Alternatives to Rare Beers

It's not like "rare" beer is made with super secret ingredients not available to other brewers, therefore I find this topic pointless. I would bet $10,000 (don't worry, I am in touch with Americans) that you could find many a similar brew at brewpubs all around the country. The caveat is they might not get bottled. Hell, my local favorite Beachwood Brewing is doing a fantastic job with their hop forward beers.

 

While (obviously) there are nuances that separate the various quads, Westy’s probably one of the easier top beers to find a suitable replacement for. It might be your favorite, but at the very least beers like Westmalle, St. Bernardus, Rochefort, etc. are a rough approximation.
My favorite beer is the Andechser Doppelbock, but I’ll be the first to admit Celebrator and Korbinian (even Optimator to some degree) will work as substitutes.
With the hop bombs like the Pliny beers, you’d probably be shocked how many other beers can fill in if needed. Again, they might not be exactly the same or better, but they’re close enough to make you smile like a child. If you like Pliny it's hard to imagine you not other beers using a similar hop profile.
I still think the tricky replacements are the barrel aged ones or something really unique like Orval. You might be able to replace say…King Henry with MOAS, Release the Hounds, Abacus, Bligh’s, etc. but you’re going to pay a pretty penny or struggle to find all of those, too.

 

You can typically get 75-85% of a flavor profile with fresh, reasonably priced alternatives off your local shelves. The two notable exceptions are sours and barrel aged brews. The range of barrel options, the high degree of skill required to brew these, and (frankly) the inordinate failure rate of new introductions to those styles make them tough to find in the first place, let alone to find good substitutes for.

And ... guess fucking what? Those last two types of beer happen to be the most prized, rarest, and sought after brews. Not a coincidence. If you really like old ales, ipas, and pilseners, you're in luck: quality options everywhere. If you love the taste of bourbon and heady chocolate and coffee mixtures, or acid sharp berry juice laced with oak-ish tannins, and you don't live in one of the handful of states with decent options to drive to, then you're going to have enter the toxic world of beer trading.

 

F rare beer. Drink local. Most local shit is rare to others.

 

There aren't a slew of readily available high ABV imperial stouts available year round.

Really, rare IMO should be referring to the things you've been dying to try, but that are simply not available. And that's worth hunting for, for the experience. Once you've hit a few big stout fests, you might no longer care to track down your DLs or BTs, but if you haven't had them, and you're trading beer of similar value and sating someone else's curiosity about THAT BEER, I don't see the harm. But the point of this thread is about looking for comparable options, not debating whether or not rare beer is worth the hassle.

 

Whoa, deep man.