Lagunitas Willetized Coffee Stout

Man I like this stuff, fantastic all around.

 

There must not be much in Arkansas. I got only two bottle, and because of the limited supply, I'm assuming, the price was $4.99 per bottle. Good beer, but probably wouldn't pay that price again.

 

Simply delicious imo. I got 22 bottles between $2.19-$3.99 at 5 stores. Cheers all!

 

Initial impressions are it trails behind high westified, but is still damn awesome. Looking forward to doing a side by side in the near future.

 

Had a single last night-will get all I can today! One of the best new beers I've had all year!
Really really good...

 

I think it's interesting to note the differences in formulation between this year and last year.

last year:
aged "up to 17 months"
O.G. 1.15, ABV 12.2%

this year:
"blend of 3, 6, and 9 month" aged
O.G. 1.10, ABV 12.6%

So just based on OG and ABV, the FG of Willetized should be MUCH lower, like not even same ballpark.

I have one bottle of HW remaining so maybe I'll be able to compare them.

 

Still no sightings in Silicon Valley 2 hours south of Petaluma. Confirmed at my local bottle shop. wtf?

 

I'll be doing a blind tasting with High West and Willetized soon. I'm debating whether I should throw a KBS in there as a wild card. I'm certain I could pick out the KBS and am pretty sure I could differentiate the other two but we'll see.

 

The batch of Willetized I got reminds me a lot of KBS in that the alcohol is more prominent. However, the KBS doesn’t taste like rye. Should be a fun experiment for you!

 

Wow, where at? Crazy...

 

Wegman's in Corning, NY had this on Saturday and it was $12.99 plus tax.

 

A local grocery store in Central Wisconsin. They had two cases and it lasted one day.

 

They're not bourbon barrels, and as such probably are much cheaper (in lower demand). HW blends sourced bourbons and rye whiskey from MGP, and Willett rye, well it's not bourbon, but it's labeled as 'straight rye' so should be required to be new charred american oak. The HW barrel are likely to have been used more than one time before Lagunitas gets them.

As you probably know one of the requirements for Bourbon is NEW charred American oak. As such, they can only be used once. Those barrels (as well as Jack Daniels) have just started their life once the bourbon is dumped. They are sold to brokers and make their way to Scotland, Jamaica, Cognac, breweries... all kinds of places. There are experimental finishes from johnny waler and even hennessey I believe with 'rye whiskey' on the label, but the vast vast majority of the barrel brokerage industry relates to first refill bourbon barrels from KY or TN. Once these mega spirits companies have them they use them in decreasingly expensive spirits until they are worn out.

So basically, notice that Lagunitas isn't using bourbon barrels. The name shout out might be worth something too, entirely possible.

 

Went to willett for a tour, they don’t reuse barrels for any of their products. So unless lagunitas is getting these barrels from someone else down the line, these are first used willett barrels.

 

Blame DBI Bev. My local shop has been telling me for a while that they hold on to fresh beer in the attempt to move older products. At least they get Born Yesterday out on time.

 

Born Yesterday was more accurately Born Today around here so it's hard to understand what's going on with this release. Plenty of good beer out there though. I'm not complaining.

 

Finally was able to pick up two 6 packs at Santa Clara Liquors. Had one last night. Magnificent. Heavier on the coffee compared to HW, imo. A bit too much heat right now, so I'm thinking I'll come back to these in about a month.

 

2 sixers today-$10.99 ea-Woot !

 

Just showed up in PGH. Hoping to report back with a price tomorrow.

 

1 bottle limit @ Wineworks in Marlton....$4 a bottle. Pretty damn ridiculous but they only got a case. 1 is better than none I guess...