Odd Side Black Friday Bottle Release

Great comment. I would like to take it one step further. I can't drink big beers like Hipster often. One Hipster every two weeks is about right for me. If I can't expect it to maintain its integrity over a year, or close to it, it doesn't pay for me to attend the Black Friday release. That's a long drive for me to only purchase 6 beers.

 

I agree with your sentiments. To me a cellar is really nothing more than a way to rationalize purchasing more beer than one can reasonably consume at a given time. I think we've all been there, including myself. Shopping at the store and seeing a couple nice IPAs as well as some stouts, BA or otherwise. Believing that we can drink the IPAs immediately and sit on the stout, we'll purchase both the IPA and the stout. If we all had the mentality to drink fresh, we'd likely only buy one or the other in most instances. I think generally speaking this is true.

I like reading posts here where folks are rethinking the cellar mentality. I've been doing the same recently. A stout does not improve with age, it changes with age. Yeah a super boozy BA stout might mellow a bit with some age but breweries are making these beers to be consumed upon release otherwise they would not be releasing them when they do. They are not explicitly stating "do not drink this beer for 2 years". There are exceptions to this like I think with the Abyss for example but again I'm speaking generally. If we all subscribe to the "Drink Fresh" mantra for styles including stouts (and *ahem* some breweries did a better job of clearly stating their recommendation), we'd be better off for it imo.

 

It's not necessarily just about having more beer on hand than you could reasonably consume. It's largely that I'd like to be able to enjoy certain beers that only come out in limited quantities once per year at other times during the year. For instance, I love drinking beers like KBS around Christmas, but with this method I'd never be able to do that - it's not like you can find KBS on the shelf in December.

 

Yeah it's reasonable but I'm certain there are plenty of stout releases around December which you'll enjoy then. A BCBS for example. Michigan is similar to IL in that we have exposure to a plethora of beer and a lot of it is good. Releases are occurring constantly throughout the year. Unless there is a specific reason to have a KBS in December I don't think you'd lack an availability of good BA stouts come December. I don't think it should be a hard rule to cover all occurrences anyway but I think it should a good rule of thumb to cover most.

 

I think a lot of people would agree with you. It is great to be able to enjoy these beers year round and be able to crack em consistently throughout the year.

But this is no reason to keep a cellar, it's a reason to keep a temperature controlled fridge set below cellar temp.

 

MW is a stout with adjuncts added, then barrel aged. Their usual base stout recipe is Sinister

 

I was so nervous, so I drank one of my remaining hipsters tonight. Happy to report it was a good as ever! I still have 2 2014 bottles too. I'm not a BBIMM guy, so I can't comment on that, but no sour, butter, or cherry flavor here with the 2015 hipster so far

 

I didn't want to believe what everyone has been saying so I just cracked a Hipster. There was NO doubt it had a sour nose and taste. Drank half of it hoping for some kind of miracle that it would get better. That miracle didn't happen. Meh.

 

When you can tell who people on BA are based on their facebook posts, you spend to much damn time on this thing.

 

Lol. I know exactly what you mean haha.

 

Opened a Hipster tonight and I'm happy to report that there were no notes of acidity or other off flavors. Smoke had faded a little, but then I didn't get a ton of smoke when it was fresh. Tonight it was mostly chocolate and maple. Delicious.

 

I opened a Hipster tonight as well...fantastic.

 

No bottle limits
Infected beer
Karma


...I love this thread!

 

In most cases, I would agree but when someone buys less than a case of what was once one of their favorite beers, the disappointment and regret become prevalent.

 

It is a shitty deal for those that got bad beers. Hoping this doesn't ruin the Kia guy's reputation as a reliable mule . Like you said, vote with your wallet. Oddsides response was pretty pathetic

 

Dude, there was no bad beer, I just didn't drink it quickly enough.

 

Stouts are the new IPA, they must be consumed 2 weeks after bottling. It's your own fault

 

Odd Side is indeed a trendsetter

 

Haha, BCBS in Michigan - that's a good one.

(I know that doesn't really address your broader point, but I hadn't bitched about the difficulty of getting BCBS in SE Mich in a while, had to meet my quota.)

 

I have long consumed all of my bbaimm and hipster, but just had some that my dad was aging at our easter party. There is no question both of these beers are turning sour.

Bbaimm is almost undrinkable, but hipster (though a shell of its former self) is still drinkable. I would suggest people drink both of these as soon as possible.

Kinda sad because when we had hipster a few months ago (Christmas) it was phenomenal...