Thank You InBev

So what's a good replacement for Sofie? I love that beer and now it's available in PA. What would you substitute at the same price or less . I pay about $58 a case.

I do not really like bourbon beers but do wonder how they would keep up with the barrels.

Enjoy

 

Justifying the behaviour of massive conglomerate businesses that care only about the bottom line... based on the availability of one single beer?

I'm all for being reasonable and not going on withhunts, but BCBS availability- THAT's your reason to thank InBev?

Wow.

 

I put Hennepin, Saison De Lente, Saison Dupont and Fantome all ahead of Sofie. The price of the last three can be pretty high, but Hennepin for it's quality and price can not be beat in my eyes.

 

The secondary installment of "2011" BCBS went all to kegs, as announced a couple of months ago and has been seen on tap around the Chicago-land area. I am sure it will be coming soon to the previously announced markets. BCBS spends 100 days in barrels, so 2012 BCBS probably won't be seen until the fall.

The wheated BCBS has not been released because Goose Island is not yet satisfied with how it is tasting. Would you rather them release a beer that is not satisfactory or delay a release and get it right? Barrel aging is a finicky process that does not always go as planned. I am sure that if you sent them an email, they would tell you this.

Goose Island has a dedicated barrel-aging warehouse. There are pictures available on Chicago beer blogs. I saw it when I dropped my girlfriend off for an event nearby. In fact, I have a picture of it on my phone! They are not just lying to everyone for the heck of it.

 

i degress. this is like feeding Filet Mignon to a duck.

IIRC, when this discussion came up previously, the representative staff person who chimed in on the forum did not indicate it would be scaled back to kegs only. he also indicated it'd be released in Feb or March. it wasn't. he probably said it because, well, he honestly believed otherwise (at the time) in both cases.

umm, this is what i said all along. except i didn't draw my conclusion based on tidbits GI released/indicated - which they did AFTER i already said it. my conclusion was based on what we can interpret from the current state of the industry barrel aged brewers are reliant upon.

again. huuhhh? is that some New & Improved shh you've gotten a hold of & smoked'? where the heck did i imply GI was lying & didn't actually acquire a BA warehouse??? let's review. they bought a big warehouse. they need to fill 'big warehouse' with lots of barrels. the state of future barrels doesn't look as good as it did yesterday. the issue with the wheated release comes as absolutely no surprise.

 

fwiw, i don't believe for a second Cavedave's comments were less than genuine or without honorable intent.

my point was the post sounded good except there's some realistic outside forces in play that aren't being factored in logically. time will tell but in that regard i stick by my thoughts that InBev/GI ((may)) have made a strategical blunder (timing-wise). the size of a warehouse can't improve the starting quality of the barrels it will warehouse.

THE END

 

Craft beer is in more demand that is why you are seeing more of it. It's also why BMC is getting more into the craft game. BMC doesn't want to stop craft beer being sold, they just want to own the companies that sell it. They know that there is a huge group of people out there that pay for quality beer made with quality ingredients by quality brewers. And no amount of commercials with girls in bikinis and dogs that get your beer for you is going to change this group's mind. So rather than try and stop our access to good beer (because with all the small passionate brewers out there they never could) they are going to get into the game themselves. If 90% of beer sales are fizzy yellow stuff and 10% is craft, but it's craft that's owned by BMC then BMC gets 100% of all the money. Associating the increased craft options/supply as BMC not doing well to stop craft influence reminds me of the folks that try to deny global warming is happening just because it snows for a few days. Just my $0.02.

 

Does a good BA beer require a 20+ year old barrel? I.e. would a standard mid-price whisky barrel do the trick?

 

I don't necessarily buy your argument that "all of the good barrels" have been used up. I know that at least up until 2007/08, Goose used 12-16 yr old Heaven Hill barrels for their BCBS. Are you saying that all of those barrels (12-16 yr) are gone now and that Goose are using inferior barrels now? Many people on this site have done blind tests on BCBS verticals and 2011 has ranked near the top in every one of them. Additionally, do you not think Heaven Hill would give preferential treatment to GI because they have been buying barrels from them for so much longer than places like Bruery, Lost Abbey, Firestone Walker, etc?

I also don't see a decrease in production or quality from those newer brewers bourbon barrel aged offerings.

For the Wheated BCBS, maybe it just didn't work out. Who knows whose barrels they are even using. Besides Pappy Van Winkle (and that family of whiskeys), there have not been a ton of wheated barrels used, period.

Since GI has basically sent 90% of non-barrel, non-brett beers away to be made at locations other than Fulton and Wood since 2010/11, I will give them the benefit of the doubt that they were not able to produce as much BCBS as they wanted. Maybe, if in a year, production is still down and results are still not satisfactory, I will buy your argument.

 

no. i don't want to rehash everything plus will probably end up doing so when i finish with the below quote. but long story short it isn't that an "old" (age) barrel is necessarily required.

the fact of the matter is the older barrels come from a period in time that had an ENDING. the false assumption perpetuated here is that the American whiskey industry has been a continuous moving part that will seamlessly roll out 1 era & into the next. which brings us to the part where the 2 kids jump out, turn on the flashlight & yell: SILLY RABBIT!

 

here's a fact you probably aren't hearing. so far as i'm told, & by very, very reliable sources, Elijah Craig 18 has been discontinued - at least for a couple of years. the reason why is NOT because Heaven Hill has tons of great whiskey laying around in the 12-16 year mark - i can assure you of that. p.s. let me know if you come across a bottle with a barrel entry date more recent than 1993.

i've already stated this somewhat in this thread & similar discussions. let's try again. there were huge whiskey over-productions beginning around 1980/1. it took maybe 7 or more years of annual over production with lack luster sales before the handful of producers finally acknowledged their huge mistake. they acknowledged it by going defunct. in the meantime they also did other crazy shit like die of old age. along with them went a lot of their magical equipment their warehouse sytems were struck down due to odd shit like asbestos, and things like some of their (now) prized yeast strains went extinct, etc. etc.

since a huge glut formed, thereafter was a HUGE gap in production. we've experienced much of what came from the miscalculations which are responsible for what some dubbed the golden era of American whiskey. you're about to start experiencing more of what came on line AFTER the great gap. in my best Verizon, nerd voice, CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW??

o.k. so iignore what they're brand manager said in plain text & what their website forecasts were. after doing so, have faith in them & give them the benefit of the doubt?

really i'm not saying they are lying. it's more like maybe they are just as optimistic as cavedave sounded. there's good reason to believe they might be in for a very rude awakening. & a bigger warehouse probably isn't the solution.

 

Highbrow, one of the few people around here who REALLY knows whiskey. Love reading those posts.

I don't think cavedave was being insincere either - and that's my problem. I'm not going to go and claim I'm the perfect picture of buy local, buy small, always support the good guys, etc. But that said- I still find it suprising that someone would praise InBev for simply the promise of a single beer's expanded distribution. A promise which apparently has only sorta happened.

Forget the majority of profits no longer staying in American hands. Forget the real potential for cutting corners with the beers. Forget the overall behaviour of Inbev.

'Cause, hey, a beer I like might be more available!!

That's a shocking amount of selfish shortsightedness.

As far as the barrel issue goes... I'll just reread Highbrow's post.