The Beer Thread
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I've got a vertical from 2009 for Bigfoot. I'm not sure when I'll drink them, but god damn will it be fun. Bigfoot is an American Barleywine though, so it's hop-forward and bitter to balance all the big malty/sugary/boozey flavors. Traditional English Barleywines don't have that hop-punch.
God damn, it's Barleywine season isn't it. Can't wait to pick up some of my favorites.
Joeboo
Molten Core Raider
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Costco rolled out their Kirkland-brand light beer nationwide this fall. $22 for a 48 pack of cans, lol. Saw the 48-pack for the first time this past weekend when I was in Costco. That is a bigass box of beer.
Kirkland Signature Light | Community | BeerAdvocate
Kirkland Signature Light Beer, 105 calories, 4.2% ABV. Contract brewed for Costco by the Gordon Biersch Brewing Company under the brewer name Hopfen Und Malz (for the west coast market) and since mid 2009 by Matt Brewing as "New Yorker Brewing Co." (for the east coast market), and for central states by Minhas Craft Brewery as "Regal Brau Brewing Company."
Kirkland Signature Light | Community | BeerAdvocate
Kirkland Signature Light Beer, 105 calories, 4.2% ABV. Contract brewed for Costco by the Gordon Biersch Brewing Company under the brewer name Hopfen Und Malz (for the west coast market) and since mid 2009 by Matt Brewing as "New Yorker Brewing Co." (for the east coast market), and for central states by Minhas Craft Brewery as "Regal Brau Brewing Company."
Pagan
Lord Nagafen Raider
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Interesting....the only problem for me is, I cannot stand anything Gordon Beirsch makes.
opiate82
Bronze Squire
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Generally speaking 5 years is about as far as you want to go on aging a beer (and usually they peak around year 3). Even the best sealed bottle cap will allow O2 to slowly seep in oxidizing your beer. Sometimes a touch of oxidation can be pleasant but it will eventually make your beer taste like wet cardboard.
Joeboo
Molten Core Raider
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I saw the list of Brewers Costco is using and thought that Gordon Biersch was the best by far. That doesn't bode well for the others...
Bigfoot's pretty good, yea - 2013 is delicious, it needs that year to tone down some of the hops for me personally. For my money I prefer Sucaba (Firestone Walker) as the top of my Barleywine list, but there's very few I won't try. Old Scallywag (Coronado Brewing Co) is also really good if you can find it.
Biggest note - can't believe the hops. WOW they come through
Lowest note - Ugly as fuck. Not red
Overall - For real, A-. Awesome
Khane
Got something right about marriage
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I may be a simpleton but aren't they just handing these guys the recipe and saying "brew it". It's a light American Lager, will anyone be able to tell the difference?
opiate82
Bronze Squire
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Light lagers can actually be quite challenging because you can't hide little mistakes behind a truckload of hops or sweet maltiness.
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Yeah, I generally buy a case of bigfoot, have 6 the first year, and 1 every year after. Though most waxing (not on bigfoot) will take care of a bit more of that oxidation, and some more of the stuff I want to age longer is coming with cork and cage (though that doesn't solve the oxidation problem either).
American Light lager is really hard not to fuck up. Seriously. You have the wrong temp during lagering and every asshole is gonna say "This doesn't taste like it normally should". The work Bud & the others put in to have an absurdly similar beer produced from multiple breweries is almost magic.
Costco isn't doing contract brewing because they want their recipe(s) made, I don't think. My guess is they want to enter a market where they think they can sell a decent product at less than the current market price. They probably worked with the west coast brewery to get the recipe, then talked to the No-Coast brewery and East Coast brewery to see how similar they can get to the final flavor with their recipe.
opiate82
Bronze Squire
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Wax can help but as I am sure you are aware even it is oxygen permeable. I've wondered if vacuum sealing the bottles in a vacuum bag with anoxygen absorberwould extend that window of possible oxidation out a bit on aging beers. Or maybe I am just way overthinking it. /shrug
Some of it has to do with liquor laws as well. For example, here in WA Costco isn't allowed to negotiate bulk discounts. So if I run a podunk mini mart that sells 1 case of Budweiser a day, whatever price the distributor charges me for that case they have to charge Costco the same for the thousands of cases a day they sell. To get around that they use the Kirkland Signature brand to create themselves a unique product that they can "charge themselves" whatever they want for it. Allows them a much higher margin on that product (compared to a BMC) while remaining competitive in price with those brands.
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opiate82
Bronze Squire
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I will maintain it is a commendable brewing feat that the big 3 (BudMillerCoors) are able to, at the volumes they are brewing and across multiple breweries, brew the exact same product over and over again. Especially in a style where the slightest differences in flavor are accentuated. Strangely enough, making bland beer is really hard. Objectively BMC products, for what they are, are well crafted and expertly brewed.
There are plenty of reasons to hate the macro producers but I will maintain the product itself isn't one of them (the political and advertising machine on the other hand...). It would be like calling Russian River a bad brewery because Pliny The Elder is their flagship beer and you don't like IPA's.
There are plenty of reasons to hate the macro producers but I will maintain the product itself isn't one of them (the political and advertising machine on the other hand...). It would be like calling Russian River a bad brewery because Pliny The Elder is their flagship beer and you don't like IPA's.
Khane
Got something right about marriage
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Don't get me wrong. Busch Lite is a staple and my go to cheap beer. I'm just saying those aren't exactly objectively "good" beers, and even if a brewery you think sucks is making them, as long as they follow the recipe it should be fine and comparable in taste to your buds, millers and coors.