Bourbon County 2017

@Bbear gave good info already, but I would probably recommend staying away from GI Clybourn honestly. I haven't been on Black Friday, but always assume it'll be really packed. There are a handful of other places that will be tapping most or all of the BCBS lineup on Friday. I think Timothy O'Toole's, Whirlyball and Local Option all have events on Black Friday, among others.

I would recommend finding a bottle shop that is doing a release on Saturday to try to get a bottle of Prop or Reserve. But, your best bet would be to cancel those flights and drive in Thursday night.

 

I think it's more like:

Some are Cubs, Bears or Bulls fans first (and yes, a smaller segment are Hawks fans), and all those who aren't Cubs fans first, bandwagon onto the Cubs as well.

I don't mind the "Chicago" fans; they're the ones who are happy as long as a Chicago team wins. I wasn't happy the Cubs won (I know some really lame Cubs fans), but I was happy for the city (Sox fan, btw). The fans that bother me most are the bandwagon ones who overcompensate for their lack of actual fandom by being the loudest and most obnoxious sports fans they can be (usually by picking fights with the opposing team, especially the Sox).

Likewise back on topic, I too hope that the weather is cold enough to keep some of the "bandwagoners" out of the lines, but also not cold enough that ever person in line is forced to reevaluate their life's choices.

 

Funny, this is EXACTLY what I'm hoping for.

 

To get things back on track, what exactly was the deal at Fulton last year? They list "black friday at the taproom" as an event, but the details are goofy. It lists the 2017 variants, but it also has November 14th as the date and says they open "an hour early at 11 am."

I'm strongly considering taking the L out there and getting shitfaced after my shopping, but would like a better idea of what I'm getting into.

 

This was me when I was 3.5 hours into my wait at 3AM last year with what was starting to seem like inadequate warmth preparation. 8 hours later, I had 5 pours of BCBS variants and a BA Impervious in me and I forgot about the moment of weakness. It just now resurfaced in my conscious memory as I read your post.

 

Anyone have any experience with the Jewel in Spring Grove? Wasn't gonna prop hunt this year but after having it at Fobab I'd like to score one. Headed to St Louis from Lake Geneva so I'm not looking to stray too far towards the city.

 

http://www.jewelosco.com/2017/11/bcs-2017/#comment-241247

Leave a message in the comment section to see if they even get any Prop. Most places up here are just getting Regular and Barleywine.

 

So....beer huh?

 

Bourbon County was way better under the previous ownership. The new ownership has ruined it.

 

If you just mix and match with buzz words like batch, brewer, location brewed, and last year vs this year, you have a fully interchangeable sentence for any thread on BA.

 

Just a word in support of Sheffield's. I have gone to this event for the past few years and, while crowded, have been amazed at how reasonable the amount of people there actually was. One could show up less than an hour before tapping, find a table for dinner, and taste their way through the entire lineup if they so chose.

I was there for their barrel aged event this past weekend. It was a bunch of people watching college football drinking things out of shaker pints. Could have drunk myself into a coma and none of the beers would have run out.

I guess people give it a pass because of the proximity to Wrigley Field and the kind of crowd places that close usually bring.

 

I know this thread might mostly be for Chicago area, but anyone from Milwaukee area know the best places to line up that might get the varieties? I know discount liquor and rays (Saturday) but wondering if there might be more places. I don't need the other fancy stuff from the discount because the rest of my beer money is going toward releases this weekend in mpls. I recall discount had a one bottle period deal too so that was annoying for getting a stout plus variant

 

Agree 100% with everything you said. Bar is huge so it never feels overly packed, and the cubs thing is actually a benefit if you’re just looking to drink the cool stuff they tap because most people going to or watching the game there are not drinking bcbs even if they know what it is.

For example, they had all 2016 bcbs and templeton rye bcbs for I think opening day last year. I got there a couple hours after it started and nothing had kicked. Even had some stuff on the next day I believe.

Given the other posts I’ve made about the cubs in this thread, you’d think anything within a stones throw of wrigley is radioactive to me, but Sheffield’s is really a quality place. Food is good, too.

 

I'm not sure the name of the place we went to last December, but it was a similar situation. Walked in and people are playing beer pong w/ PBR tall boys, we sit at the bar and get full PINTS of last year's regular and barleywine. Could have had the whole kegs to ourselves... though we'd obviously be dead.

 

Everytime this happens you feel like you just stole something. I can only count on one hand how many tappings I've gone to, convinced myself it's going to be a mess and I'll be lucky to get what I want, and walked in to see very few people caring about it. It's always the most pleasant surprise.

Obviously the increased availability of BCBS is likely a key driver in this.

 

Even when kegs kick quickly, it’s never that really that bad, and always pretty manageable at a bar. The only exception being Local Option events and Lions, Tigers and Beers (RIP Northdown).

Even Goose last year was super easy to get a seat and a pour of whatever variant was pouting at the time.

I think we overthink it and bring our bottle line mentality to draft.

 

I'm sure this has been posted already, but what are the variants this year.

 

One must believe in revivals

 

True. We don't bring MILMs to wednesday night specialty tappings.

Hmm, wait, on second thought, phrasing?

 

"Are we still doing phrasing?"