state your beer, drinkers

[soonami]

Nice one on the Kern River, heard that is a great IPA.

Btw soonami, have a question about PA beer laws -- what's the situation with what quantity places are allowed to sell? I'm under the impression most places can only sell by the case or something to this extent? Can you give me some insight on this as I'm going to be driving down to PA soon for a beer run.

PA has a weird 3-tier system for beers. The beer all has to come from the brewery to a distributor, these distributors then sell their beer to either bars or restaurants for retail or to other stores that then sell the beer by the case to the consumer. Some distributors have licenses to sell to both other distributors and to normal people. All "distributors" have to sell beer by the case.

Some restaurants or delis can sell 6-packs and singles with a limit per transaction of about 192 oz of beer. In practice however, all you need is to sell food of some kind or have a bar and you can sell smaller quantities. So, now some delis, supermarkets, gas stations now can get licenses to sell beer retail to go. The only problem with this model is that there are a lot of middleman all taking a cut, from the brewery-->distributor-->bar-->you the consumer. That's why PA beer prices tend to be higher than in other neighboring states like NJ and MD. You can find a lot of places that sell beer this way in Philly, but there are fewer options in the rural areas until you reach the West near Pittsburgh

[shufon]

Thanks for the clarification.. how much do the RR 375ml bottles go for down there?

Also, last time I mentioned sufu beer swap v2, I had 4 people interested. I'd be up for going ahead and doing it with 4 if you guys (concealed, ren, and Stylish Pilot) are still up for it. Also, I think it'd be better to add some specifications about what has to be included just to make it more fun. Something like.. must include __ amount of locals, 1 limited release beer, etc etc..

[concealed]

yes i am definitely in

[youkinorn2]

I have not had any beer at all in far too long. Really tired of my current living/life situation hahaha.

[Stylish Pilot]

I'm in, but I'm flying out to LA tomorrow. Won't be back until next wednesday...

[shufon]

^^youkinorn I got you when I come to the city

As for the swap, anybody who wants in throw out suggestions about specific rules they want, $$ limits, whatever, and I'll work on getting it all taken care of. If you're not coming back til next Wednesday Stylish, that shouldn't be a problem.. will probably take a few days to get this put together and then people won't be shipping til next week anyway.

[youkinorn2]

^^youkinorn I got you when I come to the city

haha, good looking out. I'm looking forward to it. Job hunt's just got me down and feeling homesick. 2 problems that beer can definitely help, ha. Maybe I'll hit up whole foods tonight and see what they've got that looks good.

Not having any glassware here makes buying bottles seem silly, though.

[nattomoto]

in for swap #2.

[shufon]

How big of a swap are you guys wanting to do this time? I've been reading through the BIFs on beeradvocate and generally there is a limit set on minimum ounces of beer to be included and there is generally some specification of what kind of beer must be sent.. i.e., "minimum 100oz, at least half must be local"

I'm up for anything so hit me with ideas. I think it'd be cool if one bottle had to be barrel aged beer.

[soonami]

I'd be interested in a Beer it Forward (BIF) as well. Barrel-aged, if they include sours might be fun, but that'll definitely make for pricey boxes.

As for your earlier question shufon, 375 ml Russian River Sours are generally $11-17 in Philly. The cheapest being in the suburbs at Whole Foods and the most expensive is Hawthorne's or Foodery.

[shufon]

Is Supplication easy to come by down there? I may just go down and buy a case of 375mls so I can take it easy trading for them. When trading, people expect way too much for the 375ml RR beers imo :\

As for the swap, to keep prices down, I was just suggesting 1 barrel aged bottle per box. Something like min 70oz (1 bomber + 4 12oz?) with at least one bottle being a barrel aged beer would be cool. That shouldn't be too pricey.

[soonami]

Supplication is available sparingly in singles but cases are long gone. Sanctification was recently released here so it's a bit more available now. However, I'm guessing most people have already thought about what you want to do and picked up cases to trade already. People want a lot for RR beers because they are pretty expensive at retail. However, west coasters get them pretty easily so they don't drive such a hard bargain for them. I think I recently traded some Wake and Bake, and Allagash sours for some.

I think barrel-aging would be a nice theme, I don't mind spending a little extra for beer, but I don't know if everyone else feels the same.

[shufon]

The west coast people are the ones I'm complaining about.. people I've dealt with recently want way more than I think they should given how easily they can get RR beers out there. A batch 1 Brute and KBS for 2 375mls of the most recent batch of Temptation? I'd much rather just pay the expensive retail instead of people expecting me to trade one offs and retired beers for recent batches of RR sours.. /rant

Anyway, I'll probably call a few places down there prior to coming to see what is available and then just take a Saturday afternoon to drive down and stock up.

[thomas_collins]

Hey I'm on the west coast and would love to participate. Not quite as beer-knowledgable as some of you - but I think with a little guidance maybe I could be a good contributor? Haha let me know.

[shufon]

Yeah you're more than welcome to join thomas. That puts us at 7. Hopefully we can finalize the details of the swap in the next few days, then I'll get contact info from everybody and let everybody know where to send.

[concealed]

Barrel Aged beers are fine by me. Might as well shoot for roughly 100 oz? that's basically 6 12oz bottles/cans and a bomber of -bal beer. should we set a $ guideline?

side note: I am doing my best to get tickets for the Extreme Beer Fest here on Saturday, any other sufuers coming?

[renski]

I'd be up for that as well but less oz since those tend to be pricey. barrel aged might be a bit difficult for me to locate since the normal season for

it has already passed.

[shufon]

@concealed -- wish I was going to EBF! That event looks insane.

ren- you should be able to find -bal beers pretty easily being in Cali.. I know most of the RR sours are -bal, and most places I go in the US nowadays seem to have a barrel aged stout or two in stores.

Ok, you guys decide on the size you want to do. I'm good with any size -- concealed's suggestion of a 6 pack and a bomber sounds good, but if anybody has complaints about that let me know.

My thoughts:

1 Barrel Aged beer

The rest 50% local, 50% whatever I think they would enjoy?

So.. an example would be if I had ren, I'd send him a barrel aged bomber, 3 Ithaca 12oz, and 3 12oz of some IPAs/DIPAs.

[renski]

RR is the easy choice but I'd rather give something that people normally don't get or have access too.

[concealed]

ren, the only RR i have ever tried was a 2 oz sample of pliny, I would be pretty happy with anything from them!

i think it would be fair to also substitute 2 12 oz's for a quality bomber

[shufon]

Haha yeah, I was going to say.. RR only distributes in 4 states.. unless somebody trades for it, they probably never get it :\

Also, yeah, substituting 2 12oz's for a bomber or vice versa wouldn't be a problem imo.

[Gecko]

Drinking this (terrible photo) tonight:

Nicely strong, malty, nutty, nice caramel notes. Quite 'old-fashioned'.

[soonami]

Shufon, you think "wood" or "oak-aged" is okay, or barrel only?

Barrel-aged Beers that are reasonably available I can think of:

Deschuttes Abyss

Goose Island Bourbon County Stouts

Weyerbacher Insanity and Heresy

Victory Dark Intrigue

Voodoo Black Magick

Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout

Mikkeller Barrel Aged Breakfast

FiftyFifty Eclipse

Port Older Viscosity

Lost Abbey Cuvee de Tomme, Angel's Share

Allagash Curieux

Southern Tier Cuvee

Schafly Bourbon Barleywine

Boulevard Bourbon Barrel Quad

Sours:

Cisco The Woods Sours

RR Consecration, Temptation, Supplication, Beatification

Cascade (all oak aged I think)

Ithaca Brute and LeBleu

Any Cantillon, Drie Fonteinen, Traditional Lambic

Jolly Pumpkin All?

Lost Abbey Red Poppy, Framboise de Amorosa

Allagash Confluence and Interlude

Wood:

La Trappe Quad, Oak-aged

Stone Oaked Arrogant Bastard

DFH Palo Santo Marron, Burton Baton, Immort Ale

Great Divide Oaked Yetis

Southern Tier Oaked Unearthly

There are more, there are just a suggestion and a starting point to think about

[renski]

also some of those are up there on price. I found a few still available near me. should be a good trade if we make everyone buy something local.

[shufon]

@Soonami - yeah, wood/oak aged is fine imo.. it's generally of similar effect.

[renski]

haven't had a sculpin in a while.

[shufon]

Ok.. so it seems everybody has no qualms with the size of the BIF. How does this sound as a finalization of rules:

1. Minimum ~100oz of beer.

2. At least 1 bottle must be barrel/wood/oak aged.

3. 50% of the other bottles must be local to where you live.

4. The other 50% of bottles should be something you think your target will enjoy (be creative )

Participants I have are:

1. shufon

2. renski

3. concealed

4. Stylish Pilot

5. zakurie

6. Soonami

7. thomas_collins

If these few rules are good with everybody, I'll collect contact info from everybody and hand out targets.

[soonami]

Hauls from recent trades:

Recent tastings:

[shufon]

^Is Nightstalker good? I saw bottles at Whole Foods in NYC but I wasn't really sure if it was worth the $$. Also, can you buy Lips of Faith in Philly??

[soonami]

I haven't tried the night stalker yet, just got that last night. I think it's the same base beer that goes into barrels for the Bourbon County's so it should be pretty good. I do wonder what the mouthfeel, carbonation, and sweetness will be compared to the BCBS variants.

No New Belgium in PA, soon it'll reach MD, but not here yet.