Beer shop finds.

Thats exactly what Im hoping for. TW has great prices and as long as Wegmans can keep a decent portfolio there will be nice options for the consumer

 

Stonehorse IPA by devil's purse has hit distro .4/15$ solid beer but won't pick it up often at price

 

Peche Mortel for a penny above cost at Upper Falls Discount.

 

Agree - picked it up over the weekend & was impressed. Certainly better than their forgettable Green Blaze IPA.

 

How's it compare to Sam Adam's New England IPA?

 

picked up a few things. Tried the Night Shift Nite Lite... meh. It's fine, but I honestly prefer miller high life. In terms of craft beers near similar price points, I like House Lager a lot more.

Also spent $13 on a galaxy psuedo sue.... prefer regular psuedo a lot and it isn't even close when factoring in the price. There's a bit of a fusel thing going on in this one.

 

For those wondering I stopped at Wegmans Natick yesterday and found the selection and prices to be similar, if not the same, as Wegmans Chestnut Hill. Im a fan

 

Was in there recently and also meant to post something here. Beer section is fairly large and priced competitively. Seemed like a heavy focus on domestic. Compared to Total Wine across the street, Wegman's had more cold beer but probably fewer imports than Total Wine (and TW doesn't really excel at imports). Some pricing I remember off the top of my head at Wegmans Natick:

Sam Adams NEIPA for 8.49
All MBC was $6.50, including Lunch.
Jack's Abby 12 packs $13.49
Jack's House Lager $9.49 (cheaper at TW)

I felt most pricing was similar to TW... just slightly + or -. The thing that gets me is that these 2 stores are missing a key competitive advantage against each other in that neither allow you to buy singles of anything you want. You're relegated to a mix-six section of pre selected beer. For mix 6ers there's more to choose from at TW, but it's all warm. At Wegmens, there's less to choose from but it's all cold.

 

I don't think singles would be doable at Wegman's. I'm picturing a busy Saturday with an underage cashier, having to call over a manager, then swipe all of the beers then go back in and change them from 4/6 packs to singles.....I'd hate to be in that line. One person wouldn't be bad but all of those little things add up time.

FWIW, I absolutely love Wegmans (haven't been to the new Natick one but am at the Northborough Wegmans probably twice a week) and the beer budget that I don't spend at breweries or Julio's is spent there.

 

It's a grocery store - people buy carts full of individual items that take time to ring up. A handful of beer bottles is nothin'

 

on yesterday's run also grabbed a 4pck of Brewmaster Jack's The Little Brother DIPA. I remember loving this a couple years ago but didn't remember much about it. Also I've had an up and down experience with BJ in general.

Gotta say this is killer. As good as a NEDIPA as any of the big boys are putting out. Really strong simcoe element to it so it does finish a bit bitter, which I like.

 

Ahem.

 

Glad to hear about the Brewmaster Jack. I've had similar mixed experiences so am often hesitant to plop down the cash even though some of their stuff has been great.

Lots of interesting stuff at CBC Belmont today:

Lagunitas Born Again Yesterday
New Pilsner from Ipswich
New IPA from mayflower
New DIPA from Berkshire
Jack's Abby's new Kellerbier (which is only in 4 packs unfortunately)

 

Ayinger Bavarian Pils 4 packs too.

 

I feel like this is how most New England IPAs are described as on the New England forums. This isn’t a comment on your post specifically, and is probably how I’d describe many as well.

But I feel as if most New England IPAs that are new to the shelf are all described as, “Just as good as Treehouse/Trillium, super juicy but still has a nice bitter finish.”

If I saw that I’d hold the bottle up to some light and flip it over a few times and see if the beer is still clear. It’s a quick way to tell if an imported Helles/Pils is super old. Even then I’d probably grab a single of this one without a date to try it first.

What is this amateur hour? Date your bottles Ayinger...

 

What’s super old in your book? Most of the imported German Lagers are insanely shelf stable. They go through great lengths at every step to make them as stable as possible. You might get some hop fade over a long time but other than that I haven’t had any that really showed any signs of oxidation and even if it did the oxidation just brings out the honey like aroma that’s interesting.

 

BBB Reserve and Sucaba/Parabola at Julios. All priced pretty appropriately, 19.50 and then 10.99. Reserve is very smooth, and the coconut from TBBB is definitely thinned out from the blending. Worth the purchase if you're a fan of the series.

 

I personally don't buy imports past a few months old. I think they can taste fine at 6 months or so, maybe even longer. But I've had beers fresh in Germany that simply have flavors and character you don't get in imports with a few months+ age on them.

Do they taste fine when old? Sure. But there's a marked difference between fresh (no real defintion for "fresh" here) and older products.

That honey-like aroma could definitely be a sign of age, and likely isn't preferable, but hey, if you like it then that's all that matters. I also feel that I've confused the graham cracker-like sweetness I get from Pils malt with a honey-like quality due to age.