At this exact moment: Victory Golden Monkey, Breckenridge Vanilla Porter, PBR, and Super Bock

This:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--...0/IMG_7516.JPG

i'd say zippy is well prepared for the evening. i'm storing the same but in growlers. that and a dozen Racer 5 from Bear Republic. We are blessed here in Sonoma County.

More than one evening. I must say, having had some, it is very, very good. When I was at RRBC I made a point of drinking only the stuff they don't bottle: Row 2, Hill 56, Dribble Belt, et al., but now that I can't have any of that, the Pliny is a very acceptable substitute. My heart bleeds for all you folks who have no idea W T F I am posting in reference to.

Incredibly jealous.

Made a midweek beer run and grabbed Flying Dog Bloodline IPA and Gigantic IPA (based out of Portland, OR). The latter is a big bottle, so I didn't pop that tonight, but I had a couple of the Bloodline IPAs - very good stuff. I'm digging the fruit-tinged IPAs; first the Grapefruit Sculpin, and now Bloodline, which really makes a hop-infused blood orange ale taste really damn fine. Very drinkable, not too hoppy for an IPA. I haven't had Flying Dog in a while, very impressed with this brew.

Liquor stores out here-- when they get Pliny, which is infrequent-- typically ration it, one bottle per customer, and they unabashedly charge $7 or $8 for a bottle. For this reason, I have basically quit hunting for Pliny, and instead focus on other IPAs which I favor and which are easier to get. Fortunately we have many breweries producing very good IPAs, so this is not hard.

At this point I basically consume Stone's Go To IPA almost exclusively, and consume Pliny only when it is convenient. I'll have a Sculpin or other beloved IPA-- Knee Deep Batch 138, Kern River Just Outstanding, Alesmith IPA-- once in a while, but Go To is easy to get and widely distributed.

Of the ones you mention above, I have not tried any of those. I'll be in San Diego next week, so perhaps a bit of Sculpin, or whatever I can find.

It's not that expensive to make a beer pilgrimage. In the last year I managed to make it to Sierra Nevada (Chico, CA), Stone (Escondido, CA), and RRBC (Santa Rosa, twice). It was fun.

Go to Ballast Point tasting room at Home Brew Mart!
http://www.ballastpoint.com/home-brew-mart/

San Diego is beer heaven if you like craft brews. PM me and I'll see if I can't get you that Rocky's burger and some beers.

I love reading this thread every few weeks, even though I have no idea what most of the beers are!

Currently for me I have some Greene King IPA, Fursty Ferret and Old Speckled Hen in cans, and Becks in bottles ready for the sun.

Lagunitas Maximus (or was, I just finished it)
Sierra Nevada Harvest Single Hop IPA - Idaho 7
Weyerbacher Last Chance IPA
Abita Wrought Iron
Penn Brewery Chocolate Meltdown
FishTale Ales Hodgson's Bitter End IPA
FishTale Ales Beyond the Pale Pale Ale
Otter Creek Fresh Slice White IPA

So did I last night, must re-stock fridge.
Still left to enjoy are:
BrewDog Zeitgeist
Evil Twin Molotov Cocktail Imperial India Pale Ale

We were out last night and I drank my weekly beer. I had a pint of Shipyard Summer Ale. The bartender warned me. She asked if I wanted to try it first. Naw, I said, I've met few beers I didn't like and even fewer I didn't finish. I'll add this one to the list. Maybe I don't like summer ales with their spicy, chemical flavored additives. Back to IPA next weekend.

When I was at the brewery some years ago, they charged $5. So $7-8 does not sound hideous to me.

Just be glad we are not wine snobs. They have to pay a ton for their choices.

I made a Zombie Dust run yesterday. $40 a case. It was bottled/dated Thursday and still cold from their fridge. IMO the finest APA in the world, trending toward an IPA but not exactly there. They seem to be on an almost regular schedule of selling it Fridays now. It used to be quite unpredictable. So if you find yourself in Chicagoland on a Friday morning, call their main number about 10:45 and press 3 for availability that day. PM me and I can meet you there or make a run together; I am about 10 miles away.

This is a brilliant idea. It is easy to get to.

Oh, I love San Diego for this reason, and it was certainly a motivating factor in planning this trip (which is for business, mainly).

But keep in mind, MSRP is around $5. So presumably they are purchasing it for $2.50 or thereabouts from the distributor (Stone, in SoCal), who in turn purchased it from RRBC for $1.25. So a very comfortable margin when RRBC sells it at the pub, assuming the usual retail markup, and a margin that borders on gouging for the liquor stores that sell Pliny at $7 or $8/bottle.

I don't begrudge them making their pittance if they charge MSRP, but once they start charging what the traffic will bear, I will take my business elsewhere.

Pliny is a want, not a need.

Ok, I'll ask. Why just one beer a week?