Whale alternatives

BIG BAD BAPTIST

sorry for yelling.

 

This is my view.
Nothing wrong with hunting whales, It's just not for me.
Drink Up!

 

Realness! I approve this post!

 

Hop Stoopid is probably more on the bitter side but they're still very close.

 

I can find Blue Mountain Barrel House's Dark Hollow almost all the time in my area. Really good BA stout, and cheaper than any whale. They also do a chocolate and coffee aged version I've yet to have.

 

The answer is Big Bad Baptist. It farts in KBS's general direction.

 

Neither of these are exactly a whale, but the recipe for North Coast Old Stock Ale is nearly identical to J.W. Lees Harvest Ale. Though I wouldn't trust Old Stock to hold up as long as J.W. Lees and I don't think younger bottles of it really resemble older bottles of J.W. Lees.

I was going to mention ABT 12. Lots of people have trouble telling them apart blind.

 

Im waiting for the if you want to try Dark Lord just drink some soy sauce posts.

 

I'd put Victory Hop Ranch up against any of the sought-after rare DIPAs.

 

Having had eight different Bus, I have to disagree. They're tasty but pretty one-dimensional lacto bombs with mild variance based on fruit. I wouldn't put them in the same league as wilds from Lost Abbey, Crooked Stave, OEC, Side Project, Allagash, New Glarus, or Jester King. I found them to be massively overhyped. Black Raz Bu was nowhere close to VSB or even Nocturn Chrysalis or Atrial Rubicite. De Garde is good for what they are, but I don't personally see the hype, and the tasting group that I drank the Bus and Ambres at largely agreed.

I do agree on the Tilquin point, though. It's not quite Cantillon or Drie Fonteinen, but it is very close, especially Tilquin^2.

 

AMEN... Sadly, all of the bottle shops around me aren't carrying it yet. I know it hit town, but they chose not to pick it up.

 

Never tried Rochefort 10 but had St. Bernardus Abt 12 and tried Westy 12 as well. The St. Bernardus beat it by a mile. Strictly my opinion of course.

 

Very solid beer. Even better with a year on it.

 

Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron
New Holland Dragon's Milk
Weyerbacher Insanity
Founders Imperial Stout
Boulevard Dark Truth Stout and The Sixth Glass

 

You would have to make a soy sauce reduction before you could compare the two.

 

Don't feel bad. They're in my state and I haven't seen it yet either. The one store I occasionally get to has it, but they're 2 hours away from me at the moment, and still 1 hour from my house. At least it's a seasonal and not a limited release, there should be plenty to go around in a few weeks.

 

Just my 2 cents. If you're looking for whale alternatives, I would start with local breweries and see if they brew specials or "one off" beers for their pub or local distribution. Some of these can be awesome, but they're so hard to make the brewery might not want to make enough of it for distribution. For example, I live close to Cincinnati and MadTree makes some devastatingly good beers that are only kegged (not canned or bottled), so they never make it out of the area.

If you're looking for a whale alternative that is more mainstream, I think Founders Imperial Stout is about as good as any whale out there, yet is shockingly easy to buy when it comes out. The same could be said about Epic's Big Bad Baptist. Those are the first two that spring to mind.

 

This version is really, really good. Let it warm up and the Flavors explode!

Edit: The Chocolate and Coffee variant I was referring to.

 

Rochefort 10 shits on both...IMHO.

 

I had my first Dark Truth the other night and I have to say it was pretty damn good! It seemed to have all the characteristics of a beer that would be considered for barrel aging as well.....I can only hope