Bottle Logic (2023)

Man, I am nervous for FO release tomorrow. The last years I have been slight disappointed. I get this weird berry note and lash year is as the first year u didn’t buy FO. I’ll be there tomorrow before opening to line up. Crossing my fingers.

 

Shocking the variants sold out quickly right away. FO must be a small batch for it to sell out today. Reminds me of 2017, lol. Hopefully I'll find it in distro.

 

Regular FO sold out?

Wonder how much went to Tavour.

 

I'm optimistic that quality went up as production went down.

 

According to their IG
They stated a small amount will be in distro. No comment on tavour

Does almost every BL hit the tavour nowadays?

 

My take from Saturday, which seemed consistent with what others were saying that I could hear:

FOMO+ was not that good. To me it was very nutty and had almost no coffee flavor. I only got one bottle, because they sold out so fast online, and I'm kind of glad about that.

FOCOCO was really good, but perhaps a tad too sweet for my taste. Also only got one bottle and wanted to trade my FOMO+ for this.

FO was maybe the best of the three. It isn't quite as good as FOb3 or b4, but to me and some others I heard it was the best FO in many years. I didn't initially order any bottles, but after tasting it I ordered 3.

While there I tried Condensed Matter and really liked it.

 

Situational Awareness 2023 just hit Tavour at $35.00 per bottle. Limit 6 per member.

 

Situational Awareness 2023 appears to be sold out on Tavour.

 

FOCOCO was my favorite of the bunch.

 

my take:

fococo - good can't really say more
fomo - surprisingly the coffee in this years batch was mild almost like hot choco w/marshmallow vibe somewhat
FAFO - hyped this was a let down; too much almond, next to nil on fudge. mixed this with the coco variant tasted much better

 

Well all the FO stuff is out in the wild now. Just picked up a FOCOCO (for $28 including tax!)

 

Haven’t tried it yet. All I can say is I hope it’s an improvement from last year’s which (having tried every batch since 2016, as well as almost all Stasis releases since then too) was shockingly bad in my opinion.

 

They really dialed back production.
According to their IG, none is making it up to the South Bay for distro.
They listed 7 places that people should check and that was it.
I don't even want/need the variants. Just give me a few bottles of regular FO.
Bottle hunting in 2023? yikes...

 

I’m not one to speculate, but my guess is like most privately-owned businesses right now, they’ve had to significantly tighten their belts. Not only is the “hype” gone, but people are spending less money on non-essential goods in general. They can’t be left sitting on hundreds of cases of BA stout. Personally, I’m glad they can see the trends and aren’t overextending themselves. I want BL to be around for a long time. We don’t need another Modern Times on our hands.

 

Finally rolled into the tap room over the weekend to try FO and the variants. I thought they were fine, if a hair too sweet for my liking.

Honestly, I enjoyed the non-adjuncted stout that was on tap a lot more. Which, funnily enough, was the winner from a home brew competition and not a recipe made in house.

 

im goin up to Oakland in a few days and can probably take you some FO if interested. PM Me...u less you mean South Bay ( torrance etc..) even then though

i had FO for the first time in my life the other day which was a 2019 vintage... just as i expected it's not for me but i can see why people used to enjoy them

got these for people that asked

 

I meant South Bay/Torrance. Sorry.
I ended up finding it in Pasadena. Regular and Fococo and got enough.
This years batch is really, really tasty. I enjoyed it quite a bit.
It's funny you bring up 2019 as it is one of the better vintages of FO.
I also have to remember that I've heard 3 different areas of California called the "South Bay" - here in LA, San Diego and Northern California.

 

Opened a 2017 FO over the weekend and it was still so fucking good after all these years despite not having the bottle stored in optimal conditions. I’d argue it’s a little more balanced now, and still silky with the vanilla, marshmallow, waffle cone flavors playing well with the subdued heat from the alcohol/barrel.

 

2017 (Batch 3 I think....) has been my favorite batch of FO. Was off the chain when I had it in 2018, cool it still rocks!