Colorado Whales

Persicas

 

Momi Hiwa

 

Not sure this is a whale but would lover to try a cork and cage LA folie

 

The first/OG Eric's Ale, which is still drinking incredibly well.

 

Grand Lake Brewing Holy Grail

 

Bull & Bush Royal Oil

 

Avery Oud Floris

 

Probably depends on how liberal you want to be with the term "whale." Royal Oil has only been bottled for competition. There have literally only been about 50 bottles of it in existence and all but a couple were consumed for judging. Erik might have a couple as part of his own stash I suppose, too. That's probably all-time whale worthy if you count it at all.

C&C La Folie would a be "normal" rare beer if anyone still has any. It was sold in lots of places for 5-6 years, but it's rare mainly just because it's old. Eric's Ale is freakin' amazing, but it got normal distro. It's rare because it's old and people drank it up, but it wasn't that limited.

If I had to choose some, they'd be those first series Crooked Stave Cellar Reserve beers. They weren't sold in retail, membership was really limited for that first year, and people have long since drank most of them. First series Persica definitely comes to mind. While not ungodly rare or anything, they're uncommon and sought after. Plus, they're probably still drinking fine.

Some people forget would be those very first AC Golden sour releases. Those were limited to something like 100 bottles each at one store. Most sold out in minutes. If you count unofficial releases, their Colorambic beers were only bottled for festivals and events.

Some of those Vinitucci Pumpkin bottles from Bristol would have to be insanely rare now. They were the gold standard for pumpkin beers back in the day...but I bet some of those old ones are too rough to even drink now.

Anyone remember those Zeke's BA beers from Golden City and Mile High? Those were legit.

 

I opened up my remaining Zeke's Stouts at Zwanze Day last year... they were on the downhill.

 

There are also some very rare bottles from Ska - I recently had one from 2009 that was a Peach Brandy Scotch Ale. Still tasted great. They released a few beers only at the brewery during that time period, and it was very small distro.

 

Opuntia

 

Herman Joseph's?

 

Bristol XXX Warlock. Getting ready to do another one; a year ago they were still great.

 

I'm assuming you mean the Coors version? Isn't the AC Golden one still around?
While half-joking (because they'd be undrinkable with age) - I wonder how many people have some old Coors Winterfests?

 

I think I just might have a Winterfest. Probably 2-3 years old since they skipped it this year. I'm not sure which HJ version is out there now...kind of lost track

 

My first "fancy" beer after graduating college was a C&C La Folie, 2007. I bought it on a trip up to see my then-GF and now wife who was a year behind me at CSU. It was probably $12? $15? Seemed like a billion at the time. Haha, that beer was amazing.

 

I can't believe it hasn't been mentioned yet:

Waelzblood