Kate the Great Day!

That line on the cam looks insane for 5pm. Sounds like a lot of people are going to go home unhappy.

 

Are you guys sure Kate was tapped today? The blog still says it's in the works. Maybe you are all drinking Le Chat Noir and don't even know.

 

That is a good line for this time of day. Should kick anytime now.

 

I don't think he gets it.

 

Something like this would be the funniest practical joke in beer history, particularly if they just replaced it with something like Smutty RIS with a odd carbonation setting to screw with the mouthfeel.

 

I'm half-convinced it's Nick D trolling.

 

OMG this guy is a moron man. A complete moron. I have been preaching to him for long enough.

@cbeer88...if that was NickD trolling I would love it.

 

THAT GUY IS REAL. READ HIS OLDER STUFF. RON

 

Oh I assume he is real. A real losaaaaaaaaaaaa. I read the old stuff...beyond funny.

 

while not the coolest thing to do, he's neither cheap nor is he stealing the product. it's just lame

 

I agree, I don't think he is stealing since his friend is buying it. Very lame.

 

That is stealing in my mind.

 

6:22 and Kate still being poured. Still a few people outside. Crazy.

 

Just kicked, 6:47.

 

last year i think everyone who arrived by ~10am managed to make the initial wave. this year you had to arrive by ~7:30am to make it. i'm guessing next year will be 6am or earlier...

i thought last year's batch was quite a bit better, as it had more port, less hoppy, more chocolate. in fact, i'd say the 2011 batch was amongst the best i've ever had. this year's was drier, less port, slightly more hops, less cocoa, more licorice. still very good. ("great", even? haha!) sure, it's personal preference, but i think the port wine oak chips is what makes kate relatively unique amongst the top imperial stouts. therefore this year's 2012 batch just doesn't stand out amongst the crowd as much. oh well.

i still think they need to manufacture better scratch tickets. (this year, the scratch material came off too easily, and winning tickets could sometimes be discerned simply by the pattern/placement of the scratch material, even if fully intact.)

also - arriving after 9:30am this year meant no more pretzel rolls. =( they need to make more!

at least the guy with the accordion helped keep the mood cheerful. props to him - i have no idea how he still managed to keep playing all morning, and apparently without getting frostbite!

 

hehe, that would be funny. but it seems chat noir was always poured in a full 16oz pint glass, and was on nitro. was pretty easy to tell the difference. for me, at least.

hmmm... like i said earlier, this year's batch was slightly hoppier, drier and had very little port wine character. haha, maybe they blended in some smutty to make it a "bigger" batch?

 

I thought this years batch was a lot less "stout-like" and leaned more towards an american barleywine taste. Regardless, still pretty good and a fun day all in all.

 

Every year is going to get longer lines and more people. Plan ahead.

 

I got in line at 8 805 and made it in in the first wave. Was a good beer, pretty cool day all in all.

 

I've always secretly pictured this one big tank at Smuttynose with two hoses coming off of it. One goes into a vat with hops to be sold as Smutty IS, the other into a vat with port chips to be sold as KtG.