I never had a chance to try Goose Island's Fleur but I think it sounds pretty great. I'm only concerned that it hasn't held up well in the year or so since it was last bottled. Anyone open one recently?
Where is Tat2dHllBlly? His wife love this stuff but she recently opened one and said it had gone south for her. I guess if you have nothing to compare it to, you'll never know.
good beer? yes. worth trading for? ehhhh. not for me, but maybe. to be honest, i think sofie is the star of the non-BCBS goose island portfolio. everything else is pretty meh (besides special releases like imperial brown goose and such). also, A-B.
same as madame rose et al; middling sour ._. hate to be a hater, but i don't think GI are that great with those styles. loved dominique, but that's an exception (and not really a very "well made" beer, but it sure tastes good). with the exception of sofie, which at its best i have to confess is something special, i think sour brewers on both coasts (russian river, cascade, cisco, allagash) and elsewhere (jolly pumpkin, even avery), and north american belgian-style brewers (allagash again, even unibroue) whip the shit out of goose island. YMMV
I enjoyed Lolita (had a 2011 a month or two ago). What would it take to land Fleur? Was it pretty limited?
When they were brewing it it was not limited in the chicago land area. Haven't seen it around for a while though since they have discontinued it. Gonna have to agree with Pahn about Sofie, definitely their best nonlimited beer. Gonna have to disagree with him about Juliet tho, that shits legit. If their sours weren't so expensive I'd drink way more of them
I ran across some in a cooler in MD a few weeks back. I thought it was delicious and Belgian Pale Ales are far from my favorite style. Never had it previously though so can't speak to any dropoff from when it was released. I think if you found the right person, trading for one would not be difficult. If I was into shipping, a couple fresh Head Hunters would get it done for me. Hell, if you're ever in Philly, hit me up and you can have one as a welcoming gift.
If you ever get into shipping, hit me up, I'd love to send you some fresh Head Hunter! Philly doesn't seem to be in the cards, but the offer is of course appreciated.
I think Fleur is drinking wonderful right now...I stashed about a case, and have about half that left, and I also have two sixth barrels (down from three). Put one on tap at the end of August, and it drank awesome, and only lasted for about 3 days...
I saw a few bottles of Fleur sitting on a grocery store shelf collecting dust last weekend here in Cincinnati. I see you're in Columbus...I can give you the store details if you're up for a roadtrip. Or perhaps I could buy it and we could do an IP trade of some sort half-way between Columbus and Cincy as I don't wanna mess with shipping. Cheers!
Found one on the shelf a few months ago. Opened it the other night and thought it was delicious. Was kind of disappointed I purchased the last one.
Hey man, didn't realize you were in Cbus until I got to the end. I can direct you to a small wine shop in town that has dusty 4-packs on the shelf. Prolly been sitting at room temp for awhile but worth a go. BM me.
I was actually able to try it on tap last night as part of a "rare Goose Island" tap take over at a weird sports bar type place. Strange seeing giant plastic posters for Bud Light everywhere while I order a flight of Sofie, Fleur, Pepe Nero, Night Stalker and Big John with small food pairings hah. But yeah, definitely dug it so I'll for sure go grab that dusty pack!
