Sadly the one-time Beer Advocate #1 ranked beer over the years fell from a year around release, to seasonal, to now only every few years. From Victory's social media today: Based on the picture, looks like 12 oz cans this year:
To the best of my knowledge, I have never had the former #1 beer on BA. Maybe it’s time (if it hits my area.)
It's really hard to believe that sales have dropped so preciptiously that Victory is resorting to this. Regardless of its place in the BA top 100 or 250, I always thought it a solid, well crafted, enjoyable RIS. I'd still buy it from time to time today, if Victory stuff was still available in my area.
Really shows you how much times have changed. Not one of those listed beers is even in the top 100 today.
I’m good with Storm King as an annual release. It’s very solid. Love seeing that old early 2000’s top 8 in the world. The fact that they sell Unibrowe mixed 6 packs for <$20 that includes 2 of the top 8 beers in the world (and also La Fin Du Monde not listed here), is kinda amazing if you think about it. There was a store locally to me that just a couple years ago was selling those Unibrowe mixed 6 packs for $9.99.
Do you have specific knowledge that Storm King will be an "annual release" product? In the past they have periodically (e.g., every few years) released Storm King. My last purchase of Storm King is a case of bottles which I bought in October 2021. I still have a number of bottles of that case purchase that I have been cellaring. Cheers!
I'd be curious to know how much has changed with Storm King, if anything. The last time I saw some, I remember BA threads talking about how "bad" it was and how much Victory had changed it. We opened some at a tasting after that, and pretty much all of us thought it tasted the same as ever. I think the beer world changed around it. That roasty, bitter, hoppy style of stout had fallen out of favor and people expected sweeter and boozier stouts. If this version still leans in that old school direction, I'm definitely interested in buying some.
I can report that the last batch of Storm King that I purchased (October 2021) tasted the same to me as previous versions (e.g., 2004). Storm King is an interesting Imperial Stout in that when fresh it is balanced between the hops and malt flavors (sort of equivalent to a Sierra Nevada Bigfoot in that regard) but with cellaring/aging the hops flavors diminish and it becomes more like a 'typical' Imperial Stout (more malt forward). Cheers!
Agree, I enjoyed that last batch as well. My response was confusing, I was trying to emphasize that I don’t need Storm King on the shelves all the time. I’m fine if Victory decides to release it annually or once every couple of years. Unless craft beer options contract back to prior to 2010 supply, there’s plenty of good stouts to cycle thru.
Be that as it may, every beer on that list is still excellent. If I walked into a bar tomorrow and that was the draft/bottle list, I'd be pretty happy.
Are any in the top 250? Rochefort 10 I imagine. I wonder how well Stone’s periodic RIS releases have done. I wonder if it’s in the top 100. If not, it kinda sucks a Doppelbock isn’t in there. I agree, but a fair amount of the top 100 aren’t that rare.
None of the top 8 from 2002 are in the top 250 today. Which includes the Doppelbock style. Possible I could have missed one, I quickly scrolled through.
