Did we ruin Bourbon County?

In Quincy, IL there are literally around 40 cases sitting on the floor at 3 different stores...

 

I made my rounds around town several days after the debut and have a case now. Some for cellaring, some for trading.

 

I find almost all Imperial Stouts are too sweet when released (except coffee ones), just a suggestion to put them away for a year or more as at that point the cloying sweetness wears off and it balances out near perfectly. I almost never drink them fresh now, barleywines too as they are usually to harsh off the line unless the brewer has pre-aged them.

 

Found a store that has the regular stout in a case. Coffee and barleywine went fast. I'll buy a bottle a week till it's gone. Figured it'll make a nice Christmas gift to people.

Only took me 10 stores to get a bottle between being in Maine all weekend and calling around and visiting stores here in the Boston area.

 

I'm happy you asked: the store I was at- Horizon liquor store in Lafayette, CO has tons of great options. ("Better" is subjective but I think many will agree that the options I mention are just as good if not close, and much more accessible and less expensive)

A few of the options we talked about:
*Speedway stout from Alesmith
*Alesmith Old Numbskull Barleywine
*Several variants of Eclipse Stouts
*Avery Tweak, Uncle Jacob, Rumpkin, Mephistophles, etc.
*Barrel aged Narwahl
*Barrel Aged Yeti

There were many others, but do you get the general them of my point? I didn't have to wait in line, these are less hyped, and I'm not paying hand over fist to try some thing that really isnt' that much better if better at all than the ones I mentioned. (I dont' remember their entire inventory but they had many other great options.)

 

And really Inbev/Goose Island is killing it here if people are going this nuts over their beer. More power to them! They've created a major whale situation out of something that was previously not nearly as sought after!

 

i cant say "we" ruin it, but people like you certainly do.

 

Some of those beers aren't BA, all of them (BA) are less available (nationally, you can't just look at your town) than BCBS, and all those BA beers are more expensive than BCBS.

 

I guess i just dont agree...
Speedway Stout is good, but not better than BCBS (and not barrel aged)
Eclipse and the Avery Stouts are actually more expensive
Barrel Aged Narwhal was not good...

Less hyped...sure I can agree with that
More accessible...sure (in certain areas)
Less expensive - not your Barrel Aged examples
Better - no, none of those are better beers.

 

I guess I'm in the minority with you. Waiting a on a line to purchase a few bottles of beer based on the (usually) manufactured hype surrounding it is beyond absurd.

 

All craft beer has become this. Mules, hoarding and fucking people over for 'secondary market value'. This use to be a fun hobby now its just work to get beer that I want to drink.

 

Supply and demand can be cruel.

Having tasted all of the new line up, I believe BCBS is the best stout being brewed, anywhere. The varieties are ridiculously delicious. If I could only drink one kind of beer for the rest of my life, and had an endless supply of Prop, I'd be a happy man.

But there isn't an endless supply of Prop, or Regal, or Rare, or Coffee. Because the supply is limited, and the demand is high, some people are willing to wait in lines, and pay high mark ups.

I've done both. There's no pride or shame involved. I place a value on my time, and I have money. If I want a beer badly enough, I'll trade a reasonable amount of time and money for that beer. Welcome to capitalism. I think it may be here to stay.

To those who don't want to wait in lines, or pay mark ups, that's your business. Take your stand against the unfairness of life, and enjoy whatever beer you're able to obtain. I'm sure that beer is terrific.

And while you're doing that, I'll be drinking my Bourbon County. That doesn't make me better, and it doesn't make me stupid. It makes me lucky that I live in a time and place where I'm able to get the beer I love.

 

Indeed. I am going out to (hopefully) buy a case of reg. in a few minutes. We almost got no variants around here. I fully expect reg. to be on shelf around here in some places for quite a while. Very uneven distro nationwide compared to demand. Wonder why, you would think ABI has their shit together in judging demand and supplying it.

 

Again- "better" is subjective. important to remember that. I for one would take Parabola any day over any bourbon county product, and several others as well.

And you're saying some of those other beers are less expensive? did you see some of the prices people are quoting?

 

I also personally would take Tweak over Bourbon County coffee, and speedway isn't too far behind. - Again, "better is subjective". If you dont' realize that then I guess you're probably also falling for all of the Bourbon county hype

 

I agree with this guy and guess I am alone but I refused to buy any BCBS this year.....NONE. I will not encourage this company to charge ridiculous prices for beer that makes it to 48 states. I was guilty of buying 2 single BCBS bottles last year and once on draft but that was it. This year they get nothing from me so more power to everyone that supports Inbev I will not.

 

Less available- sure I see your point, but Bourbon county is being released on Black Friday and maybe a couple of other times a year, and is sold out instantly- I don't see how that's more available than many of the examples I listed. Also, the list I provided was only examples of a greater point to not fall under the Bourbon County hype- This may have been missed?

More expensive- Sure, some of my examples may be more expensive in the store, but they dont' generate the $100 plus pricetags being mentioned by other posters after the fact. (Third party sales.) So really they arent' even close. See the original posters' example of what he paid.

 

No, life isn't inherently fair, or unfair. People make conscious decisions to do fair, or unfair, things. Life isn't a sentient being, humans supposedly are.

 

Exactly- I have no problem with the situation but I also feel that many have only fed into the hype and craze to make it much worse than it ever should have been. Its a great beer but not worth all of the money/effort for me. But I think this is the nature of rare beers going forward- there will only be more hype and craze/ more limited releases/ more expensive as time goes on and more and more people are turned on to craft beer.