Getting Pliny in the San Jose area

Bobby's and ISO Beers are owned by same person? I have only see an older Indian couple at Bobby's. I heard there is a younger guy that is the beer aficionado, but I have never seen him. Well he spent a lot more on interior decorating at ISO beers than at Bobby's thats for sure. Ha!! I live in Santa Clara and the only place really to drink beer is Harry's. Near ISO Beers in SJ is OG, Good Karma, and the lil beer place at San Pedro Square where they have bombers and usually a couple interesting things on tap.

Oh and the guy who mentioned Toronado...that is the mecca of beer for me.

 

They might still not, but when I first moved up to the bay, I went by there to check out what they had (and amusingly, search for Pliny for a trade), and the guy at the counter (assuming Bobby) said to be on the lookout for the new spot in SJ they were opening - ISO. Suppose one could look up the business licenses if they cared enough to verify.

 

Was later mentioned that Bobby's and ISO do not share the same ownership. Bobby's and Original Gravity have shared ownership.

 

I think the owners of OG are 2 asian guys. Actually I think OG may be more interesting if it had a **** section in the middle of it....ha.

 

I'm just wondering if ncarlber got his Pliny and if so, where...

 

Nope. Bobby's and ISO are the same owners. OG and Paper Plane are the two that share ownership

 

BTW, i went to Bobby's a couple weeks ago looking for some stuff and specifically Pliny. This was on a Saturday, lady working there said they would get Pliny in on Thursday. Also their credit card machine was "broken" so I could only get like half of what I wanted cuz I didn't have that much cash on me. So I went back on Thur and she said no, it would be next Thursday. I said that is Thanksgiving and I doubt you get deliveries on that day? She just looked at me. And their credit card machine is still "broken" but I am looking right at it and it looks fine to me. She is obviously lying about the CC machine and Pliny. Not wasting my time going there anymore. Screw you Bobby's.

 

A couple Whole Foods in my area get a few bottles each Tuesday....they are usually sold out by 1 or 2 that afternoon. And there is a 2 bottle limit.

If you got the time best to drive up to Santa Rosa and stop by RR..

 

Good Karma in Downtown SJ has Pliny on draft fairly regularly. I had it there this past Saturday.

 

I know the OP has come and gone, but worth throwing out there anyway:

Good Karma, Wine Affairs, 7 Stars Bar & Grill and Harry's Hofbrau always get it on tap every 4-6 weeks and it runs out within a week most of the time. At that same time they usually get an allotment of bottles (12-36) and sell those in house and most will sell to-go as well. The bottles run out in a day or two most of the time. Other places that get it on tap at times but not every time are Smoke Eaters, Wicked Chicken, Liquid Bread, O'Flaherty's and Britannia Arms. There's others that get it once in awhile, but honestly not nearly enough to make it worth mentioning.

For stores, your best bet is actually Whole Foods. Each one gets at least 4 cases every fifth Thursday around noon. If you call ahead of time and talk to their beer person, most of them will give you the next few dates for the releases. What is true for one location is true for all of them. So if you start around 11am and swing through a few stores, you can nab a half dozen or more. The limit is 2 per customer. Most of them keep it in the "taproom" if they have one (most do now). After Whole Foods, Cask N Flask, Royal Liquors and Santa Clara Liquors get it, but its usually not a huge allotment and most of them will limit you to one, sometimes two. Usually they will get it on the same day as Whole Foods, sometimes a day before or after. They do hold for their regulars (I'm told), so that limits your ability even more. Like I said, Whole Foods is your best bet.

As mentioned by others, if you have time, Toronado is a really good bet to have on draft and get bottles.

 

Just go to the brewery if you can, they are open late enough for you to squeeze into your schedule. If necessary you could hire a driver form task rabbit to hang out and drive you back...

Get the experience out of your system. Then you can be part of the fandom Scratch it off the bucket list.

 

Anybody know of good bottle shops in Belmont or the surrounding towns? I'm mainly looking for the Firestone barrelworks releases throughout the year, and maybe the occasional Russian River brew. I just moved from the Indiana and am having a hard time sourcing a new shop. Thanks!

 

Barrelworks beer are pretty much only available at firestone, and even then mostly at barrelworks. Agrestic was the first to limited distribution.

 

I didn't know that. I've seen some 2015 stuff in SF shops, so I assumed it they all saw distro. Maybe I'm confused. Is Parabola, Sucaba, etc not barrelworks? Thanks!

 

No, it's not Barrelworks; it's Vintage.

Hope this helps:

http://www.firestonebeer.com/beers/