Hoping I see this round my neck of the woods. It's weird, I can find enough Nugget nectar to drown in, but haven't found any mad elf yet.
I wish I could get this in MN. Not enough Belgian-influenced Christmas/Noel beers in the US craft scene
Well, it's also coming up to Flu Season - what better time to release a beer that resembles cough syrup?
Which would not be all that terrible if it was. In my experience, Mad Elf gets only better with a little bottle age. YMMV of course.
My local Whole Foods Market (Upper St. Clair, PA) had unopened cases of Troegs Mad Elf sitting on the floor in the beer/wine department today. There had to be twenty cases. Whole Foods Market must think they'll be selling a lot of this beer.
I always thought it came out closer to Thanksgiving than Halloween. In particular, I thought it came out more than two weeks after Master Of Pumpkins, which came out two weeks ago. (Then again, I'm only an hour or so away from Troegs and Master Of Pumpkins just showed up here this week...)
Twenty cases seems excessive, unless maybe you mean consumer 12-packs, but I for one welcome the amount of Mad Elf that they've produced the past few years. It used to sell out too fast. Now it's available all season, more or less. (The first year there was a glut of it, it was available into the new year around here. Last year, the last of it sold on Christmas Eve.)
Does seem to be out a little early. I will gladly take it though. Too many of the Fall seasonals I like are gone or never showed up. At least I will have something appropriate for cool weather until the Spring beers show up at the end of January.
My local bottle shop in the Cleveland area mentioned they were getting it this week. Breckinridge, Shiner and a local Christmas beer are already on the shelves here.
My local store has always got it around this time, they just usually hold it in the back until they feel the season is appropriate for release.
I enjoy a Mad Elf or two every year. I suggest stashing away a bottle or two until this time next year. In my experience it's a better beer with some age on it.
My Whole Foods Market cannot sell cases because the quantity of beer in a case is more than the allowed 192 ounces. Normally they open the top case so customers can access the four-packs or six-packs inside the case. Probably will pick up some Mad Elf in the next month. Looking forward to the Christmas beers.
