Alternatives to Rare Beers

PtY is just a great, bright, present and fragrant IPA. If you can't find something comparable brewed closer to you, you aren't looking hard enough. The closest in wide release, IMO is Stone's Ruination. IMO Pliny the Elder is FANTASTIC, but the magic of beer trading, and the few west coast trips I've taken in recent years has sort of put it in perspective. It's not in my top 3 DIPAs. It may not be in my top 5. There is year-round local beer that I can get that I prefer over it.

Dark Lord is a RIS that is barely within BJCP spec... that means it's going to be less common to emulate, since a lot of brewers and breweries aim for certain parameters. I get the sense that FFF says "screw it" when they make this beer, and just go apeshit. So basically you'd be looking for over-the-top RIS... and they're out there... The closest in wide release is probably also from Stone. But it's not that similar. There is so much going on in Dark Lord that some people find it to be off-putting. There's every reason to think it might not be your favorite RIS. If it is... well... good luck finding something extremely similar. It's nothing like TenFidy, Boris, Doris, Old Raspy, Storm King, etc... any of the other stuff you find year round around here...

Barrel beers are harder. By their nature, they aren't produced in the same sort of quantity and the same frequency. You can get 1, MAYBE 2 agings out of a barrel, before it's not really imparting the flavor and aroma of the previous occupying liquor. So it's not necessarily possible to get the same sort of apples to apples comparison.

I think that the ideal thing, for someone looking to have easy access to barrel beers, is to get into homebrewing with a few friends. Chip in on a used whiskey barrel, spend a weekend brewing, and then after fermentation, barrel the beer for a year. If you do this once a year, realistically you could have a permanent pipeline, and you might be in for $150 a year... you would end up with kegs or many dozen bottles. A win in my world. We're about to go down that road, with some supervision from friends who have done this successfully. It would be nice to not feel some sort of obligation to buy one of every $20-30 bottle of barrel aged madness that comes through local beer retailer guy's shop.

 

I find Peruvian Morning to taste remarkably similar to Kate the Great, but without quite the body Kate has. One of these days I'm going to do a side by side just to confirm my suspicions, but when I had them just a couple weeks apart the similarities were very noticeable.

 

I've posted this before and didn't get flamed for it: In my opinion, this year's Hoptimum seemed pretty similar to Pliny the Younger. Doesn't hide the booze quite as well, which is PtY's calling card - but otherwise not too far off. Could just be me though.

 

I love Hoptimum too but happen to think they're very, very different.

 

Southern Tier 2X ipa seems very similar to PtE.

 

Didn't do a side/side so my mind could be playing tricks on me. Wouldn't be the first time.

 

IDK about by you but there is still black xantus on the shelf by me and it tasted better than BCBCS IMO. The biggest thing I've noticed between relatively easily accessible BBA beers and very rare BBA is the mouthfeel. As Mark said Peruvian morning was similar without the mouthfeel of KtG and from my experience Central Waters BBS tastes almost exactly like BCBS but BCBS just has that amazing viscosity that puts it into a whole different catagory.

Good luck!

 

Peruvian Morning is a damn good substitute for KBS. Not quite as tasty but another bourbon barrel aged coffee stout that's cheaper and easier to find!

 

Black Xantus killed my pet guinea pig.

 

Don't get me wrong I love all of the CW BBA beers I've tried (BBS, BBBW-one of my favs, PM)...but honestly, the CW BBS tastes nothing like GI BCBS...

 

Taking price and difficulty to acquire into consideration, I would rather have aged World Wide Stout than Black Tuesday. (Keep in mind, I've only ever had 2010 BT).

 

That was the old Black Xantus. BX has turned it's life around since then haha

All palates are different, to be honest mine is probably relatively unrefined as I've only been into craft beer for a little over a year. The key is we both love the taste regardless of the differences

 

The key is to not go after whales, drink what is available in your state, enjoy local brands, curb spending. Not every beer drank and bought has to be rare. They're all rare. That year round beer from your local brewery you're not drinking may not be there tomorrow because they've closed down.

 

shhhhhh @ how good black xantus is. that beer gets trashed on here occasionally (if anyone remembers The Old Memes) due to arbitrator hating it, but it is indeed as good or better than BCBS (i like it much more). it needs to continue to sit on the shelf...

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@OP, not much, but there's a giant variety of world class beer available all the time. as for replacing rare "whales" and such, my experience with the rarer / more sought after beers i've tasted has been that most of them have that status because (i'm sorry, it's the truth...) they are that unique and often stand head and shoulders above the pack.

this may change as craft beer and trading continue to expand and people start hyping up every beer (i'm using the word 'hype' properly here by the way; i mean people actually talking up beers just to increase the value of said beers so the speaker either gains status--"look what I'M drinking, i'm NUMBER ONE!"--or value in trading / selling). but traditionally, the beers that make people stand in line and lose their shit over trying them really are that good.

it's not enough to get me to become a hardcore trader, but this is one of the many reasons that people who have been trading for years continue to do it and chase various rare beers. even when you see a post about "i'm done hunting whales, i need quality over rarity now," the stuff they settle in for is often limited release shit they have to trade for (and have no trouble trading for after amassing so many connections / beers).

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tl;dr: most beers that require heavy effort to trade for really can't be replaced. you won't taste anything like black tuesday off the shelf, unless you just bought melange 3 off the shelf in LA a month or so ago.

but, to reiterate, this barely matters if you haven't already tried literally 100s of widely available beers of comparable quality. the hot shot beers are hots shots for being unique and high quality (and hard to get).

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p.s. if you're in luck and live near one of the many, many amazing brewpubs and brewery taprooms across the country, this barely matters. i'd rather have cambridge brewing company, with their excellent regulars and mindblowing one-offs, than hunt down all the other rarities of the world. a lot of the famous "pedestrian" breweries (say, lagunitas) have rarity and mindblowing one-offs to spare at their taprooms.

 

Ive found a few in my short time. Lake Erie Monster and Triangle Brewing Imperial Amber are amazing. Troegs Nugget Nectar is fantastic, but its a bit more rarer. When it comes to stouts: Great Lakes Blackout Stout, Fullsteam IGOR, and Rogue Chocolate Stout will do it any day of the week.

PS Hopslam was easy to find this year, it seemed like it popped up everywhere. As did Sexual Chocolate (at least in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area).

 

I have to agree 100% with what Pahn said about checking out your local brewpubs. Try a few and get to know if they brew some styles that you like. There are many beers that are never bottled that are amazing. If you are lucky enough to be close to a great brewpub, you will get to drink some incredible beer. I happen to live near Freetail in San Antonio and am thrilled every time I walk in and see a new beer on the menu. Don't worry about the hype of the "top" beers, in time you will get to try lots of them once you find some local BAs to hang out with.
Enjoy the ride!

 

I think a lot of times the appeal of many of these rare beers is that there is no real substitute. If you could pick up something at the corner store that could easily replace it why even bother with the circus surrounding the rare beer?

I cannot get behind many of the suggestions made in this thread. I think there are some very good suggestions but I just do not think they are close enough to personally endorse them.

 

i doubt that is true for 90% of palates out there.

 

read my post. everything has to start somewhere, and any good beer has to be an unknown beer at some point.