BCBS in Colorado: Why so quiet?

Almost totally disagree. 1 - The distro shouldn't even have those bottles. 2- BUD should have better oversight of their distros (even their own) 3- Goose as it was, is really no longer. 4 - Yes, boycott the distro. 5- boycott the brewery IF it is also connected to the distro (in this case, it is). 6 - No way can stores check every case/bottle for dates. Perhaps small stores can, but not many small stores get BCBS anyway.

 

Weird, but not unexpected

 

Cuz that costs money. Money > reputation > quality

 

I'm not sure about that. It was well-known immediately upon release.. it took months for them to confirm the issue.

Last year I got regular, barleywine, coffee. And both the coffee/barleywine were brewed on different dates; yet both were gross/infected.

This year's coffee was top notch... stellar even. All around they also seemed to cut down on the ABV slightly.

 

OP hinted at it, but we really are swimming in barrel aged stouts in Colorado right now. Between what's on shelves and other Black Friday events, the uniqueness of Bourbon County was really diminished. Some bigger stores that got half the allotment of last year didn't even sell out on Friday.

With very little effort right now, you could probably still grab any of:

BA Ten Fidy
BA Yeti
Crystal Springs Black Saddle
Big Bad Baptist & recent variants (although we're toward the end of the window on variants)
Tweak
Perrin's No Rules

I'm sure there are other gems I'm forgetting, too.

 

Everything. Carlos Brito is legendary for cost cutting

 

In Philly for the Thanksgiving break through tomorrow, and couldn't be swimming in any more Bourbon County...it's eh (but everywhere). I think I'm just numb to it...I even saved 2015 bottles here at my fiancee's folks' house, and did side by side drinking! Still meh. I'd rather have BA Ten Fidy every day of the week. I think the Bourbon County hype train is (finally) nearing its end.

 

I don't recall anyone talking about last years regular bcbs being infected until this year.

 

a recall would mean pulling it off the shelf. Did they do that last year?

 

I guess several shops around CS were selling infected 2015 BCBS... even one place implying that it was 2016 version. Either they made mistake or are deliberately misleading customers. Ugh.

 

Even after the refunds were announced (and given), I've still seen 2015 bottles on the shelves on plenty of occasions. If those were recalled, it was the worst recall ever.
With Brito at the helm I'm actually shocked they acknowledged any issues in the first place.

Personally, I'll never know if BCBS has gotten worse or if it's just a victim of no longer being unique. I remember being pretty amazed by those late 00's bottles. Outside of the B&B experiments (and old school BA beers like Rocky's Revenge) it was one of a kind a pretty amazing. Unfortunately there's no way to know. If anyone still has any, it's not like they taste anything like they once did anyway.

 

As far as it being unique anymore, @Domingo .... I agree- this beer has certainly lost its beanie baby status. There's just so much else out there now.

 

I think I'll always be curious about how good it actually was way back when. Even after the style caught on a bit more, I thought it was still probably the best example until maybe 4-5 years ago.
These days, I don't really care all that much. For every BA Stout that really gets my attention (Sweetwater's would be the last), there are a half dozen that taste the same.
In recent years I'd rather have their barleywine, vanilla rye, regal rye, and such. I don't really get the coffee love that much, but I think that's just not my blend to begin with. I don't care for KBS that much either.

 

KBS lives on hype. I didn't even have to 'work' for the KBS that I got and was still unimpressed... its thin, yet quite flavorful, but has literally nothing on BBB. I guess people can walk into a store and get BBB any time, so why would there be any chance of it tasting good?

 

While I think BBB is fantastic, I don't think it always has been. I think the versions from Utah were using a very harsh coffee blend that overwhelmed everything else. Their move to Denver helped that one tremendously. The normal version (and the new spin-offs) are wonderful now. KBS is okay. It's never been my thing. I ended up with some early versions as a trade extra like 10 years ago when nobody cared. Then it blew up and it became .RAR for a little while. Now it's back to being super common again. My opinion hasn't really changed.
Opinions on BCBS seem mixed this year. Some people love it, others think it's "meh." My bottles last year weren't infected, but they weren't particularly amazing. I'd definitely rather have BATF, Diebolt Commodore, BA Quit Stalin, and the Dry Dock BA beers locally.

 

I love KBS. I love BBB.

My experience with the two is I prefer KBS as a Barrel Aged Coffee Stout. I prefer BBB as a Coffee Stout....I know its barrel aged but more times than not I have felt the barrel presence was minimal at best. Of the two, if I had to chose one over the other, I would go BBB. I love a great coffee stout more than a great BBA Coffee stout I guess.

...and I loved the aggressiveness of the coffee from the initial Utah batches of BBB, personally. It's what got me into the beer. Grabbed a bottle of Double Barrel Baptist this weekend which I cannot wait to try. I have had to hold myself back every night since returning from Denver this weekend from opening it.

And as for BCBS...I think it is an absolutely fantastic beer. That said, I had an opportunity to buy some bottles of it this weekend and ended up not because there was just so many other beers available that I wanted instead, and could only afford so much. The chance to buy somethings that were new(er) to me over a past favorite won over. No regrets.

 

I'd buy some, if the shit showed up over here.

Cheers!

 

I immediately thought 2015 BCBS was less in every way to previous years. As soon as I opened the bottle that first weekend I thought it smelled weaker. Looked the same, poured the same, but that first sip was not the same. I thought the body was thinner and the bourbon was less pronounced. I still liked it, but it wasn't up to every other year I've had. I've been buying it off the shelf since 2010 and '15 was by far the least impressive.
I got an '08 in a trade and drank it with 4 years and 11 months on it, and it was amazing. '15 is good, but far from amazing.
Haven't opened '16 yet.
They move to a new, larger facility and increase volume and it suddenly takes a dive. Coincidence? I think not.
I got 3 bottles of the regular this year and 1 coffee. I'd love more coffee, but I think I'm content with the 3 regular.

 

If you didn't like 2015 you probably got one of the batches later discovered to be infected. My 2015 bottles have been outstanding.

 

While I've certainly had some of the infected ones, all of the 2015 bottles I bought up in Massachusetts have been infection free. They aren't mind blowing or among my top BA stouts, but they aren't infected.