonzoillini1]

Do people still give a **** about Veritas releases? The last ones I remember people getting remotely geeked on were Cable Car Kriek-esque V012 and Yellow Bus-ish V015.

I've got a buddy who lives a few houses away who is a huge Lost Abbey guy still, and he has opened a few of the newer Veritas releases with me. They have all been good, with a couple of them being in the top tier of American Wild Ale's I've ever had. Almost wish I had signed up for the new Sinners Club (or split it with somebody) when it was offered to me as a former Sinners Club member (back when they would ship my beer directly from Lost Abbey > Chicagoland).

 

[user 308679]

I get nostalgic for early Crooked Stave (Batch 1, Persica b1, Waelzblood, etc), especially given what a money grab it has turned into the last few years. Haven't gone near a CS beer in 2 years.

I also fondly recall when people actually gave a **** about Avery sours. Those were the days in the old Avery Alley.