Wild Barrel Brewing - Inner Circle

Gotta say... based on my visit to the tasting room, @AyeDogg is pretty spot-on with my impression as well.

The fruited sours in particular were over the top sweet.

 

I visited last December and was pretty impressed. The tasting room was pretty spacious and they were offering a nice plate of barbecue.
Beerwise I enjoyed the San Diego Vice Berliner series, and really liked the BA Stout with Mostra coffee called Hipsters Demise.

 

I went last Dec enjoyed their beers and split a membership with my friend. We went last night and were pretty disappointed with their beers... esp their Vice series

 

I like the Vice base beer the best. I'd blend that with some of the fruited variants to get the sweetness down a notch.

Overall I was impressed with the beers I tried. They nailed what they are going for even though some were not to my person tastes.

 

Finally some membership news:

We are finally getting close to our first releases. Club membership cards, the club unique Rastal glasses and your T-shirts should all be arriving over the next couple of weeks. Now here is Preston, our intrepid Barrel Director, with more news:

Hello all, I am pleased to report that the first of several barrel aged stouts are nearing completion. The first two releases will be from Woodford Reserve barrels and they are tasting very smooth with just the right amount of barrel influence to back up the stout designed for this project.

With bottles and labels on the way we are looking at an early summer release. We'll have details to you as soon as we have the beers bottled in the near future.

Additionally we are working on a blend with Mostra Coffee that will be a bonus beer for the membership. Look for that after their anniversary party in November.

Sours - the word that everyone wants to hear, including me, are still a work in progress. We have several that have been selected for fruit additions and are planning to have a release once they are ready for prime time. Regardless of when these beers are ready, we will extend your membership until we have some barrel aged sours for you.

Also, 4 beers being in cans next week $17.99/4-pk +tax/crv limit 3/person:

1) Juice Junkie, a 7.7% hazy IPA dry hopped w/ Citra & Lemondrop
2) San Diego Vice w/ Pink Guava, a 5.6% Berliner Weisse style sour
3) San Diego Vice w/ Passion Fruit, a 5.6% Berliner Weisse style sour
4) San Diego Vice w/ Black Currant, a 5.5% Berliner Weisse style sour

 

Nice, canned Vice.

 

Wondering if maybe there is something that members can start checking out without having to drive down there (online can purchases, the recent collab with Bottle Logic, etc.). I know that the barrel aged stuff is still barrel aging, but it would seem there would be at least one member benefit or release offered in the first 8 months of the membership.

 

I did get an email about a month or so ago asking for my t-shirt size. So, we’ve got that coming up... er... um... soon?

 

Yeah the shirt and glasses should come with the first stouts which they said should be ready early summer. Any day now hopefully.

 

They have a list of names that they reference, but most of the time it is just an honor thing. Pretty sure it could be taken advantage of, but I haven't witnessed it as of yet.

 

Have any of you guys that are feeling disenchanted engaged the brewery via email or social media about updated timelines, the possibility of shipping IPAs, and other topics of interest to members? Or does idly bitching and speculating on BA scratch the itch for you?

 

Yes, you raise a valid point, but I consider it more "venting" than "bitching and speculating" - it's kind of cathartic. Besides, I only use social media to stalk ex-girlfriends and figured if I emailed them I would get a polite response that I would then have to post on here for everyone's benefit. Bill has been pretty good about being responsive in this forum and while I did post my "vent" mainly just to vent, I do realize that if stuff was ready they'd release it and the fact that there has been radio silence is because there is nothing to report. Shipping of cans would be great, so I would like to know what's up with that, I am really excited to try some of their aged stuff, particularly the stouts. I just hope that they don't run out of $ first!

 

I'll bite, even though I'm not involved. There's a little bit that could be misconstrued about shipping and can pickups here:

"If you choose to purchase our canned IPA’s we will only hold them for two weeks after the release. It is the Members responsibility to purchase shipping at time of ordering or pick up the canned IPA’s within the two-week window."

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As someone who just backed a Kickstarter for a new brewery by donating enough to join their guild/membership, I was happy to be told up front that the return on my investment would begin in 2019, not during year 1. I'm sure Wild Barrel will do right by y'all, but the idea of organizing and executing a full-on membership in year 1 probably isn't a wise decision for 99% of new breweries.

 

I missed that part, I really hope they do start shipping IPA’s, would love to try them.

Funny thing is right now people are complaining that they aren’t releasing barrel aged beer soon enough but once we actually have the bottles people will be complaining that they only aged the beer for 8 months haha.

 

Hah, they must’ve been paying attention to you guys, new member email just sent out.

 

Latest email regarding the Inner Circle:

"First off we want to thank everyone for being patient and remind you that we will be extending your club memberships out until we can fulfill your full allotment of bottles. Hopefully this will only be necessary for a few months into 2019. We are looking at our first bottles being ready in November. We will let you know the date in an upcoming email. As a thank you for being patient we will be extending the 10% discount out to you through all of 2019. Also there will be a 3rd bottle on us for one of your club releases."

Rest of the email is about upcoming draft and canned IPA releases.

 

After all this I really hope the beer is good.

 

I like their stuff I’ve had on tap, so there’s some hope their BA stuff will be good.

Does anyone still have the club details (they’ve been removed from online)? I seem to recall we we’re supposed to be able to pick and choose the percentage of BA sours vs. BA stouts we wanted for our individual memberships. Hopefully that remains.

 

That was for sure never offered. They stated all bottles included are the blender’s choice.

 

I've requested a refund twice, and was ignored. This is pretty much bullshit.