Beers you miss

Okocim Porter.

My preference is for big, malty, syrupy beers. If I had to pick just one, I'd probably say Baltic porter is my favorite beer style, and for my money, Okocim Porter was just about the perfect beer. Carlsberg acquired full control of Okocim in 2004 and for a while at least they just cut the porter. I see that on their web site they now list an Okocim-branded porter, but I have not seen it in a store in the States. (Not yet, at least.) And it may or may not be the same beer as the old Okocim Porter. The last time I found any of the original porter in a store was probably six or seven years ago.

I live in Chicago where we are lucky to have a lot of beers from northeastern Europe (Poland, the Baltics, Russia) available. So I probably have access to more Baltic porters than most other places in America, which is nice. There are other good Baltic porters---indeed, Carlsberg has others in their portfolio which I have seen here, and many of which are pretty good (Aldaris from Latvia; Utenos from Lithuania, Saku from Estonia, Sinebrychoff from Finland), but they don't taste like the Okocim did. The old Okocim was something special.

A couple other beers that I loved may not be strictly speaking gone, but they've changed. McEwan's Scotch Ale was another (wee) heavy favorite, but the brand has changed hands several times over the last decade or so. It's no longer brewed by the original company or in the original brewery, and last time I had one it just didn't taste the same. Ditto Mackeson Triple Stout. When it was sold here as an import I really liked it, but then they started contract brewing it in the States and, again, it just didn't have the old magic.

 

I'm going to ditto a lot of people on this thread and say Stone Green Tea IPA, Ruination original recipe, RuinTen, and Founders Imperial Stout. They were some of the first beers me and my wife ever shared together and they will always have a special place in my heart.

 

Double Bastard. God I love that stuff, all the malt and molasses you could ever want in a beer. But Stone being Stone, they've seemingly ceased production on it and every other great beer that wasn't a trendy IPA.

 

Having the hardest time finding Mackeson

 

All of Enlightenment Ales. Although Other Wonders is popping up on the other side of the country...

 

Stone White Geist was my favorite sour beer. I Do really like the Notorious P.O.G. tho.

 

New Belgium Lips of Faith Dunkel Weiss.

 

You ever have Barmen's Pilsner? It was a beer brewed by Coors that was only available in a few bars in Golden, Co. One of the best beers i've had. I wish they went mainstream with it.

 

forgot about this one. What happened to it?

 

Founders Nemesis
Founders Cerise (back to annual release please!)
Founders Reds Rye IPA
Upland Vinyl Tap (best rye pale ale EVAR)
Flat 12 Glazed Ham Porter
Stone Mocha IPA (weird but good)

 

MillerCoors still lists both beers on their various websites, in the case of Herman Joseph, it's listed as part of the subsidiary "AC Golden Brewing Company...." yet only being brewed at the "... Sandlot Brewery at Coors Field in Denver," while Barmen is still pretty limited:
"Barmen is offered in only a few bars and restaurants in and around Golden, Colorado."

https://www.hermanjosephs.com
https://www.millercoors.com/beers/great-beers/barmen

 

Some long-gone or no-longer readily available beers that bring back good memories:

• Original Michelob
• Walters "The Beer That Is Beer"
• Sheaf Stout
• Slavutych Premium
• Schultheiss Berliner Weiss
• Celis White

sigh...

 

Lindemans Cuvée Rene. Hasn’t been on shelves in my neck of the woods in years. Anyone in upstate NY know what’s up with that?

 

It's definitely around. Maybe your local distributor stopped carrying it?

 

I miss Firestone Walker DDBA. I may need to trade for some 2012 if there's any left in the wild.

 

When I was at the FW Invitational this year, I picked up three bottles of DDBA from 2014 or 2016...don't remember the exact year...

 

Double Bastard. Double Bastard and Victory at Sea were the first two beers that got me started in craft beer (at least this phase).

FW DDBA
Most of the old Stone Lineup
SN Ruthless Rye

Why? Why? Why Stone?

 

2014 was the last year it was made. 2012, 2013 and 2014.

 

LOL. Then I guess it was 2014...