Barreled Souls 2017

Bottles to go, drafts, flights and growlers.

 

Not much to add here except that I sent an email to the info@barreledsouls.com and received a reply within an hour or so. Might be worth a check-in before you nail down your plan. Their bottle inventory is a mystery to me; only time I went was during an announced release so I knew what was available.

 

Awesome! About time someone started a thread!! I've been following them since they opened - your best bet is to do social media and get on their email list. They also have a society thing that you can join which gets you all the bottles plus a magnum but I haven't done that. The schtick with the bottles is that they release them every month or so, sometimes more, usually less - usually several different barrel types of the same beer at a time. Rum, single barrel, tequila, etc. and have limits of 3 each. I usually get one of each as I'm up in Maine all the time, but given that I trade quite a bit, I usually end up cellaring a little too much and drinking too few...

IMO - the ratings are incredibly underweighted which is fine - BS is Maine's best kept secret... I had MCAM out of a growler and think I immediately rated it a 5 - that good - I don't often do that but it just hit all the senses. You're making the right call on going up this weekend for MCAM and Mott (shoot me an IM if you have a prior year's Mott, I'll trade you for a this year's) - there should be plenty of MCAMs left throughout the weekend at Barreled Souls. Have a good time and cheers!

 

Just going off what others have said, they are incredibly underrated. I personally believe they are putting out some of the best stouts in New England and many of their offerings far surpass stuff people wait in lines for, maybe it's the location or that they don't can, but it really doesn't make much sense why they aren't more popular. Additionally the Salty Pig had one of their beers on draft last week, but kicked before I could get a pour. Also Mott is always good.

 

Obviously, this isn't solely a BS problem, but would it kill them to have an updated bottle list? Drives me nuts that every brewery doesn't haven't an accurate display of what they have to take home. TBH, it deters me from going.

(Why, you ask? Because I'm not going to drive an hour to a brewery for a flight of beers or even a pour if I don't know I'm going to take something back home. I'm not buying another new growler ever again.)

 

Completely agree. It can't take more than 2 minutes to assemble a list of beers on tap, beers to go, and update the website. Every brewery should be doing this each morning before open. I won't even drive 10 minutes to a brewery if I don't know what's on tap and what my to-go options are.

I'll do you one more on the growler front. Not only will I never buy another new growler again, I won't even get one I already have filled again (no matter whether it's one I've purchased or one on deposit). I've decided there's enough good beer around that doesn't come in growlers that I can live without any of the options that are growler-only. If at some point, I've had every available packaged beer I'm interested in and all that's left are growler-only beers, perhaps I'll revisit my decision...

 

I love it. I use my growlers as vases for flowers in the summer time.

 

Just joined their bottle program because everything I've had from them is amazing, and i'm tired of hoping they have bottles available when i have a free day to drive up there. So glad i can now pre-order bottles at a discount and they'll hold them for me for a while.

 

I'm thinking about joining for 2018 as well. Any idea as to what they've offered for the 10 member bottles in the past?

 

I was wondering the same thing so I emailed the brewery. Here's what they said;

So far, members for 2017 have received Tequila BA Teotihuacan, Bourbon BA Deep Space, Rye BA Quaker Heavy, Single Malt BA Munro, Bourbon BA Big Munro, Bourbon BA Big Bang, Single Malt BA Honey Pot, and Bourbon BA Honey Pot.

 

Oh, also, the magnum for members is a blend, TBD. I assume it'll be similar idea as the Firestone Walker anniversary bottles - blended BA stuff to create a "strong ale".

 

Rye was the best BA Quaker State variant.

 

Glad I signed up!

 

Going to Portland this weekend and spending the first night here, not sure how often their website is updated but can anyone post their current bottle offering/taplist? Or is the website correct?

 

I've been a handful of times and the website is usually pretty accurate for what is available on tap. This is only based on my experience.

 

Your best bet for finding out bottle availability is probably to just call, or look on facebook and see if they're releasing anything when you go.

 

Missed the first night of cribbage last night. Dammit!!

 

Just wondering What size is the magnum

 

LMGTFY...

 

• A Standard wine bottle holds 0.75 litre (750ml) = the equivalent of 1 standard wine bottle
• A Magnum wine bottle holds 1.5 litres (1500ml) = the equivalent of 2 standard wine bottles
• A Jeroboam wine bottle holds 3 litres (3000ml) = the equivalent of 4 standard wine bottles
• A Rehoboam wine bottle holds 4.5 litres (4500ml) = the equivalent of 6 standard wine bottles
• A Methuselah wine bottle holds 6 litres (6000ml) = the equivalent of 8 standard wine bottles
• A Salmanazar wine bottle holds 9 litres (9000ml) = the equivalent of 12 standard wine bottles
• A Balthazar wine bottle holds 12 litres (12000ml) = the equivalent of 16 standard wine bottles
• A Nebuchadnezzar wine bottle holds 15 litres (15000ml) = the equivalent of 20 standard wine bottles

 

I totally had to google LMGTFY to figure out it meant to google it.

 

It's like Search Engine Inception up in here (I had to Google it too lol)

 

So about the Stay Puft release today...kinda crazy the limits were so high and they sold out in less than an hour. I would think once they saw the demand was much higher than expected that they wouldn't dropped the limits to spread the wealth around

 

Sold out in less than 45 minutes. Hopefully they lower the limits for next time.

 

Heard the BA stay puffy went in 8 minutes. That’s a joke at 6pp.

 

These guys are the ones we're been waiting for in New England when it comes to amazing well done BA/Imperial Stouts/Porters on a consistent basis.

Just had the collab they did with The Hangover Pub from Worcester and man was it delicious. Cinnamon Bacon Porter with a house made cured bacon on top. Fantastic stuff.

 

I stopped by at 11:45 yesterday. Walked right up to the bar and was told everything was gone. Wow! On the plus side they had ABCs in bottles. I grabbed two just because I drove an hour and didn't want to leave empty handed. ABCs is pretty fantastic. Brown ale with Bourbon apples and cinnamon, tasty stuff.

I still had some time to kill so I figured I'd drive over to Bissell Brothers. I haven't been to the new space yet. To my surprise Swish was on and I was there early enough to get it. What an amazing beer and a great space. The surrounding traffic chaos is a bit frustrating but worth the aggravation. Someone needs to train these guys in the yellow jackets how to direct traffic. I know they were out there to help but they just made it worse...

So a day that started out as a hunt for Stay Puft ended up with ABCs, Swish, and The Substance. Not what I was planning but worked out pretty well.

 

I have been hanging out on the peripheral watching these guys for a while. I’d like to visit, but I do not want stouts and porters with marshmallow, bacon, maple, everything barrel-aged and 11%.

That said, should I skip it? I’m willing to travel for beer I might like but not for sugary pastry stouts and booze-bombs. That doesn’t denote quality beer to me. Based on the last few posts, that seems to be what they’re making.

 

I'm not huge on most of that stuff either, but as an every once and a while type beer, they're doing top stuff. Deep Space is one of the best imperial stouts I've ever had, and I can't recommend the tequila barrel version enough.

 

Going to jump this thread to 2018

I've been seeing good coments and reviews on these guys for a while and decided to give them a try. I visited the taproom for the first time today on my way home from Thompsons Point.

Reminds me a lot of Grey Sail because the brewery is in an old colonial home. They probably have one of the most unique taprooms I've been to. Dark room with wine barrel rocking chairs, wine barrel bar stools and two shuffleboard tables.

The taplist was equally as impressive. I had Peanut Butter Stay Puft, Coffee Hazelnut Dark Matter, Vanilla Dark Matter, and Firefighters Like Donuts Too. All were incredible and make regret sleeping on these guys.

I will be back and I recommend you visit on your way back from Portland too

Cheers

 

I saw recently they joined Vacationland Distributors. Pumped I’ll be able to try more of their releases without having to drive up to Saco.

 

Anyone have inside info on a Deep Space release for this year? The tequila barrel one I had last year is one of the best beers I've ever had.

 

The dark matter Mexican donut was a standout at EBF. I didn’t realize it was aged in rum and tequila barrels. I’m not sure about Deep Space, but they are releasing Stay Puft again in March.

 

I finally opened up some of my stay puft bottles and yea they werent kidding about them foaming up. I only got a few ounces out of one of my PBSP (the rest was accidentally sprayed all over the kitchen) and the regular stay puft wasnt much better. So far the barrel aged one have kept up the best but they're definitely still foamy. In hindsight i probably shouldnt have gotten 3 of each style, but all their stuff is so good that i dont regret it.

 

I just picked mine up and will be opening some soon. Curious if you refrigerated them for a full 24hrs before opening? It usually helps with gushers, and I was surprised they didn’t say to do that in their follow up post (they just said serve cold).

@TheMattJones88 I don’t have info on a Deep Space release but they do release cellar bottles from time to time. I’ve acquired two Tequila DS in the past few months through these releases, including this past Thursday. They had 12 random vintage bottles for Super Bowl Sunday (1 of each type pp; 12 bottle max).

The Mexican Donut I had back in November convinced me to join their barrel society. Unbelievable beer and every bit as good as Huna and Mex Cake IMO. I wasn’t surprised they drew great reviews from EBF.

 

I refrigerated my bottles and they were still complete gushers. What I did salvage to drink tasted great though

 

Just had my Bourbon Stay Puft. What a great beer! No gushing issue whatsoever. Straight bourbon marshmallow-y goodness.

I'm really happy with the barrel membership so far. I've been a big fan of all of their releases since joining and the ability to have them hold bottles is priceless for an out-of-stater

 

The peanut butter one ended up becoming a beer fountain in my friends kitchen but the bourbon ones seem a lot better. I'm excited for version 2.0 coming out soon.
I agree that so far this bottle membership has been amazing. The combination of the pre-sale, the discount, the 11 included bottles, and the bottles being held for me is amazing. Even though i can pick up the bottles whenever i also seem to be going to Maine more often for pickups, which is a nice incidental benefit.