Beer in the new era

That stuff is such a cash cow. My MI beer insider friend complains about it a lot... "It's not that good! They are knowingly gouging you!" etc. He has a bit of a point.

man, that seems like a lot to me

now I wanna go to a local bottle shop and check the pricing

It's not my favorite DIPA, but I do enjoy one sixer of it every year.

Trader Joe's here has Hopslam for $16

I had one sixer and it was fine, but I'd rather have more of a chance to try the Oracle vs more Hopslam. Could only ever find one bottle of that shit.

That stuff is such a cash cow. My MI beer insider friend complains about it a lot... "It's not that good! They are knowingly gouging you!" etc. He has a bit of a point.

― dan m, Wednesday, February 12, 2014 2:11 PM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

man, that seems like a lot to me

― sleeve, Wednesday, February 12, 2014 2:12 PM (16 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yea, it does seem like a lot! anyone else feeling priced out of the craft beer movement? there are so many more good beers available now than, say, even 5 years ago but the prices have skyrocketed along with the quality. i feel like i never had to spend more than $9 a six-pack but now it's almost impossible to spend less than $12. all the best stuff is more like $14 a six-pack or $12 a four-pack. most bombers are expensive, too, more like moderately priced wine now. i feel like i have my repertoire of 4 or 5 breweries that still only charge <$10 a six, and branching out and trying new stuff just gets really pricey

My friend brought this up just yesterday after picking up a bottle of Sucaba. $20 a bottle of beer? I guess. I mean, it keeps, and some of that stuff has moved so beyond mere "beer." But those bottles add up fast.

Having had one sixpack of Hopslam this year, when presented with the option for more recently I went for yet another six of Sucks. Man I love that stuff.

yeah loving Sucks this year

sucks is great, will always drink a sucks.
this latest batch of Enjoy By didn't wow me but i'm gonna give it another chance, before the time runs out..

Man, I was really surprised to see shelves full of Sucks at my local Jewel of all places. Haven't gotten any of this year's Hopslam yet.

what I usually buy for normal home 6-pack usage:

10 Barrel IPA ($10 for 6)
Lagunitas ($9 or so)
Full Sail (usually when it's on sale for $7.50)
Ninkasi IPA ($10)

once Anderson Valley and Rogue hit $11 they became a lot less common in our fridge

never had a 10 barrell or a ninkasi :( or an anderson valley for that matter.

beer is way overpriced in NY i guess. even at delis most 6packs will cost you $12 or so, unless it's bud/miller type stuff. even brooklyn beers are usually around $10/six.

Typically the cheapest craft sixers I see around Chicago are Great Lakes stuff. Even Revolution has jumped the $10 barrier which is just insane, especially for their regular lineup.

ian I am gonna email you when I get home so I can send you a sampler, for reals

man, you dudes do get gouged on beer prices yikes.

imo, considering that dales pale is $16 a 12 pack and hopslam is $16 a six pack, i am not likely to buy hopslam ever again. shit, sculpin is $13 a six pack and ten times as good

10 barrel is really solid! i always forget... their 12-pack variety box is usually a good deal too

i've mentioned this before but hop valley has definitely secured a spot on my house's rotating roster of everyday-drinkin' beers. the festeroo, alphadelic, proxima and (most recently) citrus mistress are all pretty solid and less than $10/sixer

besides lagunitas, great divide might be my favorite brewery for affordable yet impressive beers. being able to get colette for $8-9/sixpack over the summer was a game-changer

anchor has some pretty solid stuff available in six-packs as well, especially when the seasonals are on sale

Citrus Mistress is v good, as I think I mentioned the Eugene Hop Valley is a 10 minute walk from me. did not know you could get it in 6-packs, will look.

their Alpha Centauri DIPA is yummy too

Hop Stoopid is my bargain DIPA.

bombers for like $5.00 cant go wrong there

yeah hop stupid is kind of shockingly cheap tbh

My local place sells singles for exactly 1/6 of a six pack price so I tend to buy a bunch of those rather six of one particular bottle. My standard IPAs are usually around $1.80 apiece ($10.80 for a six), stuff like New Belgium or Full Sail is lower, others are slightly higher (Sculpin is like $2.60 or something for some reason). I'll often get four packs of Old Rasputin or No-Li imperial stouts for maybe $10 or so.

Anything more than this, or more than $5 for a 22, makes me question how much I really want this particular beer.

yep! I will buy Ninkasi's Tricerahops for $5.50 but it is like 9.5%, other than that I stick to the cheaper ones

Pyramid is cheap but iirc they got bought out by a major?

i like Southern Tier's 2XIPA for a normal priced (usually $9/6 pack here), weeknight IPA.

hopslam livin up to the hype tbh. despite the honey it's not too sweet at all; subtle flavor, great mouthfeel.

a big display of Lagunitas Sucks just showed up at the local co-op, and no one seems to be buying it....should I?

Sure! It tastes good.

Or are you asking if you should buy the actual display?

Hell yes, but be generous (don't take it all). I've bought 4 6-packs by now this year, and never more than 2 at a time, leaving some for other beer nerds. If it sits there for many days, all bets are off, buy all you want.

it's been there for at least 3-4 days

sucks never has supply issues in my area

bought goose island "matilda" today on the salesperson's recommendation.

grabbed some Nugget Nectar just now. It's always good for a 6 pack a year, usually goes pretty fast around here.

i had sucks the other night, a friend brought some over. tbh it was good but i didn't think it was anything that special (like most lagunitas imo). i kind of hate the gimmicky backstory/packaging

oh man i totally disagree, i'd actually never had a full bottle before this year (had a taste at a bottle share long ago) and i was sort of on the same boat wrt the gimmick, but i absolutely love it.

anyone had that Evil Twin Ying & Yang? i think you're supposed to mix them black & tan style? i'm trying to pick some up as v-day beer. :)

xp, ha, i guess i'm kind of jaded in my beer drinking right now. there are so many full-flavored complex double IPAs out there now so when another comes around i'm just kind of like, yea, pretty good, nothing to go crazy about. even the much-sought after vermont double IPA heady topper whi i hear about all the time in new england - yes, it's a really good beer, like lots of thers out there! the beer-hunting, collecting, buy-three-cases-at-a-time beer advocate nerds i think are kind of overestimating all these beers a little imo.

otm

not calling you a dorky beer advocate nerd, though, jon! sorry if that came across

with something like sucks, which is available at nearly any supermarket or beer store around these parts (and a large chunk of the country), i think the hyperbole is more about the quality to price-point ratio than anything else

^^^

yeah, sucks is a great deal.
today i went to a weird grocery store a 15-minute walk from my house and got these--
4-pack bourbon county barleywine (lol how are these still there???)
firestone double jack
pretty things meadowlark.

i know meadowlark is a year round and maybe not that exciting to some ppl but i love it and there aren't a lot of places that carry it here on the reg.

had a "barleywine" night with friends a week ago. beer was amazing. will never do it again.

xp to jordan -- i had the IPA, whichever one that is -- yin? i forget. i thought it was really nice. very drinkable for the ABV, didn't punch me inna head with the hops. a bit pricey though, for regular drinking.

lol. i'm not the hugest barleywine guy, a lot of the time they're just too boozy for me, but i wanted to try the bourbon co and there it was... splitting the four pack with my boss.

haha, no offense taken! i've been way too busy lately to have time to track anything down or hit up stores that aren't near my daily routine - so i loved having something as reasonably priced as Sucks available super close to me. i'm not claiming its the best beer ever, or even in my top ten, but as for something i picked up in a sixer from the grocery store half a mile away, its a fantastic buy.

northeast, midatlantic, florida and tx folks: you have probably slept on previously nondescript vermont craft brewery otter creek. sleep no more--their last three special releases have been tremendous. the one out now is called citra mantra, a lager that used all citra hops. you may also still be able to grab kind rye'd ipa.

otm. had double dose recently and it was fantastic.