For King Henry Owners

I have 5 bottles presently. I voted that were I to trade one, it would be for a Black Note. Although, I'd trade it for a Rare or Chocolate Rain too. But that's it. Thus far, I've shared two bottles at tastings, split one with my fried Dave, and then I had one all to myself as it was the first bottle I drank as part of the most recent round of the Blind BIF. I've also sent three out, but that was simply because the folks they went to were my best trading partners/friends. Oh yeah, I'm in the market for more.

 

As much as I'd like to believe that, KH was being *****d out in the trading forums before it even hit shelves in many areas. There have also been a lot of bottles sold on the auction site. Maybe now people are holding onto remaining bottles, but there were plenty of people who were just trying to hype/inflate it early on.

 

I felt the same. I found KH as unbalanced and overly boozy, while I found Abacus and other BB Barleywines to have stronger caramel malt presence and thicker mouthfeel to balance out the beer. To each their own. I know some people absolutely love this one.

 

Yeah, we actually drank Abacus back to back with it, the thing I liked more about Abacus was the nuances, toasted coconut, smoother and mildly sweeter caramel, drier oak, less alcohol heat/stickiness/dark fruit/toffee in the mouthfeel (and much easier to acquire, so long as you don't live in CA!). . .

Some people did love KH when we drank it, there's no denying its popularity, I'm just with you in the minority, KH not a top 100 beer.

 

I traded my last one to a solid trading partner for a Lawson's Maple Fayston (trade was much larger but this was thrown in at the last minute). We are both happy.

 

Man I need a solid trading partner who would give me a Maple barrel Fayston for a KH. . . in a heartbeat, you know good people!

 

That is different than the bottle noted above. But I agree with you.

 

i've traded most of my bottles to good people for good beers that i dont have access to, and always try to keep as close to $4$ so everyone is happy. and the great ba's i've traded with always throw some kickass extras in.

 

Oh there's a maple and a maple barrel? Good to know, thanks for the heads up. . .

Well, the Maple Barrel is an elite 1% beer. . . OWS be hatin' on it all the time.

 

I would trade you a Big John for KH...

 

I've only recently started glancing at the auction site, but from what I've seen a lot of every new limited release ends up on there. Opportunists have finally realized what a goldmine craft beer is, but I doubt those are the people talking up KH on this site.

 

Don't be so doubtful. There have been many identified sellers on here. Think about it - how do you even begin to find out about most of those beers without being a pretty hardcore BA reader? Or know that KH is going to have more value than Big John? I have friends who are very into craft beer and couldn't recognize 9 out of 10 brands for sale over there, because they don't play along on the Internet.

 

Actually I think ebay prices and the top 100, ten review minimum format here are very much intertwined, despite the alleged distaste for it over here, some/many of the bells and whistles on this site promote ebaying.

 

Whoever the 3 of you are that would take an 08 Abyss, let me know-- I have a couple of those...

 

God damn this beer confuses me. A bottle fell into my hands from a local store without too much of a struggle. I drank it and thought it was delicious. Looking back I don't understand the hype/rarity of it though. Barrel aged darklord, KTG, Beat, Rare? People honestly expect those beers in a trade? These inflated beer values just suck...

 

I wish that people still predominantly traded beers so as to share with others and to try something different that they might not be able to get locally. At this point it feels like a game of who can extract the most for their bottle 'x'. I know that this is not everyone by an stretch, but it is pervasive nonetheless. Lots of pissing contests and lots of people personally identifying with their perceived value of a beer they either have or have a connection to. The comments in another recent thread that mentioned the importance of finding and being good trading partners, i.e. building relationships, really resound with me.
That all said, King Henry tastes pretty good, but it doesn't taste better than being kind and respectful. A $15 beer is still a $15 beer that ends up as piss and a memory.

 

Exactly! Regular trading partners are a great thing. That ebay like mentality goes away and you genuinely just share tasty beer regardless of trade value.

 

Big John and whales of equal rarity.

 

In 2010 I had the fortunate experience of attending FOBAB in Chicago (where I live) and trying the first-ever release of King Henry. I sampled over 30 barrel aged beers that evening, and KH stuck out as the hands-down winner of the entire event. I raved about this unobtainable beer for a year to all my friends, and they simply stared blankly back at me, not quite able to comprehend what I was rambling about.

In 2011 King Henry was again at FOBAB, and the friends that tasted it with me had their eyes opened as they all nodded in agreement. I was onto something. We all loved it. We all wanted it.

Several months of anxious waiting later, King Henry finally hit the shelves and we grabbed what we could. None of us are traders. The only value we saw in these bottles were in how we would personally enjoy the contents in the years to come and how we would share it with others. Just thought I'd share another viewpoint.

 

I really loved King Henry at FoBaB as well. I have no clue how that beer did not win first place in the Ba Barleywine category and "best beer of the festival". I was besides myself...