Happy Friday, beer lovers! Stop in and share a cold one.
A couple weeks ago, a mail on the homebrew club list told me about a liquor store nearby with an enormous and excellent beer selection. 500 beers, they claim. I had to investigate.
When I saw the club president I mentioned this note, and that the store was only a couple miles from my home but that I didn't know of it. "It's next to the porn store", he said. I'm ashamed to say that it never occurred to me to deny recognizing this landmark. But I digress...
It's hard to imagine or describe how many different beers they fit into a very very small space. Beers that are renowned among aficionados. Heavy on the famous California brewers like Stone, Port, Green Flash, Lost Abbey, Russian River. Heavy on the hops; lots of IPA and Imperial IPA. Unusual brews from well-known places like Sierra Nevada (although good old green label was there too). European craft brewers like BrewDog and Mikkeller. A superior selection of Belgian and Belgian-style beers including many sour ales.
But Jesus H. Christ! The prices! My taste buds were saying "I want that, and that, and that...".
And my wallet was screaming "Run away! Run away!"
Row after row of $14.99 bottles of beer! And no shortage of bottles costing more. (That is, I admit, a 22oz bomber. Usually.)
This picture shows $49 worth of beer. When I was young that would have meant a mountain of 12-packs (though let's not talk about the quality); here it's probably not even a gallon.
I understand that barrel-aged beer, processed like wine, needs to cost wine-style prices. But that Mikkeller single hop IPA (the two bottles in the middle) is $5.99 for an 11oz cheater bottle, the one I tried wasn't really that special, and for that price I can buy a sixer of pretty good beer, or at my favorite bar a pint of something really great. I'm not planning to become a regular at that store.
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We haven't had any music around here lately so here are a couple links. This is a Romanian song a friend just forwarded today, called "Long Live the Beer!":
And the FNBB theme song:
I'm drinking Trader Joe's Dunkelweizen, and I have one more Green Flash IPA left (not in that picture but no bargain at $10/4 pack). What are you drinking?