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THE BEER THREAD

7,652,945 Views | 62634 Replies | Last: 6 hrs ago by Objective Aggie
NColoradoAG
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jah003 said:

AgEng06 said:

JK Synthesis Analogous this weekend... only 700 bottles. Let the **** show commence.


To me this seems like the kind of thing you'd want to do an online lottery for... You know, like you talked about after the Atrial release. But what do I know.
700 bottles seems like a lot for a lottery.
Quincey P. Morris
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Maybe but it wouldn't surprise me if that is gone on Friday. And they're gonna have people out there in line from the middle of the night Thursday at a minimum.
NColoradoAG
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Lucky #007 said:

Maybe but it wouldn't surprise me if that is gone on Friday. And they're gonna have people out there in line from the middle of the night Thursday at a minimum.
If they are trying to stop the lines from forming they should just start selling tickets to these things. It's much easier to organize than a lottery and it will accomplish the same result.
cc10106
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I expect JK to only have lotteries for mags in the future or as little as possible considering that's more space they have to allot just for pickups. Since they're a glorified bottle shop, all those other brands take up plenty space as well.

Announcing a beer like Synth that will sell out quickly this early in the week seems weird, but atleast they will have pours of it this time around. Whoever makes it out, enjoy.
cc10106
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Lucky #007 said:

Maybe but it wouldn't surprise me if that is gone on Friday. And they're gonna have people out there in line from the middle of the night Thursday at a minimum.
I agree about it selling out Friday but not the latter part. This ain't Atrial, but we'll see.
Quincey P. Morris
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It's a very limited barrel aged fruited sour with a one bottle limit. I think people are gonna line up early.
Lt. Joe Bookman
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Has this been shared, yet? 8th Wonder expanding to Galveston and San Antonio.

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/retail/article/8th-Wonder-approaches-regional-milestone-11745781.php
lne2011
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AggieOO
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In McAllen, about to hit up Big River Brewing. I have low expectations, but it's either that or BJ's, so...
Jock 07
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Lt. Joe Bookman said:

Has this been shared, yet? 8th Wonder expanding to Galveston and San Antonio.

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/retail/article/8th-Wonder-approaches-regional-milestone-11745781.php

What's the consensus on 8th wonder? Went for the first time ever last month and thought it was a cool place with avg beer
Quincey P. Morris
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I like their DIPA, IP8. Didn't like Rocket Fuel which everyone seems to like. Dome Fauxm is a Cream Ale which I always think are average at best so that's not really a knock on them for me. Weisstheimer is meh. Haven't had Hopston. I do want to get out to their brewery though. I've heard it's a really cool spot.
AggieOO
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Haven't been to 8th wonder, but agree their beers are average.

Most cream ales I've had are ok, but Anderson valley's summer solstice is solid. One of my favorite summer seasonals.
Connd
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I hope the ip8 I had from them was just old (canning date wasn't legible) because it was super terrible. The rest are drinkable. Nothing more.
La Fours
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8th Wonder's Haterade gose was exceptional. Better than Real Ale or Westbrook. I hope they keep making it every year and that it ends up in cans next summer.
AggieOO
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Surprisingly, Big River Brewing in Pharr isn't terrible. Not amazing, but at least I have a place to drink when I'm down here.
Jock 07
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In the mad search for the exotic cantillons, 3 fonteinens, tilquins, and other Belgium sours, it's easy to forget that there are some damn good, solid beers just hanging out on the shelf everyday.


MathNewman06
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Agreed. Hanssen's works just fine.
cc10106
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Ordered my first 8th Wonder beer in a loooong time last night, Side Hustle, a tequila BA gose. Gotta admit, it was pretty damn good, which i wasn't expecting.
DaveHimself
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txag2008 said:

Roughtail Brewing (OK City) hit DFW this week with Hoptometrist & Everything Rhymes with Orange

Ive been away from beer thread for about a month but came here just to sing praises for ERwO. Awesome NEIPA. It was canned 8/2 so only 5 days old when I had it Monday. I just stumbled on it at Total Wine by chance and didn't know they were newly distributed here.
62strat
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Scriffer said:



I don't think we've hit the saturation point yet, but the market definitely is shifting. We're getting to a point where it's not good enough simply to be a small local brewer. Consumers are really starting to pick and choose what they drink, and that's probably a result of 1) more options, both locally-grown and new availability from OOS breweries, and 2) just a more educated consumer base as the craft beer scene matures. Look at what's happened to Rahr in the last 5 years. I can think of maybe one of their beers I'd actually drink at this point.


I tend to disagree wth a lot of this.

First, there is a long line of people behind you that will follow your progression of having their first craft beer, then second, then they find Rahr and drink that for a while before moving on. It's a cycle. You've gone through it, but 90% of Texans haven't.. yet.

Along with that, I think a small local brewer sill has his place and can be successful. My little town has 3 of them. So many suburb towns in Denver have multiple of them. Again, probably a large % of these towns have barely scratched the craft surface if at all. The brewers still have a large market to capture. In downtown Denver or Austin, maybe it's a different story. Your percentage of beer geeks is way higher, so a lineup of a boring lager, brown, porter, stout and amber ale won't cut it.

All in all, a huge percentage of beer drinkers haven't even got into craft yet. And as new generations become of age, they are more likely to get into craft first, because it's trendy. So there is still so much untapped market, and it never goes away. Every year a few million people become of age.

MathNewman06
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Trying to make Galveston feel like the Oregon coast. It almost works.
MathNewman06
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On that note, Galveston Island Brewing is worth a visit. Good beachy beers, of course, but they've got a little something for everyone.
Inspector Spacetime
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62strat said:

Scriffer said:



I don't think we've hit the saturation point yet, but the market definitely is shifting. We're getting to a point where it's not good enough simply to be a small local brewer. Consumers are really starting to pick and choose what they drink, and that's probably a result of 1) more options, both locally-grown and new availability from OOS breweries, and 2) just a more educated consumer base as the craft beer scene matures. Look at what's happened to Rahr in the last 5 years. I can think of maybe one of their beers I'd actually drink at this point.


I tend to disagree wth a lot of this.

First, there is a long line of people behind you that will follow your progression of having their first craft beer, then second, then they find Rahr and drink that for a while before moving on. It's a cycle. You've gone through it, but 90% of Texans haven't.. yet.

Along with that, I think a small local brewer sill has his place and can be successful. My little town has 3 of them. So many suburb towns in Denver have multiple of them. Again, probably a large % of these towns have barely scratched the craft surface if at all. The brewers still have a large market to capture. In downtown Denver or Austin, maybe it's a different story. Your percentage of beer geeks is way higher, so a lineup of a boring lager, brown, porter, stout and amber ale won't cut it.

All in all, a huge percentage of beer drinkers haven't even got into craft yet. And as new generations become of age, they are more likely to get into craft first, because it's trendy. So there is still so much untapped market, and it never goes away. Every year a few million people become of age.



This 100%.

As part of my sales job with Karbach, I sample beer on Friday and twice Saturday, plus pop-up demos here and there in my territory on the west side-- so roughly 13-18 times a month easily, 3 hours per session. I do it in the suburbs, I do it in Montrose/Heights/West U, and out in Katy/Spring/Conroe/Pasadena/you name it. I'm generally set up in the beer aisle and am very observant of what people buy when not actively talking to someone.

I'd say around 85% of the time, people are there for Domestics/Mexican Imports/Low-Carb Lagers/Blue Moon-Shock Top-Leinenkugel's, and if you throw Shiner into the mix, you probably capture at least 90% if not more.

If I'm in Montrose, the Heights, Garden Oaks, certain HEB's in Spring/Katy/Sugar Land/Woodlands, this shifts slightly more in favor of Shiner/Karbach/Saint Arnold and national craft brands. But let's call it 75-80% macro even in the craftiest stores.

Like Strat said, people are starting to delve deeper into craft options, but it's absolutely a process that takes time and most have not gotten past their initial favorite gateway beers. These are the ones that take up the most shelf space too, fully justified by years of steady sales at good margins-- Shiner/Saint Arnold/Karbach/Real Ale. Retailers like HEB and Specs do a good job of featuring new craft beer, but they can only do so much to change tastes. People are very wary of buying a new six pack of something without trying it first. Also, the vast majority of people are NOT shopping in a Bunker Hill HEB, downtown Spec's, or Heights Kroger; most people get about 12-16 feet of "craft" options in the cold box. And you would be shocked how much craft beer is woefully out of date, even in the biggest and best craft sections.

I know people like to **** on the ABI High End video proclaiming wine and spirits to be the biggest enemy of craft beer, but go ask anyone in distribution about bar business in Houston, and they'll all tell you that beer is down thanks to craft cocktails and wine in all the biggest on-premise neighborhoods. Do a time-lapse of the last year or two of grocery store beer aisle resets and you'll see craft beer's area shrinking (stale national brands losing the most, thankfully) and the sparkling seltzer, hard root beer, hard cider, hard whatever section growing more than anything else. The wine and spirits industry is much older and much more highly developed, and is made of only a handful of international conglomerates with a buttload more money than the craft beer industry, whom they will out-spend on advertising for as long as there are alcoholic beverages.

As much as the informed beer drinker wants everyone else to be on the same page, it's still an extremely gradual process. The craft beer drinker goes out and buys one, maybe two 6pks of beer, or does a build-your-own so as not to risk too much on a whole $9-10 6er. The macro drinker goes and buys ONE OR TWO 18 PACKS that same trip to the store. And guess what, a lot of the craft drinkers ALSO buy an 18er of something macro because they have that family member or that friend to consider too.

As the older generations die off, craft will start taking a bigger piece of the pie. Unfortunately, we are still a long way off from it coming close to the majority. There is always going to be a market for economical fizz, and spirits companies will always spend big bucks on product development and advertising to churn out something in line with current tastes for a reasonable price.




tl;dr: It sucks, but less people than you think are drinking craft beer, and most of those are still drinking the biggest national/local brands. More than you'd prefer are drinking the gimmicky hard sodas or other alternatives.
jh0400
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I really like Citra Mellow.
MathNewman06
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That's the beer in the picture. I dont always go for wheats, but Tiki wheat was pretty solid. And their Samson stout deserves to be barrel-aged, and it has been, but they didn't have that version on tap, just the og.
Inspector Spacetime
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Have been meaning to post a few beers I've had since being on vacation as of Sunday afternoon:

Was sampling beer in Conroe till the afternoon, so my first vacation stop was at B-52. Upgrayedd and sours were on point!


Got to Vail Monday afternoon and had my first non-airport beer of the trip next to the slopes:


That was good, so I grabbed a 6pk of the Odd 13 hazy pale ale (canned 7/24). This seemed like an appropriate pairing (this margarita glass was the closest thing my aunt's condo had to a proper beer glass):



Wandering around the village today, I found a somewhat fresh single at a wine shop:



I also picked up a couple of Paradox sours (Future Knowledge and a Lemon sour of some kind), but I haven't opened those yet.

Heading out to Denver tomorrow and should be out sampling a lot more!
Represent830
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Wait... people actually like those hard ciders and hard root beers? Awful.
Inspector Spacetime
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Represent830 said:

Wait... people actually like those hard ciders and hard root beers? Awful.
I don't know that the root beers are at the top of that category, but consider that a hard seltzer is going to be like 100 calories, 4g carbs/sugar, gluten free, and made in whatever flavor. That's definitely going to appeal to some folks. Hard ciders are definitely here to stay. If I were gluten free for whatever reason, I'd be all over the dry English ciders.

Then you have stuff like the Bud ____-A-Ritas, which I also see getting picked up a lot, as well as expanding flavor offerings. It's a cheap 8% sugary can of booze. There's always going to be a market for that.
Represent830
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We deserve everything North Korea does to us
Scriffer
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Represent830 said:

We deserve everything North Korea does to us
Scriffer
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Also, strat and Inspector, I agree with most of your assertions. I should qualify what I said in a few ways:

1. There's certainly still an awful lot of headroom in the craft beer market. I just think the mayhem is cooling off a bit. For the people who have given up on Big Beer, there are lots of good options easily available. At this point, I think the simple novelty of being new and small isn't going to be enough to win *current drinkers* over from Big Beer who haven't been won over already. It's just the industry cycle coming out of its infancy into adolescence. As competition grows both from other new breweries and established craft brewers combined with the attacks from the majors, everyone in the industry is going to have less wiggle room.

2. I'm very interested to see how the next generation of beer drinkers responds and how it will affect the breweries. High school juniors and seniors leave the house less than they did in junior high these days (sorry I don't have a citation, but it wasn't InfoWars or the Young Turks). While they're certainly more geared towards craft beer - and a lot can change when they hit college/drinking age - if that trend holds, it would conceivably put a lot of strain on local breweries that rely on taprooms to get off the ground.

3. Given the current legislative and regulatory idiocy in Texas, the local brewpubs like you have in CO will be much rarer, especially for suburbanites like myself. So that's an element I just don't see in my day to day life.
62strat
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Represent830 said:

Wait... people actually like those hard ciders and hard root beers? Awful.
Ciders?? those are pretty damn good, and are intertwined in the craft beer community quite a bit. I'm planning on making an English holiday cider here in a few weeks, once my fermenter is free. Most beer festivals I've been to have ciders as well.

Hard root beers and ginger ales, etc., those are definitely gimmicky, and are mostly appealing to those who have just begun to get into craft, IMO.
NColoradoAG
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Inspector Spacetime said:


I also picked up a couple of Paradox sours (Future Knowledge and a Lemon sour of some kind), but I haven't opened those yet.

Heading out to Denver tomorrow and should be out sampling a lot more!
Did you ditch your plans to come to Greeley? The taplist and to-go options at WeldWerks are killer right now.

I'll be around here tomorrow until about 330 or so and around all day Sunday.
62strat
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Scriffer said:


3. Given the current legislative and regulatory idiocy in Texas, the local brewpubs like you have in CO will be much rarer, especially for suburbanites like myself.
I don't think it will. Give it time.. I think you're gonna the rate of breweries/taprooms opening be higher in suburbs at some point, because CBD areas are gonna be saturated first. Lots of suburbanites have lots of disposable cash as well, and rents are much cheaper for the business. If anybody is going to be closing (or moving), it's going to be the breweries that are opening in sketchy areas or areas that are currently undergoing gentrification, because when their 5 year lease it up, they may not be able to afford the rate hikes that comes with growth.

I look at river north in denver.. the area has seen tremendous growth in the last 5 years.. it used to be the dump of denver, and now, there are a dozen cranes putting up high rises and new buildings. There used to be maybe 2-3 breweries, now there are like a dozen, and many big names.. great divide already opened a huge barrel room, new belgium is opening a boutique barrel room in a swanky hotel, 10 barrel moved in recently, and odell is slated to build as well. Surely in 5-7 years when all that gentrification is done, some of those smaller ones are not going to be able to afford the current rent prices, unless they plan for it now and do some growing.

I've already seen one denver brewery move away from town and set up shop near my little suburb town, because of rent prices, I bet it's not the last. Also saw the closing of cheeky monk near downtown because of rent as well.
jah003
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S
Forgot to post this a few days ago...

ABW is doing everything right and that's why I love them so much. No #whalez hype, awesome taproom, friendly employees, and a zero F's attitude.
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