Fall Beer Sightings (2019)

The Fourth Corner, Bellingham WA. Summer here starts July 5th. Lasts until early October, then it rains til July 5th.

 

You shut your mouth! I'll drink Oktoberfest beer and 12% Imperial Stouts in 97 degree weather. I'll drink a winter warmer in August.

Fight the man.

 

Yike. Pointed that date out to anyone (besides us)?

 

I just want a 12% imperial stout for the upcoming Michigan heatwave. Nothing quite like it when sitting in that good ole humidity induced swamp ass while swatting mosquitoes.

 

Fuck yeah I am ready

Ditto.

Holy schnoikies!!!!!! 20181210? Jeeeeebbbbuuuuusssss

 

Idk whether to be surprised or not. That beer isn't very good, but I guess it should have been taken off the shelves a few months ago.

 

I've been ready for the Oktoberfestbiers!

Last year, my girlfriend and I both did blind taste testing of Oktoberfests... We did a traditional bracket type thing and split it up into three different days a few days in-between each tasting so we were not burned out. The winner from each of those two were then placed in a final, third bracket for the finale with a few of the runner ups.

The winner, blind for both me and my girlfriend was Hofbrau. That beer was absolutely phenomenal last year!

My runner up was Fat Head's, hers was Alesmith.

The entire lineup...

Sam Adams
Paulaner Marzen
Weihenstephan (I recall we had a skunky bottle, so it didn't fare well)
Alesmith
Fat Heads
Sierra Nevada
Saucy
Columbus Brewing
Hofbrau
Sibling Revelry
Market Garden
Great Lakes
Ayinger
Spaten (also a little skunky)
Bells


Looking forward to doing it again this year!

 

We always have fall beer on the shelves around here.

 

I should be ready come August. The occasional cool breeze and feel in the air remind me that fall is coming. And hopefully it won’t be hitting 90 every day. Looking to try even more Oktoberfest beers this year.

 

Yeah, they don't care. One of the Asst. Managers asked if I needed help while I was taking these photos yesterday. I pointed out that the beer was a year old, he chuckled and said "yeah, it's not a big seller".
The distributor takes care of the usual suspects the rest just sits until it's sold.
The best thing is that these are sitting one shelf up from 2 6-packs of Kellerweiss bottled last August.

They have a whole bunch of these in the "build your own" rack if you're getting tired of summer.

 

I'm eagerly awaiting the return of Miskatonic's ACH!toberfest.

 

Meteorological summer started June 1st. So summer is half over!

Why do you shop there?

 

It's a good, convenient grocery store. I can pick up 2 month old Oberon, Sierraveza, or SNPA while grocery shopping. When I'm beer shopping I go to Wegman's or Sam the Beer Man (actual beer store).

The problem is that a couple of years ago they decided to go after the "craft" crowd and stocked a decent sized beer section with some really good beers. Sadly, they misjudged what their customers wanted.

As scattered 6 packs were sold the craft/import section shrank and no new stock was ordered. Now they keep selections from 8 or 10 "name brand" crafts rotating in the cooler while what were once good beers sit on a crowded shelf and over 1/3 of the cooler space is devoted to hard cider/tea/soda/seltzer which sells like crazy.

 

Yeah, some breweries act like they're in the clothing industry, where they always stock for next season instead of the current one.

 

That's the greatest name for a liquor store ever.

Well, second greatest. We have a local store called, "Bunghole Liquors".

 

The owners at Sam the Beer Man are assholes and have no idea what they're doing when it comes to craft beer. They make the vast majority of their sales selling kegs to local bars. I appreciate what they're trying to do, but Wegmans is doing such a good job of expanding their beer selection and getting more and more stuff that I find absolutely no reason to go to Sam the Beer Man anymore.

 

Your avatar.....I swear, if Sierra Nevada brings Tumbler back (AGAIN) before they bring back Glissade Golden Bock I'll lose my shit and you'll be the one to blame!

 

Well, a little soon, but as someone who has their holiday lights up all year (Hey, they're solar!) - I really can't harsh on anyone's beer seasonality. So drink 'em when you find 'em!

 

They've always been professional and courteous to me. The floor workers don't know each individual beer, but they are pretty good on styles.

Yes, they do make most of their money selling big beer in bulk and kegs (only place I know of around here that still carries kegs). No problem special ordering, without pre-pay, and they carry varieties wegman's doesn't. Like any other beer store you do need to check dates. Other than being small, crowded, and on the opposite side of town, I don't have any real complaints about them (see my review).

I also like wegman's, but their craft section hasn't expanded for a while and is suffering from hard seltzer & cider creep. Most of the time they have what I'm looking for and it's a much better shopping experience.

Small, locally owned beer stores are important and I'm happy to split my business between the two.