Bay Area Supermarket & Bottleshop Thread (November 2016)

Thanks! I'll have to get over there asap.

 

Bevmo in Danville has tons of Firestone Walker XX out on shelves,
No apparent limit. Usually FW boxes are behind the counter or you need to ask manager for them and it's 1 per. $23.99. Also velvet merkin, though not sure if these have been tough to find in Easy Bay so far this year just thought is post.

 

Not sure if Alvarado raised prices, but the Tayberry 4pk was $21. Haole is $18.

 

I believe a place in the south bay is charging 8 fucking bucks for a can of tayberry. It is pretty good though.

 

Lowest I've seen for a 4 pack is 20 for either tayberry or haze. That's in Santa Cruz

 

$19.99 each at Caps & Taps in Dublin. There was still some left as of yesterday evening.

 

Anyone know if Bottle Barn in Santa Rosa will have BCBS on Friday? If not, what's my best bet for scoring a bottle in that area?

 

I would say Whole Foods.

Peninsula got regular BCBS this week. 2 cases delivered to Palo Alto Fine Wine & Spirits. $10.99 per I think it was. Probably at other places too.

 

Costco in Colma had FW anni for $18

 

Bottle Barn will have regular only.
Last year was 1pp.

 

Do you know of anywhere that'd have more than regular (i.e., coffee?). Was thinking Beer Craft. Which Whole Foods would be the best bet? The Coddingtown one seems pretty big.

 

Generally, its allocated based on sales of regular GI products which means places like Beercraft aren't likely to get any of it. That being said, the brothers Fenn have a way about them so maybe some will pop up there.

Whole Foods Coddingtown has been hurting since Tyler left. They may get some, but I wouldn't put all my eggs in that basket.

For regular bcbs the only sure things are going to be Bottle Barn and BevMo on Santa Rosa Ave. Grcocery stores will probaby end up with a case or so as well. All these places will probably be limit 1 pp. I don't think any variants ended up anywhere in Sonoma or Marin County in '15... or at least that's what I was hearing from stores leading up to Friday. I knuckled up and headed into the city at an ungodly hour so that I could get my soon to be infected but at least fully refunded coffee and barleywine bottles.

 

As every year with BCBS, just stay cool. The area will be flooded over the next few weeks. Last year most Safeways had cases sitting on the floor. Most wF will get the varients and NOT rip you off. Might take time for WF to out the variants but they'll be there.

You'll see, when you go pick up butter at Safeway in February, and there are still cases sitting there, and you shake your head for chasing it at 5am months prior.

 

^This is true of regular for sure. Was sitting on shelves for half a year. Bottlebarn was trickling them out as recent as a month ago. I haven't seen variants after black friday for a few years but I do hear tales from time to time. I was feeling the burn from 2015 and going to sit out this year, but a friend popped a '16 with me on Sunday and it was really good. I won't be heading out in the wee hours this year but i'll get whats around for getting.

 

Can confirm that Haze Of Our Lives at both City Beer and Caps and Taps were sold out as of last night. City Beer still had some Tayberry in 4-packs and single cans if anyone is still looking.

 

There were a ton of Haze of Our Lives and Tayberry cans at Beer Revolution last night. The Haze cans were $20 +tax. I didn't check the price on the Tayberry cans.

 

Did anyone hit up City Beer Store for BCBS? I'm wondering if there's any chance any variants will still be in stock tomorrow.

 

Highly doubt it. From what i hear they sold out of the variants in the morning last year on black friday

 

I figured as much. Bummer. Multiple thanksgivings make black Friday shopping rough!

 

I hit up City Beer Store for the release, and by the time I left all variants were sold out. The release was pretty tame this year not as huge a turnout as in past years.

You were allowed to buy 8 regular, 1 coffee, 1 regal, 1 rare, 3 bw at city beer store.

They had Proprietor's on tap, as well as Coffee on tap. In talking with the GI rep while I was there, he said coffee would be probably the hardest to find for us locally, with only 30 cases hitting the SF area.

 

Tons of variants at Harry's in RWC, today. Didn't buy any. No idea on price.

 

Talked to a buddy who is there currently and he said they were already sold out of to go variants.....but they had most everything still on tap. Rare was $20 for a 4 oz pour from the bottle.

 

Prop 16 on tap was awful. So bad.

 

Harry's, in redwood city. Pours of Rare were also avail. $20 4 oz. I passed. But not a bad price I suppose, if you need to get your tick on. Skip the Prop, get the bad conduct from fieldwork. Impressive beer!

 

I'm going to be in San Francisco, Vallejo briefly, and then Palo Alto for two days this coming weekend. I would like to pick up a few brews that I can't snag back in the Midwest. Any recommendations for places to hit or specific beers to check out? I'm mainly into APA/IPA/DIPAs or stouts, but definitely willing to venture outside those categories. Cheers!

 

Palo Alto has. Whole foods with an ok selection. You can take Cal Train from Palo Alto to the city and elk to Cellarmaker for you pales n ipas.

 

Jane's Beer Store is a quick Caltrain trip south in Mountain View. https://www.janesbeerstore.com/

 

For such a short trip, I would suggest the following...

SF:
City Beer Store (bottles and taps)
Cellarmaker

Palo Alto:
KL wines in redwood city (close to palo alto)

Vallejo: (these will be in Berkeley, but on the way from/to Vallejo)
Fieldwork
Rare Barrel

 

Thanks guys appreciate the suggestions!

 

I've heard BCBS hangs around CA a little longer in some areas. Any merit to those rumors (for regular or variants)? Just wondering cause I'd love to snag a bottle in addition to local stuff since MN caught the short end of the stick this year and I struck out.

 

There should be plenty of regular floating around. On the other hand, variants will not be easy to find

 

Check out Willows Market in Menlo Park just north of Palo Alto. Pretty good bottle selection and might still have BCBS - it lasted at Willows for weeks last year.

 

Plenty of regular bcbs to be had at Whole Foods (California and Franklin) and Bevmo (Geary). Also bcbbw at Geary Bevmo (and a ton of FW20!!!)

 

Looks like all the bevmos got flooded with FWXX. Jack London had cases sitting around on the floor