spanky wrote:Did you get the HopSlam in Illinois or did you get it in Michigan?

Cardinal Liquors in Palatine. I had stopped in at 2pm to just ask "when will you be getting the hopslam?" and as I was looking for the beer guy, the delivery guy showed up with the stuff! Pricey though, $19.99 a six pack. I suspect Binny's will be at least 2 to 3 dollars cheaper.

Can't find it as of late but in the last few months was really enjoying Shiner's Prickly Pear. Its released in limited quantity so not being able to have it often makes it even more special to me.

mhill95149 wrote:

spanky wrote:Did you get the HopSlam in Illinois or did you get it in Michigan?

Cardinal Liquors in Palatine. I had stopped in at 2pm to just ask "when will you be getting the hopslam?" and as I was looking for the beer guy, the delivery guy showed up with the stuff! Pricey though, $19.99 a six pack. I suspect Binny's will be at least 2 to 3 dollars cheaper.

Binny's by me said it's 15.99. They have a limit of 1 six-pack per person. I'll be grabbing one from them tonight and then hitting a couple of other places to see if anyone else has it. Apparently some Meijer stores have had it for about 10 bucks a six-pack, which I assume is an error on their part. I'm going to look at the one by me tonight and see if they have any.

I had a few beers at Three Floyds last night. Behemoth which is a barley wine and one of my favorite beers that they make. Very tasty. Space Station Middle Finger was sort of similar to Zombie Dust but not as citrusy. Very drinkable. Also had a pint of Ham on Rye which is the first beer I ever had at the brewery and it was as good as I remember it. I could drink that stuff all day if I didn't have to drive home. The aftertaste is like you took a bite out of a ham on rye sandwich.

The Cardinal Liquors in Palatine was asking $6.25 for each BCBS during the release in November. So, I figured they were going to be high for the Hopslam as well.... But, I did get a case so less driving for me!

I have invented the Alberta Clipper cocktail. It consists of Lakeshore gin, a few drops of maple syrup, a big handful of snow, and bitters... lots and lots of bitters.

mamagotcha wrote:I have invented the Alberta Clipper cocktail. It consists of Lakeshore gin, a few drops of maple syrup, a big handful of snow, and bitters... lots and lots of bitters.

Love it!

=R=

Half Acre Chocolate Camaro... I think their best version of this yet!

mamagotcha wrote:I have invented the Alberta Clipper cocktail. It consists of Lakeshore gin, a few drops of maple syrup, a big handful of snow, and bitters... lots and lots of bitters.

You're just missing the key ingredient--the salt of tears from a -20 degree wind chill.

I'm sure it was delicious and the good news is you'll have plenty more opportunities to make them this week!

Bspar wrote:Half Acre Chocolate Camaro... I think their best version of this yet!

I have been underwhelmed by this in the past but will give it another shot.

Had my first Hop Slam(s) of the season tonight in honor of.........well, don't really need a reason for Hop Slam. Good as ever.

This thread may be slightly dormant, but it was what the search turned up for this information.
Unless you've been hiding out for awhile, you should know that this Friday, the 27th, is when Goose Island will officially release the 2015 Bourbon County Stout, and its variants.
I was not trying too hard to get this in 2014. I was not going to queue up overnight at Binny's in Lincoln Park. I will not do it this year, either. (Especially since Lev is no longer working there.) Part of the story was that with its increased production, bottles of the main beverage would turn up at locations like Walgreens, & Jewel-Osco. I'll just utter I didn't find it there. I did not get any bottles of 2014. I finally managed to taste the main beverage at World Of Beer in Evanston in February.
Where I shall go this Friday will be Fatpour @ Division & Damen Sts. At 2:00 pm, Goose Island is having some sort of tasting event there. It might be upstairs at Fatpour.
If that's too early for you, you may want to try for Timothy O'Toole's @ Fairbanks & Ontario at 5:00 pm. I will be on a one-day Ventra pass. (I also have the Central Electric Railfans' Association's monthly meeting @ State & Congress that evening.) I may try to hit both venues. Maybe not.
If you enjoy Goose Island Bourbon County, be on the lookout for it starting Friday.

pudgym29 wrote: This thread may be slightly dormant, but it was what the search turned up for this information.
Unless you've been hiding out for awhile, you should know that this Friday, the 27th, is when Goose Island will officially release the 2015 Bourbon County Stout, and its variants.
I was not trying too hard to get this in 2014. I was not going to queue up overnight at Binny's in Lincoln Park. I will not do it this year, either. (Especially since Lev is no longer working there.) Part of the story was that with its increased production, bottles of the main beverage would turn up at locations like Walgreens, & Jewel-Osco. I'll just utter I didn't find it there. I did not get any bottles of 2014. I finally managed to taste the main beverage at World Of Beer in Evanston in February.
Where I shall go this Friday will be Fatpour @ Division & Damen Sts. At 2:00 pm, Goose Island is having some sort of tasting event there. It might be upstairs at Fatpour.
If that's too early for you, you may want to try for Timothy O'Toole's @ Fairbanks & Ontario at 5:00 pm. I will be on a one-day Ventra pass. (I also have the Central Electric Railfans' Association's monthly meeting @ State & Congress that evening.) I may try to hit both venues. Maybe not.
If you enjoy Goose Island Bourbon County, be on the lookout for it starting Friday.

If it's just the taste of BBCS you crave, and not the collector's halo, know that the bar at Binny's South Loop always has some variant of BBCS on tap pretty much year round. Now that the holiday season is starting so, too, does their silly season of unpredictable hours so best to call first.

I got to try the full spectrum of this year's BCS over the weekend. I think any fans of BCS will be happy with this year's product. For my tastes, Coffee was the clear winner, followed by Rare and the regular. I enjoyed the other three as well, but there was a decent gap after the regular in my rankings.

But the big winner of the night was the Backyard Rye Bourbon County Brand Stout from 2013. That concoction, which included mulberries, marionberries, and boysenberries, was unbelievably good. If you have a chance to try that one, don't hesitate.

On Wednesday, since I was heading to a sexpositive munch | slosh at Draft Picks in Naperville {but closer to Aurora}, and went to Chicago Union Station to catch an express train to the station, I encountered this free pop-up cocktail mixer bar with David Mor (Cindy's Rooftop) making the concoctions.
I had the FT101 and Garden Party. They were nice, smooth, and refreshing. My preference was the FT101.