Bell's expansion into the Pacific Northwest

Bell’s didn’t test the waters in Washington the last time they came to Oregon. Founders is still around so they must be doing ok.

 

Haven't seen them north of the SF bay area yet. The few times I've grabbed two hearted in Southern California it was reasonably fresh but tasted like it had been handled pretty rough in transport.

I would love to be able to buy Expedition stout regularly

 

That's the first thing I thought of when I saw the title of this thread.

 

All Day IPA is Founders, isn't it?

Hop Slam...a shelf turd? Oh Lord...I would buy that if I ever saw it.

 

I'll 3rd this

i am not a fan of most of bells stuff besides Expedition and Third Coast.

Bring those to Los Angeles and leave the rest of the crap in Kalamazoo

 

Shit forgot about Black Note , but never had oracle so can't speak on it.

Hopslam ,2 hearted, the licorice one and all them can still stay in kalamazoo

 

Hopslam is a nice beer and a unique ipa when it's fresh, like in the first 2 weeks. After that it loses the hop bite that balances it out and it only tastes acceptable if you've got ample nostalgia

 

I had some sent to me 2 days after it released in Michigan which was a month or so before it landed on shelves in CA .

While it's good it's not something i want to drink more than 1 12oz can of as opposed to Expy ...id take that shit as an IV drip

 

That reminds me: They can send their Kalamazoo Stout too.

Good call on Third Coast. I'd forgotten about that one.

 

Yeah it's not something I ever wanted all the time. I like my boozy beers to be dark. But I'd still get a 6 pack fresh every year if it showed up around here.

Honestly, these days the kinds of beers I'd love to see from bells would be the best brown, the Kalamazoo stout, porter, third coast, and lager of the lakes.

They're a brand in a portfolio now. The big Asian brewers have seemed a little more savvy about working their craft acquisitions than the big American (or belgo-brazilian) guys have, but I'm not super optimistic we will ever see too much beyond the likely ever growing "hearted" line and maybe some specialty BA stuff at select locations.

 

Sunset Beer used to get LofL , Kalamazoo and Expedition. Makes ne sad as fuck because that place was Perfect and Bennet was the fucking man when it came to acquiring good stuff.

 

Those well run little local bottle shops (where the owner isn't an insufferable twat) are the true gems. I never even visited that place and I'm bummed it went under

 

I get a lot of black licorice from Expedition, but I also like black licorice.

 

Third Coast is a real gem. I still can’t get over the label change—not so recent anymore, but the fresh(er) bottles stand out now alongside their “cellared” peers.

 

I might as well go for three in a row here. Buddy of mine out by Sacramento gave me a heads up in early Dec. that Two Hearted was appearing in NorCal, about a month old at the time. I hadn’t seen any hit until recently, but not at a craft-focused bottle shop.

The price was about what I’d expect to pay in Kalamazoo, but my hunch is they were from the same shipment. (I didn’t check—doing the dryish January thing.) I’ll pretty much forever prefer Bell’s to Founders, even post-acquisition, and it’s nice to know that it’s around now if I am looking for it—but there’s always something special about those first sips of an old favorite during a visit to Michigan.