Here now. Was bored... 12 people in line. Got a beer upstairs and they said I could take it down. Also brought something if anyone shares in line.
Shit. I forgot about this. Anyone interested in picking me up a bottle? I work until 6 but can pick it up anytime after that... Gordon
Per twitter, sold out in 30 min. I am secretly hoping that all of Uprights hinting about the beer being "different" this year means not as good. Maybe that will quell some of the hysteria in this town.
Different yeast. Way better base beer this year. '12 is more sour and has more fruit on tap. But I think the '13 bottles are gonna be the tits.
First time they've sold out of anything other than a Sole Comp in a single day let alone 30 minutes. I think the word is out. They bottle titties, and I'm not talking about the Four Play label.
If anybody missed out on Fantasia but has a bottle of Logsdon Peche n Brett to trade, I can hook up the Fantasia plus add other interesting beers. I know Peche n Brett was harder to get so I'll definitely make it up to ya.
I think 2013 Fantasia is better than 2012. Less sour, but that will come over time. Peach presence is huge. I plan to pop a bottle tonight for final judgement.
Side by side you would never know the 12 and the 13 were supposed to be the same beer, loved the sour of the 12, but the peach flavor was awesome in the 13. Too late to grab a bottle myself.
Nope, not screwed - thanks to my GOOD friend who left work early to stand in line. He wound up being one of the last dozen or so to get bottles. I believe the last ones sold by about 4:45... So has anyone else compared a bottle of 2012 with a 2013? I'm not talking taste comparison, I mean the label design, text, wax, etc. The two vintages look identical to me in packaging... Anyone found any differences (I ask because people who cellar and/or do 'vertical' tastings will surely want to know..)?
I usually go for the blue painters tape and sharpie on the bottom of the bottle technique myself, haven't seen the Fantasia bottles specifically, but I tend to follow the KISS methodology. Grats on yours, we were drinking some Westie with friends while that line was forming, so we can't complain too much, we did drink all we could on draft though!
Popped open a bottle tonight. Unlike last year's, 2013 from the bottle is very similar to the tap version. Lightly tart, more saison qualities to it, with huge peach on the back end.
The 12 and 13 on tap for $3 was killer. So much cheaper than buying the bottles. 12 was more tart, loved it. 13 was more peach, loved it... hope it develops that tartness. It is tart, but nothing like the tartness of the 12. Thanks to everyone that was there and the fuckin amazing people we met and hung out with last night. Portland, you are awesome and have awesome people in it. Andy, Chris, Colin, Jeff... i cant thank you enough for the rides and company... among many others i got too drunk to remember names.
I checked out both bottles and don't see a definitive difference (slightly thicker script on the rear label for the 2012, and all my 2012 bottles have a long drip of wax while the all my 2013 bottles have tight wax jobs without drips).
I got there at 3:45 and got a case... when there were about 10 people to go in line it looked as if I was going to get shut out, but apparently an executive decision was made to sell the distro bottles (around 25 cases I think). After I got my case there were 15 cases left and about 30-40 people behind me, so some people definitely got shut out and no distro. $12 pitchers of fantasia, awesome
Should of had a limit of bottles so everyone gets a chance instead of mules getting a whole case each. Wrong move by selling the distro cases as well.
I totally disagree, especially since I would've been shut out if they didn't go through distro. And I really didn't see too many mules, lot of people getting cases and splitting with multiple people. If you didn't make it too bad the pitchers were awesome
Bottle limits of less than a case would have insured that more folks had access. Saving cases for distribution would have done that even more so. The fact that you got yours is not much of an argument.
Last year they had case limits and didn't sell out. The fact is, they never sold out of a 1,000+ bottle beer before so there was no reason to assume they would do so this time in advance. I expect next time Fantasia drops the limit will be less (as evidenced by the always dropping limit on Sole Comps) but with age comes wisdom as they say.
Hear what you're saying, but one quick glance at this board in the past week could have told you they were going to sell out day of.
One quick glance at this board in the past week and nobody questioned the case limits until after the release. Monday morning quarterbacking, hind-sight is 20/20, coulda, woulda, shoulda...those all apply here.
I emailed Alex a week before the release and let him know he might want to consider doing a head count before the sale started to figure out if he should drop the bottle limits. The rest of you were hoping to get your case so you didn't complain until you got shut out.
either way its not a 20,000 bottle release which saw large distro, so no way it can be a whale or, of lesser importance, taste good.
