Truly Astounding Beer Tales...

Discussion in 'Beer Talk' started by beergoot, Sep 19, 2017.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. beergoot

    beergoot Grand High Pooh-Bah (8,596) Oct 11, 2010 Colorado
    Super Mod Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    I'm wondering what true yet unbelievable beer tales are out there.

    Mine is simple, short, and sweet. I attended the Munich Oktoberfest (probably circa 1988) and did not have a single beer the whole time. It's not that I didn't want a beer, I just never got around to it while wading through the huge crowds...

    I kick myself for not indulging every time I recall that trip for long ago.

    A sad yet true tale...
     
  2. Mugaipa

    Mugaipa Initiate (0) Aug 28, 2017 New York

    Drove the 250 miles up to the Alchemist for the first time. November. On a Tuesday, was there at noon. No one in line....only for them to tell me I can only have 2 4 packs of Heady. Wanted to punch Kimmich in the face.
     
  3. Giantspace

    Giantspace Pooh-Bah (2,879) Dec 22, 2011 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Society

    A few years back I had the day off. Saw Monks had Pliny the Younger day. Went down and walked right in, no line. Drank Younger and many other RR beers. Every year since there has been a big line and I walk away.

    Enjoy
     
    alucard6679, cdawg, Fox82791 and 7 others like this.
  4. Lone_Freighter

    Lone_Freighter Initiate (0) Jun 4, 2017 Vermont

    Was at Winooski Bevy around this time last year and started talking it up with a New Yorker who was asking me where to get the best Vermont beers at the right times, I pretty much spilled my guts on everything. With his eyes bugged out, he listened to me the whole time and said, "hey wait a minute, I'm gonna go pay for these beers, follow me out to my car." So he did, and I followed him and he gave me 3 cans of Other Half beers. I haven't had Other Half until this gentleman gave me some - they don't come to Vermont, my eyes bugged out back and said "what do I owe you for these beers?" He said "nothing since you told me everything I need to know on where and when to get what."

    And wow - those Other Half beers were absolutely awesome! Part of me says that was a great trade off as I hope he got everything he was looking for while he was in Vermont. But the other part says, I wish he would've taken some money from me.

    To this day, I'm still astounded by the good nature of beer people and what makes the beer world an absolutely stellar community.
     
  5. TonyLema1

    TonyLema1 Initiate (0) Nov 19, 2008 South Carolina

    My very first craft beer fest, New Orleans, around 1995, I was pissed that it only lasted for 3 hours, 6-9. Me and my buddy get there, and I'm like a kid in a candy store. A while later I said to my buddy, I'm getting hammered, what time is it? It was 6:25!!! And I was pissed they were only open for 3 hours
     
    BruChef, Ale_Jedi, Fox82791 and 5 others like this.
  6. Hoppedelic

    Hoppedelic Savant (1,041) Dec 6, 2010 California
    Trader

    Haha yep there's a reason beer fests usually only last a few hours.
     
    pjbear05, Fox82791, TonyLema1 and 3 others like this.
  7. JBogan

    JBogan Pooh-Bah (1,837) Jul 15, 2007 California
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    A very similar tale...

    A few years back I was living in Las Vegas and decided to make a beery trip out to California. I'd seriously considered driving all the way up to Northern Cal to Russian River to have a first ever taste of Pliny The Younger. Common sense got the best of me and I decided it wasn't worth a nine hour (each way from Vegas) drive for that, so I decided to just hit a few familiar spots near where I used to live in southern Cal.

    I was driving up the 101 northbound when I looked at the time and noticed Ladyface Ale Companie in Agoura was just about to open, so I got there just as they opened the doors for the day. I was the first one there as I settled into the small bar, thinking that I'd just have a couple of their (very good) house beers.

    Upon looking up at the chalkboard menu I saw something...did a double take...then a triple take...What's this?!? PTY? After a few stunned moments I anxiously ordered one, still thinking maybe it was some kind of early April Fool's joke or something. Nope, there it was... the beer I'd almost made an 18 hour round trip drive in addition to who knows how many hours waiting in line pilgrimage for.

    Halfway through the Pliny, and now still only a couple other people in the place, the owner came up to me and asked me "How did you know we had this?". Apparently it was supposed to be a hush hush release and she thought maybe I'd been tipped off somehow.

    Well, about halfway through my second one apparently some of the others in the place had Tweeted their buddies and the place began to fill up in a hurry. I had one more and then left Ladyface, very very satisfied and thankful for not having to wait even a minute in line for my first ever PTY's, nor having to make the lengthy drive to RR.

    Another beery moment I'll never forget was when in Belgium, I'd made the trip to Westvleteren, without any luck of getting through to make a reservation on their beer phone line. In de Vrede across the street was closed at the time, so I was basically there to take a few pics of the Abbey and look upon those with reservations in their cars in the beer pickup line with jealousy. I then thought "What the heck, I'm going to go into the little room where those lucky souls go to pay for their stash, what's the worst they can do, tell me to get the hell out?"

    Upon entering I saw a pile of the "Bricks", the boxes of Westy 12 along with 2 tasting glasses. I'd heard of them, but they hadn't been released in the USA yet. I casually asked the fellow behind the counter taking payments if I could purchase one...or two...and he said "Get in your car and go to the back of the line". Oh man, I felt like I'd just won the lottery. 10 minutes later I was the proud owner of two "bricks". I took them back to the St Bernardus Brouwershuis where I was staying that evening and did a side by side taste test with the St B 12. Oh man, an evening I'll never forget.
     
    BruChef, beertrip, nvbrew and 23 others like this.
  8. Jacobier10

    Jacobier10 Grand Pooh-Bah (3,090) Feb 23, 2004 New Jersey
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Out of curiosity, how did the Westy 12 stack up to the St. Bernardus Abt 12?
     
    JBogan and ICTguy21 like this.
  9. Amateurbrewmaster

    Amateurbrewmaster Initiate (0) Feb 5, 2016 New York

    My story is me getting in to craft beer.
    I had a new job, but I was going to class, going to work, then going home. I had no hobbies and I was bored out of my mind. One day I was on my computer and I knew I needed a hobby, so I went on Amazon and started typing random things in. I randomly typed in beer, and a brewing kit came up. I wasn't even 21 yet and I didn't like any of the beer I tried up to that point, but I was so desperate to just try something new, so I bought it. Made a summer ale, had people try it and it went over well with friends and family, so I kept at it. Eventually, I fell in love with beer, hops, the history and science behind beer, and I haven't looked back. I study beer everyday now and now I want a career in beer in some way.
    So, my beer tale is, I got in to craft beer because I got in to homebrewing because I got so bored and desperate, I convinced myself to make something I didn't even care for.
     
  10. JBogan

    JBogan Pooh-Bah (1,837) Jul 15, 2007 California
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    I'd had both beers before, but never so fresh. The St Bernardus was right from the fridge downstairs at the Brouwershuis (one of the perks of staying there) located next door to the brewery. The Westvleteren was purchased at the Abbey itself just down the road a bit. So, of course both of these beers can be aged for a while and potentially develop different characteristics over time.

    With that in mind, these super fresh ones were both very good, and quite similar. I think the main difference I noticed between the two was that the Westvleteren had a little silkier, smoother mouthfeel to it, and also possibly had just a hint more of the dark fruit flavors present. Really though, it was almost a tossup between the two, they are that similar. You can't go wrong with either of those beauties. Unfortunately I've never had the patience to hold onto either of them long enough to do an aged side by side comparison, lol.
     
  11. cavedave

    cavedave Grand Pooh-Bah (4,145) Mar 12, 2009 New York
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Not a great story as some I have heard, but we do an annual beer camping trip to Vermont, and one year met some young guys from Georgia at Blackback who said they needed a place to camp with their RV, but every place was booked. We had a buncha tent sites so we told them they could park and camp with us, but would have to set up tents Didn't make much of it when they said that was fine, since there wasn't enough room in the RV anyway.

    That night these guys joined the party, and kept thanking us and pulling a huge amount of great beer from all the breweries they'd visited, and after a killer tasting they set up their tents next to ours. Next night we were doing the same, and the killer bottles just kept coming, and I asked if they wanted to puff, and one guy invited me to the RV to roll one up. The RV was decent size for the six guys to sleep in, best way I can describe the size of it. It was stacked from back to front, in every space floor to ceiling, with cases of beer they'd gotten. A path led to the front seats. There was barely room for them to fit when they drove. Quite memorable,
     
  12. EvenMoreJesus

    EvenMoreJesus Initiate (0) Jun 8, 2017 Pennsylvania

    Most of my epic stories that involve beers tend to also involve women and are probably inappropriate for this board, although they are quite entertaining. At least to me.
     
  13. HopsDubosc

    HopsDubosc Pundit (791) Apr 24, 2015 Vermont

    Gathering of the Vibes 1998 at the Plattsburgh NY Air Force Base. I was 17 at the time and my beer tastes ran mostly to cheap AAL and Magic Hat #9. Ate some boomers the first afternoon I was there, listened to some music, danced, then got lost from my friends and wandered to a clearing where I could sit down and rest for awhile. A beautiful woman walked up and asked if I'd like to buy a couple of breakfast beers. They ended up being Sammy Smith's Oatmeal Stouts and to this day remain some of the best beers I've ever drank.
     
  14. RobH

    RobH Pundit (884) Sep 23, 2006 Maryland

    Um, NO, you can't just leave it at that! Start spilling the story(ies). :grin:
     
    JohnnyMc, DISKORD and ManBearPat like this.
  15. dcotom

    dcotom Grand Pooh-Bah (5,503) Aug 4, 2014 Iowa
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Back when Coors was available only in the western US, a bunch of my co-workers asked me to bring back beer for them when they heard I was planning a trip to Colorado and Utah. The most memorable moment was wheeling a wobbly shopping cart loaded with about a dozen cases of beer across the Safeway parking lot in Moab, Utah, under one of the most gorgeous western sunsets I've ever seen.
     
  16. EvenMoreJesus

    EvenMoreJesus Initiate (0) Jun 8, 2017 Pennsylvania

    That was definitely a tease, wasn't it? Really shouldn't have said anything. I value my account here and since there are no "off topic - dark" forums here, I'll apologize and continue to keep my mouth shut.
     
    Harrison8 and RobH like this.
  17. Jacobier10

    Jacobier10 Grand Pooh-Bah (3,090) Feb 23, 2004 New Jersey
    Pooh-Bah Society

    About 10 years ago, I was at Ommegang's Belgium Comes to Cooperstown festival. For those who have never been, it's a weekend-long event at the brewery with camping, a beer festival, etc. Sam Calagione was pouring beers at the Dogfish Head booth during the fest. I was a big fan at the time, so I got a beer from him and he was nice enough to chat with me for a few mins. We got to talking about homebrewing and he asked if I had made anything recently, to which I replied I had made a dunkelweizen. He said jokingly, "Oh cool. Too bad you didn't bring any for me to try!" I told him that actually I did have some in the cooler back at my tent and could get some if he was interested. He said sure, go get it.

    I ran back to my tent (with a pretty good buzz at the time) thinking to myself, "What are you doing? Sam Calagione couldn't care less about trying your homebrew. He's just trying to be nice." Which was likely true. Regardless, I grabbed a couple of bottles, went back to the booth, and gave them to him. He thanked me and we went our separate ways. He was really friendly and I appreciated that he took the time out of what I'm sure was a busy day to talk to me.

    The next morning I bumped into him on the campgrounds and asked him how that dunkelweizen was and I laughed, assuming he didn't drink it. He responded with something along the lines of, "Oh, right, that's where the dunkelweizen came from. Thanks for that, I shared it with the rest of my group last night!"

    It made my entire weekend. It was just surreal to me that one of my favorite brewers even showed an ounce of interest in a beer that I brewed in my kitchen.
     
  18. Blackop555

    Blackop555 Pooh-Bah (1,694) Dec 12, 2016 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah Society

    I found a fresh ipa on store shelves once
     
  19. cavedave

    cavedave Grand Pooh-Bah (4,145) Mar 12, 2009 New York
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Pics or it didn't happen.
     
  20. ICTguy21

    ICTguy21 Initiate (0) Jul 18, 2017 Kansas

    A couple winters ago I was fly fishing the blue river around Silverthorne CO in the dead of winter, probably February. I was walking through some deep snow by the river bank in my waders when I stepped on something strange that turned out to be a beer. Apparently someone had forgotten about it a couple weeks prior and it then got covered up with snow. So while I didn't catch anything that day the river gifted me with an Upslope IPA and I thought that was pretty cool.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.