I have a buddy heading out to Portland next week who isn't a huge craft guy but is willing to bring me back some tasty Oregon brews that I cant get over here on the East Coast. I'v never had anything from HOTD and was wondering if he could find them in the Supermarkets? Looks like there's a Fred Meyer and Safeway in short driving distance from where he is. Also he will be a block away from the Brewery one night for dinner and said he'd stop in if need be, if so what is currently available and what are prices per bottles as well so I can spot him enough cash? Any other suggestions would be great as well, Thanks again! Cheers!
Yes, most Fred Meyers will have either Fred, Adam, or Both. Places like Whole Foods, Zupans, and New Season Markets will likely have Ruth and/or Blue Dot too. I have never seen HotD at Safeway. Alan sells bottles of Collage, Blue Dot, Ruth, Adam, and Fred for to go sales at the Brewery and his prices are more or less the same as the retail prices in stores. Expect about $10-11 six packs for Ruth, $7-8 for a 22oz of Blue Dot, and $4.50-$5 for Fred or Adam. Collage is $12.
Agree with this, but would also point out that at places like New Seasons and Market of Choice, the OP should also be able to find bottles of Doggie Claws.
I typically shop at the West Linn MofC, and they pretty much always have plenty of doggie claws. The other side of that coin, I'm afraid, is that they also almost always have bottles of Blue Dot that are a good 5 or 6 months old.
I don't particularly recall seeing DC there a couple weeks ago, but it wasn't what I was looking for, so I might have missed it. 6 months past release, it's going to be pretty tough to find anywhere.
If you're really interested in DC, next you're there, check the top shelf in the craft section cold box. I'm not really sure I understand the organizational philosophy of whoever stocks the beer there. Most beers are stocked according to brewery; all the HUB and Heater Allen stuff (as an example) grouped together. However, for some reason, with HOTD, the fred and adam are together, the blue dot is in a spot by itself, and then the DC and Fred from the Wood (when they have FFTW) sit together on the top shelf. At least that's typically the way I've seen HOTD beers organized there. Last time I was there, I was picking up some DC for a friend back East. I concluded that they must not have any, as it wasn't next to the Fred or Adam. I did one last glance over the rest of the selection, just to see if there might be something I couldn't live without (such as some of the older brother's reserve series stuff they always seem to have on hand). That's when I noticed two rows of DC on the top shelf. This was several months ago now, but at the time, they had still had a fair amount of it left.
A word of warning on the Ruth: the distributor has been out of stock on it for 3 (maybe 4) months, so anything you find on retail shelves at this point will be old stock.
The $13 Adam growler fill at HOTD is the best deal in town, if your pal is willing to lug back 64 ounces.
