2012, '13 and '14 BVDL comparison

I am a GIANT fan of many in this thread. You have all been kind at one point in either word or action. I am merely a couple of weeks from my return from 6 mo hiatus (final stretch of 18 mo/75 lb weight loss), so I hope to crack some with/send some to you all soon!

Cheers, and thanks for the info!!!

 

Welcome back, kid!!

 

well feel free to message me anytime you are in the metro detroit/oakland county area and you have time for a round.

 

I can attest that @joromiller takes care of trading partners. He hooked me up in the only trade we have done. He also helped me work out a deal with one of his regular trading partners when I had the entire Black Magick set for trade.

I have since consulted with JR on all 4 BA DL trades that I have done.

 

Real talk: There may be some major bottle variation with the 2013 BVDL since the one we just had was slightly sour and the slight hint of vanilla tasted like extract. It really wasn't good. Given the risks associated with trading for an older bottle (how it was cellared, how many times it changed hands, etc.), I'm much more inclined to say it makes sense to go after a fresh bottle. The 2014 is a straight marshmellow bomb that is a real treat (admittedly a little sweet).

On the other hand, I will concede that a properly cellared bottle may be good. The 2011 Brandy VDL was pretty amazing.

 

@Todd @F2brewers This is another good example of an appropriate thread for the potential sub-forum for comparing different beers. It could also include comparisons of different vintages of the same beer.

 

I had a sour baby diaper BVDL 13' about a year ago so there appears to be a bunch out there. Again trade at your own risk.

 

Had a 2012 BVDL recently. Never had BVDL before. Major disappointment. Vanilla had almost faded completely. Id say 90% gone. Kinda sad after what I traded for land it. But alas thats a risk of the game.

 

Will the trade value of this beer ever reach a reasonable level? I just want to try it ONCE.

 

I think so - but mostly relative to the value of other insta-whales. Side Project, TG, Sante etc keep putting out super limited bottles and some trade close to BVDL. so as the pace of production for these instawhales keeps increasing, I *think* getting your heads on *any* of them should get easier. unless supply of whales increases slower than the # of people seeking them out, which I don't think is the case. nano and microbreweries keep coming out faster than I see new traders on here

probably need a economics person to chime in though

I'd like to try it myself, and have the ammo easily now but I'm not willing to pay the price of admission. if I gave up 3 sweet bottles and then opened and didn't think BVDL was the best thing ever, that would make me sad. best chance will be at a bottle share or something, I will hopefully go that route someday. EBF was awesome for getting to try some hard to find beers (even Mornin Delight) which took them off my trade list.

 

I guess what confuses me about this beer is that it seems like they have made a decent amount of it over time. And good number of people have tried it (almost 1000 reviews) on Beer Advocate. There are other stouts with similarly great scores and way less reviews on BA that don't trade near the same stratosphere as VBDL.

 

yeah trading is a funny thing. I guess pedigree counts and demand is there for some things more than others. but over time I do think relative demand decreases (bc of factors mentioned above).