Bottle Logic Brewing (2019)

I'm not a fan of cellaring. I tried it. It was a waste of time, imo. Other than maybe lambics, I've not experienced any beer that got better beyond 1yr old. Maybe barleywines or old ales (not sure), but most anything I've aged would have been better fresher. I cannot imagine pastry stouts, especially, improve with age on them.

 

So what do you figure on stouts - one to two years?

 

In my experience, stouts start to change noticeably around a year. For me, the effect is not desired so nothing new is getting past a year old (I still have some "old stock," lol). The more adjuncts the beer has (I know, I know--I'm not using "adjuncts" correctly), the more apt I am to drink it sooner. For flavors I really, really love--coffee, coconut, vanilla--6mos or less.

On the other hand, stuff that's "hot" after bottling (as in, super boozy), I usually let sit and mellow out 3-6mos before drinking. YMMV.

 

I would never intentionally age a stout I haven't tasted longer than a year. I usually try to open a bottle before a month passes after release. They almost all taste worse after time--rarely do they taste better, and when they improve it's not necessarily intentional on the brewers part.

All that's beside the point, we're talking about someone buying FO, which sounds like he's never had, at cost. It's a good deal no matter which batch. Why not? Have one for now, some for later or for trading. Again I wouldn't advise cellaring on purpose unless you don't like fresh beer or have too much beer on hand and have already ideally had the beers being cellared multiple times.

 

Thanks for the tips fellas. Had 2018 FO last year and it was great. My favorite stouts are BBA Vanillas (this past years BCBS Vanilla being my absolute favorite). I typically try to stock multiple just so I have it available. I’ll drink 1 fresh, 1 after a year, 1 for the cellar long term.

But I agree, I feel like certain adjuncts last longer than others. Something like vanilla to me adds more than just flavor. It contributes heavy to texture and mouthfeel

 

Aging stouts is fine as long as they’re pretty robust and not barrel aged. Expedition Stout is a great example.

 

Any bottle shops in LA that typically get BL leftovers?

 

LA is Huge. Helps if you specify what part of LA.
As far as the South Bay, 3TEN in Torrance, Select and Adam's in Redondo, Total Wine in Redondo, Bevmo Manhattan and Torrance and Rolling Hills all get Stasis bottles. I'm probably forgetting quite a few. Some of those places still have stuff as I write this.

 

Not L.A., but Mr. K's in OC gets a ton of BL. Saw a bunch of 2019 FO sitting next to a few 2018 FOs when I was there a couple weeks back. It was a weird experience considering how rare that beer has been in the past.

 

Ramirez Beverage Center on Olympic normally has BL and a lot of other gems on the shelves. They put a lot of stuff out without any announcement so you may find something from a few years back just pop up at regular pricing. Ive seen some good BL releases sitting in the fridge at The Cellar in Whittier also.

 

Has Ramirez gotten any better with not advertising new beers they receive then hiding them from the public? I stopped going there a few years ago because they kept pulling that shit.

 

Can't say I ever had that experience, but I *did* get shutout on some Alpine (I think?) that they posted on IG (a few years ago now, obviously, lol). I asked the guy and he said he posted it and 20mins later some dude in a city work truck showed up with a bunch of his co-workers and bought them out right before I arrived. I believed him at the time. Still do, actually.

 

Just got around to opening a reaction state b2 bottle. Holy cow haven't felt this way with bl since the fob3 release with fomo and nc b1. This is fantastic. Liquid cinnamon toast crunch with chocolate milk and it's actually not thin. As usual even better than on draft.

 

RS B2 is quite fantastic. Excited to try LR as well.

 

Last week we opened a Red Eye November (2017) that a friend had simply kept in his kitchen cabinet in Los Angeles. I thought it tasted fantastic and though I obviously don't remember that well, preferable to when I had it on tap.

 

Darkstar and Redeye: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/darkst...ember-2019-bottle-release-tickets-80172703715

 

Ahhhh Darkstar November, my favorite Bottle Logic beer.

Gifted my last 2018 bottle last week. So I'm ready to restock

 

And 6 bottle limit. Come on 2020 WoL full allotment presales!

 

I live less than 10 minutes from Bottle Logic. That’s the only reason I still go to all 7 days of WOL. If I lived farther I would not put in the full effort and maybe go just one or two days, because (as mentioned above) besides a handful of releases, BL hasn’t been hard to get since pretty much 2017.

 

Had a 2017 bottle a few weeks back....it easily crushed a majority of stouts I have had this year....for sure on my watch list this year!!