I've been wanting to try some Boneyard for a while now but since I live in Spain this hasn't been easy. What would it take to persuade a local to pack and send 2 growlers of Hop Venom /Notorious in an international trade.
First you would have to wait for them both to be on tap at the same time which may be a while. Neither were available last week when I was in Bend.
If notorious is around, hop venom probably is as well. I'm surprised to hear hop venom wasn't around when @StrongRepublican was in bend. For the OP, notorious is going to be tough. It's brewed very rarely. Maybe 2 - 4 times a year? Complicating things further, they don't can or bottle and, from what I've heard, they discourage folks from doing growler fills of it. I know of one place that's just a growler fill station that got a keg more or less by accident and Boneyard put them on something like probation - wouldn't send them any beers at all for a number of months. In several years of trying I've landed 3 growlers. It's rare enough that's it's a treat on tap even for folks in Portland, Eugene, Seattle. Hell, I'd guess that even folks in Bend get excited when it comes out! I've already promised someone the next growler I get ... whenever that may be. That said, Hop Venom and RPM are doable. Bone-A-Fide and Armored Fist have made appearances recently. If you're ok NOT getting Notorious this is more in the realm of possibilities. Hit me up via personal message if you have questions or a thought on how this would work; I've never done an international shipment.
Chingadera is the big hit right now which they had on tap at the brewery but I was able to try Hop Venom in Seattle and absolutely loved it (loved everything from Boneyard). Like @Kurmaraja said though, you may have an easier time keeping your ISO a bit more loose... RPM and 3-Way IPA are both top notch beers for sure and 3-way is being canned on Block 15's line so that makes it a bit more obtainable.
Best bet is to reach out to or find interest from a BA'er who lives in Bend. The Growler Guys location in East Bend has both RPM and Hop Venom on a regular basis and fill growlers of both without any issues. As mentioned, Notorious is a different story...availability is limited as they don't brew it that often.
Thank you for the replies. I´ve been hanging out with a lovely couple from Bend and they won´t shut up about how good Boneyard is. Actually, the fact that it´s famed for hoppy beers but can also turn out a really popular stout (Suge Knite) is what got my interest. I´ll be there in person around this time next year, but I´ve never been very patient, hence the post. @Kurmaraja I´ll be in touch soon. Off to Stockholm next week though so I´m trying to avoid trading til after that, I´ve heard Akkurat can seriously damage your credit card
Plan on a trek towards Tillamook when you visit ... you're already crossing an ocean; you can at least cross a couple mountain ranges to hit De Garde.
This seems pretty strange given that Boneyard themselves only sell beer by the growler at the brewery. FWIW, I've filled a decent number of growlers of Notorious at various places in Portland, and I've never heard of anyone being put on "probation".
Well, this came from the mouth of the owner of the spot. Call it hearsay. Though Boneyard themselves seems an obvious exception; they're not going to put themselves on "probation." In the other cases I was led to believe that the difference was that this place only does growlers, no pints. Perhaps its just a preference on Boneyard's and not a hard rule
