Ever have traders remorse? I traded my last bomber of '14 BC Vanilla Rye for a 4-pack of BC Coffee. Coffee is my favorite, but I really wanted to age my last VR for a couple years. While I don't really regret it - I would have just rather bought the Coffees from the guy - but have YOU ever regretted or been upset you traded away a beer?
I regret trading every jester king fruit I ever have since it's my favorite brewery and style. You can't have too many jk.
No regrets BUT the last trade I did involved me shipping 14 heady and a few other things. I got some good stuff that I'd been working on for a while but it was still tough to see all that heady topper leaving my grubby little mitts...
I've over traded a few times, and wish I didn't give up as much as I did, but oh well. I'm happy with what I have gotten to try over the past year.
Not really. I made myself some personal rules before I started trading that have helped make sure I enjoy trades and never get too wrapped up in them: - Don't trade anything you haven't had before - Don't go over $4$ - Don't believe the hype So far so good. Oh, and @SMH_NWI - take a 3 inch piece of fresh good quality Tahitian vanilla bean, split it almost in half (but still a single piece so you can fish it out later), then pop the top of a regular BCBS and carefully put the vanilla in so it doesn't foam up. Re-cap with a fresh bottle cap (you need a $10 bottle re-capper) and stash in the fridge for 4 or 5 days. I can't tell the difference between my home made and real VR, and since I thought real VR was overpowering, I have dialed back the time and amount of vanilla to suit my own tastes. Planning to experiment with different types of vanilla next - Tahitian is very floral and aromatic - going with Madagascar next which is earthier and more subtle. I had 2 bottles of VR, tried one and then traded away the spare without a second thought - I can make my own any time I like!
Once I sent a nice brewery-only bomber as an extra and got a single mediocre shelf beer in return. Thankfully I have not experienced much remorse beyond that.
Unclear, but benefit of the doubt @hustadaj - no I don't make my own base beer; well I do with my neighbor, but we haven't perfected a BCBS clone. we got to 13.5% but to get there we had to juice the wort with Belgian candi syrup so in the end the mouthfeel was too thin. The 5 gallon bourbon barrel from a local micro distiller we used for aging didn't give as much booze as BCBS either, so we threw in some black currants from my garden for the last month in the barrel and went with a fruit stout. We are working on it; we will get close next time... In my post above I was referring to just using a bottle of regular BCBS. I don't use extract either, I use a piece of whole vanilla bean.
Thanks for the insight, it was an honest question, as I would be happy to find a cheaper/easier way to even get close to the VR.
Well I have done the same with Central Waters BB stout, and it is damn good too. The mouthfeel and body isn't quite the same, but the flavor is out of this world good. I started experimenting with that because it is cheaper and easier to get than BCBS! I was fortunate enough to score a few cases of BCBS last year, so I have been merrily experimenting with different Vanilla versions. So far I have stuck with Tahitian Vanilla beans (the 'best' type supposedly. Very floral and powerful aroma, and I happened to have a few already). For the real thing, they use a mix of Madagascar and Mexican vanilla beans. I am going to try that next. So far, I have learned that the optimal thing to do is put the vanilla bean piece in at room temp, and then stash in the fridge immediately. You need to re-cap tightly with a new bottle cap (a bottle capper is cheap at any home brew store) otherwise the carb is gone in a day. I use a 3 inch piece of fresh vanilla bean, and split it almost in half (so I end up with a 'V' shaped piece and all the seeds in the middle are exposed) 2 days is pretty subtle, 4-5 days is pretty strong vanilla I wouldn't leave longer than a few weeks, even in the fridge. Since you opened it and dropped in the vanilla, you are bound to get some kind of infection issue eventually. If you are around Milwaukee check out a store called the spice house: http://www.thespicehouse.com/info/milwaukee-spice-store.html They have a sister store in Evanston where I live and they have amazingly good vanilla beans. Not cheap, but fantastic quality. PM me if you want to know more about how I do it - I am certainly not the first to mess with BCBS, but happy to share my experiments.
I know it is not really close to BCBS, but I have thought of picking up some Dragon's Milk to use a randall/french press to add flavors. With it being easy to get year round, much easier to experiment with and if it turned out to be really good, bonus.
Actually that is a good option, the mouthfeel is pretty solid on that beer. Would make an awesome toasted coconut french press... Way off topic - but to get it back - things like this is why I don't believe the hype and don't go after some of the flavored stouts and things like that in trades. I feel like they are just not that earth shattering, and you have to give up so much to get them - not worth it. Hence i stick to $4$ and have never had any trade regrets.
