BCBS once again coming to CA!

I'm about to riot in the streets

 

Berkeley Bowl? They have a few Eclipses around.

 

really? damn. it's disappointing that so many of our breweries will send out-of-state but we almost never get any highlights from other states.

 

damn shame if no BCS bottles make it to SoCal. i had an '11 bottle last night that was kindly extraed in a prior trade and i was truly floored (reminded) at how damn good that beer is - the true benchmark IMHO of bad ass bourbon barrel aged imperial stouts.

 

AB area manager at Ace told me the same thing a week ago, though I might go stalk their loading dock just in case.

 

Makes me want to fly out to Chicago with that article that as in the times and ask goose island wtf?!

 

Been e-mail back and forth with a rep from Goose Island and he stated that BCBS will be available the week of November 27th (this week) but will only available in kegs and only at special events and festivals. Bummer. :/

 

Which distro location is this for? Curious as to why no bottles

 

at this point it's still not clear to me, i'll wait for something firsthand i trust on it. but assuming the speculation is true, (kegs only), i'm curious what others make of it.

as soon as BCBS began showing up in other markets i got a few: "How Ya' Like Me Now" photos & messages in my in-box. lol. which, that leads back to some threads where i questioned whether GI's securing a larger warehouse would ease their BCBS distribution woes, when on a different horizon, their main barrel supplier (Heaven Hill) appeared to be having its own supply issues.

what i'm curious is if others suspect maybe the later dated releases like CA were originally forecast based on anticipated bottle runs that perhaps never materialized, reminiscent of the failed "Wheated" BCBS attempt?

 

i thought the wheat whiskey variant was scrapped because it was doing poorly in barrels, not because they couldn't source barrels.

if you're saying that the current bourbon shortage is affecting bcbs, that is a guess i can support (and have been wondering about, myself). some distilleries have picked up on secondhand demand and have started charging premiums for their barrels or refusing to sell them, knowing that breweries will capitalize on their brand.

but last i recall, bcbs spends 8 months in barrels, so you would think they would have known about supply issues by the time they boasted about wider distribution.

 

This is mostly accurate. The dudes at the Goose Island Black Friday event told us that they actually still have it in the barrels, and that it will likely be used "in something, at some point", whatever that means. I'm hoping for a Firestone Anniversary type blend, but that's purely conjecture on my part.

 

Southern California. Straub Distributing Co. in Anaheim.

 

A very small amount of the Wheat BCBS was used in this year's regular BCBS (3% of the blend) according to someone who was at the first Black Friday session. Wheat BCBS is still way too hot. I also heard that the barrels were Rebel Yell barrels... enjoy that Rebel Yell Eclipse!

 

Hmm, I was at the 10 a.m. session and don't recall hearing any of that. I just remember the guys from Goose saying it was "not how they wanted it" or something to that effect, whatever that means.

 

yes. but my argument was poorer barrels probably yield poorer BCBS. and with regards to the current topic, is it possible there was supposed to a later bottling date for locations like CA but the anticipated later is "doing poorly in barrels" - thus only kegs headed our way?

a couple of things. quiet as it was kept, Heaven Hill discontinued Elijah Craig 18 early this year - they claim it will come back "in a few years" but the scientific definition thus far is it was discontinued indefinitely. i'll put you up on a secret, it wasn't discontinued because they have tons of delicious tasting 16.5 year old barrels in their pipeline no matter what anybody else tries to tell you. Stevie Wonder could see that.

the biggest clues about what might have been expected were the pallets of 1990 distillate Elijah Craig 18 that went on Costco floors across the country. that was a sell off, IMHO. a tell tale sign was the prior release of EC18 was 1992 distillate. the fact that HH reverted to 1990 distillate to sell AFTER the 1992 distillate was probably a discernible omen especially when you factor in the (after the fact) compared complaints of the latter release tasting of severe lumber & an over-all poorer reception in general. like that wheated ale, the 1990 distillate was most likely skipped over because- wait for it: "it was doing poorly in barrels".

 

i'm not sure i understand your second paragraph. you say that the 1990 distillate was initially skipped over when it was first supposed to be released (presumably 2008 / 2009) because it was considered subpar. so they released the 1992 distillate in 2010 / 2011, then shortly after, reverted to 1990 distillate?

and you are saying that the timeline of this indicates that they probably feel a number of their older barrels are compromised? because they just came out with an elijah craig 20 that was sold at the distillery; it also made it to some stores around the country. i'd imagine that is also 1990 distillate. they must feel confident about the product.

i noticed that the ec 18 brand vanished and was wondering about it - if what you are saying is true, that's disappointing.

 

right. the 20 year old was culled 1990 - i.e. the better tasting barrels were packaged as a 20 year old special release. the not as good 1990 barrels, though also 20 years old, were bottled and sold as regular ole Elijah 18 on the Costco show floor for $40ish. if they were as confident about the product as it seems you imagine they'd have tried their luck at selling it all under the 20 year, higher priced presentation -no?

i assure you, this isn't an ((IF)), on Oct. 6 i asked both Parker & Craig straight up what's with the 18 being discontinued & the only difference in response was the size of the shrug i got from each.

another thing that should be clarified is this isn't limited to GI & Heaven Hill. as you pointed out other distillers are in the same mix. the American whiskey industry is passing out of an old phase & into a new.

a lot of folks don't realize there was a huge production glut that bulged to a crest in the mid-late 80s. as you would expect, a sizable correction occurred - a huge production GAP. much of that gap has been ridden out on the glut. that theater is pretty much closed now. as the curtain is closing the barrels that once housed all that accidental spirit are a disappearing with it. the unanswered question is will the upcoming distillate & barrels be able to match what some have already termed "The Golden Age of American Whiskey".

case & point, reference the mention of Rebel Yell above. Rebel Yell, Cabin Still etc. use to be Stitzel Weller whiskey aka Pappy Van Winkle production. they were basically rejected Old Rip & Old Weller, but good stuff. today the only thing you might find lower on a shelf is a termite.

 

I hope this will be coming in some capacity. I got to try some 2012 yesterday at a bottleshare and it's drinking mighty fine.