Anyone familiar with ale apothecary pricing at all ? Would like to try and acquire a few to try. I see prices ranging from 23-29$ depending on the bottle. Has anyone traded for these bad boys? Just curious what it takes to land some. Thanks in advance Andrew
I've never really traded for them, but they've raised their prices significantly in the last year. I was in Bend a week or so ago, and all the bottles I saw were hovering around the $35 mark. Hope this helps, Toby.
Have you tasted any of the sours? Are they worth that 35$ What brewery would you compare to? My favorite sour brewery is the bruery.
They're really good but they're also pretty unique. Not sour like the Bruery, more saison-funky. As much as I hate to make the comparison, I might have to say Fantome?
Interesting stuff. Be Still was one of the most unique beers I've ever had, but I also don't think I want to have it again. They are well made and stand out from the herd, but I'll admit I've never paid for a bottle and might pass if I saw $35
Sahalie is my favorite. La Tache with Peaches sounds amazing, but unobtainable. But they're not sour. They're funky saisons. Don't expect a tart acid bomb.
Cool thanks for sharing your experience! Hearing the non sourness and price I may pass. The bottles and brewery caught my eye because it relates to my field of work. Any other go sours worth searching for out in your area besides RR,bruery, cascade?
Rare Barrel, Tahoe Mountain, Sante Adairius, Mraz Brewing, 10 Barrel, Crux, Upright, Commons, De Garde... I'm going to stop now
If you want sour from Ale Apothecary, Sahalien is the one to try. Everything else is "wild" not "sour". (FWIW, whether Sahalien, or Peach La Tache, are obtainable or not depends substantially on the power of your cellar. I've traded away bottles of both.)
Do you think a combo of troegs, springhouse and pizza boy would land a sahalien? Those breweries are all local and really close to me. How rare or big of a whale needs ante 'd up ? Who has one lets negotiate !! Lol
Depends on what Troegs, Springhouse, and Pizza Boy. Splinter Gold, Bleurbon Berry, etc; yes. Both Sahalien and La Tache Peach were more or less club members only. There were some bottles of La Tache Peach at the Saraveza Peach Fest for public sale ... but consider them primarily club member beers. I think there's somewhere in the vicinity of 200 club members. Probably less since I heard that both Sahalien and La Tache peach were in the 300 - 400 bottle range. I can't recall if it was 2 bottles of each per club member or 1 with the option to buy another. Regardless, you're getting a sense of the scale here. Club membership puts bottles in the $25 range. At retail prices vary widely. Anything from $21 for La Tache up to $37 for Be Still. As stated above, these are not "sours" with the exception of Sahalien. Mixed fermentation. Check the website for more details on philosophy / craftsmanship and descriptions of beers. I'd say it's hard to find a real comparison point in another brewery; it's, IMHO, one of the more unique beer projects out there. To take one aspect, the carbonation / mouthfeel of many of the beers - Be Still not included for obvious reasons - is really akin to champagne. This can turn a lot of beer drinkers off and even be something they describe as a flaw. It's not.
Just saw some on the shelf in Denver (very limited, one time release, from what I understand). It was $39.99 for the Sahalie. I left it sitting there. I've spent a lot of money on beer, and bought some expensive bottles, but that apparently is where I draw the line.
Yeah, my guess is that those were leftovers from WTF. Could be worse, I guess... you could be spending that much for a 4-pk of Heady Topper of questionable provenance...
That's crazy talk as well! Maybe it's worth it, who knows, and I'm sure they'll sell quick...but it's just been a crazy month. Not to mention BCBS release coming up... Anyway, thought the $40 price tag would be relevant to know, although it's surely a unique situation.
Last time I was in PDX Belmont Station had *cases* of Ale Apothecary and the guy behind the counter said it's just not moving after the price bump. Hope it backs up supply enough they send some down to Nor Cal!
Yeah... I get that he needed the cash flow after the couple of batches that went sideways earlier this summer, but I worry that the price bump might have backfired. I think it was only supposed to be temporary, though, to keep them afloat through this setback. Still.... 3 bottles of de Garde or 1 bottle of Ale Apothecary...
