Roast or Toast - The Beer Trolling Thread

[Evan]

I stopped paying attention to "craft" beer when it just became a contest of who can stuff the most hops in a beer and put a witty name on it.
I've never heard of Bells either, but considering the market is at full craft beer saturation, Im willing to bet you could find a different yet indistinguishable beer at total wine.

[JPolen01]

It's far too difficult to keep up with beer when I walk into a liquor store and there are 50+ choices for six and 12 packs and then literally hundreds of single beers to choose from. It must be a logistical nightmare to stock all that and I can't imagine most of it isn't past the sell by date. Same thing with restaurants. It takes me 20 minutes to read a beer list so I end up going with the same 6 beers I'm used to.

I've given up on beer mostly though. Vodka and gin at open bar events. Spiked seltzer on the beach/at cookouts. Flame on.

[.RJ]

Of course I'd rather sit at home and drink Aslin.

Same here.  I dont drink all that much these days so I tend not to buy anything else... they have pretty good range so its not all hopsicles.

[Gordonovski]

Of course I'd rather sit at home and drink Aslin.

Same here.  I dont drink all that much these days so I tend not to buy anything else... they have pretty good range so its not all hopsicles.

Even their biggest hop bombs are more palatable than typical IPAs because of the way they hop everything. Almost rather drink an Aslin Triple IPA than a big box single IPA.

In other news, Wicked Weed continues to live up to expectations by brewing funky beers but not knowing how to run a business. They died to me when AB Inbev bought them, and AB keeps using them as a use case of "brewer independence" when they make dumbass decisions.

https://www.goodbeerhunting.com/sightlin...in-atlanta

[Deceus]

Not being able to swing into Ocelot or Aslin is about the only thing I miss about NoVa. I used to pop into Three Notch on occasion on Thursdays for their local small batch releases but most of them haven't sounded remotely appealing in the last year or so. I'd kill for a good local place to grab some fresh cans on a semi-weekly basis. The ABC shutting down both bottle shops in Harrisonburg really sucks. Midtowne still has a single shelf to select from but rarely has anything I consider worth driving into town and dropping ~$20 on. I'll just stick to my pastry stout stockpiling for now.

Speaking of disappointing, Hardywood let me down big time this year. The base gingerbread stout really wasn't that great which I could live with since I usually build a pretty good stash of the barrel-aged stuff. I don't know what they did this year because there's next to no flavor in any of the special releases. They must've blended that shit to make the barrel supply stretch or something. The Apple Brandy edition was especially disappointing compared to last year which was amazing. The Christmas pancakes makes a pretty good breakfast for dinner beer though.

[Jewels]

Not being able to swing into Ocelot or Aslin is about the only thing I miss about NoVa. I used to pop into Three Notch on occasion on Thursdays for their local small batch releases but most of them haven't sounded remotely appealing in the last year or so. I'd kill for a good local place to grab some fresh cans on a semi-weekly basis. The ABC shutting down both bottle shops in Harrisonburg really sucks. Midtowne still has a single shelf to select from but rarely has anything I consider worth driving into town and dropping ~$20 on. I'll just stick to my pastry stout stockpiling for now.

Speaking of disappointing, Hardywood let me down big time this year. The base gingerbread stout really wasn't that great which I could live with since I usually build a pretty good stash of the barrel-aged stuff. I don't know what they did this year because there's next to no flavor in any of the special releases. They must've blended that shit to make the barrel supply stretch or something. The Apple Brandy edition was especially disappointing compared to last year which was amazing. The Christmas pancakes makes a pretty good breakfast for dinner beer though.

I'm friends with the Brewster down at Three Notch'd, so if you are looking for something in particular for her to make let me know and I'll talk to her about it.  Maybe she'll make a batch.  I typically like her stuff, but I honestly haven't been downtown for a while ( I am lazy about it in the winter).

[.RJ]

Even their biggest hop bombs are more palatable than typical IPAs because of the way they hop everything. Almost rather drink an Aslin Triple IPA than a big box single IPA.

Almost... I tried one of their early Triples and man that was over my limit, but still better than some overhopped bitter shit low gravity singles. Whats your favorites? We'll have to get together and nerd out on Aslin sometime.

Not being able to swing into Ocelot or Aslin is about the only thing I miss about NoVa. I used to pop into Three Notch on occasion on Thursdays for their local small batch releases but most of them haven't sounded remotely appealing in the last year or so. 

If there's anything you see that you feel like you have to have, I can grab it for you and hold it until you can pick it up or I make my way down yonder, I'm 5 minutes from the brewery and sometimes its on my way home from work.

Why did ABC shut down the bottle shops in HBG?

[Deceus]

Even their biggest hop bombs are more palatable than typical IPAs because of the way they hop everything. Almost rather drink an Aslin Triple IPA than a big box single IPA.

Almost... I tried one of their early Triples and man that was over my limit, but still better than some overhopped bitter shit low gravity singles.  Whats your favorites?  We'll have to get together and nerd out on Aslin sometime.

Not being able to swing into Ocelot or Aslin is about the only thing I miss about NoVa. I used to pop into Three Notch on occasion on Thursdays for their local small batch releases but most of them haven't sounded remotely appealing in the last year or so. 

If there's anything you see that you feel like you have to have, I can grab it for you and hold it until you can pick it up or I make my way down yonder, I'm 5 minutes from the brewery and sometimes its on my way home from work.

Why did ABC shut down the bottle shops in HBG?

New ABC manager took over and had a different idea on how the law was supposed to work. The old one was lenient with the food sale requirement since it's fucking ridiculous anyways but the new person took over and started a zero tolerance policy. She couldn't afford to pay the fines and think Mid Towne simply moved everything into their convenience store and drastically downsized to make the percentage.

I think they were operating on some kind of wine & gourmet food license that required something like 25% in sales be food. People gave them shit for that but I don't think there's really a small bottle shop license. People aren't going to blow $10 on snacks every time they buy 2-3 bottles of something decent and if you start preparing food to make the 25% it becomes 45%. Maybe one of these days we'll get rid of the idiotic liquor laws in VA but I doubt it.

I usually order through Zach when I can but I'll be sure to bug you too haha.

[JPolen01]

I'm glad I don't have to deal with the bullshit of ABC stores anymore. Why do you guys hate the free market?

[.RJ]

We have a couple of bottle shops here that dont sell food (wine cabinet in reston, dominion in falls church before they started selling food, norms in vienna...) something else must have been going on

[Apoc]

I'm glad I don't have to deal with the bullshit of ABC stores anymore. Why do you guys hate the free market?

WA opened liquor the year we got here. Now I can't wait until they selling weed in grocery stores.

Stocked up on beer ahead of a snowstorm. I love that I can order online from work and it's ready to pick up on my way home.

[JPolen01]

The fuck is a bottle shop? Do they only sell loose beers?

[Apoc]

The fuck is a bottle shop? Do they only sell loose beers?

They don't sell hard seltzer, so it's no concern of yours.

This is where we went last night - 24 fridges and 50 taps. Drink onsite or take them to go. There's no kitchen.

[Sully]

That's crazy. I don't understand how you can't sell off premise beer at your leisure. I used to deal with Lauren (name?) a lot when I was delivering up there. She was always pretty nice and easy to work with. What other bottle shop did they get? How does total wine and stuff get away with it? I feel like that's not how the law works.

Skyline bottle had an ok selection and I know she'd order whatever her distributors could get her if you ask. Or is she gone too? Melissa? (name? Maybe. That sounds wrong though)

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[Deceus]

We have a couple of bottle shops here that dont sell food (wine cabinet in reston, dominion in falls church before they started selling food, norms in vienna...) something else must have been going on

I wouldn't be surprised if there was but it is a lot more likely that the new sheriff in town just wanted to flex. That's a story as old as time. Different regions have different managers so that explains why things are different in NoVa. I highly doubt there's anyone dumb enough to try this bullshit all across NoVa.

Here's the categories VA ABC has for wine + beer off premise licenses: Grocery store, convenience grocery store, delicatessen, drugstore, gift shop, gourmet shop. That's it, there is no license specifically for bottle shops. No clue how Total Wine skirts that non-sense probably because there's special provisions for wine wholesalers.

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That's crazy. I don't understand how you can't sell off premise beer at your leisure. I used to deal with Lauren (name?) a lot when I was delivering up there. She was always pretty nice and easy to work with. What other bottle shop did they get? How does total wine and stuff get away with it? I feel like that's not how the law works.

Skyline bottle had an ok selection and I know she'd order whatever her distributors could get her if you ask. Or is she gone too? Melissa? (name? Maybe. That sounds wrong though)

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Yup Melissa at Skyline is gone. Was really mad about that because I could basically walk to it at my old place and its 2-3 minutes away from my house now and just so happened to be on the way to the kid's school.

[.RJ]

No clue how Total Wine skirts that non-sense probably because there's special provisions for wine wholesalers.

Lobbying money.

[Sully]

Damn she was always so nice. But unfortunately I didn't really think she'd last forever. I don't think the area could support her and I feel like massanutten people rarely ventured in which was probably get hope from the start. The couple times they did when I was there, they were looking for liquor. (out of state people not familiar with abc)

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[Apoc]

Had some company while doing our taxes. 

[ScottyB]

You bastard. I'm on the hunt for some more now.

[Gordonovski]

Even their biggest hop bombs are more palatable than typical IPAs because of the way they hop everything. Almost rather drink an Aslin Triple IPA than a big box single IPA.

Almost... I tried one of their early Triples and man that was over my limit, but still better than some overhopped bitter shit low gravity singles.  Whats your favorites?  We'll have to get together and nerd out on Aslin sometime.

I'm a big fan of the Johann series and Champion of the Sun, but will drink just about anything from them. Never been a big fan of their stouts though, usually way too sweet for me. What about you? 
And I'd be down, I work just down the street in Reston too