Stone - Southern Charred (2014 series)

Last year's was one of the best new beers I'd had in some time. Shame it won't see distro, and hope they didn't mess too much with a good thing re: the recipe and barrels.

 

i'm in the same boat. i'm waiting to open Punishment when i'm making some kind of crock pot pulled pork or something. because i'm sure i'm going to want to dump it


mind you, this is from someone who eats crazy spicy food, loves spicy, and has enjoyed many chile beers. Crime was just over the top

 

Do you guys have any idea on the trade value of the 2014 Southern Charred? Just wanted to get an idea...

 

Haha...you did NOT just describe a 'Normal Consumer' there!

 

You make some good points. We'll work to refine our messaging and be clearer. Thanks for that.

Regarding availability...from the beginning (including the very first 500ml release), some are going to be Stone-only releases, some just regional, and some national. This is based upon how much of the particular beer we have. The QM releases tend to largely come from our experimental cellar. For many of the beers we experiment with, we don't know if they're going to get 'graduated' to the QM program or not. We have regular tasting sessions, and while I haven't kept an exact count, I'd say that only one out of 5-10 beers get determined to be of QM quality / character level. When we taste a sample that makes our eyebrows raise in a good way, the first question we ask of the small batch team is "So, how much do we have of this?" That answer then determines how many bottles we're able to produce, and how wide it's distributed.

 

I like all the beers you just mentioned! Except Fyodor, never managed to snag that one
Punishment is one of my top 10 favorite beers even...I can't explain why but I just loved it. The crazy pepper heat and the caramelly barleywine-ish sweetness was so unique and addictive. Crime was pretty much the same but that sweetness was destroyed by the peppers and therefore I didn't dig it as much.

Regardless, Charred was great last year and I'd love to try the new version!

 

OK fair enough...a normal bourbon barrel aged beer drinking lover. Do you really think we all check out the boards and/or your marketing before buying? Once you trust a brand to make a quality product, and stone is unquestionably a brand until those two beers I bought anything new from, and frankly between GoTo and the IPA...by volume stone makes up 50% of my beer. If you build consumer loyalty yeah we're going to buy your new stuff, and no pun intended but I got burned by crime and punishment. My wallet still looks at me oddly when I buy anything over 20 now

 

Given the popularity of the last batch of the Southern Charred why would that not lead to higher production or at least equal for a second batch? I would get it if you did a one off and never went back, but if you go back and know there's demand it seems odd. I certainly get limited capacity and I'd venture to guess even if not 100% aged in barrels the regular bourbon barrel bastard you just released took up a lot of that space, but I still have to ask.

BTW it's great getting to hear feedback from the breweries on there boards. I'm sure I speak for most when I say thank you for your insight.

 

I'm really glad that you *usually* like our stuff so much! Sorry about being burned...but that was the point of those beers (pun definitely intended). Anything less and I'd expect that we'd get deserved flack for overstating the beer with what we wrote on the labels, let alone the names they were given.

 

That all totally makes sense on paper. I agree. In practice, we have constraints all over the place that didn't make it possible to simply "lead to higher production." Trust me, we love making and selling beer people love! That's why we're in this crazy thing called craft beer.

 

Not to monopolize your time, but I have to ask. Sure I get you have constraints. But is there a goal to keep releasing popular beer locally vs. trying to somewhat meet demand with a big release? I get that sometimes brewers just put out what they can when they can, but it would be interesting to understand the desire to put out new beers vs. remaking popular ones and how you try to control volume.

 

That's a long conversation. I suppose it's (more or less) similar to the decision a band makes between continuing to tour playing material from past albums, and stopping touring for long enough to create new albums. (What's an 'album'? Kids, ask your parents...)

That being said however, I'm not coming up with a "popular beer" that we've released in an ultra-limited local release, that we've then turned around and released a year later in a similar fashion, say for the exception of Southern Charred. Oh, and this year's w00tstout, which was actually bigger last year, and smaller this year (due to the fact that it takes a LONG time to brew and we simply couldn't fit brewing more of it into our brew schedule this year...can't wait for the Richmond brewery to get up and operating to relieve that pressure!). Cheers!

 

Good..that means dissapointment for everyone then!

 

last time it was aged for twice as long and had less alch. picked up some, hoping it will be just as good. we shall see!

 

Please tell me this implies that when the Richmond brewery is up and running we'll have 1st year style w00tstout brewed on a regular bases? Please, please, please...tell me that. (lives 20 minutes from location).

 

Where have you found the new Southern Charred? I haven't seen it around yet.

 

Girlfriend picked up a Southern Charred for me at Total Wine as a surprise. Can't wait to try it but it will probably sit for a while while I drink the Bastard Box.

 

Hey people, just FYI - I added a new entry for Southern Charred (2014) since the barrel aging treatment is different than the first release. If you are going to rate or review this beer, please do so here:

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/147/145231/

 

When does barrel aging become enough of a difference for a different beer to be listed? There's only one bourbon county stout for example but the beer has gone from 9 to 15% abv over the years. This seems like making it easier for a ticker to claim a tick.