Yesterday Was A Good Day

Yesterday was a good day. Normally I'm supposed to show up for my job at 9:30am. Since I knew that it was going to be Founder's release date for their very limited brew Kentucky Breakfast Stout, work was going to have to wait.

A few weeks before I had contacted a couple of local liquor stores known to carry good craft beer. Two out of the five or so that I contacted claimed they would be receiving at least 1 case oft-sought-after KBS. In fact, the store that's a mere 2 blocks away from my apartment in JC excitedly told me that they'd be getting 2 cases and there would be no bottle limit.

Cut to Monday morning. I show up to my local place as they open at 10am and they don't have any. They had received a shipment of just 1 case, but it somehow was nowhere to be found in the store. They did have the Nemesis however, so I bought my consolation beer and brought it home. I also left my name and number in case they stumbled upon any more KBS, as they said they still had some logged in their computer system. I suddenly realized that Super Buy Rite near the Holland Tunnel had said that they'd have it first thing Monday. Its about a mile walk from my place, but I called and they had it so I was off.

I met the beer manager, Joe, who was a great guy. We excitedly discussed KBS and how his store was already quite possibly the best beer store in NJ. I bought my 2 12oz bottles (the limit there) and was on my way to work. Later in the day, I got a call from my local place and they had one 4 pack with my name on it waiting for me once I got out of work. When I got there to collect my "winnings", I found out that at least some of their KBS was sold via their online system, which I didn't even know existed. I'm willing to be the rest was set aside to let the employees have and I just got lucky that one was left to buy afterwards.

All in all, 6 bottles of Kentucky Breakfast, 4 bottles of Nemesis = good day.

North Coast Old Rasputin XII

I was seemingly a mere 15 years old when Old Rasputin was first brewed. It's sort of weird now seeing as though so many brewers have bourbon barrels that they can age their stouts in (or other styles too). I would never complain that there are too many barrel-aged beers, but this will inadvertently lead to brews that are not quite as good as others.

Luckily, North Coast Old Rasputin XII is very good. It's not as good as a barrel-aged beer such as Kentucky Breakfast Stout, but that's a large order to fill. 11.2% is actually a somewhat manageable ABV in comparison to some of the other bourbon stouts.

I guess one's main complaint with this beer is its cost. I paid $18.99 at Boonton Liquor Outlet Wine Cellars, which seemed a little high for a bottle that disappeared quickly. But maybe that's just a statement about the style.

That's A Lot of Pliny

And it could never be enough. As I noted a few weeks ago, a certain bar in NYC was able to hook me up with an entire growler (that's 64oz) of Russian River's Pliny the Elder. The very same beer that Zymurgy Magazine and the American Homebrewer's Assocation recently voted the #1 beer in the world. I think this could honestly be my desert island beer.

I had previously traded one of my precious few Founder's Kentucky Breakfast Stouts for a single 500ml bottle of this, so this was a nice treat as I figured it'd be years before I'd get my hands on Pliny again. A beer truly deserving of all accolades.

Midwest Trip Part 3: Woodman's Food Market, New Glarus and Founders Brewing Company

We left Minnesota Sunday afternoon with an end-goal of getting to Founders Brewing Company in Grand Rapids, MI by midnight. We very much wanted to make a stop at Woodman's Food Market in Madison, WI, based on excellent BeerAdvocate reviews and the fact that they claimed to have a wide array of New Glarus beers that aren't available outside of Wisconsin.



I've already posted about it, but Woodman's is HUGE. Huuuuuuuuuuge. With limited time, we had to quickly peruse through the vast selection to find the best beers we wouldn't be able to get at Founders or Bell's, which unfortunately made us skip over the Bell's Consecrator Doppelbock which wasn't available at the Bell's General Store. Either way, we purchased a large amount of New Glarus including 12oz bottles of Dancing Man Wheat, Fat Squirrel Ale, Unplugged Bohemian Lager, Unplugged Imperial Saison, and 750ml bottles of Wisconsin Belgian Red and Raspberry Tart. That's a lot of beer! We were immediately concerned about how we were going to be able to fit Bell's and Founders into the car too. But we pressed on.



We arrived at Founders just after midnight. As much as we loved Three Floyds, Founders was an even cooler place. First of all, it's gigantic. It has to easily be 10 times the size of FFF, with a huge bar, outdoor seating and a stage for bands to play on. Unfortunately (I feel like I've had to use that word quite a few times in this series), we got there after the kitchen closed, so we were not able to partake in the supposedly awesome pub food. But what a great space Founders is. It definitely made me want to move to Grand Rapids. Oh, did I mention they have insanely awesome beer? Check out their tap list while we were there (click to embiggen):



Kentucky Breakfast Stout!? Quite possibly my favorite beer of all time. CANADIAN Breakfast Stout?! Crazy. Having either of these beers on tap is pretty much once in a lifetime opportunity for an east coaster.



I started with the Canadian Breakfast Stout, which was A+ (BeerAdvocate users seem to agree) and then had the Sweet Darkness and the Maple Mountain Brown. I also shared with Jeff, who had the Kentucky Breakfast Stout and Bourbon Barrel Aged Red's Rye. The only real problem we had with this wonderful experience was that our palates were blown out by the second beer. That doesn't mean they weren't great though.



I think we left sometime around 1:30 or so, and it felt like we were the only people left in there. We got some Double Trouble and Porter to go, mainly because the other beers they had to-go are usually able to be found in NJ. We crashed for the night at the Radisson in Grand Rapids and geared up for one more day of driving and one last beer destination: Bell's Brewery in Kalamazoo, MI.

Midwest Trip Part 4 coming soon!

Liquor Outlet Wine Cellars - Boonton, NJ

Liquor Outlet Wine Cellars in Boonton, NJ. Who would have known from the name (or the outside) of the vast craft beer selection here. This was the one place I was able to score Founder's Kentucky Breakfast Stout from a few months ago, and as you can see from the picture, there's plenty of other beers to choose from.

I try to stop by this place at least once a month as they're always getting new stuff in. Their staff is friendly and knowledgeable, and their imported craft beer is quite sizable as well. This picture is actually only a sliver of what's available.