A couple new bottle releases coming out of Hamsterville. First is Wander's first bottle release, Global Mutt Baltic Porter. 22s, released at the brewery today (12/7/14) at Noon. Not sure of price, and I'd expect it to be local stores, and perhaps, maybe get South. Also now available is Kulshan's RIS, aged 10 months in Westland Single Malt Oak barrels. Corked and Caged 750s, nice labels. $25 at the brewery. Also available at some local stores, and, per FB, some will making down to Seatthole.
Sounds like a trip up to BLI is in order. I haven't been by the brewery yet. Any other brewery suggestions for my visit?
All of 'em! Chuckanut is doing their usual great job with their Lagers (and bottling the Pils and Kolsch regularly), Boundary Bay is doing some stuff that's out of their usual comfort zone, Aslan is improving ( I had a couple pints of their new IPA, Batch 15, a couple days ago), Kulshan is running along nicely, although they are bit behind the 8Ball (mostly due to to demand) and will have their new facility open sometime in the spring, Wander is putting out a nice assortment of well made beers, North Fork is doing some sours and barrel-aging, in addition to their great regular line-up, and Menace Brewing has a bar in town now (The Local) where you can get their beer, as well as beer from other local/regional breweries. And they're adding taps soon as well. A couple of Nanos should open in the spring as well, Stone's Throw in Fair Haven, and Gruff downtown, right at the end of the alley from Boundary Bay. Add in our bar scene (The Local, Copper Hog, Green Frog, 3B, Archer Ale House) and you could have a nicely beery weekend in the 'Ham. Let me know if you head up, be happy to show you around.
It's why I haven't pulled the trigger yet, but it's not that far off the mark, IMHO. I don't know how long Fremont lets KDS or BBomb sit in the barrels, for example, so I expect there's some time/cost ratio involved. I'm going to the brewery tomorrow night, if they have it on tap, I'll try it first. BTW, I'm at Wander now, and the Global Mutt bottles are 750s, $8.50 +tax.
Do you have some sort of time/cost equation worked out? For example, if you were to release the 6 month and 2year as individual beers, would the 2 year have a significantly higher price, just due to the time and energy spent on it?
I'm sure they have their reasons, but that price point is just too high for me. That's Ale Apothecary and Abraxas level pricing for a relatively small/new brewery.
Their base RIS is great - sounds like this is aged in a single malt scotch barrel. I'm intrigued - but I would like someone to taste it first
Well, they going on 3 years old, so I wouldn't say they're new at all. The base beer is very good, so it's not going to be a trainwreck. They tapped some last night, I'm gonna try to get some today. But honestly, it's probably not gonna be a dollar an ounce buy for me. Maybe one to lay down.
I agree with Lou, it's a wonderful RIS . In fact, I dig almost everything I've tried at Kulshan. They're a great brewery. But there's pretty much no way I'd spend that much. There's very few beers I'd pay that much for and none are stouts.
So, after bottling, they basically had one 1/6bbl to pour. I got the last 3 pours. It's a very nice beer, the booze compliments the beer nicely (which, IMHO, a lot of bals don't), it drank easily and smoothly, and the alcohol was not noticeable. A nicely done brew. That said, for me, no way is it a dollar/ounce beer. The 12oz pours for $8 were reasonable enough, tho $7 would have been nicer, I can't see buying one for myself. Now, might I buy one for a gift? Perhaps. It is the gift-giving season after all.
$8 is pushing it for what I'm willing to pay for something on tap (Grandpa Simpson voice ... "In my day beer cost ..."). But I'd definitely pay it in this case, with your endorsement. Hell, I'd probably pay it anyway because Kulshan makes awesome stuff. And in a way, $8 is a bargain compared to some place like Chuck's who would likely demand $15 for something like that. Hell, they're asking for $10 for a glass of Dark Star (and for The Sister too!).
Yeah, I wasn't offended by the price at all. In fact, when Leesa rang up my tab, she was surprised to see the total. She hadn't looked at the price, and was surprised that they were selling an $8 brew. I told her that the price was fair. If it had been on tap at one of the local bars, I suspect it would have been in the $8-10 range.
A gift, you say? That would work perfect for me! I won't be in bellingham until late december, but I'd buy it, because I dig kulshan that hard
I suspect they'll still be available, but if you want one, I can grab it for you. Let me know when you head up, we'll grab a cup of tea.
I saw the Kulshan - Shuksan Barrel Aged RIS at Bottleworks on the glass counter at noon'ish today. I passed on it after I looked the beer up on this site and saw no reviews/ratings for it, but I'm sure you BA fiends will indulge.
