how do you feel about Cascade's prices?

You know, you can probably just buy a bottle of lactic acid locally and save yourself a bunch of money.

 

iso: your shitty sours
ft: bolt cutter

 

Blend Love lasted a week or so I think.

 

I'll gladly pay the $ for HotD beers whether or not they're carbonated or undercarbonated...at least i'm getting something world class as opposed to the same lactic soured beer that shows a different fruit taste for about 2 seconds before ripping your throat out of your ass with a vinegar burn.

 

So I hear what you're saying, but tell me how you really feel.

 

ft: oxidized infected flat 2k11 bourbon fred
iso: fucking anything else

 

Most Cascade beers seem to have a really similar flavor.
Something might be aged for 14 months in oregon oak with peaches and rosemary before being transferred into another barrel for 2 years with sour cherries and Camembert cheese but it still just ends up tasting like a cascade sour.

Sometimes one of the beers is really great and stands out from the crowd but you never know what the "good one" happens to be on that day's taplist. So I spend 30$ just to find out which beer i like the best but by then the acid reflex kicks in and I'm done.

 

Cascade's beers are so damn good that I overlook the price. I wish Seattle would get a brewery that specializes in Sours like Cascade.

 

Add in a box of sweet tarts and bam, you've got that Cascade flava'.

 

At least we get bottles and there are tons of places in Seattle that have them on tap regularly (Uber, Brouwers, Mutiny Hall, Collins Pub, Pine Box, etc.).

 

Yeah but their Live from the Barrel beers is where it's at. The last time I was down they had "Double Redrum". It was just fucking amazing.

 

Same. The Barrel Room is one of my first stops whenever I visit PDX and I never mind paying their prices (especially since i typically just get tasters of everything sour). I don't disagree that their prices are on the high side, but to me Cascade categorically produces the best sours in the country, so it's justifiable as an occasional indulgence.

 

So much regurgitated hate in this thread - If ever there was a thread to lock...

 

I had Gold Yeller live from the barrel at Collins the other night and had The Vine live from the barrel at Uber last Thursday.

 

I wish they'd consider small format a la Russian River.

 

They probably have, but they'd need to invest in an entirely new bottling, as their current machine is designed to fill 750mls.

 

What it boils down to for me is this: their beers might be good, but they're not world class. As far as sours go, they can't compete with the Belgians. Sure Cantillon and 3 Fonteinen are getting hard to find these days, but Tilquin, Boon, and many others are easily available at a fraction of the price. I really don't see how anyone can choose a $30 bottle of Cascade over these alternatives. This used to be my thinking on all Belgian style beers, but The Commons has changed my mind. In fact, even within the realm of Portland sours, The Commons, Upright, and Breakside offer far better alternatives at a far more reasonable price (as others have pointed out). To me, Cascade is THE example of hype run amok.

 

i have been both a patron and an outspoken critic, and i waver back and forth between the two. beers like manhattan nw, their rum pumpkin dealy, and bourbonic keep me going back in short spurts. back in the jongleur days, i was a regular patron. now, it's reserved for birthdays, date night, or "hey, i just won the lottery!". they are clearly marketing more to out-of-state people with a higher cost-of-living, beer tourists on vacation, rich people, wine drinkers used to paying $$$$ for bottles, or reckless spenders. they have effectively 'priced out' many of the beer geeks who enjoy the hobby because it doesn't require a king's ransom to participate. if you look deeper in to the people making decisions at cascade, (save ron, maybe), and their backgrounds in the beer world, you'll see where they're coming from $-wise. i'm personally all done (until they release XXXYYYY)