Maybe no legal recourse RDH, but "product not as described" is totally a thing. It's enough to legitimately file a chargeback. Not that I would for some regular bourbon county bottles, but say you'd spent $60ea on some special vintages... that's a load of money if they admitted the product wasn't as described, set some arbitrary timeline for refunds, failed to notify the place of purchase or customers that purchased, then refused to refund you despite proof of purchase. I could see in that (admittedly narrow) case that a consumer would be pretty well within their rights (legal and "douchebaggery") to claim a chargeback of the purchase.

You might then argue the liquor store eats the cost, but that's not really the consumer's problem and it's not all that unfair either to have them dealing with GI rather than you.

All that said, I recognize it puts the brewery in a tough spot. Failure to admit the faults and offer something up to their loyal customers is going to damage their reputation, while admitting fault and offering refunds opens up liability. But the bottom line is to stand behind your beer. Avery did it years ago, plenty of others have (and some have not).

Time matters too. AFAIK plenty of stuff was bad pretty much right from the start. Others may have developed over time. I don't have a magic date, but at some point you're on your own with a beer if you haven't drank it already.

Drinking a weird beer. 8 Wired Grand Cru 2015.



It's a sour, brewed with currants and cascara (a kind of buckthorn berry) and barrel aged in Pinot Noir wine barrels. 9% ABV.

Some brett on the nose, sour cherry, briney. Pretty sour flavor, cherry vinegar, complex. Not bretty to taste. Nice length. More interesting and mesmerising than straightforwardly delicious. I didn't like it on first taste, but it's grown on me a lot. Very much a sip and contemplate style. 8 Wired are one of the most reliable breweries in Aus/NZ. Not sure I've ever had a beer from them I didn't like.

I love this time of year. Stout season ftw! My favorite local bar owner does as well.

WHYM Draught List

El D, if you still haven't been to Liquid Gold, I think now is probably a good time to make a visit. Tap list includes...

- 2014 BCBS (!!!)
- Evil Twin/Westbrook cognac barrel-aged barleywine
- Prairie imperial stout w/ coconut and vanilla (tried this the other night, really really really good)
- Deschutes pinot noir barrel-aged Belgian dark strong
- Modern Times Golden Pineapple IPA (described as "brett IPA" though it tasted like a good normal IPA to me)

Saturday's lineup: 2010-15 BCBS, along with 2010 Rare, Vanilla and Coffee. I'm about to learn if I'm an idiot for hoarding a bunch of beer over six years. Should be fun finding out, though.

Very interested in your experience with these, as I suspect I'm in the same potential idiot situation.

Please tell me you're going to drink all that BCBS by yourself.

NE people - if I were going to go out in Cambridge next Friday night, where should I go if I want the best NE-style IPAs (Trillium, Tree House, or whatever)?

Probably Meadhall or Lord Hobo are your best bets. Lord Hobo has a few options and you can see their draft list online. Meadhall has a bigger list but I don't think they post it. You aren't going to find TH anywhere on tap. 5 Horses Tavern in Davis Square (Somerville, but close enough) pretty consistently has Trillium on tap. As of today they have Melcher, Itty Bitty Goose, Scaled, and Dialed in (w/ Pinot Gris) on tap, but no idea how long any of those kegs will hold up, but they keep their draft list online pretty well updated.

Has that lamplight place opened up yet? They sound interesting but they were supposed to open a couple months ago.

You can also hit up Trillium in South Boston to pick up some cans. Not a tough journey from Cambridge.

Lamplighter is doing growler fills and sending kegs to a handful of draft accounts around town but the tasting room isn't yet open. I'm just waiting for them to get the tap room going and then I'll go try it out. I've been waiting for this one for a while. One of the founders is a friend-of-a-friend so I've been hearing about them for a while.

Picking up beers at Trillium seems like the most efficient way to get Trillium beers. Its a really easy ride on the red line from Cambridge to south station.

Ehh, I'm just going to be in and out for work and the schedule is going to be pretty tight, so it's unlikely that I'll make it to Trillium. Thanks for the ideas - I think Lord Hobo might be where I end up (if anywhere).

Bukowskis in Inman Sq is also good.

Good call on Buk's. Their beer list is great. I continue to harbor a grudge about the renovation and menu change. I liked it more as a ****ty neighborhood dive where I could get white trash poutine tots and a cheese steak. Now they serve fancy **** like endive salads.

I'll take down my fair share, but I don't have a death wish. Or a vomit wish.

We have like 10 people coming over, and we probably still won't get through it all. I mean, they're like 13-14%.

Positive indicator for tomorrow: Two people on BeerAdvocate have opened 2010 Rare bottles in the last month, and ratings are 4.97/5 and 5/5. Although maybe they just don't want to tell people that it's terrible now and they're idiots for holding onto it so long. 2010 Vanillas opened in late summer have similarly good reviews. We'll see.

A good showing here would bode well for my 2011-2015 Fremont B-Bombs, Deschutes Black Butte anniversary beers from way back, Abyss 2010, etc.

Interested in people's thoughts on tasting order for 2010-2015 BCBS plus the variants. I'm thinking we start with a 2010 regular (I've got two, so we can save one) for a baseline, then go straight to the Rare, Vanilla and Coffee. Other regular vintages to follow as desired.

Or maybe we add a regular 2014 or 2015 after the 2010 for comparison, then go to variants.

I just worry that drinking too much of the regular stuff early will render us unable to fully appreciate the variants. Advice?

I'd probably buy a thing of disposable cups and pour more than one at a time so you can side by side different years while also holding the variant up against the base version from that year. Take it slowly, but drink more than one at a time. Also, wash away with plenty of water (or some pilsner if you want to take the non pansy way).

Thanks. We've got a bunch of disposables already, so likely will do something similar.

Maybe try to find one buddy who can facilitate you tasting these blind. I'm a big fan of the blind tasting, it's the only way to really remove your bias and give yourself a true 'idiot' grade

Or perhaps do a blind round and then another round when you know what you're drinking

Love Buks!

Wait, it's no longer a dive??!!!

yeah I didn't know that either. I haven't been there in a few years.

The back bay one is the same as it ever was. Its just the inman one that is no longer a dive

I like this idea of going back and forth across years, rather than having a set linear lineup. Agree with focusing on variants against the base year. (I think the base year for Rare is 2008 rather than 2010 because of the extended aging, though.) Also would do side by side of oldest base vs. freshest base. In any event, very much looking forward to your writeup.

In related news, I opened yet another infected 2015 bottle last night. That's 3/3 for me, I think. Good news is that I got a $150 check from Goose Island in the mail yesterday, so it's really hard to be too disappointed.

Rare is amazing. No issues at all. Others fine too. More later. Only have seven people here, after several bailed, so we won't get to many other years. But both 2010s and all variants are cracked and nearly gone.

More weirdness from NZ tonight.



Garage Project - Sauvin Nouveau

So this is a pilsner cofermented with Sav Blanc juice. I can hear a lot of you saying "pfft that's not going to work", but ACTUALLY I can report that yeah it doesn't. Very hit and miss are Garage Project. I had a similar beer from them (hoppy pilsner) that spent time on Pinot Noir skins and it was great. This though... it's not horrible, it would just be nicer without the Sav juice in it.