Bells Oracle?

yea they got 2 kegs of it at Sams Quik Shop in Durham, NC last year. Both were freaking fantastic.

 

Spoke to my rep again today. Either its not being bottled or the bottles are not coming to Indiana according to him.

 

My Latino friend in the cellarroom said draft only... I can only trust him so much tho

 

I believe that I recently read that Bell's is classed as a 'brewery' here in Michigan (as opposed to a micro), and the regulations do not permit growlers for that classification.

 

I heard they don't sell growlers because "kazoobrew fuckin said so" ....long live the mayor!

 

I was at the General Store today and overheard an employee tell another customer that exact same thing.

I'll be buying a case and would love to trade out the remaining three six-packs to someone. This dude is craving some Heady.

 

I had a bottle 2 years ago. If someone can confirm Latino friend's assertion, I'd appreciate it.

 

Would sure be a bummer to not have this in bottles. One of my favorite seasonals. I am super excited to see Two-hearted in the mini-kegs again.

 

I bought Oracle off the shelf in Georgia in both 2010 and 2011. I'll be most disappointed if it isn't available here this year.

 

It was definitely in Indiana two years ago. Pretty limited as well.

 

Confirmed from Bell's that it will be bottled and will be released starting next week. Cheers!!

 

Yea, I never saw it on shelves in Ohio 2 years ago, but I definitely got some from behind the counter at a local beer store. It was definitely around. I remember they had a 2 bottle limit so it must have been fairly limited.

 

Hopslam vs Oracle. How similar or dis-similar are they? (I'm making this statement more to generate discussion than looking for a answer).

IMO, Honey smooths out Hopslam, while Oracle is slightly more bitter. Both use Paciific Coast hops, but obviously not the same varities and/or mix. I like the in-your-face profile of Oracle, but the flavors and smoothness of Hopslam give it a slight edge in choosing my fav of the two.

 

In a nutshell, I always looked at The Oracle as a "West Coast" interpretation of they style. While I view Hopslam as a "midwest" interpretation. Hopslam has a much heavier malt bill and seems to have more balance between malt and hops, plus the addition of honey. It's all subjective, but Hopslam is just pure magic..

 

Larry Bell describes The Oracle as more of a one dimensional west coast DIPA. It is drier and has a much more pronounced bitterness. I prefer Oracle but that is not an indictment against Hopslam.

FWIW I believe the idea that honey smooths out Hopslam is overstated. The honey actually dries out the beer more and increases the alcohol, not what most people think of when they think about smoothing out a beer. Hopslam is tremendously balanced and the IBUs are fairly low for a DIPA. I believe it is the balances of the beer and the emphasis on the finishing hops instead of the bittering is what smooths the beer out.

 

Fresh for fresh, I'm with you. Oracle is the better beer fresh. However, it falls off FAR faster than Hopslam. I bought 3 bottles of the last batch in Ohio. First bottle I drank day of, which was a week old from bottle date. It was AMAZING. I drank another 2 weeks later with a friend. It was good, but was already noticeably different. At 6 weeks, it was almost a hoppy barleywine.

 

Which is probably the reason Hopslam is so highly acclaimed. The first time I had it I was shocked at how not bitter it was like I was expecting for a double.

I'm with you I prefer the more West Coast super bitter DIPAs though.

 

Thanks for the learning (or re-learning) moment on honey's contribution to brew process.

 

Drinking an Oracle on draft right now. Pretty damn good.

 

Are you sure? My distributor said kegs only. Quarter bbl is what he said specifically.