Just curious here, but can anyone shed light on Three Floyds' barrel program. Couldn't really find much online. Sifting through photos on here I see a lot of different stuff from them it seems like in those hand-numbered bottles. They all sound amazing, and hard to get, so I'm assuming they do "semi-frequent" releases at their brewery where they just roll out some new stuff? Any word on this would be great, just interested in learning more-or finding out where I can learn more, about their barrel aged stuff. Thanks BAs
From what I understand, some of it is awesome. Lots of it is terrible. All of it is extremely expensive.
Very expensive...but what I've tried has been good...though probably not worth the time and effort.....except the Vanilla Dark Lord...stoked my girl has a bottle for what will be a very delicious day.
I agree with whats said above. And will add that I had fantastic experiences with all 3 BA DL(Congac De Muerte, Brandy Vanilla, & PvW) beers that I have drank, but no other barrel aged 3 flyods beers have been very good. It is extremes with 3 Floyds barrel aged beers. How can a brewery make both world class beers and below average beers? I just dont understand it.
Three Floyds is the Adam Dunn of brewing. Lots of home runs, lots of strike outs. Always swinging for the fences has its downside.
Thought there might be something like this floating around but couldn't find it, thanks for the addition!
I'm sure you already found out already but floyds usually does their special and barrel aged releases on tuesdays, not every week though. I live close to the brewpub and love fff but their prices for barrel aged beers has gotten out of hand, bottle prices have gone up $10 in a year and are strict 1 bottle limits. The only one I've had in months was murda'd out stout (barrel aged baller stout), but it was pretty damn good.
I kick myself for not picking up Murda'd Out, but I just wasn't ready for that price. I heard it was great, but Sucaba is only 16 bucks, and Ill bet it isn't 3 times better than what is quite possibly the pinnacle of Firestone Walker's fantastic barrel aging program.
$50 for Murda'd out stout. While it was good, I feel like I got ripped off. I'd imagine as time goes by, and more and more people shell out $50 for one of their beers, sentiment will change. Hype will die down, and backlash will grow. They tend to charge between $30-50 for their barrel aged bottles. Or to compare, you could buy any number of premium single malt scotches in the same price range. For a beer. from Munster, IN. Inflated demand is pretty amazing.
IMO, a perfect example of a brewery that buys too much into their own hype. There's absolutely nothing anyone can say that would convince me that the cost of barrel aging in Munster is 3x higher than everywhere else in the country.
I could never justify buying one of their relatively unknown BA beers for $35 when you can get solid Central Waters 4 packs for $11.
I love fff, they have some great regulars and outstanding seasonals and one offs but I can't buy into the hype of their barrel aged offerings. They buy their own hype and fff fanboys all over gladly shell out $30-50 for their barrel aged stuff, which only adds to the problem. Until the crazy demand for these brews dies down or they can produce more prices will stay the way they are or even grow along with fff's egos...
I recently tried their Barrel Aged Topless Wytch. The bourbon was so apparent in it that I could barely taste the underlying beer. Not sure if this is what they were intending, but I know that I won't be seeking any more of their barrel aged one-offs again.
A Big Donkey reference on Beer Advocate? My day has been made. Can't agree more I've had some of the barrel aged DL's that are comparable to monstrous 450 feet shots. Then I recently tried barrel aged Hells Black Intelligencer and it was a giant wiff on 3 straight pitches.
I am always torn by the prices too. If I don't like like the price I won't buy it but there's that little thing that irks me because I would like to try that dang beer first. I live right by Floyds too so even before the reputation of the beer is established they are sold out. Then you're stuck trying to deal with these guys on craigslist trying to sell Murda'd Out Stout for $100, literally, look it up. I do have a few BA Floyds beers and some of them are worth every penny but some are worth $10 at best.
Lol I actually know the guy that's trying to sell that murda'd out on cl, he's part of the problem with these outrageous prices because I'm sure fff is well aware of what people are getting for their beers on the"black market" and I'd bet adjusting their prices to get a piece of the action.
I'd gladly buy another bottle of BA Dark Lord after trying a couple of them, but I wouldn't roll the dice on these bi-weekly $35-50 bottles they keep putting out (maybe BA Behemoth).
Funny how they can make so many variations of DL and people dont say anything bad (except maybe Muerte or whatever) but any other BA beer has been easy to dismiss. I mean what are the odds? Obviously no hyping influencing this community.
I've had all of the barrel aged Dark Lords and maybe 6 other barrel aged FFF beers and all but one of the Dark Lords were really great. The other ones really were not very impressive, some quite bad. Dark Lord is maybe just better fit for a barrel, but who knows. I'm not a big fan of regular Dark Lord so I don't think hype played much of a role.
Years of Vanilla and BA dark lord getting highly rated reviews and being tap only on DLD didnt create any hype? Same scenario with CBS. Hype was building for a long time. Brandy Vanilla was interesting. Never had PvW nor do I care to after not being impressed much with all the other ones.
Sounds like we have a hater on our hands. mbierz is absolutely right. I've had ALL the BA DLs and ALL the other BA beers, and the DLs are worth the hype, especially the Vanilla Brandy. The other ones range from decent beers that still aren't worth the cost (BA Topless Witch) to terrible beers that shouldn't have been released (Bully Guppy).
I'm sure there is someone out there that eventually pay that amount which is also part of the problem. Whatever though, we can all go on and on about the prices, that are definitely outrageous sometimes, but until people stop buying it at those prices it will always be that high. In Floys' defense: a beer like Murda'd Out you have to really think about what you are paying for. It's a collaboration of four breweries, some of their finest beer goes into the Baller Stout. Then they spend money on the barrels, let it age for a year (I think) now that part of the process costs money just to let it sit and take up space and in some cases possibly hold up production but that's circumstantial. The only question we ask ourselves: Is it worth it to me? Personally, and going back to my original irk, the fact that you're a lot of times gambling if it's actually worth it or not.
Seems to be the consensus on here...with a name like Bully Guppy I'm not sure how much faith I could really put into it anyway Seems that the DL variations are solid. Anyone have any opinion on the BA Behemoth with Cherries...this is one that really peaked my interest
Usually haters are just jealous. What am I jealous of? Im just voicing my worthless opinion. The BA DLs arent terrible drainpours but I wouldn't pay $50 or trade white whales for one. Probably wouldnt even trade regular DL level beers for one.
i think a lot of people will share my sentiment, but i'd drop 50 bucks on a barrel aged dark lord without even thinking twice. everything else in their barrel program, on the other hand...maybe if i have a lot of spare cash. there's simply too much great beer out there that deserves my dollar to play roulette at three floyds on a tuesday.
I'm sure they (fff) have reasons for why their beer costs as much as it does, overhead and whatnot....I don't want to be a hater. I personally just wish that things like murda'd out and other ba's were more affordable and more available. My buddy is a dick and taking advantage of the market, him and others like him make it harder for the rest of us to get fff stuff at reasonable prices.
Completely agree with this. The only other BA FFF I enjoyed wrre the Moloko variants (haven't had a BA Behemoth yet). But the BA DLs are well worth the price IMO. That beer was meant to be barreled.
There's a definite "because we can" component to these prices. That's been part of prestige spirits for centuries; look at 3- and 4-figure bottles of wine that aren't guaranteed to be any better than the $20-30 stuff. Just saying that the production costs argument (which I've trotted out before) doesn't entirely cut it. It's a factor, but prestige pricing comes hand in hand with prestige brands.
For some reason, some winemakers get away with $100 bottles for almost everything they make. Why? Reputation. Dealing with the same thing here. We BAs are the ones that drove up the rep.
Huh? To my knowledge they've never barrel-aged Hell's Black Intelligencer. By chance did you mean BA Black Sun?
Available at Paddy Long's last week. http://www.paddylongs.com/barrel-aged-beer-night-at-paddy-longs-february-22/
Pretty sure there are websites with wine snobs connoisseurs just as obsessive as us here on BA. And they have an entire cottage industry dedicated to hyping stuff.
