Rare Barrel Founder's Society

[jethrodium]

Anyone going to the Founder's Club event on December 19? I'll be at the second session.

 

[matedog]

I booked second session.

 

[stupac2]

I booked the second session but am not sure that I'll actually be able to go. I honestly think the way they're doing this is really stupid (if the place is small, why not do it over two days?), but there you have it.

 

[tosh1]

I booked the second session but am not sure that I'll actually be able to go. I honestly think the way they're doing this is really stupid (if the place is small, why not do it over two days?), but there you have it.

I'm in the first session, but I'm also not sure I'll make it. If I do make it, I think it will be a flying vist towards the end as I'm driving past after work - Thursday nights don't work at all for me really.

 

[MrFootstones]

I'll be at the second session.

 

[johnnyramirez]

I booked the second session but am not sure that I'll actually be able to go. I honestly think the way they're doing this is really stupid (if the place is small, why not do it over two days?), but there you have it.

Yeah I'm not really liking the way they're doing it. FWIW, I do remember the area they sectioned off for the tasting room being pretty small but the entire building being pretty massive. Still think 2 days would've been better like you mentioned.

 

[RyanG1]

First session here.

 

[johnnyramirez]

Oh first session also

 

[johnnyramirez]

So who's going tomorrow? I'm curious what the 4 new beers. Also heard Melange 3 and The Pupil will be on tap as guest beers as well.

If they have something like The Pupil up regularly I will be really happy going and alternating between that and their sours.

 

[matedog]

I'll be in the second shift. I'm only slightly disappointed about the pours being 10oz. I'm driving so that means maybe two beers.

 

[jparkanzky]

$300 for a reserve membership from what is basically a fledgling brewery? **** that noise.






















ISO: Ceramic Growler FT: You tell me.

 

[jparkanzky]

I think I might just be the only person that likes Mother Funker.....

I love it.

I just can't drink too much of it, and my dentist hates me afterwards.

 

[tosh1]

Was at the first session (had to bale by 5ish). No complaints, maybe 60/70 in attendance, well run, nice space, seemed to really be on top of things for a first day to be honest. 8 beers on tap plus a couple of guests (Society and Bruery). The 4 beers that did the rounds recently will all be bottled (I was told). Of the 4 single barrel beers on tap I liked the Peach (Tremendous Slouch) a lot, the Strawberry (Fields Forever) smelt awesome and was good, not as good as the Peach - I also enjoyed the Enscorcelled.

 

[stupac2]

All the beer was good, but nothing was really great. I think that they have a lot of promise, the beer doesn't have any flaws, per se, but nothing jumps out at you. The apricot beer smelled awesome, but the taste wasn't quite there. The blackberry one was subdued too, reminded me of an Upland lambic, a lot of tart, not a ton of fruit. The dark sours are actually pretty good, which is saying something because I don't tend to like dark sours. But, again, I wasn't blown away.

It's actually sort of a weird thing, I gave every beer a 4 on Untappd. They're all good, they're all worth drinking, but I think they're missing something. I'm hoping that they get it figured out, because all the right ingredients are there for this place to make some really kickass beer.

As a note, I was far less impressed with SARA's first offerings. So we'll see what happens over the next year.

 

[johnnyramirez]

I personally really enjoyed the dark sour with raspberries and the strawberry sour. The peach was the weakest one for me of the new beers and I just wasn't a fan of their amber sour. Everything was between a 3.5-4.25 in my book though so it's all rather good but nothing that's amazing. Still super excited. Especially since I got no vinegar flavors at all which is promising. Given The Bruery's sour history I was a little afraid that. SKU's Me is gonna be an awesome base beer and I hope it becomes a growler option or their flagship beer so I can use it with a French press and fruit at home. Not a standout beer alone but a solid base that I wanna use to **** around with and I hope they do the same

 

[matedog]

Interestingly, I wasn't too wowed when I tried SKUs and the rasberry one at City Beer a few months back. I was relieved that everything last night was quite good. Perhaps it was the extra months of aging, perhaps it was the environment, having gone from Cable Car to another crowded beer event. I'll agree with the others above that nothing blew me away, but I'll at least have a regular, local source of solid sours for the next year.

As for the particular beers, the dark unfruited sour did the least for me. There was a prominent flavor that I couldn't identify (helpful, I know) that was just not appealing to me. The peach and blackberry ones had the least prominent fruit flavors of the fruited ones, for better or worse. The apricot one was probably my favorite of the fruited. I didn't get to try SKUs again, but I did very much enjoy Proportional Response from the non-fruited sours.

 

[RyanG1]

Founder's Growlers have dropped. There will be a weekly growler fill.

 

[matedog]

New Release: "Gose Without Saying is a pale sour beer aged in oak barrels...While gose style beers often have salt and coriander, we decided we like this beer better without those two ingredients...."

Uh, I'm not a stickler for labels, but that doesn't sound very much like a gose.

 

[stupac2]

New Release: "Gose Without Saying is a pale sour beer aged in oak barrels...While gose style beers often have salt and coriander, we decided we like this beer better without those two ingredients...."

Uh, I'm not a stickler for labels, but that doesn't sound very much like a gose.

I definitely thought the addition of salt was pretty much mandatory for the style.

 

[drgarage1]

New Release: "Gose Without Saying is a pale sour beer aged in oak barrels...While gose style beers often have salt and coriander, we decided we like this beer better without those two ingredients...."

Uh, I'm not a stickler for labels, but that doesn't sound very much like a gose.

Sounds like a sour blonde or a berliner. But labels legitimately don't matter. An IPA can taste like anything.

 

[RyanG1]

I am going to bring some pink bacon salt to add

 

[johnnyramirez]

Berliners are so 2013 guys. Rare Barrel is cutting edge. They also don't abide by stupid mandatory brewing rules. So instead of naming their Berliner a Berliner they'll call it a Gose instead. A no sodium Gose to appeal to the health conscious Bay Area

 

[RyanG1]

First bottle release is Saturday, Feb. 8th at 2pm for SKUs Me. Limit is one per person and first being offered to founder members prior to tasting room release.

 

[falc0n26001]

I was there today and it was PACKED! Is it always like that? Awesome beer.

 

[stupac2]

I was there today and it was PACKED! Is it always like that? Awesome beer.

My buddy who works at the bar there said it's been pretty consistently crowded and that they've actually come close to running out of beer a few times. It's a good problem to have.

 

[golden1]

Anyone going to try and pick up an extra SKUs Me on Saturday? I am going to make it over there for the first time and try and get a 2nd bottle.

 

[matedog]

Tell me this doesn't sound exactly like a Bruery release (for better or worse):
"We’d like to introduce you to our first Founder’s Club bottle release: Home, Sour Home. Home, Sour Home is a golden sour beer aged in oak barrels with peaches, cinnamon, and vanilla bean. We cant help but think about peach cobbler when we sip on Home, Sour Home."

 

[stupac2]

Tell me this doesn't sound exactly like a Bruery release (for better or worse):
"We’d like to introduce you to our first Founder’s Club bottle release: Home, Sour Home. Home, Sour Home is a golden sour beer aged in oak barrels with peaches, cinnamon, and vanilla bean. We cant help but think about peach cobbler when we sip on Home, Sour Home."

Well, one of them did come from the Bruery.

 

[golden1]

Anyone try home sour home?

 

[stupac2]

Anyone try home sour home?

Yeah, from both keg and bottle. It's very solid, like all of their beer, but I was hoping for more peach and vanilla character from it. They're both there, but not as strong as I'd like.