Why isn't CBS a regular yearly release?

I spoke to a Founders rep not to long ago about this and he said they have it in the works already, expected to be out sometime in 2015. He said it takes awhile to prep the barrels (about a year if recall him correctly) and the beer itself is about another year to be ready for the barrel.

...besides if it was released yearly it would ruin the hype bro

 

I get most of what your saying, however I was under the impression that the increase of 2013 KBS was what they were making...meaning 2014 will have a higher bottle count. Plus you have to consider that Founders' market grew this year, their distribution went a lot further than previous years.

 

I re-read what Mike and Dave said in the beerpulse printed press release and they indeed said in March 2012 that "Next year’s release will be about three times the size, because we were able to brew it on our new 85 bbl brewhouse just recently."

I also get that they went into new states, but they did not triple their distro footprint. Who knows, there are a ton of variables...Ohio lost our tenured Founders rep, maybe sales of year rounders weren't as strong as other markets, etc. But the point of my wordy rant is they don't seem to have a problem shorting the marketplace, so I doubt they're really spending too much time waiting until they can "make enough".

Cheers!

 

Just to reinforce most of what's been said....

Based on what was said at the Founder's breakfast at Armsby Abbey a few months back now...

1. Founders uses only one supplier (Blis) for their maple bourbon barrels and they are in limited supply.

2. The brewers at Founders have several beers they plan to make (including CBH) that use these barrels before they plan to make CBS again.

3. CBS will be brewed again, but it is unlikely to be soon. I imagine that it will likely be mid - late 2014.

 

There was a thread about this, and (if I recall correctly), a Founders rep emailed one of the BAs to let him know BS is not quite the same recipe as the base beer for KBS.

 

I dont drink stouts so this is merely by observation, but it seemed like there was much more KBS available this year than last, at least ON TAP. So maybe they did triple production, but most of the extra production went into kegs, so that case sales were about the same.

 

Maybe AB-Inbev should buy Founders so they can brew the core lineup and leave the crew in Grand Rapids free to brew KBS and CBS full time.

 

I just had CBS yesterday at a Founders event. Not only is it NOT past it's prime, but 6 of the 8 of us thought it has aged well and was better than last year.

 

I just wish I could get my hands on one bottle of KBS, let alone CBS.

 

It depends on what year you got. They make small batches of CBS and release it at special events. I've got CBS on tap at founders several times and its defiantly not all from 2011, just an fyi to everyone.

 

C'mon man, you know how taste is subjective, therefore how a beer ages is gonna be subjective. Its not an "understand" thing. . .

My same tasting group drank CBS fresh, and then drank it again in March 2013.

Fresh was delicious.
March 2013 was delicious.

 

All true, the batch at Winter Beer Festival was fresh. Way fresh.

 

I've only ever had it as a bottle pour. From my understanding they only bottled it in 2011 hence the 4 times I had it would have been from the same batch.

 

I had it this weekend. I stand by my statement. If you like stale coffee, well, okay, but I think that's pretty weird.

 

Also, I have a hard time believing that anything more than very few people know when the next CBS release will be. I'm sure outside of the next backstage release, few, if any, reps have a sure idea of what is in the pipeline. Foremost, look at how Doom ended up taking a month or two longer than anticipated.

Not to say there isn't casual conversation of what is down the road but, I find it highly unlikely that Founders has a developed roadmap through 2015 (as noted earlier) especially with how fast the brewery has been expanding and adding additional equipment. And if they do, that they'd be giving that information out to market reps this early in the game remains hard to believe.

 

I can tell you people saying that Maple Syrup Bourbon barrels are hard to come by haven't been to Founders in recent months. They had their Porter aged in Maple Syrup Bourbon barrels and called it Panther Cub. They had it on tap there for about 10 days. It was an amazing a beer as you could imagine.

That means they chose not to brew CBS and instead aged their Porter in Maple Syrup bourbon barrels. This leads me to believe that they still come by Maple Syrup barrels but perhaps not enough to produce a ton of CBS to distribute outside of the brewery. Either that or they just don't want to make CBS right now

 

I think its weird anyone would drink CBS for the coffee aspect moreso than the maple.

I like regular breakfast stout with age on it, I like coffee bender with age on it. . . I'm rarely a 'drink coffee beer' fresh guy, so maybe that is my issue, but its not a lack of 'understanding' as much as its a preference.

 

It's under general assumption that they brew small batches of CBS every year much like they did with Panther Cub. In terms of barrels produced versus volume needed for a Backstage Release, I'm sure these small batches are fractional.

 

Philly beer week? Looks like I need to make it up there, I would love to track down some CBS