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

[lb304854]

I'm not an old school baller, but I think Colorado's first instawhale was WWBV. The others sat on shelves for weeks at a time. I remember them actually having a releaae party for that beer for the first time. I went like as it started cause I didn't know it had blown up like that and saw a line that was wrapped around the block and just left.

I don't know what WWBV is, but I raise you the OG 750s of Barrel Aged Yeti, BA Old Ruffian, and whatever the third one was. Pretty sure all of which ended up infected.

 

[wuntrikpony]

I don't know what WWBV is,

https://www.abbreviations.com/WWBV

It’s either a radio station in Pennsylvania or a Crooked Stave beer.

 

[yeahnatenelson]

I don't know what WWBV is, but I raise you the OG 750s of Barrel Aged Yeti, BA Old Ruffian, and whatever the third one was. Pretty sure all of which ended up infected.

Crooked Stave Wild Wild Brett Violet. Member the rainbow 750's? Oh, and the 3rd BA Great Divide was Hibernation Old Ale.


Sub-question: how is CS doing now?

 

[yeahnatenelson]

First unbeknownst-to-me whale was the 2009 BCBS bomber. Slung some fresh Hooby Tippler tins to somebody (jdhende ?) for some Chicagoland tasties and the 09 might have even been an extra in that trade, can't remember. No surprise to anybody here, but wow. Better than OG Rare, IMO.

'09 Bomber... Another weird sleeper. Again, these were turding up the local supermarkets for two years before the neckbeard community decided that, hey, this is good and we were being weenies about this beer before.

 

[JulianB1]

That was me actually - I’d put this box together with all intents of drinking (or trying to drink) the bottles with a bunch of friends but I ended up moving and couldn’t justify holding onto it anymore. I’m glad it went to a good place!

Haha awesome, and thanks! It was one of my favorite tastings ever. There's a photo that pretty much defines the tasting, I'll see if I can find it. Me wincing in pain while drinking one of the beers as my buddy points at me and laughs.

One of the worst beers that didn't come from that box was Bullfrog Crime of Passion, which reminds me of how the Le Roar Grzzz beers were massive instawhales the first time they came out, and now I don't hear anything about them.

 

[MikeG1]

Haha awesome, and thanks! It was one of my favorite tastings ever. There's a photo that pretty much defines the tasting, I'll see if I can find it. Me wincing in pain while drinking one of the beers as my buddy points at me and laughs.

One of the worst beers that didn't come from that box was Bullfrog Crime of Passion, which reminds me of how the Le Roar Grzzz beers were massive instawhales the first time they came out, and now I don't hear anything about them.

They were actually distroed to WF in NYC last release and just sat there.

 

[trickytunadicky]

Pardon my catching up...

I'll add Depuration, FfaC, non-pH1 Beat and 3L Consecration/Supplication/Temptation.

Sad to think of RR no longer being blue chip, but here we are... Add coconut and Tahitian vanilla, Vinnie!

I think my first DDB beer was Derperation.

BadJustin loves them

Ithaca made Brute and Lebleu.

Opening my last Le Bleu today. Opened my last Brute at TBBW blending it with Garagiste (Fruit Brute is baller, btw)

Pursued so many whales back then that no one would care about now:

Midnight Sun Barfly
Surly Two
Norrebro Saison Lambic Pinot Noir
Southampton Berliner
Dogfish Head Festina Lente
Pizza Port Le Woody Brune

I remember trading stakem and others for Selin's Grove growlers. Great times.

MMMM BarFly. B2 of that was not good. I have amazing memories of Surly bringing pairings to GTMW the first year I attended of Surly one through 5 or 6, I forget which they were on, but Surly 4 with ice cream sandwiches stole the show.

Do people still care about corked and caged La Folie?

I care about making Black Folie with it. Member Black Folie? As a mead nerd, that was my greatest rare tick. (shout out to oreo and Forgetfu for doing your thing and getting that into my mouth hole).

The sour Six Guys Off The Scale. I also remember a BA maple porter they ****** up every time that I can't think of the name of but trickytunadicky liked it because it tasted like those caramel apple suckers we had as kids.

EDIT: it was King of the Forest!

That was a poor choice. All of my remaining King of the Forest and Whiskey Richard went to Ken Madden at some point. Am also currently probably sitting on some infected Sasparilla 666. Woo.

Am filled with many food (*good) memories catching up on this. And also, wow, I am still sitting on some of these. (Okay, the IP is on purpose. I know it is still drinking pretty great, and when I didn't open it last year for turning 35 and graduating and celebrating 5 years of marriage, it got set aside for the next big thing), but there are some weird dusties still hanging around the cellar. Like a lot of KRE.

 

[ilovestouts]

I remember sending the old swingtop bottles of this around the country circa 2005 for the likes of: Dogfish Head 120 and Festina Lente, Speedway Stout(green bottle!), Victory Storm King, Founders KBS, etc..

The Hooker imperial porter was also a top 100 BA Beer around then. Paul Davis knew how to brew great beer back then.

The one beer I never got to track down that was my whale before stepping aside from beer for 5 years... Dark Lord

 

[thegerm87]

Haha awesome, and thanks! It was one of my favorite tastings ever. There's a photo that pretty much defines the tasting, I'll see if I can find it. Me wincing in pain while drinking one of the beers as my buddy points at me and laughs.

One of the worst beers that didn't come from that box was Bullfrog Crime of Passion, which reminds me of how the Le Roar Grzzz beers were massive instawhales the first time they came out, and now I don't hear anything about them.

I ended up buying a case of the grrrz bottles recently (including crime of passion) at cost+ shipping. I couldn’t even smell crime of passion nevermind drink it

 

[JulianB1]

I ended up buying a case of the grrrz bottles recently (including crime of passion) at cost+ shipping. I couldn’t even smell crime of passion nevermind drink it

"Korean nail salon mixed with diesel fuel" is the best way I can describe it.

 

[DenverBeerDrinker]

I'm not an old school baller, but I think Colorado's first instawhale was WWBV. The others sat on shelves for weeks at a time. I remember them actually having a releaae party for that beer for the first time. I went like as it started cause I didn't know it had blown up like that and saw a line that was wrapped around the block and just left.

I was a trustee for 13 people when that came out. Wasn't sure how I was going to divide my allotment (6pp) but the couple in line next to me were moving out of town the next day and decided they were only going to buy 1 and offered to get the rest for me. walked out of there with 19 bottles. Each person I trustee'd for was able to get one if they wanted

 

[ExPimp]

Like a lot of KRE.

Do you have the OG bottling? I can't even find pictures of it anymore, but it was a squat 5-6oz bottle (not the 6.3oz nip). I could just be imagining them as well....

 

[DenverBeerDrinker]

Sub-question: how is CS doing now?

They have IPAs and porters now. I haven't been to the tap room or bought their beers in a while. That part of town is under massive construction and it's way more of a hassle to go over there. Moved most of their bottling back to 750s (or at least the ones I've seen out for the last 8-10 months) and they also can a few. Persica Day is coming up in a couple weeks. Might hit it up.

 

[trickytunadicky]

"Korean nail salon mixed with diesel fuel" is the best way I describe it.

Nail salon is how I describe most "-tion" Russian River beers, and to this day people think I am nuts. I have always found them gross. But that was just the first in my long list of unpopular opinions on AWAs as I continue to hate on Side Project, De Garde, Transient, I find Speciation hit or miss... etc and so on.

 

[tikk]

I remember sending the old swingtop bottles of this around the country circa 2005 for the likes of: Dogfish Head 120 and Festina Lente, Speedway Stout(green bottle!), Victory Storm King, Founders KBS, etc..

The Hooker imperial porter was also a top 100 BA Beer around then. Paul Davis knew how to brew great beer back then.

The one beer I never got to track down that was my whale before stepping aside from beer for 5 years... Dark Lord

I actually found a place that had the liberator swing top when I moved to NY in 2011. Stuff was still amazing, wish I had saved one or two.

 

[trickytunadicky]

Do you have the OG bottling? I can't even find pictures of it anymore, but it was a squat 5-6oz bottle (not the 6.3oz nip). I could just be imagining them as well....

No, I didn't even know Kuhnhenn was a thing until after I moved out of Michigan. Found nips on a shelf in Ann Arbor, loved it, bought a ton, and I do mean multiple cases of the 2012 release. I have a bunch of rando meads left, too, including various French Toasts, though I only have one nip left (not one of the exciting flavors, and the old nips are all more or less oxidized). Hell, the flavor I do have, you can still buy off the shelf at some store in Northville, according to a photo another meadery posted a month or so ago showing their own product freshly restocked.

The Kuhnhenn's can't get away with being ****** to people the way Three Floyds can. And they are actually shittier, imho. They put on a really kickass anniversary event about 2 years ago, and I had a killer time, pretty much everything they poured was perfect, the event was really well run, the beers they released were great, then things started to really fall apart after that. They went into a ton of debt opening the production facility and the second restaurant, all while the owner was going through a divorce, which also seemed to have cut into assets. They have been increasingly combative with people asking questions about ingredients, label inconsistencies, etc. They even went so far to put up a weirdly aggressive FAQ at Great Taste of the Midwest, an event they have attended and poured at for at least every year I have gone.

Their mead seems to have gone downhill because they are using less honey per batch to increase margins. I think they can't afford to lose money, and are stressed by running their business on the edge, but are going about the way they treat people who have been with them a long time the entire wrong way. I got to a point where I couldn't make excuses anymore. I haven't offloaded what I have in my cellar, but I pretty much only swing in there if I am with someone who has never been and wants to go. We used to have a ton of fun there, despite the somewhat brusque service. And I like Frank Retell (the meadmaker) quite a bit. The woman who does the wine, whose name escapes me, is also fairly passionate, and if you happen to be in when she is there, she will gladly chat you up about the product. It's the kind of service you expect to see from much smaller places. The whole thing frustrates me and makes me a little sad. Sorry, that was way more answer than you asked for.

 

[lb304854]

Nail salon is how I describe most "-tion" Russian River beers, and to this day people think I am nuts. I have always found them gross. But that was just the first in my long list of unpopular opinions on AWAs as I continue to hate on Side Project, De Garde, Transient, I find Speciation hit or miss... etc and so on.

Bork ass pallette

 

[trickytunadicky]

Since I am bored and taking this off the rails anyway, Matacabras from Dave's Brew Farm. The brewery went up for sale in 2014, and then no one (outside of whatever town they are in?) ever saw or heard from this beer again.... but according to their super uninformative blogspot, the brewery still exists. I should have sent my buddy there when he went to MSP last weekend instead of stupid Forager.

 

[lb304854]

Swing top talk reminds me I used to like the East End beers corby112 used to send me. Always wanted the OG swing top batch of Toaster but could never land it. Illustration Ale was a solid Belgian dark.

 

[stupac2]

I think he's looking for what the first beer was that people waited in line and pretraded for upon initial release.

I mean, people can use words however they want, but I think that's not really what that word ought to mean. To me there's an enormous difference between Framboos '11 that came from a brewery that had already released whales and something like KBBS that came from ******** Iowa and no one knew who they were.

 

[Lutter]

For all you guys feenin for some Momi Hiwa.


http://mybeerbuzz.blogspot.com/2018/04/avery-releasing-plankd-rum-barrel-aged.html?m=1

National release. Niiice.

 

[steimie]

I mean, people can use words however they want, but I think that's not really what that word ought to mean. To me there's an enormous difference between Framboos '11 that came from a brewery that had already released whales and something like KBBS that came from ******** Iowa and no one knew who they were.

Stupac'd

 

[Lutter]

Question for the really old-school ballers: what do you reckon was the first "instawhale", if such a thing can be identified?

By far when I started in beer it was Cable Car...

Dudes were giving their left nut for those in 2007 or so since it was “on site only” at Toronado.

 

[lb304854]

I mean, people can use words however they want, but I think that's not really what that word ought to mean. To me there's an enormous difference between Framboos '11 that came from a brewery that had already released whales and something like KBBS that came from ******** Iowa and no one knew who they were.

Probably a regional thing. Midwesterners new who they were and Morning Delight was huge before KBBS. There are probably a number of breweries that were subject to the regional bias that seemed to blow up nationally on the strength of one beer. Peggy's whateverthefuck and Funky Buddha for instance.

 

[Stubs]

I mean, people can use words however they want, but I think that's not really what that word ought to mean. To me there's an enormous difference between Framboos '11 that came from a brewery that had already released whales and something like KBBS that came from ******** Iowa and no one knew who they were.

I gotcha. The old whale vs whale debate.

 

[Stubs]

I was a trustee for 13 people when that came out. Wasn't sure how I was going to divide my allotment (6pp) but the couple in line next to me were moving out of town the next day and decided they were only going to buy 1 and offered to get the rest for me. walked out of there with 19 bottles. Each person I trustee'd for was able to get one if they wanted

The 6 PP limit caused a bunch of neckbeard hate since so many people didn't get beer.
I don't think CS had any clue how big they were at that point at all and just wanted to ensure the sale.

My favorite quote was from the first bottled Uncle Jacobs relase when a similar thing happened cause they were selling cases to people and ran out really early. They asked one of the Avery guys there what happened in an interview and he responded with "I don't know except people were ******* screamimg."

 

[fogindex]

Do you have the OG bottling? I can't even find pictures of it anymore, but it was a squat 5-6oz bottle (not the 6.3oz nip). I could just be imagining them as well....

 

[trickytunadicky]

That's not it. The OG Genie bottle is on the bar at Warren Kuhnhenn over the tap handles.

 

[SeaWatchman]

Do you have the OG bottling? I can't even find pictures of it anymore, but it was a squat 5-6oz bottle (not the 6.3oz nip). I could just be imagining them as well....

I opened this and posted it on Facebook back in May of 2012. Damn this was good.

 

[fogindex]

By far when I started in beer it was Cable Car...

Dudes were giving their left nut for those in 2007 or so since it was “on site only” at Toronado.

My memory is terrible, but I don't think any CCs were "on site only" until recently (2013-2014).

Speaking of, CC available to-go today....