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

[thebandit1]

This is why I don't trade anymore. Just too much ******** in it these days.

I don't recall anyone bringing up CBS (B1) in here yet. I remember people losing their **** over that beer. I thought it was a good beer. Perhaps it was hyped up too much by the time I had it.

Speaking of which I have to give the latest release of that a try. Think I'll throw one in the fridge and give it a try.

Stood in line for hours for CBS. All I remember is someone pooped all over the lone Johnny on the Spot.

Savages.

 

[Wino1]

What’s the history with KungfuMike and Mikesgroove?

 

[disapowzment]

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yeahnatenelson

 

[stupac2]

What’s the history with KungfuMike and Mikesgroove?

I explained Mikesgroove briefly upthread, no idea on the other guy.

 

[yeahnatenelson]

What’s the history with KungfuMike and Mikesgroove?

KungfuMike I guess is now best known in neckbeard circles for being the one who most capitalized on trading the early White Birch beers. As background, White Birch was possibly the first craft brewery to put bottle counts on the labels. They were pumped up heavy by locals and perhaps a few good early releases, but their QC was godawful. Infected, yes, but often worse. I seem to remember hearing about a few "mildew-y" releases. The main gripe is that people swapped good beer for what turned out to be .rar trash. The blowback on White Birch was so bad it's hard to believe they're still an active brewery, but I guess they turned things around..

Mikesgroove... where to begin? He was probaby *the* BeerAdvocate ticker of his time, save for maybe northyorksammy, but definitely the most active trader. He became so well known that dudes were tripping over themselves to hook this guy up with whatever new release he casually expressed interest in, assuming he'd hook them up. If you were foolish enough to not negotiate and say, "just send what you think is fair" you were guaranteed to get a box of garbage: mostly extras he'd received in other trades that he already ticked, faded/expired IPA's, and oftentimes he'd send you beers from your home market. Really a product of what we'd find out later to be his compulsion to trade.

Cut to several years later: he's apparently lost his job but for nearly a year is still putting out what some have estimated at 10-20 boxes PER WEEK all without drawing an income but presumably paying his mortgage, bills, etc. He goes dark on BA and social media while owing a LOT of valuable beers to trade partners, but in back-channels he's selling the entirety of his cellar, including many newly received bottles AND what he was supposed to send out for them to. IIRC, he sold the lion's share to that Joel guy for $15k. Someone can correct me if I'm remembering wrong.

 

[Padraig]

All this Stone talk and I realized I had totally forgotten about those Berlin collaborations. Turns out a bunch already came out and the feedback is generally good not great. It totally fell off my radar and I haven't heard anything since they actually started being released.

I ordered three of them but since I ended up moving to the US in the several million intervening centuries I had a work colleague based in Berlin pick them up and split them at the local office Christmas party which happened to be at Stone. They were all ok apparently. They ended up selling smaller bottles off all of them. Only the magnums were exclusive to the funding campaign.

 

[skrip]

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yeahnatenelson

ahh yes! has Special Kay been posted yet? i loved that beer

 

[stupac2]

KungfuMike I guess is now best known in neckbeard circles for being the one who most capitalized on trading the early White Birch beers. As background, White Birch was possibly the first craft brewery to put bottle counts on the labels. They were pumped up heavy by locals and perhaps a few good early releases, but their QC was godawful. Infected, yes, but often worse. I seem to remember hearing about a few "mildew-y" releases. The main gripe is that people swapped good beer for what turned out to be .rar trash. The blowback on White Birch was so bad it's hard to believe they're still an active brewery, but I guess they turned things around..

Mikesgroove... where to begin? He was probaby *the* BeerAdvocate ticker of his time, save for maybe northyorksammy, but definitely the most active trader. He became so well known that dudes were tripping over themselves to hook this guy up with whatever new release he casually expressed interest in, assuming he'd hook them up. If you were foolish enough to not negotiate and say, "just send what you think is fair" you were guaranteed to get a box of garbage: mostly extras he'd received in other trades that he already ticked, faded/expired IPA's, and oftentimes he'd send you beers from your home market. Really a product of what we'd find out later to be his compulsion to trade.

Cut to several years later: he's apparently lost his job but for nearly a year is still putting out what some have estimated at 10-20 boxes PER WEEK all without drawing an income but presumably paying his mortgage, bills, etc. He goes dark on BA and social media while owing a LOT of valuable beers to trade partners, but in back-channels he's selling the entirety of his cellar, including many newly received bottles AND what he was supposed to send out for them to. IIRC, he sold the lion's share to that Joel guy for $15k. Someone can correct me if I'm remembering wrong.

You left out the part where he stole beer intended for a guy who got into a car wreck. Or am I confusing him with someone else?

 

[sherm10161]

Did Heady Topper only get bottled once before the went to cans? I remember getting this in a trade, and at the time it was mind-blowing. Not sure why I saved the bottle but it seems kinda cool now.

 

[yeahnatenelson]

You left out the part where he stole beer intended for a guy who got into a car wreck. Or am I confusing him with someone else?

NO, YOU'RE RIGHT! Pretty sure that was also Mikesgroove! What a ****.

EDIT: someone please fill in the details on this, but I remember Mikesgroove being attached to a story like this.

 

[yeahnatenelson]

Did Heady Topper only get bottled once before the went to cans? I remember getting this in a trade, and at the time it was mind-blowing. Not sure why I saved the bottle but it seems kinda cool now.

I seem to remember them doing it a few times. Not regularly, but more than once or twice. Think Kern River Citra, or COAST Boy King.

An aside about Heady: The only reason this beer still exists is thanks to hype getting to it at the right time. Had the local tickers not hyped up Heady Topper as a best Draft-Only No-Growler IPA in the country they wouldn't have been paid the interest necessary to think of bottling, and certainly not the canning facility that broke ground just before Hurricane Irene permanently shuttered their original brewpub. Had history broken a different way The Alchemist would've just been remembered as "that cool brewpub that got destroyed" by UVM alums of a certain age.

Sometimes hype helps.

 

[stupac2]

NO, YOU'RE RIGHT! Pretty sure that was also Mikesgroove! What a ****.

EDIT: someone please fill in the details on this, but I remember Mikesgroove being attached to a story like this.

Google isn't helping me at all, the only reference I can find is me saying something about it in the RayP thread here. My recollection, which probably isn't the best, is that a pretty well known BA guy (can't remember his name but oddly can remember his avatar) got into a bad, bad car accident. Like, weeks in the hospital bad. Mikesgroove was at least in his tasting group and maybe even friends with the guy, so when people wanted to send stuff for him (this was before charity kickstarters were a thing so I'm not sure why people were sending beer except perhaps as a nice gesture, but I don't think there was money involved) Mikesgroove was a logical place to send it. Naturally the guy gets out of the hospital, finds out about this, and doesn't have anything. I can't remember if the beer got sold or if he ended up with some/all of it, but I think that's what made the dam break on Mikesgroove's reputation and all the other shady stuff started coming out.

As I said there may be parts of that that are off, but the gist ought to be right. I'm sure some of the details make it even worse.

 

[MordorMongo]

Batch one sour reserve, batch 2 Brute, Splinter Blue. What a wonderful day to be alive.

 

[boogercrack]

Fuzzy baby ducks has lost it's luster too.

 

[yeahnatenelson]

Batch one sour reserve, batch 2 Brute, Splinter Blue. What a wonderful day to be alive.

What was the Watermelon Pucker situation?

 

[MordorMongo]

What was the Watermelon Pucker situation?

Cherry Pucker, Rumpleminz and two flavors of Natty Rush.

 

[Gonzoillini1]

Batch one sour reserve, batch 2 Brute, Splinter Blue. What a wonderful day to be alive.

Cherry Pucker, Rumpleminz and two flavors of Natty Rush.

Would you believe I had both a full glass of Natty Rush + Cherry Pucker and Splinter Blue the same evening?

It gets weird when Scott comes out.

 

[lb304854]

Batch one sour reserve, batch 2 Brute, Splinter Blue. What a wonderful day to be alive.

This thread became a real boy today. All because of you.


What about them 18 year old dudes tho?

 

[MordorMongo]

This thread became a real boy today. All because of you.


What about them 18 year old dudes tho?

I can only assume those two fine gentleman will be the next generation of sweet cheap liquor degenerates.

In my world that’s what we call a success story.

 

[JulianB1]

Batch one sour reserve, batch 2 Brute, Splinter Blue. What a wonderful day to be alive.

Cherry Pucker, Rumpleminz and two flavors of Natty Rush.

TFTI

 

[MordorMongo]

TFTI

Doh. Sorry man, I thought you were there.

 

[JulianB1]

Doh. Sorry man, I thought you were there.

I was there in spirit. And I'm sure someone had one of those Julian, Please glasses.

 

[trickytunadicky]

The Le Bleu is still unopened. Maybe I will put it next to the IP and tag it with “for that rare occasion you see Nate Nelson.” Or the Pints for Paws share hour or some ****. Yesterday was a good day.

 

[sacrelicio]

What was the deal with early Black Tuesday? Was is just a really good stout at a time when basically all BA stouts were whales?

 

[ExPimp]

What was the deal with early Black Tuesday? Was is just a really good stout at a time when basically all BA stouts were whales?

The OG 2009 was always touted as having like ~20 malts (basically they just emptied a ton of malt bags) so the "recipe" is different. That and it was brewery only, maybe? Someone will have to correct me on that.

 

[trickytunadicky]

The OG 2009 was always touted as having like ~20 malts (basically they just emptied a ton of malt bags) so the "recipe" is different. That and it was brewery only, maybe? Someone will have to correct me on that.

Members got one bottle (I believe there was only RS at the time, Hoarders I think started the next year).

 

[jedwards]

They put the batch on tap sometime in August and at that point you could pre-order an unlimited number of bottles in person (I, in my infinite genius, tasted it there and soundly rejected it, not trying it again until EBF the following March, at which point it was great). The release later in the fall was then convolved with the reserve society signup somehow... but I don't think you had to be a member to show up and buy.

 

[davey101]

$49.99 sitting out on an endcap next to a bunch of Stone bombers.

That said, a few years later, the new beer deli across the street from Foodtown had a case of 2012 BCBS Coffee bombers for $15/each. I bought 10 and ended up sending out a few to my OG BA trade partners at cost. Drank the rest.

In 2010 I bought a rare and vanilla for $90 shipped on ebay. I had to send the seller a scan of my license to confirm I was of age. Very legit. Then a year later at the shop near my college I tried buying a case of 2009 bombers that were covered in dust but they wouldn't let me because I had an out of state license. I still get angry over that to this day...

 

[stupac2]

Members got one bottle (I believe there was only RS at the time, Hoarders I think started the next year).

Hoarders was several years later. I think 2013 was the first year of Hoarders, but maybe it was 2012. It was nowhere near 2009 though.

 

[davey101]

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.

I found some of their other swing tops a few years back. I think the imperial porter and maybe the marley barleywine? Total drain pours