Rating Retired Beers

Sure enough.

 

No you didn't. It was first bottled in 1968.

 

I went to write up a glowing review of Tallgrass Big RICC, and I saw that I couldn't review it--there is a 'Retired' button where the 'Rate it' button normally is.

I'm sad that Tallgrass closed. They made a few really good beers, namely this one and their Sweet Tooth.

I bought a few of these beers a number of months ago, so I assume some may still be floating around. Although they were canned a couple of years ago, I believe they are still drinking great, and at their ABV level and style, they may be good for years to come. So, why not allow us to write a review of them? Especially if someone has some for trading?

Bummed in Missouri.

 

Does that really work out, for trading I mean. How we would we know it hadn't been baking in some guy's garage for those years.

 

That's a mistake. Tallgrass's production facility closed, but not their taproom. It's still possible that Big RICC will get produced, although it'll be limited to on-site consumption.

I'd report the brewery as not closed, and then you should be able to review it, even as a retired beer. Beers from a closed brewery are off limits.

By the way, I've had the beer in question and it was absolutely delicious. Some of Tallgrass's best work, although why that beer never saw barrels it beyond me... of course, this is just aside.

 

Thank you for your response.

I don't trade--nothing against it, and I may do it sometime in the future. But quite honestly, I don't see how a beer being retired is really any different than a beer that isn't retired, in terms of sitting in someone garage, unless it was a beer not known for aging well, and the beer was retired many years ago--say, at least three.

Both of the Tallgrass beers I mentioned above are from a style and of an ABV that age well: Sweet Tooth is a Belgian strong dark at 9.2% and Big RICC is a RIS at 10.5%. Besides, don't you inform the person you are trading with regarding the date on the can/bottle? And if you don't trust them, why are you trading with them in the first place?

Simply, beer for thought.

 

Right, I thought about your point as well (that the tap room is still open), but I wasn't sure if they are able to brew this beer specifically (based on the article I read about the tap room still being open). But if they have the rights to all of the recipes, they should be able to.

I'll report it as you mentioned: not closed. Thank you.

Having had plenty of imperial stouts over the years, this one was one of the best non-BA ones I've had. And I agree, certainly worthy of putting into barrels.

 

As someone pointed out (a post that was removed), now I realize that you can review retired beers from breweries that are still functional. Before I started this thread, I looked at a retired beer from a functional brewery--Mikkeller, and I thought it would not allow me to rate it; but trying it again I see I was mistaken, you can review it.

Still, it seems you should be able to review the beers from any closed brewery for at least a limited time after the brewery closes.

 

Of course but I only trade for fresh beers. I was responding to your comment that beers several years old from a closed brewery may have trade value.

 

The taproom is still active here on BA, so why not add the beer there and review it? Your review may need a comment that it was a beer from the original brewery so that there is no confusion for future readers of the review, but that's the easy way to get your review counted.

 

Good Idea. I think I just may do that!

 

Good idea. However, I am not aware that this beer is being produced at their taproom. (Perhaps later I will look into it by contacting them.) If it isn't being produced, then I'm still back to the problem of not being able to rate Big RICC or write a review of it.

Todd mentioned there is a possibility sometime in the future of being able to add functionality to link a single beer to multiple locations (i.e. a Brewery AND a taproom). I think that is the long term solution to this problem, and I bet there will be more problems like this (if there aren't some already) that that solution would solve .

 

I agree that it would be nice to leave reviews open for closed breweries. Short-term, there's plenty of stock out there when a brewery closes. My local store still has a shelf of 6-packs from Tallgrass. Long-term, there's no reason you shouldn't be able to review a cellar beer if the brewery closed in the meantime.

 

I would vote to support reviewing beers from closed operations. I had a quite old bottle of Balvaisienne biere de garde this weekend and would love to jot some comments down., seriously impressive beer at this point! Any update on removing this barrier?

 

It was only 2 months ago that Toolbox and Council announced they were closing (hopefully temporarily). . . but I already can't review these beers today, here. Other beer sites you can, but I'd prefer to route traffic and reviews here. But road detours being what they are, I guess you gotta go where the roads are open for content.