BCBS Sightings - Chicago

2015 BCBS + Randall/Fresh Press + Freshly ground Intelligentsia Coffee >>>>>>> 2015 (possibly infected) BCBCS

Save yourself time, money, and the chance that it tastes like (sigh) later releases of CW Peruvian Morning.

 

Cold brew is your friend here.

 

Oh, I'm not saying that I'm paying it...just that relative to some of the prices I hear of, the $25 is not that bad.

 

The 2800 beers comment from the Binny's clerk is just obnoxious. They don't know me, my buying habits, or the circumstances that lead me there. Show some decent customer service and just answer the question.

 

I think the point is, there is plenty of great beer there. Something is sure to satisfy you if you are looking for something good to drink.

But if you are just their trying to collect rare beers for your cellar, well then yeah, maybe a selection of 2800 beers just won't cut it.

 

I will admit that it's a little tougher to find great BA beers that stack up to the "whalez," but my anecdote is always (sorry if you've read this before) that going to Stout Fest last year really opened my eyes. While I still think GI is the best game in town for BA stouts, there were just loads of places that were killing it. That was my intro to Spiteful's BA Malevolence Caliente, the first time I'd had Hailstorm's BA stuff, 18th Street's Hunter series, etc. It's really amazing to be in Chicago right now, from a beer perspective.

Case in point: When I started to really get into craft beer, I was obsessed with tracking down Zombie Dust. FFF was one of my first loves in craft (back when you could get Alpha King at Jewel), and I'd heard that ZD was like the beer messiah. I spent like...3 weeks chasing it, finally got a 6-pack at Binny's (this was when ZD would sell out within minutes, not within hours like it does now), tried it...and was underwhelmed. I had my first 4 pack of PseudoSue this past weekend, and while I really liked it, the same underwhelming feeling was there.

However, if I'm craving a citra-hopped beer, I can now head on over to Corridor and grab a 32 oz. can of Wizard Fight, which, while most people won't agree, is a beer I prefer to both the aforementioned citra hop giants (I know Wizard Fight isn't single hop, but it's pretty citra-forward, so it fills the same need for me). This is a beer on tap, all the time, within 10 or 15 minutes of my house. At place where I can grab it to go in like 2 minutes, with no line. Hell, I recently was pretty impressed with Brickstone's Hop Skip, which is another standout with citra. Easily accessible.

Our options now are crazy. Yeah, nothing is gonna fill the void of BCBS Rare 2015 (which I still haven't grabbed a bottle of, tragically), but there really is a lot of amazing stuff on the shelves, now.


(sorry for the rant)

 

Is there a thread on here where this was discussed? Just curious as I opened the first of my two BCBCS last week and noticed it had a slight tang that was not present on the draft version (or any other variant I've had). I chalked it up to the coffee/my palate at the time but now seeing your comment, now I'm curious. Its almost always my favorite variant, but the bottle was a slight let down compared to the draft version for me.

 

There's a thread in Beer Talk. There are definitely infected bottles from this year's coffee, but there are plenty that are fine as well. I'd bet Goose will release a statement soon.

 

I haven't read through it (I don't really buy BCBCS), but it might be this:

http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/bourbon-county-coffee-2015-gusher.361997/#post-4365655

 

Thanks for the info on Corridor and Wizard Fight. I've been wanting to get over there to try some stuff since I'm just a few blocks away, but it hasn't happened. I'll be sure to check that one out.

 

Roger that here as well. Seems like every time I drive by Corridor is crazy busy jammed.

 

The only thing I'll say is to manage expectations, because it's on nitro for whatever reason. It's probably the only thing I'm not sure I love about the beer. But it's really solid for a standard, in my opinion. Pretty sure DryHop only had it once in a while.

I've only stopped in to get crowlers to go, so my experience is probably different.

 

I've never even heard of corridor. There's too much beer out there to chase out of market stuff. Will need to learn more about them now!

 

A collaborative venture with DryHop, apparently. Have you been to DryHop yet or no?

 

Yeah, @bowzer4birdie is right, it's a DryHop spinoff, kinda. They have some of the same beers, some not. Both cool little places, but Corridor is on a (comparatively) less busy street, and is closer to me, so it's my go-to.

 

I probably wouldn't have heard of it, either, until the wife and I were out driving one Saturday and she spied the place...."hey, that looks like a brewpub??"

 

Weird, you found it was hard to find BCBCS? You know, I wonder if perhaps people were bringing mules to get around retailers' bottle limits, thus making it harder for other customers who wanted to try the beer to find it.

 

I'd hardly consider having your friend with you and each buying ONE beer "muling"...

 

It certainly is if the friend is buying the beer for you and not himself/herself, as phroz indicated was the case here. There was a one bottle limit. He bought two. If everyone did that, it cuts the number of people who get to try the beer in half.

 

^Insert picture of Morgan Freeman here

Seriously, one bottle limit means you take home one bottle/day. Sure, one person doing it means fuck all. But pretty much everyone does it, which effectively halves the supply. Which becomes a nice vicious circle when that means people are willing to trade more for it, which means assholes stockpile even greater quantities, etc.