Limited Edition Beers and where to find them...

Figured may be nice to have a place to post about limited/seasonal beers and such since it can be hard to keep up with everything worth trying.

Stopped into Vas Foremost (California and Milwaukee) this eve and they have added quite a few new ones:

Laguinta's Brown Shugga $11.49/6x12oz

Loast Coast Winterbraun $9.99/6x12oz

Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA $10.49/1x12oz

Dogfish Head World Wide Stout $10.49/1x12oz

Arcadia Hopmouth Double IPA $5.49/1x22oz

Corsendonk Christmas Ale $15.99/4x12oz or $22.99/8x12oz + Glass

They also had Goose Island Bourbon County Stout and Imperial IPA at $21.99/4x12oz.

They had a bunch more, this was off memory. Please feel free to add anything you've noticed that is now available.

Jamie

I have not been in a while, being a suburbanite, but wanted to mention West Lakeview Liquors a small store with great beers, limited editions, lots of belgians, and beers that are not easy to find in Chicago.

West Lakeview Liquors
2159 W. Addison
773-525-1916
http://www.wlvliquors.com/

And Archer Liquors, a go to place for me.

5996 S. Archer Avenue
(773) 582-4767
http://web.mac.com/archerliquors/Archer ... /Home.html

Two excellent stops for seasonal and limited edition beers.

Picked up at Vas Foremost last night:

Great Lakes Christmas Ale: $12.69/6x12oz

i saw 3 floyd's alpha klaus, xmas porter at the whole foods on ashland in lakeview for $8 (22oz)

I can't say how many, but Sam's South Loop has at least 12-15 different holiday beers stocked, and most likely more.

Roosevelt & Wabash

Also, the new Binny's on Des Plaines & Roosevelt (by Manny's Deli) has a great supply.

jmc wrote:i saw 3 floyd's alpha klaus, xmas porter at the whole foods on ashland in lakeview for $8 (22oz)

This Whole Foods, as well as the one near North and Sheffield, tend to have excellent beer offerings. If anyone is looking for Dogfish Head's 120 Minute IPA, the store on Ashland has plenty. The prices tend to be a little less than Sam's or Binny's, even.

I don't know if it's going to be a limited edition, but for any fans of Two Bros' Cane & Ebel, Sam's in Lincoln Park was selling them in 12oz. 4-packs. Price was about $12. I think I'd rather see it in 22oz. bottles, but I'll buy the beer however I can.

Speaking of Two Brothers, it looks like their new brewery is finally complete, and their brewpub should be open in early February.

Anyone been out to the Two Brothers pub?

jmc wrote:Anyone been out to the Two Brothers pub?

jmc-

Check out this thread for a report on the Two Brothers pub.

Danny's Buy-Low Liquors on Western and Lyndale (across from Honey One and Think!) seems to be undergoing some major changes. Looks like an entire new wall of coolers is going in and there seems to be a MUCH better beer selection than I have ever remembered (used to go here all the time when I lived in the hood 5+ years ago). Not to mention the prices are ridiculously cheap.

For some baselines:
Delirium Tremens 750ml: $7.99
Ayinger 500ml $2.49
Goose Matilda: $8.99 (maybe $7.99?)
Unibroue La Fin du Monde (4 pack): $7.99

It is cash only. Well worth the visit. While the selection is not exhaustive, it is quite nice, and everything seems a few $ cheaper than anywhere else I frequent.

Jamie

For whatever reason, the Whole Foods off North Ave. (@ Sheffield) seems to have one of the best beer selections I've ever seen. Usually, too, they will have limited releases far longer than other stores (Whole Foods or otherwise). Maybe they just benefit from getting leftover cases from other area locations? Dunno. Regardless, I recently found the following:
Two Brother's Victor's Memori-ale -- I have no idea if they're re-making this, or what, but it was a great find (Two Bros' website and the WF staff were not helpful). It's an alt-bier, and a very, very good one at that -- a little bit like a darker lager (think Sam Adams), but with less malt and a lighter body.
Mikkeller's Stateside IPA and Jackie Brown (a brown ale) -- I had never heard of this Dutch brewery until I saw their collaboration wheat-wine at DLD this year. If they're good enough to work with FFF, I figured they must be good. I tried the IPA and thought it was excellent. Priced towards the high side ($9/bomber), but worth it, I think. This was not the hop monster you see from most US breweries lately. It reminded me of Meantime's English IPA -- softer and creamier, while still bitter and noticeably hoppy.
Haandbryggeriet Dark Force -- this is a Norwegian brewery (run in the spare time, according to their website) that I had never heard about until I saw it on the shelves here. Another pricey bomber ($9), this is an Imperial wheat stout. I picked this up because I was too intrigued to say no. I might let it age a bit before cracking into it.

I also saw FFF's Rabid Rabbit, Two Bros' Hop Juice, Great Lakes' Blackout Stout, and other good stuff that I'm now blanking on.

danimalarkey wrote:For whatever reason, the Whole Foods off North Ave. (@ Sheffield) seems to have one of the best beer selections I've ever seen. Usually, too, they will have limited releases far longer than other stores (Whole Foods or otherwise). Maybe they just benefit from getting leftover cases from other area locations? Dunno.

I have spoken with the guy who manages the beer and wine at North Ave. once and told him I thought it was far and away the best selection of beer of all the Whole Foods in Chicago (and I believe I've been to all of them save Cicero and Peterson). The beer and wine section at each store is independently curated by that store's manager of that department; the guy running the one on North Ave. is just doing an outstanding job and probably does a better job at buying and stocking limited edition beers than the others. I also think that there is less shelf space (both cold and non-refrigerated) at the North Ave store than other stores and (perhaps because of the space limitations) a higher percentage of it is dedicated to interesting single bottles than six packs.

I was at Sam's on Thursday evening of last week and saw bottles of Two Brother's Bear Tree Wheat Wine. I had no idea this was getting bottled, and I only saw two bottles left on the shelf. I didn't ask if there was more in the back or if there would be more. While I run hot/cold on Two Bros, I really liked this wheat wine when I had it on draft and I'm looking forward to letting it sit through the fall to drink later.

Beware, though, if you're looking for the bottle, it doesn't have the usual Two Bros label! It looks more like a lable Dark Horse Brewing uses.

danimalarkey wrote:I was at Sam's on Thursday evening of last week and saw bottles of Two Brother's Bear Tree Wheat Wine. I had no idea this was getting bottled, and I only saw two bottles left on the shelf. I didn't ask if there was more in the back or if there would be more. While I run hot/cold on Two Bros, I really liked this wheat wine when I had it on draft and I'm looking forward to letting it sit through the fall to drink later.

Beware, though, if you're looking for the bottle, it doesn't have the usual Two Bros label! It looks more like a lable Dark Horse Brewing uses.

I picked up a bottle of this at Binny's Glen Ellyn a few weeks ago. They had a decent amount of bottles still when I went back this past Friday.

I bought a 6 pack of Kalamazoo Hop Solution. It's a double IPA released in the Chicagoland area only by Bell's. It is 100% German Hops, so it's going to be different from Bell's HopSlam. I haven't tried one yet though.

the wimperoo wrote:
I bought a 6 pack of Kalamazoo Hop Solution. It's a double IPA released in the Chicagoland area only by Bell's. It is 100% German Hops, so it's going to be different from Bell's HopSlam. I haven't tried one yet though.

I had a 6'er of Hopsoulution last week. It is an enjoyable beer, though seems more to me like a standard IPA rather than a DIPA. Think it is $10.99 a 6 at Danny's Buy-Low on Western. Also had the American Wheat which is not nearly as good as Oberon but still not too bad a beer.

Jamie

I had a 6'er of Hopsoulution last week.

I got one on Friday at West Lakeview Liquors, as well as the Kalamazoo Unfiltered Wheat. I like the HopSolution. I felt it does have the intensity of a DIPA. I agree the Unfiltered Wheat is fine, but no Oberon.

While there, I also got both the Brooklyn and the Shneider Weiss version of their Hopfen Weiss. I have not tried them yet (at least this year's version), but I am excited to try them side-by-side. The owner told me that they got 5 of the 20 cases of the Brooklyn version that were sent to Illinois.

Just a heads up, but Three Floyd's should be sending out this year's anniversary ale next week. I got the scoop at Lush this past weekend where they had a tasting event for the beer. It's a jasmine-scented pale ale this year (very different from last year's), but don't think that's bad -- it was wonderful. While it still has that hoppy, FFF flavor, the jasmine adds a really nice floral note. According to the FFF rep, the label art is really killer, too. I would expect to find it at the usual places (Sam's, Binny's, Whole Foods on North or Ashland (these two seem to have the strongest beer selections, I've found), etc.).

And as a note about Lush, in general -- they had a really impressive selection of rare beers. If anyone wanted to try the one Goose Island beer released in 750ml bottle, their Imperial Brown Goose from 2006, Lush has them (for $30). There was also a Dogfish Head beer, Zwaanend'ale, produced only in April 2006 (for $20 in a 750ml bottle, too). I was able to try the Brown Goose when it came out, and I tried the Dogfish Head beer when I was there, and I don't know that they're especially worthwhile. Good and tasty, don't get me wrong, but at those prices, you're paying for the novelty and rare-ness of the beer more than anything else. I'm not sure, too, that these two beers really benefitted from aging for so long, too. While beers can sit for a long time, I don't know that they're designed to do so, in the way that a vintner may design a wine that needs to age for a while before being drinkable. Still, if you've got the money, you can satisfy that curiousity pretty easily here at Lush.

Lush
1257 S. Halsted St, Chicago - (312) 738-1900

Binny's on Grand today had a couple of four packs of Founders Breakfast Stout, albeit at a fairly pricey $15/4X12oz.

danimalarkey wrote:I'm not sure, too, that these two beers really benefitted from aging for so long, too. While beers can sit for a long time, I don't know that they're designed to do so, in the way that a vintner may design a wine that needs to age for a while before being drinkable.

barley wines, imperial stouts, strong ales and lambics (among others) are all often aged for various reasons. It's more common with European breweries, but craft breweries in America are catching on. I read somewhere that Hair of the Dog Brewing Company in Portland, Oregon was founded with the intention of making beers that would improve with age. I assume many others have that feeling as well.

Matt wrote:Binny's on Grand today had a couple of four packs of Founders Breakfast Stout, albeit at a fairly pricey $15/4X12oz.

I saw some at Sam's (Macey St.), too. I believe they also have a Kentucky Breakfast Stout, too, right? And that's the one that gets DLS, Bourbon County Stout-ish acclaim, correct?

Sam's also had Founders' Curmudgeon ($12/4-pack). Described as a strong-ale, that's... pretty accurate. I could barely taste the 10%ABV, but then again, I couldn't really taste much of it at all. This is something, I think, that will benefit from aging.

And speaking of Bourbon County Stout, Sam's had that, too. I've tried some of it at the brewpub this year and liked it quite a bit, certainly as much as I liked last year's batch. Proabably still priced at $20/4-pack, it ain't cheap -- but it's much easier to find that FFF DLS and easier to drink since they're in 12 oz. bottles. And, you know, there's no 5-hour line to contend with.

Following up on my last post about Goose Island's Bourbon County Stout (yes, can you tell I'm a fan?!), my local Jewel had 4-packs on sale for $11.99. It's quite the deal for this particular beer. This is the location on Ashland just north of Milwaukee -- I don't know if every Jewel has such a good beer selection (and per that one thread about non-crappy beer selections at Jewel, I doubt it is common), but it's worth checking out.

Was there a lot of it? That's an amazing price for BCS!!!

You should go back and buy all of it since they are selling it for less than wholesale. I would guess that the management has no idea what it is and why it isn't flying off the shelves like 312. One of the people at Goose was telling me how a distributor in Wisconsin was complaining that they couldn't move some of the prior year product and that it was getting "old." They just don't understand vintages when it comes to beer.

By the way, if you run across a bottle of Flossmoor Station Wooden Hell anywhere, you should try it. I have been drinking the BCS since the first batch, but this was the best barrel aged beer that I have had.

Twisted Spoke wrote:You should go back and buy all of it since they are selling it for less than wholesale. I would guess that the management has no idea what it is and why it isn't flying off the shelves like 312. One of the people at Goose was telling me how a distributor in Wisconsin was complaining that they couldn't move some of the prior year product and that it was getting "old." They just don't understand vintages when it comes to beer.

By the way, if you run across a bottle of Flossmoor Station Wooden Hell anywhere, you should try it. I have been drinking the BCS since the first batch, but this was the best barrel aged beer that I have had.

I picked up my two bottles of Wooden Hell last weekend along with some Killer Kapowski, Ore-gone IPA and Celebration IPA. Can't wait to drink one of the bottles of Wooden Hell. While at Flossmoor, I had Organic Woody on tap. That was an excellent barrel aged beer too.

I was there for the Killer Kapowski release. I wish I had heard about Wooden Hell more than a week or so in advance so I could have ordered some.

The Killer Kapowski is a Baltic Porter. It is also the last offering made by Matt (the brewmaster at Flossmoor Station) before he moves on to a pub in Oregon. This is sad news. Hopefully, his replacement will be as talented. For those interested, a limited amount of the Killer will be available at Lush Wine and Spirits by the end of the week. I am involved with Lush (I just wanted to be clear about the relationship). None of the Wooden Hell made it to the store. The couple of bottles that were set aside were for personal consumption. Begging for more did not help.

Twisted Spoke wrote:You should go back and buy all of it since they are selling it for less than wholesale. I would guess that the management has no idea what it is and why it isn't flying off the shelves like 312. One of the people at Goose was telling me how a distributor in Wisconsin was complaining that they couldn't move some of the prior year product and that it was getting "old." They just don't understand vintages when it comes to beer.

When I returned on Sunday, there were none left. The shelf label didn't specify whicih type of reserve but just said, "Goose Island Reserve". I almost wonder if there was a shipping error and the store didn't catch it (or care enough to look into it further).

Speaking of Killer Kapowski, I think I'm nearly as amused at the fact that it's a Saved By The Bell reference as they did not get permission from Kowalski's estate to use the name on a label (additional information on this can be found here).

They've got Killer Kapowski on tap at Twisted Spoke. If that's the last beer the Brewer made, it's going to be sad to see him go - it was Flossmoor's best that I've tried.

As far as limited beers on Tap - I found Dogfish Head Chicory Stout at Bottom Lounge last night .
An excellent complex coffee stout with a pleasant chicory finish. Didn't know 'til I looked it up today that it also has St. John's Wort in it. No wonder it was so pleasant drinking it - nature's Prozac.

Bottom Lounge is a fairly new, mostly music venue on Lake and Ogden. 17 decent taps (and Lite), lots and lots of bottles, lots and lots of room - haven’t been upstairs yet in the music venue or rum bar (Volcano Room with a huge rum list).

I had a really good pulled pork sandwich last time (they smoke it on premises), and a huge chili cheese fries last night that would have killed a lesser man. The bartender really knew her beer and a few beer events are on their calendar. I’ll be interested in how often they rotate taps and how this fairly new place evolves.

Bottom Lounge
1375 W. Lake, Chicago
http://www.bottomlounge.com/