I've never paid more than $18 or so, and I begin to flinch at $15. Ie, "this had better be really fucking amazing" happens around $17. $25@22oz for anything made primarily with barley is one hell of a markup.

And knowing that Bourbon Co Stout and KBS and such are less than that makes it even tougher... this almost cannot be a better stout than those, certainly not 50% better.

Clown Shoes is comically bad. Their sole meaning these days is seemingly to annoy the wife of one of the Beer Advocate brothers (the asshole Todd) with their "offensive" names. She took umbrage with "Tramp Stamp" and went off on them. Naturally, most of the members have to remain silent for fear of banning but she took a huge beating elsewhere. Too bad the beer sucks ass. The only one I semi-enjoyed was their black IPA.

This explains a lot. The marketing on the bottles is aaaaaaawful. And not just for clownophobes. Stupid names, bad art, bad colors.

Most I ever paid for a beer (non-eBay), including shipping, was $88. 22oz of Sixpoint Bolshoi from the original 2005 bottling from Bierkraft. This was in late 2009.

Yep. Judging a beer by the art is often dead on I've found. It's weird. I think their back story is that they were well-to-do homebrewers that wanted to take the beer national. Kind of like the Jackopierce of craft beer. Here's the "mission statement."

Something’s happening, and it involves clown shoes and beer. Clown Shoes? Very long story, but to condense it a group of us submitted the name to the Beer Advocate contest that resulted in The Wrath of Pecant. Our submission didn’t crack the top 5. This burned me up inside. While driving one day the epiphany came: I could make my own Clown Shoes beer. In no way did I expect to create a brand, figuring it would be one batch of beer for fun and then done. But folks are digging the brews and a group of us are having a great time. Clown Shoes has come to mean a lot to me on a lot of levels. Clowns are questionable but the shoes make me laugh. They remind me about humility and to find humor in life. Our mission now is to produce beer without pretension while being free and a little crazy. We hope you enjoy the beers and this site.

Yeaaaaah, no thanks.

LOL @ "the Jackopierce of craft beer". Glad to know it sucks--I pretty much figured that if it was good, I would have heard of it by now.

I paid 16 bucks a pop for those CBS bottles--above my usual price range, and I'm sure marked up by the store, but as estone correctly points out, much less than one would spend on a decent bottle of wine. And fuck, DAT GOOG.

I've paid about $300 for a bottle of wine and over $100 for a bottle of vodka...I just don't view beer the same way. The most I've paid is probably $13. In theory I'd pay more but I haven't and still flinch at the $15 bottles. Beer is never going to be the beverage I look to on special occasions or to enhance a really good meal. If I was more of a "beer guy" who did that, I'd probably pay a lot more. For me, it's more a last drink of the night or something to drink before 5pm.

Dogfish Head went ahead and made a Pearl Jam beer for the 20th anniversary of Ten.

edit: grabbed a bottle after work.

Whoa.

So it looks like a new brewery being started up here in town is having a tasting / Launch Party monday night, right between Work HQ and Home on the bicycle route. I'ma go hit it up I think.

Hm. I have that Monday off.

Feel like biking up to Cambridge? Should be decent weather I think. Also the main guy (it's a married couple) knows Crack.

I'm in.

Ok, it's on. Hopefully their stuff is good.

If it's not, they usually have a decent selection at Atwood's. Also, Lord Hobo is a couple of blocks over and they have great stuff.

I was a little disappointed when I found out that the New Belgium Lips of Faith Prickly Passion Saison would not be tapped in Lincoln on Friday, as it will be in Omaha, but I will still get to try the Weyerbacher Brewers Select Sierra Milk Stout that night.

Stoudts American Pale Ale

I have been on night shift (2100-0900) for the past month and just wrapped up my last shift. Thought I would have this wonderfully American looking beer to celebrate---disappointed. Not bad I guess, but c'mon, if you are going to drape the flag on your label your beer better the best damn beer out there.

Try their Fat Dog if you like stouts. That's probably the best beer they make and is a great example of the style.

On deck this weekend and in celebration of International Stout Day which was yesterday...



and

Should we a do a thread like this for wine or cocktails? Would people post in it?

We could but it would be the slowest thread ever.

This works for beer because of it's price point, variety, and ability to sample many in one sitting.

I enjoy wine and cocktails but I couldn't afford a new bottle every night.

I will say that I wish my palate was a little more refined when it came to good wine (and good scotch).

I think you're right that beer is a lot more popular on obner and that wine & cocktails threads would be a lot slower moving. That said, I don't really buy this explanation.

I think it's more a personal choice because craft beer isn't cheap. I drink a lot more cocktails and wine than beer. If you drink a $10-15 beer and one or more $3-4 beers and you are easily within the range of a good (if not exceptional) bottle of wine and cocktails are more expensive out in a bar or restaurant but probably cheaper to drink at home than craft beer. Also, though it is probably more readily available in CA, tastings often the opportunities to taste many wines in one sitting. I probably go to at least two tastings a month and recently went to one where I tried 35 wines over a course of a couple of hours.

It sounds like a good (if slow) thread but I won't have much to contribute. Hell I have to slow down with the beer as it is. This shit is getting expensive.

Spent a long weekend in Miami for a family wedding and not very much good beer to speak of. The rehearsal dinner did have unlimited draft Harpoon IPA which, let's face it, could have been much worse.

I did hang out for a beer or two at a bar in Coral Gables and had my first Rodenbach Grand Cru which I really liked. Not enough to make a regular habit out of drinking, but the almost rottenness of the flavor was good.

As a groomsman gift though, I got a big bomber of Brooklyn #1 (liked it, very funky and sweet) and a really cool handmade bottle opener. I'll post pics later, shit is cool

Nice!
Shiv and I made it to the opening / tasting of the new tiny brewery in town, Idle Hands. The beer showed promise but it's not thick enough. It tasted too watery, too fresh, and not fully finished. There was some subtlety and layers but one sip of anything else good on tap and the difference was glaring. Also one of them smelled *exactly* like the clothing department at JC Penny. I was transported to hiding in the racks as a kid, trying to make time go by faster while my mom shopped. Wierd.