Regional BCBS alternative

My favorite local BB Stout is Great Lakes Blackout Stout. I believe BA Blackout stout release last year was around MLK day. Jackie O's makes some great BA stouts too. I wouldn't consider them alternatives to BCBS- just totally different beers.

The BB stout I ever had Alesmith Speedway.

I'd love to try the vanilla rye BCBS because I love rye beers and prefer rye bourbon to regular bourbon but they aren't going to have it in Western PA or NE Ohio. I've had regular BCBS several times and have been able to try the coffee and the vanilla as well.

 

I have given up on the bourbon county black Friday hype. My local spot her in MA sold out of coffee and vanilla within minutes because people were camped inside the store just waiting around. I love craft beer and rare releases as much as the next person but, sometimes it is just nuts.

 

Alesmith is my nearest brewery, and I've gotten to sample most of their heavy-hitter BBs, and special releases. They're just a small, world-class brewery, putting out world-class products without much of the fanfare that other breweries tend to do...and so far I'd say it's worked out well for them.

 

In central VA we have Hardywood Park Gingerbread stout, which is getting fairly silly with releases, followed up swiftly with Bourbon Gingerbread Stout. I only hope that the madness surrounding the regular GBS release doesn't foreshadow the Bourbon variant. If so, looks like I'll have to trade some fancy Chicago beer to get a bottle of local stuff!

 

Uncle Jacob's from Avery, and a lesser known "Liquid Brain" from Bull and Bush. Denver's best kept secret, and currently sitting at a 4.4 on BA.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/2695/22421/

 

Plenty of good ones, nothing quite like Bcbs, mainly it's an Abv and viscous thing. Both foothills and Olde Hickory are a little light here, but they are amazing none the less. Sometimes it's a plus how many 15% beers can you drink, BA Sex Chocolate is 9.75 which is quite nice.

 

I'll second Jackie O's. They do some really great BA stuff. I'm especially fond of their BBA Brick Kiln barleywine, and Rum BA Oil of Aphrodite imperial stout. There's also BBA Dark Apparitions (which is probably the closest direct comparison to BCBS of the bunch), but I actually prefer the regular Dark Apparitions.

 

Oy, the hype! Think I'll just enjoy some good straight up bourbon.

 

Arcadia's Shipwreck Porter is always easier to get (for me at least), and I think it's a good alternative for BCBS. And then there's KBS, but it's nearly as difficult to find as BCBS, although it's at a different time of the year.

 

Older Viscosity, Santa's Little Helper BA, Deliverance, Pugachev's Cobra, Parabola, et al, do the trick nicely. And they are all pretty available around here.

Didn't stop me from logging a few miles today tracking down a couple 4-packs of BCBS though.

 

for my money BCBS is in a league of its own. That said, Clown Shoes has been doing some tasty work with barrels - picked up Extremely Angry Beast last week - and Jack's Abby BA Framinghammer is a favorite (although still a ways off from that release)... Would love to see Pretty Things take on a BA stout.

 

Fremont's Bourbon Abominable, while not a direct comparison to BCBS (strong ale vs. stout), is a top-tier BA beer also released on Black Friday.

 

im glad i live only a couple hours from Dark Horse. i turned down quite a bit of Bourbon County today knowing that the Bourbon Barrel Plead the 5th release is only a couple weeks away.

 

A local brewery called Finback make a beer called Barrel Aged BQE. It made me think of a slightly lighter BCBS when I tried it the other day

 

WWS KBS and any of the Port / Lost abbeys.

 

uh, yep . . .

 

Nothing with bourbon in it, but I'll settle for W-n-b that I don't have to travel out of state for.

 

Odd Side Ales released BA Hipster brunch and Morningwood this morning. For my money, driving out there(40 min) with a couple of buddies and getting cases for $100 each that was way better than running all over town and getting shut out. Hipster Brunch is ridiculously good too, probably Odd Side's best release yet.

 

Barrel Aged BORIS (Hoppin' Frog, OH) is very good. Central Waters BA Stout is too thin to be a real contender, in my opinion. BCBS is so good because it hits on everything - taste, aroma, and a luscious viscous mouthfeel...