Odd Side Black Friday Bottle Release

I'd say the more people who chime in about this, the better. It appears that at this point, BBAIMM is faring worse than HB. But not every BBAIMM is turning/has turned yet.

 

Don't want to pile on but the last BBIMM I drank was early February and there was a definite off tart aspect to it. Figured I got unlucky with a rare bad bottle but now I see this...

 

Why invest any more time/energy in it? The brewery has made it pretty clear what their position is in this matter. Vote with your wallet.

 

Become the change you seek. Me, I'm interested in seeing this thing through.

 

I can't help but hope that all these infection issues we've seen lately will cause people to change how they buy these limited BA beers. Maybe (juuuust maybe) they'll start buying only what they think they will personally consume within the first 2-3 months after release. There is no doubt the hoarders and those who stockpile releases like this for trades are the ones who take it on the chin the hardest when a beer turns prematurely.

Me personally, I'm not upset even if Hipster is bad. I bought my 1 case on Black Friday, drank a bunch, gave some away to friends, traded a few bottles, and here I sit with 1 bottle left. If it's bad I will still buy a case next year, just with the understanding that it needs to be drank in the first 3 months.

 

I thought they used Morningwood as the base and added adjuncts to get to the specific style?

 

I'll be quietly watching from the sidelines. It will be interesting when a pissed off patron takes BBAIMM/Hipster to an independent testing laboratory...

stay tuned!

 

Yeah, I'm pretty sure theses are all morningwood varients. Of course that just begs the question as to what the base beer is for morningwood.

 

While I admit, I'll be disappointed if my remaining Hipsters are indeed turning bad - but as the result, I'll use this as motivation (or excuse) to drink more of my cellared beers.

 

Did a tasting last night with Hazels, Hipster, BBAIMM, and others of similar style (16 KBS and SMS included). I really enjoyed Hipster this year right out of the gate. Now, calling it a shell of its former self is an understatement. No smoke, no maple, very little coffee, definite cherry tartness developing. BBAIMM wasn't as bad for me as it still had enough heat on the back end to overpower the tartness, but its still off. Neither were horrible, in fact my buddy really likes the sour aspect on these stouts. I'm not a sour fan myself. Fortunately between us we only have 2 BBAIMM and 1 Hipster left. Hazels was fine for now. Have 1 Mokka left but didn't include it.

 

Fantastic point. I'm in pretty much the same boat as you. For me, aging beer can be a fun little experiment, but I try to drink all of my beer--except for ones I've "experimented" with and enjoyed more with age--as fresh as possible. The vast majority of beer, even "ageable" beer, is meant to be consumed fresh. And I've found that most of Odd Side's beers are that way--they are great right out of the gate. No need to age them.

Well, I'm not 99% sure , but I coulda sworn one of the Odd Side dudes told me that Chocolade was the base, which makes sense from an adjuct standpoint (since all of their barrel aged stouts have coffee and chocolate) but not really from an ABV standpoint (since Chocolade is only 6% abv). Maybe it's a blend of Chocolade and Sinister Vertigo?

 

I'll agree... I've had at least 4 bottles recently (last 2 weeks) and all were perfectly fine IMO.

 

as soon as i heard about the bcbs infection, i put my bottles in my mini fridge. i cracked a coffee open a month ago and it was fine. infection might have been delayed thanks to the temp or i just got lucky on a 'good coffee'. i still have 2 coffee's and 3 barleywines in there.

that being said, as soon as i read these posts, i put my remaining bottles of BBIMM and HB in my mini fridge. i'm hoping it's not too late but i'm going to tackle one of those this weekend.

i can only recommend you do the same for these beers.

 

I put all my beer in my "beer fridge" in the garage which I share with the kids juice boxes and wife's Coke.

I mainly drink IPAs but even the barley wines and stouts go in there as well.

I understand this isn't really possible for folks with large cellars to refrigerate everything but it certainly makes the most sense. I also realize that certain styles shouldn't be affected by not keeping them cold.

I guess what I'm trying to say is beer is for drinking, not collecting. If you want to age some beers for science and verticals, only keep enough on hand that will fit in a fridge.

 

I think a lot of people may be in the same boat as I am. Do not have a second frig so only keep enough IPA's on hand that fit into the main or will be consumed within 30 days. I buy more of the brewery only beers (bigger stouts and Barleywines) so I can enjoy them throughout the year. So, enough Hipster to have a couple per month and share with others until the next year. Yes, there is always something new coming out but it is nice to have a beer you like throughout the year and not just a month or two after the release. And yes...maybe I need to convince the wife we need a second frig.

 

Over the past 4-5 years I've aged/cellared a lot of different beers. To date, there have only been 2 beers that I've enjoyed more with a little bit of age than when they were fresh: regular BCBS and Founders FIS. Of the dozens upon dozens of other beers I've aged all the rest were better fresh. Many of those were significantly better fresh. I think the effects of aging beer has been vastly over-stated in the beer community.

 

FIS and Expedition seem to improve with age. Saturn was way better after a couple months; last year's KBS too.

But yeah I think I'm about to start minimizing what I store long-term.

 

Just remember, its not infected, its a variation in flavor, and shame on you for expecting a BBA imperial stout to taste good after 5 months.

 

I'm in the same boat a bit as well, and these stories of beers turning for the worst are definitely impacting me to drink up sooner than later (which I probably should've been doing in the first place). But, in the cases where I do get something I really like that won't be around for another year (BCBS is the main example for me), it's nice to be able to buy a case or two to enjoy over that timeframe until it appears again. So, I may not necessarily be aging them to see how they develop, but keep them around so I can continue getting my "fix".