Truly Astounding Beer Tales...

Not so much "epic" but my best beer run ever- Feb 2016, which was basically right as Grimm was becoming a big thing, I went to a supermarket in queens who were selling lambo door by the four pack with no limits, and Maple double negative bottles with no limits. I bought two lambo four packs and 3 bottles. That was a Friday night. The next morning- I went to Other Half at 830 am to line up (won't do that anymore), and they let us in at 845 because it was literally 7 degrees outside. I was out by 9. Then, I went to finback to "line up" for the oscillation 3 release, and again it was so cold nobody was there and they let us in early. Yes- I shared these beers with friends, I did not hoard all of them So as much as I hate the winter, it helped me with the biggest "fluke" weekend of beer of all time

 

Dark Lord day 2016. Here is my story. No bullshit. Copied from old thread.

This was my first DL Day. i tried to not be noobish, but Shit happens (more on that later).

First off, I was group E and was driving in from Nebraska. I didn't get in line until around 3ish. Line wasn't bad, maybe 20-30 minutes to get in. I brought beer to share but forgot a cup, so there was mistake number 1. So I didn't really see any random bottle sharing going on that late in the day.

I happened to bring rubber rain boots, which worked great, except they gave me a huge blister from all the back and forth cattle line walking. I also had a rain coat over my regular coat. I was still soaked at the end of the night though.

I agree the guest tap list was not great, at least from what I saw. i did get DL twice from the FFF tent, but I did not see any must have guest taps, at least when I was over there.

DL and variant line went super quick, I got trump and pump and the wife got quit hitting yourself.

Got some food after we got our DL, line took maybe 20 minutes, which was not bad. Had a couple good beers in that line from some strangers.

Fast forward to about 8pm and I must have been getting drunk, although I didn't feel like it at first. Go to the pisser to take a pee and I bring my bag of DL with me. I was going to set it net to the shitter opening but "smartly" thought better of it, thinking it could fall in. So I balanced it on the little purse shelf thing that they have. Much better.....

Half way through my piss my bag of DL falls into the damn port o potty. So now I start freaking out and cussing extremely loudly as I am still finishing going pee, basically pissing on my own dark lord. Being drunk though, I did what had to be done, and I fished the bottle out of the port o potty. my variant didn't fall in, and the 4 pack holder kept the other bottles together, so it was rather painless getting them out, as painless as sticking your hand into a pile of shit can get anyway.

So now I have my shitty dark lord again. I ditch the tote bag, because it is 100% saturated in shit/urine. I hand sanitize the shit out of my hands the best I can and continue on my merry way. I wish that was the end of my problems.

Towards the end of the night, there are maybe like 50 people still at this damn thing, and I must have set down my sack of DL (literally a plastic grocery bag now) to get a guest tap. I walk down to the other side to see what else is on tap and the wife asks me where my DL bag is. It is no where to be found. I proceed to have a mental breakdown before we leave.

I hope the person that stole my DL doesn't read this post and drinks from the bottle, cus then he at least would be drinking dark lord that's barrel aged in shit.

 

Mobile flop house there Dave!

 

I once bought a 2001 Lou Pepe Geuze for $11. Why, oh why did I only buy one!

 

Im from Australia, i went to San Francisco a couple of years ago in February, and i badly wanted to go to Russian River to try Pliny the younger. I was told on these forums that people were lining up for 4 hours to get in to the Brewery, and i was pushed for time. Realising id probably never get to try it, i went to a bar in the city, and to my amazement, they had Pliny the younger on draft, unadvertised! At first there was about 3 people in the bar. A couple of hours later word had spread by mouth that Pliny was on draft and it filled up. I got to have 4 glasses and tell my friends back home i got to try Pliny!

 

In 1970 my best friend and I found a big wad of Dutch Guilders on the street in Amsterdam. It was something like $500. We were 19 year old sophomores at Richmond and Carolina. Our Dads had given us the trip of our lives, rail passes, no determined destinations. Because of circumstances, on this particular night, we seek out the very best Chinese restaurant in Amsterdam (name forgotten). He has his US girlfriend and her friend who was a very nice girl. I wasn't much of a gourmand, needed some guidance, but learned quickly. We decided we liked Amstel (not Amstel Light) better than the Heineken we loved. A really cool waiter guided us through the menu with great Burgundy, dessert wines, beers I'll never remember, and a group of about eight partying well into the next day. The food was stunning, the beer was excellent, and likely my life was changed.

 

I honestly just happened to be in Philly for PTY day in 2012. I went to Monks around dinner time, got a seat right away, and had PTY and 2 RR sours on tap. I think they were only out of sanctification.

I also went to a beer tasting and brought beatification and got to taste bottleworks IX and a growler of PTY.

That's the story of the 2 times I just happen to come across PTY without trying too hard.

 

Also back in 08 or 09 there was a thread that said "the beer you want to try the most" I posted Isabelle Proximus...a day or so later I got a message from a wonderful BA saying he would trade it basically for a local bottle release I could pick up in my area with no hassle. I thought it was too good to be true! A week or so later it was in my possession.

 

Just a few memorable moments that come to mind....not really crazy, but interesting

Using the internet to make some connections in Belgium. Ended up having someone come out from Belgium to show around (visit a bunch of CA breweries). The guy ended up working at the De Heeren Van Liedekercke and bringing me a bunch of vintage and one off Cantillon and other Gueuze and lambic.

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Years ago when it was almost impossible to try PtY, I was in line for my pour...and they rang the bell and announced it was tapped out right when I was ordering mine. That was a horrible day, however, since then, I have had PtY numerous times and now resort to posting "selfies" of myself chugging a pour.

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Being at Mothers in London years ago and buying both Cantillon and Mexican Cake off the shelves to drink. A nice surprise having both of those in one place to drink on site.

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Drinking Makaveli and Barrel Aged M3 from Abnormal recently...Mind blown, beer is still getting better even after the maybe 1000's of pastry stouts I've ingested

 

One lazy afternoon me and GF were chasing down two dollar tacos when I look up at the tap handles and they have Goose Island BCS on tap. I ask how much and the girl says $5 during Happy Hour. I was thinking a small pour when low and behold I see her grab an Imperial Pint Glass. Jackpot I say. After three more I left that bar the happiest man in Milwaukee and the tacos were pretty good too from what I remember.

 

Mine was just this summer. For the past many years, I've made a trip Up North for my wife's family reunion and we stop at Short's ever year. They were the ones who really opened up my eyes to what could be done with beer. And without fail, every year their Tripel goes off tap about a week before I get up there. It was supposed to have a bottle release two years ago, but got canceled in favor of another beer.

Now, mind you, this isn't a "whalez, bro" kinda situation. But it's my favorite brewer and my favorite style so I wanted to see what it was like. This was my white whale and I, a boozy Ahab.

I messaged Scott, one of the partners at Short's who checks in on BA now and again, about setting a crowler or two aside that I could possibly pick up at the pub.

Long story short (too late), my wife and I are out to dinner in Traverse City and Scott brings me a couple crowlers, no charge, on his own time in between driving from the brewery to another event and spent some time chatting. He insisted on bringing them, rather than me having to drive the hour to the pub. (I eventually went anyway because beer).

I didn't find out until later this was also happening just a week or so before the Short's/Lagunitas/Heineken announcement, so there was also a lot of stuff going on at the backend, too. He still insisted on dropping it off.

Check the Short's /Heineken thread. Read Scott's replies. I can personally attest he's not in there doing PR work, the guy is genuinely passionate about beer and even more about the customers.

There ain't just truly astounding beer out there, there's truly astounding beer folks, too. I'm pretty sure most of us have met a few.

 

My very first brewery tour was Cantillon at the end of sixteen months spent traveling around the world with my girlfriend. Discovering how delicious beer could be there is what sent me down the path I'm on now, drinking incredible beer and learning how to make it myself.

 

I've had this happen with quite a few big beer over the years. I always smile and tip the inexperienced server/bartender well. Have had quite a few pints of KBS over the years, by mistake. Last one of these little mishaps involved a pounder of Weyebacher Sunday Morning Stout, for, I think, like $3 a can. Still kinda kicking myself for not buying the whole 4-pack, but I figured that wouldn't be nice of me.

 

Dude . . . put your bottles in your car THEN get shitfaced.

 

A couple here. Spent 3 weeks in Germany during the summer after my HS junior year. Eye opening beer experience. A different beer everyday. Turns out, in the co-ed saunas nobody wears anything( another story) Alternating rounds of Becks dark and light, much better over there. Out door cafe in Berlin( still divided) rounds of Berlinner Weisse, sometimes with raspberry, sometimes woodruff syrup. Who knew? Same cafe, ordering a pepperoni pizza gets you pepperochini( those little vinegar peppers), something lost in the translation I guess. Sad to come back to the( good) stuff, Lowenbrau dark and Tuborg gold, this was before Sam was around, truly made my college years better, Sam Adams.
. Last year at Nemba Fest, a mt bike event at Kingdom trails, way up in VT, had a great beer session. Hot day, done pedaling, had a case of Heady and SoS. This guy with cooler comes up, says he needs some shade and a seat. No problem. Opens the cooler and has like 15- 750's of Hill Farmstead, " does anybody want some? " Nice. About 10 of us there, drank like 10 of them, then crazy 6 course dinner, pork loin, pulled pork etc. Then I did my 2 rounds and then went into manhattens. In a farmers field, under some pop ups, 2,000 other people camping as well, took like 4 hours for beer, food, drinks and sunset to moon rise. Great day.

 

Next time call them first!

 

Earlier this month, my brother and a couple of old friends from high school days in England visit me in PA to kick off my 60th birthday celebration. Naturally we go bonkers the first day, and after an afternoon of drinking craft beer with some Russian friends, my mate takes a spill coming out of the last pub. We get him home, he thinks it's his knee and a muscle strain, so we give him prescription strength Advil and put him to bed. .

The next day he is happy that his knee is not swollen, and then only pain seems in the groin/thigh muscles. We kit him out with a pair of crutches, and sally forth around PA drinking up a storm. He gets better as the week goes by, less Advil, less pain, less crutch use, more beer.

He flies home last Tuesday, local GP agrees with the muscle strain story, advises rest. Saturday he gets in the shower and feels a ping followed by excrutiating pain. Upshot is, fractured hip considered to be from the fall 10 days earlier, requiring replacement. Docs astounded at his pain threshold. He, being a Brit, just shrugs it off, stiff upper lip, Winston Churchill, the RAF and all that. You can't keep a good drinker down.

Clearly craft beer and Avdil will get you through most things. I felt bad about it of course, "not your fault mate, I was kippered", he replies. His wife is not quite so forgiving.

 

Maybe more stupidity than anything, but when I was in college our rotation of kegs for parties was Miller Light and Bud. In 1982 when Bud Light was released on the market, the distributor told us the closest place to get it was Florida. So one Friday night we make two pledge's drive a car load of us from north Louisiana all the way to the panhandle to load up the trunk with cases of Bud Light. Don't even hang around to do anything of value, just get the beer and get home (along with 20+ hours of no sleep and drinking, except drivers). Man I miss pledges. I often wonder if any college frat guys into beers have their pledges go do the line thing at releases.

 

That's what back packs are for

Enjoy

 

I don't have pledges, I have file clerks.
They have entered lotteries, tried to buy beer on Eventbrite and Bpt and waited on lines.