I recently expanded a trade to include an Upland Raspberry from a trading partner, and all he asked for was $20 of local seasonals. Turns out the beer was fantastic, and I'd love to try more of their fruited sours. Do any of these just sit on the shelf? How often are they released? How many bottles, how much distro, etc? What bottles have you traded for them?
The lambics usually see a little localized distro but they don't really sit on the selves. They do usually sit for a little while at the brewery once there is a new release. How hard they are to trade for is specific to which lambic you're talking about. Raspberry is the easiest to get a hold of. I just gave one away as an extra. They do generally trade for limited release beers of $4$. To me it seems like Blueberry, Persimmon, and Kiwi are the most in demand. Each release is usually 600-800 bottles I think.
Thanks! Man, what a great extra that would be. Are the releases often, or more an anual thing? If you walked into the brewery on a random day would you be likely to find one lambic or another for sale?
Random based upon when the brewery deems them to be ready for release. That was the case a year ago, but not at all the case now. I'd bet that there are a few bottles in the back of shops in the greater Indianapolis area, but that would be finding a hidden treasure at this point.
they are increasing demand now, and they haven't made new one's for a while, so they are getting tougher. i just picked up 2 raspberries at the min-release on saturday, and there was about a 50 person line, all sold-out in about 8 minutes. to pry them from my hands (at least until there is another release), i would look for something like cantillons, Beatifications b5, BCBS variants, Huna, something like that. Not crazy impossible to get, but not just a go-pick-them-up thing, either (plus they are $20/each, FWIW).
Here are the approximate release dates on these guys. There haven't been many of the fruited releases lately (also note Gilgamesh, Sour Reserve, Dantalion). I may be slightly off: (Dates Bottled) Upland Blackberry: Mar-2012, Oct-2010, 2008, 2007 Upland Raspberry: Mar-2012, Mar-2011, Sept-2008, 2007 Upland Persimmon: Mar-2011, Feb-2010 Upland Kiwi: Dec-2010, 2008 Upland Cherry: Oct-2010, 2008 Upland Peach: Oct-2010, 2008 Upland Strawberry: Sept-2010, 2008, 2007 Upland Blueberry: Sept-2010, 2008, 2007 I don't really know bottle counts but I'd guess somewhere between 400-1400 depending. They used to get a little distribution after a round of online reservations but nowadays (Persimmon batch 3 failure) the reservations sell out in 15 seconds and people wait outside the brewery when they have 2 cases to sell..
I received a Gilgamesh and a Raspberry in LIF boxes in the last couple of weeks. Those boxes were apparently more generous than I realized.
I bet those dorks spent all that time in the queue drinking, too. For shame, I swear the beer trading subculture is going to hell in a handcart.
As others have said, these used to be easier to get. I haven't seen one on the shelf in Bloomington in a year and a half. Similar limited out of market stuff will get this done, but there just aren't too many out there right now, so you'll have to find the right trader.
They used to be a lot easier to get a hold of. Sour Reserve is the toughest but if you really try and land them all it is a kick ass tasting.
Nice pic. Got 6 out of 14 so far (well, I got 3, but have 3 more coming in a trade, so...). Better step it up then.
Hell no. I showed up just in time to be #22 of 24. I was receiving live updates from the dubmass/niceguy who was there at 6am.
