Founders & The Pacific Northwest

Founders should be in WA state sooner than later I would think. They just did their CA release party in Santa Cruz with draft and bottles and Oregon (Portland) gets Founders on draft but I have not seen any bottles. But Seattle needs some KBS...

 

I would love them to all come to Oregon, but I feel I would try all the offerings once and pass them over after that.

 

Not really. I'll take take any Fremont BA beer over that overhyped one any day.

 

Everywhere needs some KBS. And probably some Backwoods Bastard too. Which pretty much supports the point @distantmantra made about initial excitement and limited releases. How much of their year-round portfolio (All Day, Centennial, Dirty Bastard, Pale Ale, and Porter) are people actually going to drink up here on a regular basis?

Same goes for Bell's. I'd try the things I haven't had yet, maybe pick up a sixer of Expedition each year, and that's about it.

 

Is Founders expanding? If not, then it sure sounds like the Goose Island approach of spreading supply thinly across the entire US. I'm good on Chucks and Bottleworks getting 8 bottles each and selling them to the first unemployed beer nerds that enter through the door. I do realize they are 30% owned by some macro Spanish brewery (great!!!), so maybe they have some growth plans that I'm not crisp on.

I'm not here to rag on Founders - i've enjoyed many of their beers over the years, but I think their bottles would generate a fair amount of dust. I might happen to adore Red's Rye, but who the hell else is going to buy that? It's not like if you go to their distribution zone, you stumble across KBS every day. Founders Breakfast Stout was really cool in 2005 when nobody else was coffee bombing beers, but does anyone really actually lust for that beer anymore?

Of all the breweries listed in this thread, I desire distribution from none of them. Instead I'd rather have a steadier stream of regional breweries (de Garde, barley browns, boneyard, etc).

 

All the draft in Portland was part of the one-time release for CBC. I'm kind of surprised that kegs are still popping up 6 months later.

 

If it was either/or, I would, like you, much rather have a steadier stream from some of our best NW breweries (and especially some cans and bottles from places that only do draft), than new distribution from a solid brewery located elsewhere. But since we're dealing with hypotheticals here, I'd rather have more from our locals and the introduction of some Founders to our market. At any store or bottle shop I go to here, I see at least a couple dozen breweries that I'm just not interested in, and never buy (or repeat buy) from. I'd gladly sacrifice one of these to make some space for Founders.

 

Wait, you're not also on BBQAdvocate.com? (More helpfully, there are probably reviews on Yelp if no one here chimes in.)

 

I've had a few Founders beers over the years and while they've mostly been good, I can't think of one that doesn't have at least one reasonably comparable parallel already produced/distributed here. So while in principle more choice is always good, I guess I just don't see the point. Except that most/all Founders beers come in a 12oz format, which certainly would be welcome.

And to echo others, why should most folks in the PNW have heard of Founders, Three Floyds, Bell's etc.?

 

Massively second the love for great beers in12oz. Can't speak for all you west siders, but no one locally makes beers like FBS and KBS in 12oz bottles or cans.

Plus, yeah there's as much reason for people around here to know about Founders as there is for average Michiganders to know about Fremont or Bale Breaker.

 

Founder's can just ship a couple hundred cases of Breakfast Stout to Seattle every year and call it good, IMHO. Would be very into that.

 

I wish Allagash would come back to the PNW... You can get their beers down in California, but not Oregon or Washington.

Saraveza had some Jester King bottles left over from the Farmhouse fest that they put in their coolers back in August. But, they didn't stick around very long... The last time I was at The Hop & Vine, they still had bottles of the Jester King Sin Frontera left over from the CBC.

I'd also like to see Westbook make it out here, if only to get my hands on some Mexican Cake.

 

I've always been one to support our local brewers over interlopers --- I think my record's pretty clear on that.

But with that said, I just don't think there's a reasonably comparable parallel here to Founders Breakfast Stout. To me, it is a perfectly-crafted chocolate, coffee, and oatmeal Imperial stout. And that fact that it comes in a 12 oz. format just puts it over the top. I've tried to find a comparable beer here but it just doesn't exist. I think we have things comparable to (and better than) KBS and CBS is so hard to get that it's virtually non-existent as a practical matter. But man, FBS is one of a kind.

I would agree with you on the rest of their lineup.

 

I finally got around to trying regular Dark Star (12oz cans) and I'm perfectly happy with that as a go-to year-round non-barrel-aged stout. Others might be better, haven't done a side-by-side, but not so much so that I'd go out of my way for them.

 

Love me some regular Dark Star. Glad you got around to it. Not comparable to FBS, though, IMHO. No chocolate or coffee there.