Stouts in California

Apparently Old Rasputin is being released in 4pk cans!

 

I'd personally be more excited if it would be 4x12oz like Ten Fidy. I don't like the 4x16oz plan.

 

For my LA heads Three Weavers Brewing's version of the 'Black Is Beautiful' series is probably the best I've had and I've tried a ton of them. Anyways that still have them available at $16 bucks a four pack- 10.6abv- Its a steal imo

 

More canned stout news: Smog City is releasing 4packs of The Nothing tomorrow

 

Just picked up Huge Arker, bba stout from Anderson Valley. Good stuff, especially for $14 for a 4x12. Nothing that's gonna blow anyone's mind but a solid value from a cool.brewery

 

Eel River just put out 16 oz cans of their Raven's Eye Stout aged in rum barrels. I'm not usually a big fan of rum ba but this was a very good beer. Raven's Eye is a pretty bitter big stout so the sweeter notes from the rum barrel add some great balance. $5 a pint is a pretty killer deal too.

I doubt eel river gets down to socal but does there stuff even get to the bay area or sac?

 

I've noticed a push from Eel River down here in socal, have not seen the Raven. tx 4 the show

 

Makes sense I guess. They have a huge facility and they seem to be going through a big brand makeover.

Definitely would recommend anyone try unkindness. Otherwise the best thing I've had from them in the last two years was a beer called Climax 100 that the bar tender told me was "for folks that come in and ask if we have anything like Coors light". It was a really well done light lager that could probably play well in the summer heat in so cal.

Their hazies are very missable. Ravens eye is a solid old school ris

 

Did anyone see any of the regular bcbs with specific distiller codes anywhere out here? It seems like my area only got the normal blended version but I'll.be driving to LA later this month and would make a beer stop somewhere for a.chance to grab any of the distiller specific varieties.

 

Not right now, but there is always a second drop that sits aeound WAY longer in a few weeks.

 

What do you mean for distiller specific? BCBS is specifically in a mix of barrels - https://www.gooseisland.com/beers/barrel-house-beers/bourbon-county-stout-2020

If you're talking the variants (Birthday Bourbon County Stout [Old Forester] and Anniversary Bourbon County Stout [Weller]), I'm not sure if those made it out West, just like I never saw Bourbon County Double Barrel Stout in 2019 NorCal or SoCal after scouring many places.

 

If you check out the tasting thread or the bcbs thread in the great lakes forum apparently GI released a regular blended bcbs as well as versions of regular that were aged in barrels from specific distillers (heaven hill, wild turkey, and buffalo trace) and they're just denoted by initials in the date code (HH, WT, BT). Otherwise the packaging and price is the same.

Distiller specific aging is more interesting to me than any added flavorings

 

nice gimmick to get beer nerds excited. did BT and HH side by side, it's virtually the same beer.

 

Ya I wouldn't expect any wild difference. Where did you find the specific distillery bottles?

Oop just saw you're from Illinois

 

yep. the city is littered with the different 'coded' regular bcs and less-popular variants. the stand out this year was Anniversary for me, very similar to '15 Rare in the oak/wood department.

 

I've been enjoying the Port Santa's Little Helper mix pack. Not sure if that is Costco exclusive or not.

 

Tell me more about this mixed pack. Didn't make it to NorCal Costco

 

Regular, hazelnut & coffee, and vanilla & coffee

 

Spawn of Yaga from bear republic caught me by surprise. I picked it up on a whim at bevmo on a fruitless hunt for willetized (which apparently still hasn't showed up in my area), its brewed with invert sugar, molasses, and licorice root and is very nice. Nothing is over the top and if they didn't say anything I wouldn't have thought it had anything besides malts and hops in it. Another bargain too at $14/4 pack for a 12% beer