Old Friends

Discussion in 'Pacific' started by BBThunderbolt, Jan 8, 2017.

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  1. distantmantra

    distantmantra Pooh-Bah (2,954) May 23, 2011 Washington
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    Mongoose is still around. Costco in SoDo often has cases of it.

    I didn't turn 21 until 2002, so my drinking history isn't as extensive. My early go to's that I don't really drink anymore were Mirror Pond, Jubelale, Supergoose, Full Sail Wassail (boy did I think I was fancy with that beer), Mac and Jack African Amber, and Alaskan Amber.
     
    #21 distantmantra, Jan 8, 2017
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  2. honkduh

    honkduh Initiate (0) Jun 2, 2011 Oregon

    I wish i could revisit this little fella. They tried bringing it back in 2008 but it wasn't as good as i remember the mid 90's Starbucks version.



    [​IMG]
     
    #22 honkduh, Jan 8, 2017
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  3. chinochino

    chinochino Initiate (0) Jul 29, 2013 Washington

    What a timely post. It has been at least 10 years since I first had a Brown Shugga'. Saw it yesterday and decided to pick up a sixer. Great beer for a wet rainy day watching football. Taste is just like I remembered it. And it is still sneaky.........

    edit: so I must have missed the part of 'local' but it is west coast....... Moved up (for good this time) from Sonoma County in 2004 so it was a little nostalgic/autobiographical.
     
    #23 chinochino, Jan 8, 2017
    Last edited: Jan 8, 2017
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  4. mudbug

    mudbug Pooh-Bah (1,762) Mar 27, 2009 Oregon
    Pooh-Bah

    #24 mudbug, Jan 8, 2017
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  5. TheBungyo

    TheBungyo Pooh-Bah (2,037) Dec 1, 2004 Washington
    Pooh-Bah

    Next time I'm in Seattle I'll have to swing by Big Time and grab some Scarlet Fire for this purpose. Used to love that stuff.
     
    #25 TheBungyo, Jan 9, 2017
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  6. therackman

    therackman Initiate (0) Jan 3, 2009 Oregon

    Glad you brought up blue dot. Such a great DIPA when it's right. Was this the original "New England" style IPA? I ask because of its hazy appearance and tropical, "juicy" flavor. This was the first beer I remember thinking about orange juice while I was drinking. This was many years before the emergence of "New England" style IPAs.
     
    #26 therackman, Jan 9, 2017
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  7. 66jzmstr

    66jzmstr Pundit (960) Jul 17, 2005 Washington

    I'm really not going back very far with this as it's barely three years back, but Orlison Havanuther was my go-to pils, as it was good, (almost) local, and so easy to knock back in those tallboys they used to do, handily replacing Mama's Little Yella Pils. Recently it's been Crux Pilsner for me, but I'll have to Havanuther Orlison soon to confirm.

    If I want to go farther back, like last century, I'd have to go with Moose Drool or Powder Hound from my college days in Montana. I think my local QFC does singles and carries the former, but I'll have to see if they break any sixers of it.

    Good thread, though. Cheers, beertunes!
     
    #27 66jzmstr, Jan 9, 2017
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  8. TheBungyo

    TheBungyo Pooh-Bah (2,037) Dec 1, 2004 Washington
    Pooh-Bah

    Yeah, I'll never forget my first bottle of this. It was before they started distributing Blue Dot to WA, probably 2006, and I bought it from the now defunct Liquid Solutions. Upon pouring it looked and tasted like pineapple juice. So, so, good, if only it was more consistent!
     
    #28 TheBungyo, Jan 9, 2017
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  9. distantmantra

    distantmantra Pooh-Bah (2,954) May 23, 2011 Washington
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    I've always wondered the same thing.
     
    #29 distantmantra, Jan 9, 2017
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  10. checktherhyme

    checktherhyme Savant (1,036) Apr 8, 2008 Washington

    Not very regional, but Hop Stoopid was the first IPA that really made me understand that hops didn't have to be all piney and bitter. I was blown away the first time I had it and that beer still competes with nearly any IPA out there (assuming it's fresh).
     
    #30 checktherhyme, Jan 9, 2017
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  11. ballardbeer

    ballardbeer Pundit (779) Nov 10, 2013 Oregon

    HOTD-style IPAs.
     
    #31 ballardbeer, Jan 9, 2017
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  12. distantmantra

    distantmantra Pooh-Bah (2,954) May 23, 2011 Washington
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    I seriously thought I was drinking Blue Dot the first time I had Heady Topper.
     
    #32 distantmantra, Jan 9, 2017
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  13. John_M

    John_M Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,849) Oct 25, 2003 Washington
    Mod Team Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    The same thought has crossed my mind a time or two. However, the original Blue Dot still had above average bitterness I thought (something I almost never get in any of the intentionally low IBU NE style IPA's).

    That being said, the amount of tropical fruit and citrus I used to get in that beer was just astonishing. At least at the time, I had never encountered anything like it. It also sometimes had that slightly hazy peachy amber appearance you see in a lot of NE IPA's.

    While we're walking down memory lane... it used to be that the Horse brass was pretty much the only place that ever got a keg of it, and it would typically blow within an hour or two of tapping. I used to take off from work early whenever I heard the HB had gotten in a keg (and even then, would often arrive at the pub just in time to be disappointed, as the keg had already blown). @maltmaster420 can confirm this, but I think there was one occasion where the HB got in around 20 kegs of it in... and went through them all in less than 48 hours. When I was transferred back East in 2007, I stopped by the old brewery tasting room location to a get growler fill of BD for the trip across country (in those days, Alan himself was the only person I ever saw in the tasting room, and you never knew if you were going to luck out and actually catch him there if you wanted a growler fill). I knew it was going to be a long time before I ever had it again, so I tried to ration it during my trip. I think it lasted as far as Omaha, Nebraska.

    A lot of good memories with that beer. All the more reason why I'm so deeply disappointed by what it's now become. Oh well... life moves on I guess.
     
    #33 John_M, Jan 9, 2017
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  14. checktherhyme

    checktherhyme Savant (1,036) Apr 8, 2008 Washington

    In all seriousness, when was the last time Blue Dot was good? I had bottles in Summer 2012 that blew my mind and nearly every other time I've had it it was almost undrinkable. Haven't had the guts to pull the trigger the past couple years because I've been burned so many times.
     
    #34 checktherhyme, Jan 9, 2017
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  15. John_M

    John_M Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,849) Oct 25, 2003 Washington
    Mod Team Society Pooh-Bah Trader


    2012 sounds about right. I haven't had a really good glass of it since I moved back to the NW in 4/13. I do seem to recall having a glass at the tasting room during OBF that year, and then again in the fall of 2012 (if memory serves), that I thought was outstanding (and briefly gave me hope that there would be a return to the old recipe). I think that was the last time.

    I think a few years back I had a glass that reminded me a bit of the old BD. It even looked a bit like the old BD (slightly hazy peachy amber, instead of the murky tannish amber color it's become). Shrug. It was decent, but was still a shadow of its former self (IMHO).
     
    #35 John_M, Jan 9, 2017
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  16. distantmantra

    distantmantra Pooh-Bah (2,954) May 23, 2011 Washington
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    Makes me sad how much of a disappointment Blue Dot has become both in bottle and on draft.
     
    #36 distantmantra, Jan 9, 2017
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  17. blackcloud

    blackcloud Savant (1,243) Apr 28, 2012 Alaska
    Trader

    THIS. man.. I still vividly remember the first time I had this in a hotel room in Bellingham in 1997. It was so good. I've had a million coffee stouts since then, but this one is still a stand out in my memory.
     
    #37 blackcloud, Jan 9, 2017
  18. derftron

    derftron Pooh-Bah (1,663) Feb 8, 2012 Oregon
    Pooh-Bah

    on the bright side, Red Dot is pretty damn delicious. So if Blue Dot's only contribution to society is to be morphed into Red Dot.....so be it
     
    #38 derftron, Jan 9, 2017
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  19. NathanA

    NathanA Initiate (0) Sep 26, 2015 Idaho

    Are you certain about this? I think it was determined that this is an urban myth, spurred on by a pubhouse-only, draft-only experiment that Deschutes tried one season when it looked like Citra hops were going to be difficult to obtain in the necessary quantities. I'm pretty sure they never went through with it.

    I'll have to see if I can find the thread in question...

    I'll have to take y'all's word for it that this was once good. I remember finding a bomber of this in eastern WA a couple of years back that I took home, and...meh. Never bothered seeking this out a second time.

    I haven't had one for a loooong time, but I'll throw Alaskan Winter Ale out as my contribution. This was one of the first craft beers I was ever served, and it 1) made me realize that beer can be good, and 2) opened my eyes to the possibilities.

    Maybe I should grab a sixer for old-times' sake...

    -- Nathan
     
    #39 NathanA, Jan 9, 2017
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  20. BBThunderbolt

    BBThunderbolt Grand High Pooh-Bah (7,846) Sep 24, 2007 Kiribati
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    #40 BBThunderbolt, Jan 9, 2017
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