Finding that hidden gem at your local bottle shop

I randomly opened a 2014 North Coast Old Stock Ale last week to see how it was progressing and thought it was unbelievable, making me wish I had more. The next day I was at a local BevMo and found a 4 pack of it mixed behind all the 2015's they had, so that was a great find

 

A few months ago, off of a Facebook tip, I was able to pick up: 2010, 2011, and a 2012 Abyss off the shelf. Not even marked up at all

 

I walked into a store the other day that I knew carried some older stuff, and as soon as I walk in I saw some 2014 Bourbon County Barleywine. It was a little more than I really wanted to spend on beer that day so I only got one.

 

I'm leery of doing so. A shop near me has plenty of such selection to pick from. A few months back I grabbed a '13 old stock ale to compare against some '15s I've cellared. It was 100% oxidized and couldn't make it past two sips. I'm not sure I'm willing to trust things that old on other people's shelves anymore.

 

These get released from the importer at intervals, so hasn't necessarily been in the store the whole time. Most would assume a warehouse has better conditions to preserve the beer than the shop would, so "bonus!"

 

Agreed. Our distributor in GA routinely brings in vintage JW Lee's, they have '01, '02, and '06-'14 available right now.

 

Hit a random liquor store on the way home from San Diego on fathers day and they had 4pks of 2014 Olde Stock for $4.99!

 

W

Wow that's an even better score. Little did they know they were doing you a favor. Mine was the standard $12.99 or so for the 4-pack

 

A few years ago I stopped at a random liquor store west of Detroit when I spotted a plaid six pack carrier that rang a bell, so I opened the door and looked at the bottles inside. What caught my attention was that is was an old Sam Adams Scottish Ale carrier and I knew that beer hasn't been released in a sixer in a very long time so I thought I would glance at the date notches on the label....only it wasn't SA Scottish, it was six bottles of Bell's Eccentric Ale from the early-mid nineties. Crooked labels that looked like they were put on by hand and plain gold caps. Price tag was $6.99!!!

I scooped it up and couldn't hand the guy my money fast enough! The beers were still very good, some minor oxidation but they held up very well and I would crack one every few months or so. Best I can figure is a store employee stashed it in the back and it was forgotten about until somebody cleaned up the cooler years after the fact.

 

Just this past week I stumbled across a six pack of Bell's 30th and a few bottles of 2014 Drie Fonteinen Oude Geuze in a small liquor store. Picked up a few other goodies, but these took the cake!

 

I found a store with Orval near its best by date, which is five years after bottling, I believe. If it had been properly cellared I would have bought every bottle and considered it quite a gem. However, I've bought old but cellarable beers from this store before and they have not been good. I know those Orval bottles have probably been sitting there at room temperature and exposed to light for years.

 

Yesterday my wife called me from a Lucky's store. She told me they had 2 btls of BCBS for $9 a btl. Should she buy it? I had her give me the numbers off the back. They checked out. Nice present.

 

I walked into a store in LaGrange Park Illinois the other day and found a bottle of Revolution Gravedigger Billy with a date of 01-05-2013 on it. Looking at Untappd I couldn't even find a 2013 version to check in. It drank really well. Great find.

 

I posted this in the beer haul thread, but I suppose this is the proper place. I found a regal rye last week at a local bottle shop. It was next to a recalled bcbs (I checked the date). I haven't had any bcbs variants so I'm excited to try it!

 

Found a single bottle of 2014 BA Ivan the Terrible in a store in Seattle during my trip out west this year. Then my wife saw a stack of boxes in the back, and there was unopened cases of 2016 BA Sucaba, 2015 BA Darkstar, and 2015 BA Abominable. The guy was like sure we'll sell them to you, these were just forgotten about..

 

Just picked up two dusty bottles of Boon Oude Geuze Mariage Parfait 2009. Nice to have a couple best by 2032 bottles already 7 year aged!

 

I wouldve purchased at least 4 of those 4 packs....

I have never stumbled on anything super extraordinary. Probably my biggest shock was finding a nice load of Bourbon County Brand Stout at my local podunk super market.

It was priced pretty reasonably, and no limit.. I bought 5 and left the rest.

 

It has been a year or two, but I stumbled across two six packs of dusty 2008 Brooklyn Monster Ale right by a 6 pack of 2009 Victory Old Horizontal.

They are still holding up, I may try a Old Horizontal this weekend.

 

One of my local shops has a bottle of Millennium Gueuze for sale....It's sitting on the counter as decoration