Three Chiefs Brewing - Los Angeles

I have to say something that nobody else had mentioned yet... when people say this is the best beer they have ever had but it has very little barrel presence...
whenever I have a beer that is labeled barrel aged and I can’t taste that it is... guess what? That’s a shittily made beer.
If something is labeled barrel aged and it DOESNT TASTE barrel aged don’t give it a high score!
That makes me think it isn’t well executed.

 

Of course not.

 

Who needs barrel presence when you’ve got chunks of food in your beer?

 

Lots of Instagram likes.

 

Kinda off topic question here and I’m by no means any stout expert but I still think B1 BA Viet speedway (is there only one batch?) is the best tasting BA stouts I’ve had from Cali and I consider that beer world class. I haven’t had all the speedways but there are some that were really great like velvet or JBM. I have no idea what else they’ve made in the last couple of years but is Alesmith still up there when it comes to BA stouts or have they fallen off? I feel like most of the socal love on these boards is all Modern Times and Bottle Logic so was just curious!

 

There was a batch 2 BA vietnamese speedway stout last year

 

BA Speedway and all its variants are still amazing they just aren’t rare and get little hype because they make a ton of it.

 

I knew someone would call me out on Mocha Machine maybe being on either side of the coin. It does say porter on the label, so I'll go with that.

And, I did try to stay within the "Barrel Aged Stout". They make some damn good dark beers though. They better have, been doing to BBQ for 6-7 years now!

BASOAS was...not as good as non aged.

 

2014 BAVSS
2016 BAVSS
2017 rBAVSS (the rye whiskey one)

Hoping for another BAVSS later this year. The love comes from adjuncts. When a beer no longer tastes like a beer but instead a candy bar. Alesmith doesn't overpower their stouts with adjuncts. They prefer to let the base beer be the star of the show with just "supporting actors" surrounding it. You can take my beer Lotza Vanilla Speedway as an example of that. Yes, you can taste the vanilla, but it isn't like munching on a vanilla bean. It was well executed, tastes delicious, is still a speedway, and I think is quite wonderful. It spent time in craft vanilla barrels (barrels that held craft vanilla extract basically) as well as got some vanilla beans tossed in there.

 

Thanks for making an actual list, I commend your efforts.

The BA stout Tustin brought to Bruery anniversary in 2017 was definitely outstanding. Kentucky Hug I think it was called? As for the others ones missing, I've had some on tap or at shares but felt they were well executed (though abnormal does skew pastry).

 

Kentucky Hugs from Tustin was f*cking fantastic.

 

For 2018, I thought Speedway Stout Cinnamon Vanilla was excellent. Not to heavy on the cinnamon. I find most cinnamon beers to be to heavy on the cinnamon.

Also thought, Lotza Vanilla Speedway, 2018 BA Speedway were very good.

I'll leave the World class discussion to others.

My view on that, is any one opinion is off the charts subjective and often tells you more about the person then the beer. BA collective stats are probably the best thing out there for a consensus amount knowledgeable people, But in the end, the only opinion that matters is your own.

 

Henna is not world class and never was.

 

I think we can all agree that the person that said that California "finally" has a world class stout was just talking out of his/her ass.
On top of the fact that they created their account on Saturday. Probably just to defend/hype this brewery. All good. Enjoy trading your "world class" stout away.

 

100% agree. Usually I can't drink cinnamon beers either as the cinnemon is overpowering, but cinnomin vanilla SS was amazing on draft. Very bummed they sold out of bottles. I was able to snag some BA Old Numbskull, however.

 

Three different spellings of cinnamon. I like it.

 

I do need to try some of the members Alesmith stuff. I thought Boxcar was amazing but haven't been too interested in their stuff since

Thinking people's preferences differ in stouts just like they do in IPAs. If you are into the big full bodied stouts then there aren't that many here in SoCal (though the newer breweries like MT, Horus, Abnormal are headed that direction). I use world class only to denote that that is what the market generally considers a 'good' stout nowadays.

 

Out of curiosity, what does it take to acquire these hype stouts? I'm talking about time, money, connections, etc.

 

Jeez, yeah, I smoked a big ol bowl before work. Between that and typing all this up at work I guess I forgot to spell check. Got to keep you guys on your toes

 

I like traveling for festivals and stuff, have friends I've met online from all over the place so some good stuff from various locales tends to open up when we congregate.