Biggest discrepancy between regular lineup and seasonals/specialties

Lost Abbey

 

Boston Beer Company/Samuel Adams. Boston Lager? Meh. Stony Brook Red? More, please!

 

I gotta say GI.

 

New Belgium. See: Fat Tire vs La Folie.

Alternately, any other brewer (like Russian River or Lost Abbey) who brews fairly typical beers all the time, and amazing sours once in a while.

 

I agree with you here. Although CW has some awesome regular offerings. Satin Solstice and Mudpuppy are awesome beers.

 

Surly... hear me out. Furious is great of course, but Wet, Abrasive, Darkness, etc. blow Cynic, Bender, etc. out of the water!

 

Seconding Goose Island. Their normal beers are just a few steps above macros (I'm not saying that because they're now owned by InBev), but BCBS and variants, Night Stalker, Big John, Belgians and Sisters, and even Christmas Ale are all fantastic beers, not to mention King Henry.

 

But BCS is a regular lineup beer.......

 

I had read that this was discredited? Great news if it is going to be year-round! I stand by my statement, barring BCBS.

 

Central Waters, hands down, every time I think about this question.

 

That's like saying Surly Darkness and FFF Dark Lord are regular line-up beers.

 

Well, it is not. BCS is...

 

See discussion here for more opinions:

http://beeradvocate.com/community/threads/a-brewerys-standard-lineup-vs-their-special-lineup.50901/

 

Their Belgians (Matilda, Sofie, Pere, Pepe) are part of their every day line up, and I think they are great (not Pepe)...
I'd have to say Lienies...Big Eddy Russian Imperial Stout and the DIPA were very good...Wee Heavy was okay, and the Baltic Porter was pretty tasty.

 

I think we have differing opinions on what the OP meant. BCBS is apparently year round now, or may be. However, it is not part of their "Urban" or "Classic" lineup. So, it's a special lineup, but could possibly be year round. Darkness and Dark Lord are brewery only one day a year releases.

 

I agree Central Waters as well. Stout and Porter are pretty good, but the pale ale, IPA, Red, Hefe, etc are all totally forgetable. I cant recall the last time I saw ANY of their regulars on the shelf, all places I frequent only carry the 4pk stuff.

 

Williamsburg Alewerks... Regular stuff sucks, but Cafe Royale, Bitter Valentine, and BB Porter are incredible

 

New Belgium and Alaskan get my vote. NB has some decent stuff (ie...Fat Tire, Ranger, Abbey) but nothing I ever seriously consider picking up. Their Lips of Faith series though is a completely different story...many horde worthy offerings. Alaskan's year round stuff is just a notch above BMC for me...I can tolerate the Winter if need be but their Smoked Porter and BW are both well above average.

 

Captain Lawrence

 

Alpine: special stuff includes BA Token, Exponential Hoppiness
Normal stuff: Nelson, Duet, Pure Hoppiness

Wait, I actually like their normal stuff better!

 

how has no one said southern tier yet? regulars are yucky (save for 2xIPA and 2xstout) but the others (blackwater series, pumking) are much much better

 

drakes brewery there regular lineup is just ok
but they make some crazy barrel aged beers on tap at the brewery and there aroma coma is once a year IPA is fantastic

 

Show me where to get GI BCBS all year round and I'd be a happy man!

 

Really? Can you buy a hundred of those bottles in a foreign market weeks after release? Because you could with BCBS.

 

This isn't about bottle counts, it's about everyday brews vs. seasonal brews of a particular brewery. Read the post!!! BCBS released once a year, Darkness and DL once a year.

 

Brooklyn

Regulars: Lager, Brown Ale, Pennant Ale '55, East India Pale Ale, Pilsner
Speciality/Seasonals: Local 1, Local 2, Black OPS, Black Chocolate Stout, Sorachi Ace, Brooklyn-Schneider,

 

I disagree about LA's regular lineup being "consistently good," but the point I was mainly making was that their regular lineups are generally common beer styles - pales, saisons, IPAs, etc (LA a little less so, but still), while their seasonal/limited releases tend to be things like sours and barrel-aged beers.

 

EDIT: I meant to say this beer is super rare, i'll trade some away for some really nice barleywines.

 

Schlafly

 

Tyrenena, there Brewers gone Wild and seasonal stuff is amazing while there year round stuff is very meh.

 

Short's. Not in the way you might think though. Their main lineup is very solid with a few highly rated brews. Their seasonals and beers they brew one batch of once a year, every other week (seemingly) are sometimes downright awful.

Keylime Pie beer anyone? No thanks.

 

Dark Horse. Their regular line-up and most of their seasonals are pretty mediocre. Their stout series, though, is great across the board.

 

Tank 7, Sixth Glass, Long Strange, Dark Truth and Double Wide are all fantastic year round Boulevard beers. That's a pretty sick lineup right there.

 

+1 Central Waters, though I do like their Mudpuppy Porter. Along the Wisconsin lines, Capital falls into this category too I believe.

 

Agree, and I'd include Double Crooked Tree among the very good.