What's your most memorable beer experience?

Randomly picked up a bottle of Figueroa Mountain Davy Brown Ale at a small liquor store across the street from the gas station where my travel partner was taking a leak. I figured "Eh, we're on vacation, I'll try this beer I've never heard of. New experiences and all that jazz." When I found out how close the brewery was to home (2-3 hours away, perfect for a short get-the-hell-out-of-dodge weekend), I planned a trip to visit and scheduled some time to hit the Firestone Barrelworks while I was in the neighborhood.

It's amazing how life works sometimes. If she hadn't chosen that gas station, I wouldn't have walked into that liquor store and I would likely know nothing about what has become one of my favorite breweries. I always find myself there in the early afternoons when I make trips to Santa Ynez. I don't know what it is about the atmosphere at that time of day, but just thinking about sitting at the wood tables or on the patio with a pint of Hurricane Deck and eating pretzels with Davy Brown mustard is a very relaxing, almost zen image for me. The last time I went, I got to meet the owners and I thanked them for making such a great place.

 

wow how you get the beer if you did not know about the beer phone line? pays to know folks I guess. takes me weeks to months to set that up usually. plus you have to be lucky to go when the 12 is being sold.

 

The article I read that told me about the abbey, said you had to make a beer appointment to get the beer. I stayed up to 2am EST to make the call when the beer phone line opened. It took me an hour and fifteen minutes to get through.

 

good for you most are Not that lucky, It usually takes me many calls, if I get through at all.
Timing is everything they say.

 

Yes, I was extremely lucky. I had already made up my mind that if I didn't get though with that call I was just gonna give up and go to sleep, and I got through with that last call.

 

Two years ago as I was leaving work on a whim I decided to stop in the local Taco Mac (a chain of restaurants in the South with a surprisingly good selection of beer) just to have a drink or two and see if anyone I know was there. I sat down at the bar and started looking over the tap menu. The bartender, a buddy of mine, told me that they just got a keg of Hopslam in that day and had tapped it literally five minutes before I arrived. No lines, no limits, no pomp, just me, my thoughts, a game on TV, and as much Hopslam as I wanted. Needless to say I stayed a while.

Share similar stories about fortunate beer moments or findings here.

 

When I went to Oskar Blues I sampled all of their beers that I wanted and when I tried to order something else I was told it was out. I was about to order something else and I decided to ask what replaced it and the guy said Pliny the Elder and Blind Pig. I had never had either and I almost choked him.

 

just last week was on vacation and at a restaurant they had bottle reserves of angels share and sucaba

 

The most recent one for me was wandering into one of my local grocery stores that has a decent selection but never really has anything that rare. I look up at the top shelf and see a bottle of Founder's Sweet Repute sitting there for $13.99 which is a great price. Needless to say I left the store with a skip in my step.

 

I'll share another story.

I was in the town of Morrison, Colorado, a stone's throw away from the world renowned Red Rocks Ampitheatre. I stopped in the liquor store on the main street. Very small place, it had hardwood floors, quite charming actually. It had two beer coolers, one was full of the typical BMC stuff, the other a more craft oriented cooler. I gave the craft cooler a good once over, the selection was adequate but nothing special. So then I decided to check out the BMC cooler just for shits and giggles. And there, on the bottom shelf, wedged between the Budweiser and Coors Light, I saw a 4-pack of Bourbon County Brand Coffee Stout. My immediate reaction was shock and disbelief. I knelt down to peer behind the 4-pack and lo and behold there were five more 4-packs behind it. This little hole-in-the-wall shop in the middle of nowhere had an entire case of BCBCS, more than a month after it was released and the entire city of Denver had been shopped over no less! I wondered to myself what strange beer alternate reality had I stumbled into. So I started talking to the store owner, an older guy, who obviously had no idea what he had in his cooler. He said Budweiser had come out with a new expensive beer and he didn't know what to do with it. How he got the case I'll never know, my best guess is that the distributor accidentally shipped it to him. He said I could buy the whole case if I wanted. However, being a courteous BA, I just bought two 4-packs, figured I'd keep some there so the next BA who wandered into the store could have a similar experience.

 

At the Binnys Black Friday event I was 12th in line I stayed for the raffle and low and behold I won a chance to buy a bottle of rare gonna share it with my friends who where there with me my dad and my brother for my brothers 21st birthday this Dec. Should be pretty memorable thanks again VAV for waiting until you got to the case of rare to draw my ticket.

 

@PA-Michigander hooking me up with a package that included BCBS and FBS without me making my bones first! I did my best to pay back that kindness

 

Good merge

 

Traveling to HF last year with a buddy. When we got there it was around 11:30. Rainy and cold with no one in the parking lot. Is it closed we thought? No, we were just the first ones in line! Got a mess of great beers and left there bewildered that we got all the beers we wanted and didn't have to wait 2+ hours in line for them!!! Also had time to visit the Alchemist!

 

Happened fairly recently. Always enjoyed beer especially different IPAs and such and always liked to try different crafts, but it was the first time I tried BCBS that it really struck me how much great shit there was out there and so far it's has been a great journey just hunting down and trying different things. Thank god for this site to help me along. You BAs sure are the cats meow

 

they are not great beer but it is a good beer experience.The first time my nanny and I drank together. 19 and on christmas break. Miller lite, but it is a memory I'm fond of.

 

My most memorable beer moment was when I was in Flam, Norway in 2012. After an exhausting hike that lasted several hours, we came back down to drink some beer at ægir Bryggeri (http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/20864/). Having 4 guys (who aren't particularly in the best shape) hike up a mountain is a great bonding experience for anyone. Even better is sharing a flight of extremely well done beers afterwards with them.

Oh, if you ever thought about going to Norway, just go. Beautiful

 

First annual Firestone Invitational beer fest as a whole is a story in itself, but I will always fondly remember being near the front of the masses being told by Mr. Walker himself Not to run for the vanilla bean dark lord Booth. I then hobbled my gimpy ass, 6 weeks post my 2nd knee surgery, along with hundreds of other rebels to the 3 Floyd's booth. I ended up being about 20th in line. I turned around to find the rest of my group and was immediately astonished at the nearly 500 people in line behind me. That day I realized that I was a beer geek and that the Firestone Invitational was something I Would never miss.

 

First time I smelled a Lagunitas Sucks. It was magical.