Cellar? or drink ASAP? Why or why not?

[swenocha]

Don't you love those beer surprises? I've done the same thing myself a couple times. Always fun to find surprises like that...

A follow-up to my last story. There was the release party for the Black Belle today that Kent mentioned in the video. I was unable to go. Well, actually, I probably could have gone, but I've done a lot of beer stuff in the last month or so (Franklin Main Street Brew Fest, East Nashville Beer Fest, Founders Nashville debut, Cool Springs Brewery bottling/labeling, etc.), and with the Yazoo Funk Fest coming up, I figured I should skip this one and spend some family time. The way it was supposed to work was if you went to the release party/bottle share event at the brewery, you got a voucher to go buy up to four bottles of Black Belle. Any bottles left over after the vouchers were cashed in would be released to the general public. Apparently four bottle shops got the bottles... three up in Nashville, and one down my way in Franklin. About mid-day, I heard rumor on Facebook that the Franklin shop had the bottles available today. So... I needed to go to Home Depot, and this particular shop is right next door to HD. What a koinky-dink! I went over, and they indeed had some bottles... somewhere between a dozen and twenty. I bought two, and responded to the Facebook post from the friend who had also purchased them. Then, a while later, a guy who is friends of ours but is also affiliated with Blackstone, responded that the bottles were not supposed to be released to the general public until Wednesday, and that that bottle shop would lose their chance to get special release bottles in the future since they sold early. The guy at the shop, however, told me a different story. He said that he was told he could start selling today, but that they couldn't publicize that they had them, by Facebook or any other means, until Wednesday. He was happy to hear that people had posted to Facebook and gotten word out (saying he obviously couldn't control what the customers posted, and thus Blackstone couldn't say anything about that).

So... I may or may not have gotten these bottles before I was supposed to, and I may or may not have indirectly gotten this bottle shop in trouble with the brewery.

[Yankeedag]

I may or may not have read this post.

[swenocha]

Interesting article on this subject... http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1 ... 0502784062

[swenocha]

Growing...

[Gymrat]

With several cases of home made beer already cellared I rarely by any professional brew. When I do it is to compare to some I have made of that style. I buy 1 off the build your own six pack shelf. I go to Old Chicago once a week and sample professional brews there while having a little comradery with some of the other regulars there, the bartender, and of course flirt with the waitresses a bit (a man's got to have a hobby)

[swenocha]

Ain't nothin' wrong with that... I have love for the several cases of homebrew I have as well, but I also share love for great brews from great breweries... I tend to be one-and-done with most commercial beers, not because they are bad (I'm generally picking/trying good beers), but so to sample from a wide variety of beers and breweries. I will also buy a single bottle of beers I particularly like across several years (the Sofie in the pic, for example) to have a vertical at some point. Variety is the spice of life...

[philm00x]

Growing...

Damn, I was lookin at that Sofie and Lolita last night but I see you already got it... The search continues..

[jivex5k]

Yeah I've got a cellar growing too. Nothing crazy in it yet but getting there.
1 Black Tuesday
2 Barrel Aged Rasputin
1 Cascade Apricot
1 Bourbon County Brand Barleywine
1 Bourbon County Brand Stout
6 CCB Humidor American Sours
2 CCB 2014 Hunahpu's

Probably going to trade some of those American Sours pretty soon, want to get the Avery Rufus Covus coming out this Sunday.
I also have 2 Funky Buddha last snow growlers that are being traded from some Almanac sour and, my white whale, CCB Leon....Finally I will have a bottle of Leon haha!

Sometimes I think I like the hunt more than the beer, but then I end up tasting the beer and change my mind. Recently deceased from my cellar were Tart of Darkness and Marshall Zhukov's Imperial Stout.

What's great about saving bottles is you can have something special for any occasion, I opened those two bottles with good friends and it's makes a good time great when you can all share a special brew. That Zhukov...my god....

[swenocha]

Damn, I was lookin at that Sofie and Lolita last night but I see you already got it... The search continues..

Goose Island started distributing the hi-gravs out here mid to late last year...

[swenocha]

6 CCB Humidor American Sours
2 CCB 2014 Hunahpu's

Nice...

Probably going to trade some of those American Sours pretty soon, want to get the Avery Rufus Covus coming out this Sunday.
I also have 2 Funky Buddha last snow growlers that are being traded from some Almanac sour and, my white whale, CCB Leon....Finally I will have a bottle of Leon haha!

I'm looking forward to going to Funk Fest next weekend... should get tastes (and likely a few bottles) of some great sours...

They are slowly trickling out beer lists for the event...

1-Yazoo - "Na-na Na-na Brew Brew" ( Wild with Brett Nanus, Hibiscus and Sweet Orange Peel)

2- Multiple variants and years of Rodenbach.

Last year, Wakefield came up from Florida and brought great sours from them and CCB. Should be a great event.

What's great about saving bottles is you can have something special for any occasion, I opened those two bottles with good friends and it's makes a good time great when you can all share a special brew. That Zhukov...my god....

This +1. Exactly... I rarely open these bottles by myself on regular day-to-day occasions. For parties to share, holidays, and other special occasions, it's great to have a few nice bottles around.

[jivex5k]

Wakefield....cannot wait for his brewery to open...I'm glad I tried brewing a berliner though, the sourness is perfect and I can't wait to have it bottled and brew even more.

Rodenbach is always solid....should try to find a bottle of rouge to save. Just opened a BA Raspy with some friends last night at the bar. Quiet bar night, was pretty awesome, met some cool people and shared a little with them too.

[swenocha]

Sipping a Rodenbach Grand Cru since I have this afternoon off while the HVAC is being replaced. Today's addition to the list for the Yazoo event is Crooked Stave, which is another fav of mine. Sunday should be quite awesome. Last year was very good, but they've pledged to outdo themselves this year with the beer selection.

[jivex5k]

Crooked stave is outstanding! I had the pleasure of having some reserve society stuff from them...my god...best sours I've ever had the pleasure of tasting. Only thing close was Avery BA sours, and they are very very close, almost equal.

Just got some goodies to add to the cellar. Got my white whale =D

[jivex5k]

More beer mail =D
Had to let go two American Sours and a Huna for these though.

[SomeGuyBrewing]

The Almanac Farm to Barrel Series is FANTASTIC! Had the Bourbon Sour Porter a few days ago and it was ridiculously good. That Pluot & Sourdough look mighty tasty!