Speaking for the old lady, she got second and third pours of Egregious, and she normally doesn't do that with variants. She loved it. And I don't blame her I've been impressed with it every year, way better than early attempts at cherry variants. I'm going to have to get a bottle sometime since we didn't take one home.
I didnt rank it last because I didnt like it. I just thought it was way sweeter than any other variant. It was good but all things considered, it was too rich in comparison to the others. It was the only variant that I felt added to the sweetness of the base rather than cutting it.
I only had the 2026 on draft. I'd have to revisit from the bottle. I had it side by side with Magic User and still preferred Chemtrail but you may be right. However, I dont think Chemtrail should ever be given a break. Its probably the best variant out there. Magic User absolutely deserves another run with a tweak here or there (or even no tweaks). Brandy Vanilla could maybe take a rest. Egregious could take a rest. The 2020 variants may have been a special group that covid hid from us. I had 2020 Handjee on draft last year and thought it was the best beer of the fest. It had such a strong barrel character and reminded you of what the beer was all about. I was in line for the bottle sales this year and 2020 handjee sold out before i could get to it. I got 2021 CTM instead. But youre right.. 2020 Hellaboozie was very good. I wouldnt mind seeing a keg of Hung, Drawn, & Quartered make an appearance.
I'm surprised they aren't doing any straight up barrel bottles anymore, with how much whiskey they're producing now. Obviously they're using a lot of those barrels already for their variants to begin with, but a few years ago they did introduce their barrels for DL aging without additional adjuncts, but then fully committed to all the major hits from then on.
2024 Loadstar is fucking disgusting. Thats all I have to say. I tried to like it. It's fucking terrible. I can't even enjoy it as a late night indulgence. Its horrible. Drain pour horrible
Maybe you've been having too many bangers in a row. I just had two Mortalis beers that were some of the worst I've had in ages. Surely Loadstar was better than those.
You could be right. In the moment it tasted like charcoal. I left the bottle sitting out overnight and it was honestly better flattened out and stale. I still dumped it.
Bout to finish off my week of DL variants with Casino Beach. It seems very love/hate. We'll see whats up
Yea please dont bring back Casino Beach. It doesnt taste bad.. maybe.. if you didnt know it was a beer. But its also gross. I dont know what tf this is. Unreal how much better the 2026 lineup is than some of this older stuff. The Wheel of Death should have an option where you get to throw a ball and drop the head brewer in a dunk tank full of this beer.
Did you ever get to try Biggleswade, Aquavit, Greatest Teachable Moments, My Rod My Comfort, or any number of crazy dessert wine variants? There've been some real doozies they've whittled out over the years. At least you got a small taste of sauternes with Casino Beach lol.
For many years I said they should just focus on all the good variants. But now that they have been for a while, I kinda miss those crazy experiments.
I got a bottle of Dwarven Power Bottom one time and I got a bottle of Trump and Pump but traded it Luckily my DL variant experiences have been mostly positive but sometimes all you can say is wtf
WTF happened to the 30th anniversary distro drops? Nothing since Calumet Queen. I need me some P&J and P&J 3000....
Also.. Wonder if the Bears building a stadium in Hammond will have any influence on FFF opening the pub or distillery. Not sure how much traffic the stadium would bring though. Just a thought
