New White Whale List

Apparently I am. Maybe nostalgia has tainted my hindsight, but I seem to be perceiving a marked increase in this "whale" phenomena. Drink your locals and concern yourself less with obtaining beer that quite frankly does not stack up to the hype. Or maybe living in the NW has spoiled me, rendering all other beer a pale imitation.

107/list...Eszett should probably be on there, but it's still pretty under-the-radar.

I think gueuze and lambic that is not cantillon and fonteinen are over looked hard. Only die hard lambic heads hold them with value.

I currently stand at 11/103 but after this Saturday I should be around 45-50.

I think Eszett is going to get there in a bit. It's building too much solid "holy shit this is amazing" buzz. It meets a bunch of the seemingly subjective qualifies too (a beer snob snob's beer, lambic, low bottle count, hard to get, high reviews).

Ticked 3. Mildly shocked I've had more than 0.

My comment was tongue in check, IMO Beer Advocate, especially the trading forums, is built on the establishment of "whales". Everybody wants the hot new thing and thinks it'll be the next whale. I was like that, still am in some respects, but I have been thoroughly enjoying what I can get on shelves lately. You are indeed lucky to be in the NW, a lot of great beer is being cranked out of there right now.

I've had 1 off that list. Unless you want to count the iced Framboos served at Eb's this year. Then 2.

Looks like 5 for me with another 2 in the cellar. Really surprised I've had that many.

I love the PnW...things are starting to be bottled or canned more often. We've got Logsdon's and Upright killing the "farmhouse" style. Fremont is bringing it with barrel aged offerings as well as quality hoppy beers (and their sour program is starting up). HotD, no need to say more on that one. Block 15 is really impressing me. Cascade sours are mostly pretty solid. Boneyard is going to do 24 oz cans (please let me send 24 ouncers of Hop Venom to friends). There are plenty more but these are the ones I personally love.

Pretty much to all of those. I've been fanboying out hard to Logsdon, Block 15, and Upright.

You leave us PNW people alone! We make terrible beer and none of us trade.

If you're not competing, its because you would probably lose.

who can compete? i think sean won already. i think i've ticked 75 of them. too many random ones i'm missing like those old vintage dark lords which i wouldn't try very hard to tick. i have quite a few of them in my cellar though

There are definitely some beers not on the list that deserve it:
Fish Merlot BA Leviathan Batch 2, November 2000
Fish Merlot BA Poseidon Batch 2, November 2000

Those beers are INSANELY good and rare. They have aged amazingly. I've had multiple bottles of each over the last few years and they're still carbonated, hardly oxidized, etc. There are 750 ml and 1.5 L bottles of each.

Also, HotD Eve, HotD AftW batch 1 (2000), Gratitude 2006, and early batches of C&C La Folie.

nine? #depressed

30/103, posted on the block like a Sealy Posturpedic

Does it make me old if I don't know what that means?

You aren't old, but you probably don't own a scraper bike or a DONK.

@1:34, Gorilla Zoe will give you context.

If people want Eszett in there then I nominate t'ingen eurke and several other lambics no one's ever heard of.

62/100 after January... Gotta step my game up.

The irony is that Eszett is a blend of both Cantillon and 3 Fonteinen, with others, so in theory it should be twice as coveted.

my coolness ratio is currently at 35 or 36 depending on if you count the one i don't remember. looks like i will be adding another 10 or so to that number pretty soon!!!

That sounds exactly like a Bro bragging about the chicks he's banged.

you sound surprised...isn't that what all of this is the equivalent to? i mean c'mon ticking is notching your bedpost isn't it?

<insert non offensive joke about how banging whales is a lot easier than drinking whales>

Man when I saw that I was really getting psyched for a good ol cosmicevan response...what happened to you?!

So you mean like a 2 page post?

i try not to post after 11p anymore and avoid the drama. i recently got involved in the LNBA Secret Santa BIF and a few of those guys are on hiatus. it just isn't worth it. i like to have my reviews stay on the site and leverage the non-forum tools here. if i go old school then i won't be able to post reviews for all the upcoming madness!!!

jim, i think you may have been not surfing the forum much back before my hiatus from the site. i've grown wiser (or just quieter) since then.

It's only 10:30 -- there's still time!

I've had 1.

Really?? Don't tell me that man. It's going to get ugly.

lol! The smiley is serious! I've had so many awesome beers recently, I couldn't care less if they are on that list =) Fun reading though.

Plan a trip to NYC.

Funny and interesting list, I pretty much agree with most of it. Some thoughts however about a few things:
- Not a very well known beer, but highly coveted : Southampton Berliner Weisse (this one is in my wants top 3)
- Very surprised by SNR2000, I've seen threads proposing M+ or 1983/1999 Framboos for it, is it really so easy to get that it is ranked so low? (just asking because this one is in my wants top 1...) [If anyone is wanting to trade for higher rated beers, feel free to BM me !]
- Also a bit surprised with the ranking of the various Stormaktsporters (especially Kaggen, given it had once be ranked #1 on this site and is so insanely rare, and actually good!)
Did not make the count of how many I've had (only 2 among the first 10...), but hunting is open!

PS: I would also probably add Pinot d'Aunis, contrary to other rare Cantillon, this one is well known as it used to be a Zwanze (2011). More debatable, but you could also think of Churchill's Finest Hour 2012 or Firestone Walker 10th anniversary, etc. (I understand that this can obviously not be a comprehensive list).

- I am well aware of the Berliner Weisse. You're right. It is highly coveted... by those people in the know. Therefore, its not ranked higher because most people know nothing about it.
- SNR2000 is MUCH, MUCH, MUCH more common than M and 1999 Framboos. Its not easy to trade for, but its not comparable to the other beers you mentioned.
- Stormaktsporter being ranked #1 has little to do with its desireability. Yes. It's very rare, but for certain groups of people, its very very easy to get.

-Someone above had mentioned this already, but to re-iterate, if I put all the one-off Cantillon on the list (which I agree, they deserve to be), a third of the list would be made up of Cantillon. The thought is, if I have a couple of the very well known ones up there, they'll serve as an example of how desireable the other one-offs are.
- CFH '12 is nowhere near deserving of a top 100 ranking.
- I know a couple of people that have FW10 that can't get rid of them because of the reviews that have been posted recently. Its one of those rare beers that are way past its prime. On a personal note, I had a FW10 about 1.5 years ago and it was very nearly a drain pour already. I can't imagine how muddled and messy its become at this point.

Eh, I've seen most of these at my local Walgreens.

Thanks for the info, it is not always clear for me how much available is a beer in the US (which I assume your ranking is mainly based on). Actually, there are good news for me in your answer!
I'll definitely not track FWXX now, and won't break my cellar for CFH12, then

I love these types of lists! Reminds me of the G45 LEGENDS list.
http://www.g45central.com/g45/