Too funny - those are literally my 3 favorites in that exact order. The judges definitely aced that category.
Bell's at the State Fair used to fire up "Bells coming to CO!!!" rumors every year...until people noticed they've entered every year since the early 2000's. No clue why they do, but it clearly doesn't mean much for them selling beers here.
As far as I know, you're correct. The S26 Citra might have even been a one-off, although hopefully not.
Don't get me wrong - I'd love to see Two Hearted, Expedition Stout, Hopslam, etc. on the shelves, I just don't see it happening tomorrow. Although their general six-pack game is better than most, many breweries in our market are playing the same game and are killing it. Never say never, I guess.
I've never quite understood the huge desire for Bells in CO. Yes, their beers are terrific, but they're also right in line with what we already have and do well. I think it's one of those situations where our Midwestern transplants miss seeing them more than we actually really need them to enter this market. Something tells me if they did come, they'd be yet another brewery people buy for about a month (it's NEW - yay!) and then never again, or only for seasonals or sales. I look at them very much like I do Victory, only when Victory came to CO they had 2 beers in the BA top 20. Before Dirtwolf got the hopheads going, their beers were just sitting around because what they do well, 1/2 this state does well, too.
No doubt, but I'm sure you remember when everyone wanted Hop Devil so bad and swore they'd buy it by the case just like in Pennsylvania. I'm a skeptic. I think they'd move plenty of Hopslam in season and 2 Hearted for a few months until people got their fill and it stopped being cool. I do believe you would, though.
Yeah, you're right. I probably wouldn't buy it as much as I think I would anyway. I need to get a pipeline from Michigan.
S26 Citra IPA was double dry hopped and will be back. As Citra hops are rather hard to get hold of in the quantities we use in that IPA, it will probably be only available once a quarter. We do have enough Citra on hand to release it a few more times. We do have a single hop El Dorado IPA fermenting right now, not a Citra.
