Second mystery beer from @Elkevjoe another big and thick stout. Coffee for sure and a bit of sweetness at the end. Since the other mystery beer was a Jackie O's at first I thought this one might be champion ground, but this one doesn't taste barrel aged and I don't think they do a version that isn't barrel aged. I don't know jackie o's too well though. I would say that if they do a non barrel aged version of Champion ground that I don't know about, then that's my guess. If they don't, then because of the coffee and the fact that the other mystery beer was the BA vanilla and coffee dark apparition, I would guess that this one is the non BA vanilla and coffee dark apparition. Reveal: It was the Non BA vanilla and coffee dark apparition! damn fine beer!
@beatjunkee Have you been to Antietam Brewery in Hagerstown, MD? I was planning to check it out tomorrow night for dinner / drinks while in town for business.
Ok 2nd challenge beer from @beatjunkee. Nice subway BA stout. Heat from the bourbon balanced well with some coffee and chocolate. Reminds me of bomb without the peppers. Going to drink some more before my guess and reveal.
I got an update earlier today from UPS that a mysterious package will be delivered tomorrow. Showing origin scan from PA, only person I know that would be sending from there would be @Greeny87 and I know that's not his town, plus his porch bomb has landed. Only other person shipping in this round from PA has promised a pizza explosion, glad I had my weekly pizza for lunch today; not sure my body could handle both solid and liquid pizza in one day.
Haven't had any Virginia besides so not going to try and guess what this could be. Now the reveal Explains why it tasted more robust when it warmed it's a porter. Thanks again conrado. And it's from Maryland, so I guess I was even wrong on the state lol
@sembo ... my buddy swooped by and picked it up soonafter delivery; looks to be in good condition/intact, no signs of leakage or anything ... gona pick up tomorrow... excited, and thank you in advance! @Greeny87 ... i've never been... it's a bit of a drive out there, but could be a hidden gem, you never know. i havent heard too much about that place; there is one bottleshop up there that i've been to.. forgot what it's called, but i remember a bunch of local MD stuff up there.
@JoeyIce3 ... this was a local that i believe is totally flying under the radar... great flavor out of a porter; heavy seas doesnt get enough credit for their barrel program imo. glad you liked it, man.
First mystery beer from @BartS. Big hint coming from the bottle size and him saying it's hoppy, so I'm thinking it's going to be blind pig or Pliny. Malty, piney, maybe a bit of grapefruit, gotta be Pliny! And the reveal: Always a treat, and happy to have another in the fridge, thanks!
Not sure what people think but if we plan an all-day VBS for our 1 year anniversary (pop a beer if and when you can obviously), maybe we could throw out a couple more ideas for people to shoot for? A couple ideas I thought of last night - 1) Already mentioned but if you have a bottle left from your sender in Round 1 (or your first round), drink that first. Not sure I have a bottle from @Steban from Round 1 but I just might. Regardless, I have some beers he sent recently that will fill in nicely. 2) Drink the highest ranking beer you can from the Top 250 or Top 250 new that you've never had before. Barring a miracle, looks like my choice would be a 59) Fuzzy or 61) Atrial . I just looked at the Top 50, of which I've been lucky enough to try 25, and of the 25 I haven't tried 16 are hops, 8 of those are TH. Geez. 3) With a nod to the SWer crowd, you could open up your DickButt bottle (the "worst" bottle in your cellar or that one bottle that just sits around and sits around and for whatever reason, you just never get around to drinking it - I'm sure everyone has at least 1 of those). 4) We could shoot for a specific time to drink a specific style. 4:20pm Hops, 7:15 Lambic hour, 9:15pm stout drop, etc. Pretty lame I guess but just some ideas to get people involved and opening some good things....
Photos have been counted and a winner has been chosen! All will be revealed next week after the winner receives their box... Hint: I have not received beer from or sent beer to the person whose guess was closest. Not photographers, just wannabe hobbyists. I brought my mirrorless (Sony a6000) and she brought her DSLR and a point-and-shoot as a backup, plus our phones for taking whatever quick and casual photos when we didn't want to deal with cameras. The trip was awesome, managed to find some cool craft beer in every country (even Estonia!) except for Russia. Not surprising, since they apparently have this saying: "drinking beer without vodka is like throwing money to the wind." If anyone is ever in Iceland, definitely find some beers from Borg.
Pretty sure I don't have anything from Round 1 but I have 1 bottle for sure from Round 2, a few bottles from Round 3, and a couple from Round 4. Option 1 or Option 2 sounds good. My top cellar beer would be Sucaba from Round 3 (courtesy of @BartS ) which would actually work on a couple fronts.
By the way, anyone keeping track of sent-received lists? Admittedly, I've been very slack about this for the current round. I know I haven't sent but that will come up shortly which is a good thing because my target will be getting the newest release from a brewery in Tampa that is named after a mad piece of furniture that you put your butt on. Ideally, the box will go out next Monday or Tuesday.
