Bell's Brewery (2020)

I would like to think this perception is changing. Way back when, better beer was in bottles. Now more and more great beer can be found in cans.

 

They won’t sit on the shelf long. They’ll just explode

 

Or they'll move to plastic bottles and it'll be the store's "fault" when they don't burp them regularly.

 

I stopped at the cafe yesterday and had a Light Hearted. To me most low alcohol IPAs are unbalanced toward the hops side, but this one is the opposite; I got quite a bit of biscuit/cracker flavor from it. Some more flavor and aroma hops would make this a better beer.

 

Looks like Black Hearted will be General Store/Eccentric cafe only. Release date still TBD.

https://www.clickondetroit.com/news...reveals-black-ipa-version-of-two-hearted-ale/

 

Goddammit!! Looks like it will be time for yet another "My last trade for the foreseeable future."

 

What better day is there than Valentine's Day to release a beer named Black Hearted!

https://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazo...-to-the-broken-hearted-on-valentines-day.html

 

In some cases that timeframe is much less than three years. When M-43 and then Boss Tweed first came to Cleveland (less than a year ago?), they sold out in less than a day. Now they sit on the shelves at Giant Eagle (chain grocery store).
Note: I am not criticizing the beers. I think they are great examples of the style.
Hype can be a fleeting thing.

 

Is there any word or speculation if there will be BA expedition later this year?

 

BAESS

 

Lots of speculation and wishful thinking. I’d prefer to see Black Note.

 

I’d take either, or both!

 

Have they given out/has any had an advanced taste of the Black Hearted? I'm a big black IPA fan, really liked double hearted and was thinking of driving up from Indiana for the release.

 

Took the road trip on Friday morning, got there about 30 minutes after they opened and was surprised to see a line! Worried my 4 hour drive was for naught but after standing in line I managed to snag a few six packs and a Hopslam mini keg. Loaded everything in the car, went back to hit the restroom before I drove out and found the line almost done. Waited again and grabbed a few more six packs.

Happy with the experience as Bells was handing out samples as we waited and the line moved quick.

 

What was the limit?
It sold out on Friday which was surprising to me but there must be more Black IPA fans out there than I thought

 

It was gone after a few hours. Either there was no limit or very little was bottled.

 

That was the only thing that slightly irked me, I called the day before and the General Store person said "No limit, first come first serve." Which is why I thought I was buggered by getting there after 10. Limit was two six packs, so I waited in line, got my two six packs, stowed everything away and used the restroom, then noticed then was almost done, so I went and grabbed another two six packs.

 

That is pretty in line with most of the "limited" General Store releases....Blackbeard's & Vanilla Black Note were two 4 packs per person.
Certainly they should have known the limit the night before

 

Did the Blackbeard's and VBN lines move fast as well? They only allowed a certain number of people in the store at a time, were handing out samples and had two people on the registers and two running back and forth with handtrucks. Color me impressed for doing all that in fairly tight quarters.

Pretty quick and organized compared to a lot of limited releases I've been to.

 

That is how they operate their limited releases so the lines move pretty quickly. The biggest issue is just how small the General Store is so they aren't able to bring all available beer to the GS overnight & just say here is what we have until it is gone. That means that they have to have someone checking inventory then running to get a pallet to bring in to replace what was sold & that can hold up the line a bit. Given the size of the GS & the demand of some of the beers they do a great job having bodies available & keeping things organized