The Half-Acre thread (2018)

A bottle of BH 2014, BH tulip glass, hat, pins, stickers, can coozy, growler coozy. I think that was it.

 

Coffee Abraxas was on draft during the release? Am I reading that correctly? Anyone else validate the quote above?

 

2014 BH, BH tulip glass, can sweater, growler sweater, hat, pins, stickers. I think that was it.

 

Yes and it was really good, but I think Maple BH was better.

 

BA Abominable, Coffee Abraxas, and Maple Big Hugs (I think something else later....) Was tapped only in the bottle sale room for free tasting. Occasionally guys brought around trays with samples to the taproom to hand out. They didn't get tapped in the taproom, so no pints for sale.

 

You almost didn't need to go into the tap room. The free samples were enough and there we a lot of them.

 

Didn't have maple (I'm sure it was awesome, because maple syrup would add exactly what Big Hugs needs), but I really think they should consider doing a BA version of either vanilla or maple (or both). Vanilla was very solid, but I think it would really shine with a bit more sweetness and some extra vanilla notes from bourbon barrels. And having had beers like CBS, I think it goes without saying how phenomenal a BA coffee stout with maple can be.

Yes, I know it's pretty cliche to say "barrel-age it," especially in Chicago (a city currently embroiled in police and beer truck-chasing controversies), but I think that if Half Acre threw these bad boys in some barrels, they'd be phenomenal.

 

They did this I believe at FoBAB in 2010, and I think it has shown up at Stout Fest (or another festival) perhaps once more in the last 5 years. All I remember was that both times it was simply not good. Not sure if they used bad barrels or if the stuff just isn't formulated to take on the best parts of what barrel aging can accomplish (complement, not overwhelm, with increased complexity and a bit more mouthfeel) but BCBCS this is certainly not, nor will it ever be anywhere close.

 

BA Maple BH would be amazing

 

I'm not looking for another BCBCS (mainly because I don't like coffee stouts to begin with), and I don't think Big Hugs is coffee-forward enough for it to be a worthwhile comparison (at least, if the sample I had after drinking Vanilla is any indication). I mostly meant that I liked Vanilla a lot, and if done properly, a BA version of that or maple would be awesome. I know their barrel-aging program is still in its infancy (the expansion is helping with that, I've read), so I get why in the past there probably wasn't the same potential for success, but it seems like going forward it's something they can look into, for the sake of my tastebuds!

 

Yeah probably hard to know what will happen. But they had 2014 big hugs to sample yesterday, it had smoothed out, less coffee but also less bitter. I enjoyed it enough to want to age a bottle of big hugs and see what happens.

 

In addition to the brews mentioned above they poured BA Rambis, GB Pony Pils, Golden Tuna and a firkin of Big Hugs with spices. If I recall correctly the Maple Hugs was on nitro.

 

Correct

 

The maple nitro BH they had out was amazing. It made me almost sad we were only getting regular and Vanilla!

 

The BA rambis was not a hit in my book. Maybe I had an off expectation when I heard about it, but it tasted like strong black licorice. Luckily I was able to recover with plenty of that silky smooth vanilla hugs

 

Big Hugs is getting out there quickly, picked one up at Binney's in Algonquin today

 

BH was at LP Binny's yesterday (limit 1), and it looks like it was at Printer's Row Wine today, so yeah, it's probably safe to say now would be a good time to grab it, if you haven't already.

 

After opening up your bottle and being inevitably disappointed, remedy the situation by adding some Rubaeus to it in your glass, and mix to taste. Turn that mediocre stout into a 'wow, this actually is a pretty good beer'.

 

Yeah but doesn't that mean you'd have to actually have or buy some Rubaeus? Sounds risky

 

Good point is good.