High-Westified in CA yet?

Someone went and took your "hearing rumors" and posted it in another thread - now that's how rumors start.
It was all over the Chicago area for $11.99/$12.99 per 6pk, and in such high demand that some stores sold it as single bottles. The two bottles I've had were terrific, and is the best value by far for any BA beer I've had this year.

 

That someone was me, after the rumor I heard was corroborated by people I have 100% faith in.

If I saw it I would still grab a six pack. It tastes fine right now. I might even hang on to a few for science because its only $2 a bottle and who cares. But there are QC issues and it is being recalled. I'm sadly beyond certain at this point.

No one will be happier than me if I have been mislead. I've been looking forward to this all year.

 

Good point there - totally worth the "science" at that price. I typically do not hold onto any coffee stouts since the coffee fades so much and the bombers of this in 2015 definitely fell off hard after a few months. If I do keep them, they are in the fridge for sure.

 

Well hopefully chicago brewed a batch so we don't all get shafted.

Looks like we're going to get another we-screwed-up-lagunitas-sucks-2.0-beer.

In lieu of the stout being recalled, they should do a cinnamon/ chili/ coffee imperial stout to replace it, so that folks don't have to wait/ feel too bummed out.

Just my thoughts.

 

I was in TW Redondo last night and they said it should be in next week (even though the Lagunitas website has it listed as already being there).

 

Any more bay area sightings?

 

Today, Plaza Bottle Shop in San Leandro told me their rep came and took back all their supply (at least a couple of cases I think). He truly did not know why, but somehow our conversation evolved into thinking it might be a legal problem. Maybe a labeling issue? If that's true, I really hope they can just slap a new label on them and send them back out. This is complete conjecture, but it makes me feel better.

 

I've been hearing rumblings of infection. Could have been something else of theirs.,.

 

I've been holding off just to be sure, but I can confirm that the first shipment was infected. My bottle shop got a couple of cases early and I got a couple of six packs. Shortly after, the rep came and took back what was left. This was about two weeks ago. The first four I drank over the first week were great. The fifth got a lot less sweet and more coffee forward. By the time I got to the sixth a couple of days ago, it had lost most of it's flavor except for bitter coffee and an astringent dry aftertaste.

The good news is that they caught it before it went wide. I'm being told that they are still on track to release this out here in the west by mid December. Since it appears that Lagunitas did run a separate batch in Chicago, we may get some slated for the east coast. Or, Petaluma has a separate run available. But, it's only my speculation at this point. Let's hope we get some good product. It's definitely worth waiting for.

 

Royal Liquors in SJ just got it in.

 

On the floor at Davis Beer Shoppe this evening.

 

Yes, a new batch seems to be rolling out in the Bay Area. Looks like it's still a Petaluma bottled batch from the same time frame. But, so far, the new release is drinking fine. Really close bottling dates however.
Old/Off - 323 6 1 / 9824 1458
New - 323 6 1 / 9824 1317

If we're lucky, they narrowed it down to a small batch.

 

You're not kidding when you say "really close bottling dates". Both brewed on the exact same day (11/19), according to your info. Hope to see this stuff in Orange County before too long.

 

curious. would that be a confirmed "brewed on date"? i assumed the time stamps generally refer to "bottled on dates".

other question. are the last 4 digits military time? if that's the correct way to interpret the code (which i admit i'm not sure & thus asking) it would mean the 2 stamps are a whopping 1 hr. 41 min. apart (1:17PM vs 2:58PM). if so, anything is possible i guess, but seems awfully close in time to consider the 2 separate batches/bottling runs.

 

found this info
"Lagunitas: Uses a bottling date. Julian date code which is written in black on the neck of the bottle. There are 2 lines. First line has 3 digits followed by a space, then one more digit. The first three digits represent the day of the year, last digit is the last number of the year. Ex: 135 3 would be the 135th day of 2013 (May 15). Second line is batch number and military time"

 

During the BCBS scare of 2015, I tested bottles from the three different runs I had. None of mine were from the infected dates, but I found that the two with the closest dates had completely different flavors. 20Oct15 0826 was the best of the season. Lots of fudge and fruit. 20Oct15 0927 had almost no chocolate or fudge flavor. It was just sugary sweet and ethanol. If that was a time stamp, they were just 61 minutes apart. And just to be sure, I ran the test twice.

 

this is what i figured. and if that can be read/taken literally, that suggests the stamp indicates the exact same batch. which makes sense given the close proximity in time. but brewaddict's post brings me to another question or thought. . .

this raises another point. based on everything i get about the normal processes, the assumption is bottles are filled capped & then with-in the same process run past a time-stamping mechanism. all one continuous process.

i wonder. did you notice - unless i'm mistaken, 2015 BCBS bottles also had a different time-stamp, IIRC on the bottom of bottles too? what if the labels were pre-stamped in batches? you still would assume the labels were applied in some rational order that should still identify trends with respect to times being in close proximity. but maybe that is another factor in the wild randomness folks experienced?

 

You are indeed right. I meant "bottled on" date, not "brewed on" date. I stand corrected.

 

The bottle code is inked on the neck of the High West bottles. Which would lean more toward it being stamped during the bottling process. IIRC, the date code on the BCBS was on the label. That's not to say it also didn't happen during the bottling process, but you have to ask yourself, how do they orient the bottle properly since it is embossed glass? Could they be preprinted labels?

As for any markings on the bottom, I'm not aware of any. I still have most of these bottles. I'll check for any other markings when I get home tonight.

 

i was told by my Lagunitas rep yesterday that my shop would likely be receiving it thursday this week. however ill believe it when it touches my counter.