ICNY Beer Tasting - Placeholder
Refactoring, considering alternatives. These aren't the droids you're looking for.
Following on the heels of ICOK's off the chain vanilla stout whalefest, I was trying to think what I should follow that up with.
And then Founders released CBS in bottles for the first time in 6 years.
We last tasted CBS in March 2015, after I smuggled a pour out of the bathroom of a local bar (#yolo #noshame #totallysanitary) and we drank it alongside a 2011 bottling and another half-dozen breakfast-themed beers - all with coffee, all barrel aged, not all with maple. And the 4 year old batch of CBS and bathroom CBS killed everything in the tasting and left prisoners.
It was a great tasting, but it wasn't blind. It may as well have been - most people didn't know what most of the beers were beforehand, but still. It wasn't totally free from bias. So this next one will be.
Last time, my criteria was stout+coffee+bourbon barrel. This time around, stout+coffee+maple is the baseline. Some may be barrel aged. That part won't be a requirement. Beyond coffee, maple, and barrel, we'll try and keep known adjuncts down, but I'll play it by ear.
The goal will be to have a solid 7-9 beers to choose from.
The choose-your-own adventure part of this will come from the budget. I've played it conservatively in the past, tried to stick to beers I could get reasonably from my trading partners or retailers at or near cost, and trying to avoid the hassle of obtaining really hard to get shit on secondary markets. That's kept me from getting certain "hype" products at times, which hasn't been an issue with the themes of most past tastings, but it definitely overlaps with this specific theme. The more money I can budget for this, the more 'rare' shit we can include. That can be a roll of the dice as far as enjoyment goes, but I can definitely say that 'rare' beers were in the upper echelon of the stuff tasted at the last tasting. It definitely adds a level of RAD that can't be underestimated.
The poll function on Icrontic isn't working for me, and right now I'm too lazy to set up a Surveymonkey, so, if you're in, just comment with IN and the price you'd like to pay for the tasting. Bare minimum is $40. Upper limit is - whatever. On Monday the 11th, I'll take the responses thus far, aggregate a budget and pick out beers I can obtain, and have everything set with plenty of time for New Years.
This will be the first thing I'm ahead of schedule on in months.
Cheers!
Comments
Wait, so will these ALL have coffee in them?
Yesh.
y u do dis 2 me
You don't like coffee beers?
Too much maple. An occasional sip of CBS is about all I can tolerate.
She isn't going to be at ICNY?
u r tellin liiiiies
I might be, hence my use of the question mark. I made an assumption
I'm open to suggestions here, folks. We're far enough out I can make just about anything happen - and you know I like to make as many people happy as possible.
@GnomeQueen, @AlexDeGruven, what are some styles you'd like to see a comparison thrown down on?
I'd be interested at a lower price point, but I don't want to get into a "precedent" of $40+/event on tastings
I'll save my requests for Expo, as that's the only event I can reliably make it to
....what if we did BBA barleywines?
or maybe focus on a specific adjunct in stouts that's not coffee, like chocolate, spice/peppers, honey... something interesting.
Maybe special winter warmers?
I"m down for whatever, obviously. Would prefer a price point not as crazy as ICOK as this has been a very expensive couple of months for me with travel, weddings, holidays, etc.
Yea, I think the max I'd like to pay is $40.
Some ideas
Coconut stouts
Spiced stouts (low/no heat)
BA barleywines (would love to do this and include hype whales tho)
BA scotch ales (could do this nicely on the cheaper side)
I wont be there, but I agree with @UPSLynx, why not some some winter beers?
Anchor's Xmas
Sierra's Celebrations
Things of that sort, not crazy out there but season appropriate.
Hell, could even send out some Anchor Xmas ones in verticals if you do.
I would make a concerted effort to participate in a BA Barleywine tasting. Dark Horse's Oil of Gladness is my new sexuality.
BA scotch ales could be a lot of fun, and personally a category I've not explored too much.
BA Barleywines.... say no more. #BIL
BA scotch ales are my preference.
Soooo what's BA mean
Barrel Aged
o thx
I'm all about that coconut yo
Can you do Tripel Porterstoutbock PA's?
Potluck beer tasting?
I can bring a Great Lakes Christmas Ale vertical. I have at least three years, I think 2013-2015 or 16.
Sorry guys, this month has turned into a clusterf for me. I'm not going to have time to organize anything.
I plan on bringing lots of beer to share, but won't be able to do anything structured this time around. Hope to have the time to put something together for St. Paddy's.
I'm bringing 2x ea. of Great Lakes Christmas Ale 2012, '13, '15, & '16. Assuming the TSA doesn't take their cut.
@RyanMM, do you know of any place still selling the 2017? It would be nice to have fresh ones to compare to.
I'll look around next time I'm at a bottle shop.