Does Colorado have any whales?

I'd say Bligh's maybe some of the one off Avery stuff like tweak, rumpkin, etc. Barrel Aged Yeti might be hard to get (not oak aged). Not a big BAing fan for the most part, so I might be wrong.

 

Colorado doesn't need whales; we've just got a shitload of good beer.

 

Crooked Stave reserve series beers (specifically Persica) are pulling in some huge trades lately. I've also seen the AC Golden Hidden Barrel series do quite well. The thing is that most of our amazing beers hit shelves and are produced in very large batches. If Uncle Jacob's or Rumpkin were done in smaller quantities I think they could have attained whale status. Same thing with Bligh's... if it were a brewery only release it probably would have qualified. I think older BA Yeti's could probably be considered whales.

 

First off, "whale/wale" is the worst concept around this hobby and there was a time on this site where people didn't even use that term. Second, it all depends.. Abyss has been sold on the shelf in CO for six years now but I guarantee if you had bought some back in 2006 you would have been able to trade it for some real nice beers down the road (I did). When the BA Great Divide stuff came out in 2008 I was trading them 1:1 for Isabelle Proximus. Bligh's seemed to pick up a little steam but there was a lot of hyping and homerism behind that one (though it was a good beer). Another part of the problem is that a lot of Colorado breweries are putting out smaller batch barrel aged beers, charging high prices, and they just aren't very good.

 

Echo most of the other comments to date - a lot of the CO stuff has been produced in large enough volume or at a high enough shelf price that it detracts from trades.

There are several of the Avery sour releases that have been very hot commodities (Sui Generis, Meretrix, Margarete). BA Great Divide's, Trinity sours, and AC Golden's all do well also. CS stuff (esp. the smaller, more recent releases) are doing well and will increase in value (IMO) as they filter out.

Part of the challenge is that you've got a ton of new breweries starting up everywhere and a LOT of them are pretty damn good - there are unlimited options but we are getting close to saturation/overload from a trading standpoint, unless they are consistently phenomenal (HF) they have a harder time getting on and staying on the hype trains (not saying HF is all hype - they've got some outstanding brews).

 

Agreed on most counts. The "whale" aspect is mostly hype surrounding certain beers. Not many times does it denote fantastic beer. Putting a BA in front of a beer doesn't mean it will be better. But still, rarity IS the dominating factor of "whaledom"; there was only one such fish, er, mammal, in the book. And maybe, like the book, the elusiveness of the object provides for the hunt, which in the end provides the fix, juice, fun, whatever.

Clearly, I've been drinking already

 

people here pay less attention to individual releases because theres just so much good beer on every shelf.


most places not named colorado, california, or oregon arent as spoiled as we are, and individual releases get more hype.

 

seems like every whale i've traded for is underwhelming because of this. traded for KBS, thought the uncle jacobs i got off the shelf was better. traded for FFF gumballhead, tastes like a little sumpin sumpin clone. i got two KBS for a four pack of ten fidy. even things like parabola, concecration, oud floris are reasonably easy to pick up. yeah, you better keep your ear open to know when your favorite bottle shops are getting what you want, but i have yet to not get my hands on something i've really wanted. so what seems like everyday beer to me is someone's whale. we are spoiled children at the teet of the beer gods.

 

Seriously, I was in NYC earlier this summer and last year, and it was shocking to see what a beer wasteland that place is. Now I understand why people complain about out-of-date ipa's. A friend took me to a couple places to find beer; the first was a 7-11 on the upper west side, and I thought the selection blew. Then, we went to a grocery store, and they had a small cooler and also a shelf with a little beer. The only thing that I would have wanted to get was some Founders rye ipa, except it wasn't in the cooler and the bottle date was sept. 2011 (I was there in june 2012). I didn't see a bomber anywhere. I was there the year before and went in a few other places, and really, they had nothing compared to any random liquor store on the front range.

I found a decent 'beer and soda' store outside of NY in a small town. They had a solid selection, but still, most random liquor stores here would blow it away. I gained a far greater appreciation for what we have (although I still wish we got Founders; Dirty Bastard is effing good).

I've got 5 bottles of parabola sitting in my basement, and can get more if I want to. I don't need any fucking whales.

 

Only beers that I would even put in a whale category would be

twisted spoke 15th anniversary
10th anniversary falling rock la folie
Maybe older cork and caged la folies.
Isabelle proximus just because Avery was involved.


That's it, that's all.

 

Sorry to jump into a Colorado forum, but... what?!?! NYC has one of the best craft beer scenes in the world. I'm not going to get specific here, but if you want some info for the next time you go, let me know.

 

I'm with the guy above me... sounds like your friend has no idea what he's doing in terms of the beer scene in NYC.

 

Most large cities have a killer beer scene if you know where to look. I could put together a tour of (decent beer cities) like Tampa or Atlanta that make them look like Munich and Bruges rolled into one. In a town like NYC that's multiplied by 100. It's just about knowing where to go. I'd suspect whomever you were with didn't know where they were going.

 

I would say Woodcut#1 deserves to be on that list, one of the finest strong ales I have ever drank.

 

The key phrase is "if you know where to look." You can look anywhere in Colorado and find a great selection of beer; it's just not the case in NY at all. The people who live there just think they have a great beer scene (the one decent bar we went in did have Avery 19 on tap, and some California beers on cask). But, it really doesn't compare to here. There are 5-6 X as many people in NY as here, but probably 5 or more X as many craft breweries here, so it's not really close.

 

Might as well throw in NB Bottleworks X if you're gonna include beers that weren't available in CO.