Secret Santa Sour Swap

[Irrenarzt]

I gotta try to get my paws on an AR. Everyone raves about it.

It's freaking sublime. I had it on draught the weekend it first dropped (September 14th) as I was there for the weekend. Jeff hooked me up with multiple glasses and I couldn't get enough of the stuff.

We popped open a blend one at our weekly bottle share yesterday as we watch football and bottle share every Sunday. It had faded a little bit but it was still an incredible beer. It's like crack for white people...

 

[mikeysab]

You are second on my list to try and get one for, hopefully next box I send you! I already promised my next bottle months ago.

Woo hoo. Can't wait. It''ll probably be a bit before i'm ready for swapping. Got a bunch lined up. But definitely always down for one with you.

 

[mikeysab]

Mmmmmm....white people crack. Yum

 

[Indytruks138]

Woo hoo. Can't wait. It''ll probably be a bit before i'm ready for swapping. Got a bunch lined up. But definitely always down for one with you.

I kind of like getting stuff together and just sending haha. It'll be a couple months before I get a box together worthy of responding to the bomb you sent. I'm thinking it will have a nice prairie presence. Might have to wait for my first crooked stave box.

 

[two_hearted]

Awesome. Two Hearted made out in a killer way. Wait a sec! Didn't he set this all up?

Hah, I thought someone would pull that crap. I actually spent way more time than I thought trying to figure out the order of who would ship where to make sure no one was shipping beer only 2 states away and trying to split up the east/west coasters and fit the mid-westerners in somewhere. Luck of the draw I should say. Plus I had brewbien as a recipient in a swap-o-rama so it worked out well (although he totally outdid himself and showed me up).

 

[two_hearted]

LOL, can't blame the guy. I would have done the same thing if I knew someone was sending me Oregon sours with the Commons included...

Truth be told, I've never heard of the commons before or any of these beers I got! I just saw everyone get so excited that I knew I was in for a treat. Last time I was in Portland I wasn't in to sours.

 

[two_hearted]

I never did find out who sent my stuff....

You had Irrenarzt

 

[Irrenarzt]

Truth be told, I've never heard of the commons before or any of these beers I got! I just saw everyone get so excited that I knew I was in for a treat. Last time I was in Portland I wasn't in to sours.

You are in for a treat for sure.

 

[Johnnyhitch1]

It's freaking sublime. I had it on draught the weekend it first dropped (September 14th) as I was there for the weekend. Jeff hooked me up with multiple glasses and I couldn't get enough of the stuff.

We popped open a blend one at our weekly bottle share yesterday as we watch football and bottle share every Sunday. It had faded a little bit but it was still an incredible beer. It's like crack for white people...

Agreed, I had AR blend 1 next to SC Blend love and the AR was crazy faded, just grabbed a blend 2 and I hope those berrys pop!

 

[Irrenarzt]

I've got two blend 1's left (I got 4 on the release day) and I have 2 blend 2's coming from trades hopefully by the end of this week. It's amazing how fast it dropped out. I wish I drank the blend 1's faster. I had no idea they would fade like that, especially with the concentration of raspberry they used. Maybe something to do with their late addition process causes it to be that volatile? Who knows? The blend 1 is still excellent but damn it is not as bright after almost 4 months for sure...

 

[DrPhunk]

I'm glad I saw this about the AR, I've got a blend 2 coming on Friday and would ordinarily sit on something like that but I guess I'll drink it ASAP

 

[Irrenarzt]

Don't sit on it for sure.

 

[TheMan]

Don't sit on it for sure.

That might hurt anyway.

 

[Irrenarzt]

Ouch

 

[absoluthamm]

Had my Crooked Stave Vieille tonight, I couldn't resist the temptation. Man was it amazing. Thanks again Mike!

 

[mhurst111]

Had my Crooked Stave Vieille tonight, I couldn't resist the temptation. Man was it amazing. Thanks again Mike!

Crooked stave is good stuff. Pricey, but good stuff.

 

[Indytruks138]

Had my Crooked Stave Vieille tonight, I couldn't resist the temptation. Man was it amazing. Thanks again Mike!

If you liked Vieille you have to try Surrette, it is by far their best shelf beer IMHO. I can't wait to get the cellar reserve beers next year.

 

[absoluthamm]

If you liked Vieille you have to try Surrette, it is by far their best shelf beer IMHO. I can't wait to get the cellar reserve beers next year.

I've heard. Had them on my Easy MAW list, so who knows. Although, I am going skiing in Steamboat in January, so I'm hoping that somewhere either there or on my way out I might be able to find some. I'm not sure if they distribute anywhere that far up in the state though, so I'll have to see.

 

[TrickyDick]

Still bummed I missed out on this. Just got back from SD and developed a crush on sours. Can't find many sours (or much else) where I live (sleepy little retiree town) without a trip to Orlando. MAYBE I can coerce the local shop to do the legwork for me however.

In the meantime, while I was unable to participate in the swap, my online order showed up. My score isn't as awesome as all y'all got, but. I now have some sour beer. A little disappointed in one selection that was supposed to be a "complete variety" from a particular brewery, that makes several sours, but only 1 of them was a sour. Well, I'm sure the rest will taste good too.

Anyhoo. When phase two sour swap happens, please count me in and I'll scour the SE for some beers. I might even save some from my order to fulfill the package, definitely going to age a bottle of Ommengang Wild at Heart for a couple years. Overall I ended up with 6 belgians, and 4 domestics. I think I'm also going to begin a homebrew sour pipeline and split up to some of my batches for making sours. The things we do for good beer..

TD

 

[DrPhunk]

Where'd you order from TrickyDick and what'd you get? I do a lot of online ordering and am always curious about others experiences.

 

[TrickyDick]

www.letspour.com

I bought the Sour Power pack (2 bottles of 3 different belgian sours: 4 by Petrus, and 2 called Monk's Cafe) and the Almanac "complete" lineup. Didn't do my homework on that almanac, it only has one of their sours (almanac).
Also got some Ommengang Wild at Heart - can get the Ommengang stuff here, but have never found the rare stuff.
ALso got the NB Transatlantic Kreik.
If I go to Almanac and look at where to buy, I can find online retailers. I went to one of those and went nutty adding stuff to my cart. Had to close it out when I saw I passed the $500 mark... Lots to be had there however.

I think what I REALLY need to do is look HARD for local microbreweries and see who is making sours and try and support those. FL is getting better, but the pace is SLOW... That, and start brewing my own stuff..

TD

 

[blizzard]

It seems like more and more places are making sours. If you guys get Westbrook down there you should check out the Gose. New Belgium makes some decent sours. Their Kriek isn't my favorite, but not bad. I really enjoy Le Terroir, but the price for it in Colorado is crazy. I checked seekabrew and it looks like you get Cascade? Definitely pick some of that up if you see it. Spendy, but good. From the Seekabrew list Dogfish has at least one sour and Jolly Pumpkin, Prairie Artisan, and The Bruery all make some good sours. I think Saint Somewhere makes some bretted beers too. It seems like you can find a few good ones down there to stock up on!

 

[two_hearted]

Well folks, we should do this again sometime. I'll be out of the country for work for the next month, but maybe we'll do a Sour Spring Swap in a few months. All boxes have been shipped (one en route) and it looks like everyone got some nice beers.

I know I'll be enjoying some nice beers over the holidays. I just have to convert some friends over to the sour side so I can share these awesome bottles.

 

[TrickyDick]

It seems like more and more places are making sours. If you guys get Westbrook down there you should check out the Gose. New Belgium makes some decent sours. Their Kriek isn't my favorite, but not bad. I really enjoy Le Terroir, but the price for it in Colorado is crazy. I checked seekabrew and it looks like you get Cascade? Definitely pick some of that up if you see it. Spendy, but good. From the Seekabrew list Dogfish has at least one sour and Jolly Pumpkin, Prairie Artisan, and The Bruery all make some good sours. I think Saint Somewhere makes some bretted beers too. It seems like you can find a few good ones down there to stock up on!

Thanks. I'll look for those. I've had some. What's the DFH sour? noble rot? NB just started to distribute this past summer. I'll look for cascade, never seen them before. St. Somewhere is nice. Next time I'm at the indie liquor shops I'll ask them get some of these for me, dunno is Westbrook is in FL. I've never seen it before in FL.

TD

 

[jmcm_brew]

Thanks. I'll look for those. I've had some. What's the DFH sour? noble rot? NB just started to distribute this past summer. I'll look for cascade, never seen them before. St. Somewhere is nice. Next time I'm at the indie liquor shops I'll ask them get some of these for me, dunno is Westbrook is in FL. I've never seen it before in FL. TD

DFH doesn't have any sours that they currently brew and distribute.. They had festina lente years ago but that was as close as they came.. Unfortunately

 

[absoluthamm]

Festina Peche is a Berliner Weisse by DFH and that I have on shelves here.

 

[Indytruks138]

Festina Peche is classified as a berliner but I just can't get on board calling it that. Its not a bad beer, but its not a berliner too me, to mild, not close to enough tart.

 

[absoluthamm]

Festina Peche is classified as a berliner but I just can't get on board calling it that. Its not a bad beer, but its not a berliner too me, to mild, not close to enough tart.

I agree that it's not on the same page as most of the beers that we all got in the swap, but it's probably the most budget friendly "sour" that is available, to my area anyways.

 

[Irrenarzt]

Peche is not a sour. Test the pH if you don't believe me.

 

[blizzard]

Thanks. I'll look for those. I've had some. What's the DFH sour? noble rot? NB just started to distribute this past summer. I'll look for cascade, never seen them before. St. Somewhere is nice. Next time I'm at the indie liquor shops I'll ask them get some of these for me, dunno is Westbrook is in FL. I've never seen it before in FL. TD

Festina peche is the beer I was referring to. I would say its worth a try, regardless of the comments on it.