Most of the ones around me are either:

Almost to the point of drinking straight lemon juice mixed with vinegar...

or:

"Fruited Milkshakes" aka a neutral base "beer" with raspberry/strawberry purees/whatever/sometimes lactose added to make a wine cooler like beverage that can somehow, legally, be called a beer.

I just finished up the last one from the 2 fourpacks I was able to grab. I always drank it in a "set" with Gulden Draak 9000 quad, then the UMB, then a Boulevard Whiskey Barrel Stout. One hell of a 3 beer combo, and they really packed a punch!

I have become a super fan of barrel aged stouts over the last couple of years, and have been a recent convert to Belgium strong ales and quads, mainly thanks to HEP, haha. I'm really loving the Gulden Draak regular and 9000s, and particularly Rochefort #10.

I'm really enjoying the quality over the quantity aspect of these stronger beers as well; nothing beats sipping a couple quality beers on a New England Saturday night by the warmth of a wood stove. Well, pretty much every aspect of summer beats New England winters, but I'm sure you get what I mean, haha.

Interesting, in a novel type of way.

Since it is alcohol free, it should be significantly cheaper than beer (because of taxes, permitting, distribution channels, etc.), right?

I hope I'm wrong, but I'm guessing it isn't, though, and will be sold side by side with beer, for the same price as their cheaper, session brews.

Interestingly enough, I have taken a single homebrewer hop pellet, popped it through the wife's soda stream carbonator, then used it as the base for a lime-cilantro-chili marinade I make for carne asada and chicken in the summer time. Never occurred to me to drink it though, so maybe I can try my poor man's version.

On a side note, this kind of reminds me of branded limestone water that was meant to be paired with their various bourbon counterparts. Weller Water comes to mind, as well as a few others.

Cheers!

So, apparently, KBS will be available year round now...

I never really had a problem finding it before, even later in the year I could usually find dusty four packs of it here and there in recent years, but this is awesome news.

As much as I used to enjoy "the hunt" for hard to find beers and whisky, I'd rather just relax and drink them, and not have to worry that I'll have to scramble to find whatever it is again.

Hopefully the quality isn't effected by this, and maybe the price...will come down?

Cheers all!

Unfortunately, the only Bruery stuff I have ever really seen with any regularity my way have been the god-awful bakery releases, specifically cherry pie.

We cracked one open Saturday night, and we could barely finish the can amongst the six of us. Syrupy sweet, and super cherry forward. Not balanced at all. Literally a one sip and done beer.

I've had some of their other offerings, which were really good, but they are scarce here. One day I'll find a couple of those killer "weekday" stouts y'all love to tease me with on here

Holy shit! It's...………………………………………………………….BEAUTIFUL!!!

I love me some bourbon barrel aged stouts, Belgian strongs, and browns.

Stay safe out there!

So are these available off the shelf, or are these brewery only?

They look ridiculously good!

Crazy...in an awesome way of course.

In a similar vein, I'm about 45 minutes from Treehouse, which people go gaga over. Alchemist offerings are only an hour away in VT. And Lawson's is distributed like Bud Light in CT. Strangely, I haven't had one of the three, in I'm guessing, over a year now.

Funny how the whole forbidden fruit thing works.

I love Hopslam, probably being the first IPA I really truly "liked", and grab 5 or 6 six packs when it's out, and try to limit myself to one or two a week to make it last (I know this goes against what Bell's recommends, but I find little to no difference after a few months stored cold in the beer fridge)…

Now that it's April, and likely not to be seen again until next year, does anyone recommend anything close to it?

I love the sweet, malty, taste, bursting with hops, and higher in gravity; it's awesome!

I like this beer so much, that I've currently got a clone of it brewing now in the fermenter; I found a few different recipes, and combined what I thought would be the best additions to get it close, paying close attention to the hop bill. Starting fermentation at a controlled 62 degrees, and ramping up 1 degree everyday, this thing nearly blew the lid off it was so active.

Being on day 10 now, the airlock has finally just slowed down to a burp every 20 seconds or so; I plan on dry hopping today with 2 oz of Simcoe, letting it sit for 3-5 days until fermentation is completely done and to let the yeast clean everything up, then gelatin fining and cold crashing for 5 days (as there is SO much suspended hop material in this), then bottling.

It smells identical out of the airlock, and the tiny taste I took when I did a gravity reading last night gives me good hope, though my version is slightly darker. This will be the first time I have ever not racked to a secondary; I'm doing everything in primary. If it turns out well, which I believe it will, I may start even bottling from primary in the future, to effectively eliminate any oxidation that could ever occur. So basically Hopslam has not only changed how I look at IPA's, but how I homebrew beer, haha.

Before we jump further down the wormhole into other hobbies unrelated to pinball, beer, etc...the amount of technology in airguns has been nothing but stunning in the last few years...

As an avid marksman in both combustion propulsion and compressed gas propulsion, the newest PCP's are crazy awesome! Legitimate .22lr power and accuracy, without the report (depending on how you adjust for velocity, as you can still get a sonic "crack" above 1100 or so fps...), and have become shockingly affordable.

Hell, nowadays, for about $500, you can get a Marauder, a cheap tank setup (so you don't have to hand pump), a semi-decent scope, and you can be shooting sub moa out to about 75 yards all day on a single gas charge. Spend a little more, and you can have a world class accurate setup, or a larger caliber, that you could technically hunt game with. A large grain .30 projectile at 1100 fps out of an airgun is still a large grain .30 projectile at 1100 fps...

And since these aren't firearms, you can have them shipped to your door, and you can even fool around with making/fitting a homemade suppressor, only for lawful purposes, of course.

Now back to your regularly scheduled beer talk on a pinball forum

Nice Defender!

If you can find it, try the Bruery's Bake Shop Cherry Pie Imperial Stout. It's not really MY bag, but I'll be damned if it isn't like drinking sweet cherry pie.

We get some Sloop stuff occasionally here in CT; Make It Nice! is a favorite of mine; pricey for what it is, but good nonetheless. I'll keep my eyes peeled for some other varieties.

They started limited distribution of this is my area; comes out quarterly.

I remember the first time I had one years ago; I thought it was so hoppy and bitter, and didn’t see what the hype was about.

Fast forward to now; it’s really good. The hype train is real. In a world of unbalanced “hop soups”, this is a spectacular beer. The OG for a reason.

Even with all the new exceptional beers out with all the new fangled hop varieties, this still stands out.

Perfectly balanced and nuanced, amazing smell, sweet maltiness, dangerously drinkable. A real IPA drinker’s IPA. I prefer this to every beer from Treehouse I’ve ever had. If this was available like bud light was, I’d be broke and very fat, lol. Top 3 beer for me, no doubt.

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They brought back Hopslam in bottles?!? Or is that just for the locals? Hopslam is my favorite beer!

Enjoying this one now (down to my last 6 pack, canned on 1/10/20)

Cheers!

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Night capping with one of these. A perennial, local favorite, with a little controversy behind it.

It was a good day. 3 of my favorite beers, in a row. Played a few games and finished working on another. Set a GC on a game I’ve had for a while. And I didn’t even have to use my AK.

Cheers!

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Tease!

The 'Slam hasn't even entered the distro lists here yet, so no idea when it will be coming.

I buy about 10 six packs to get me through the year; that said, I MUCH prefer it fresh, those sweet tasty hops really punch your taste buds when they are still young; they don't "cellar" well in my humble opinion, as the hops they use fall out of suspension and the hoppy forward taste starts to fade after a few months. Don't get me wrong; it's still a spectacular beer, even after a year in the can/bottle.

Cheers!

It's hard to tell from the picture, but that looks like the "regular" Narwhal, as opposed to the Barrel Aged Narwhal. I still have one in the cellar from last year's release, and it was in a can; previous year's I don't recall if it was in a bottle or not.

Seeing as your in NY, an absolute favorite of mine, that is only released this time of year, is Sixpoint Master Blend; its one of the best BBAIS around, and is a very good bargain at $13 for a 4 pack.

They “discontinued” Sam ‘76, and rebranded it as “Wicked Easy”.

I’ll catch flak for this, but Sam NEIPA is actually pretty damn good, and when a 12 pack is $14.99 or so, it’s a legitimate bargain these days.

I haven’t discerned if Sam “Wicked Hazy” is a rebranded Sam New England IPA, as I still see both in the distribution channels, and can’t really tell any difference between the two.

Sad to see the hands down best bargain in Imperial IPA go from a 6 pack down to a 4...I love me some Waldo’s, but I’m guessing the $11.99 price it normally is (for 6), will be $15/$16 for 4 now. Only conjecture on my part, as I haven’t seen it around my ao yet.

In my humble opinion, it runs circles around 120, and it’s 1/3 the price; or was...cheers regardless!

As a local, who lives 45 minutes away, I would humbly and respectfully inform you that there are a bunch of newer small breweries that have come on-line in the last 5 or so years that make a product as good, if not SUBSTANTIALLY better, than anything by TH, and usually cheaper, too. Many are readily available in run-of-the-mill liquor stores as well, so you don't have to take a special trip.

I know its all subjective, and it's just an option. Not trying to interject.

Also, many once highly sought after beers are now always or almost always available in local stores year round. Think Sip of Sunshine, Fiddlehead, Heady Topper, etc. This is about the best part of living in New England at this point, haha.

And I totally get "it", TH DOES make many great beers, but there is serious competition and many options in these parts nowadays.

Cheers!

BCBS is like that here in CT, too. The variants can be difficult to find, and I don't think we get all of them every year, but you can usually find one or two of them, even though they are usually expensive imho, at around $29ish per.

But the regular old BCBS, is usually around for months, if not the entire year, and even previous year's in some smaller mom and pop shops, for $12. It's a good thing, because the regular is my favorite. Which reminds me, I have a few '16's still kicking around that will need to go in a 5 year vertical to be shared with a friend (or two, haha).

And back in can form! (which for some reason, I prefer over bottles)

About the only positive result of covid…The Alchemist distributes to the 5 surrounding New England states once every corresponding week (and sometimes out in Oregon and Washington apparently) to make up for all the lost local VT restaurant/bar sales when on-premise sales got shut down originally for the pandemic. Timing it right, I’ve been able to keep it stocked like Coors Light since 2020. I hope they keep it up.

It really still is the best example of the style, nearly two decades later…

It’s certainly hit saturation in my AO as well; you can grab >5 years back from lots of places here, and they are marked at $11.99. Makes tastings with friends convenient as hell, and I don’t have to stand in line when they release. I haven’t even bought my usual 4 of any current year, because there’s no rush. I laugh seeing the variants marked at $40 (which are usually not as good as the standard expression), that are covered in years of dust.

That said, bcs is still one of my favorite beers year after year.