Like a Kid in a Candy Store
Is how you could describe me in a good liquor store. I make a trip to Star Liquors every couple of weeks and spend more time than I should checking all the coolers for new beers I want to try and spending more money than I probably should.
When I go out of town I make it point to find the best liquor store in the area and stop by to see what they have that isn’t available here in Durango. This past weekend I was in Denver so I stopped into Argonaut Liquor to see what they had. Being Denver’s largest liquor store they had a great selection and I bought a ton of beer:
- Fort Collins Brewery Double Chocolate Stout
- Goose Island Bourbon County Stout
- Twisted Pine Espresso Stout
- The Breuery Two Turtle Doves
- Green Flash Stout
- Breckenridge Brewery Porter Porter
- Great Divide Oak Aged Yeti
- Anchor Steam Christmas Ale
- Boulevard Bourbon Barrel Quad
Now I wasn’t disappointed with any of this beers, but I was looking for one beer in particular I didn’t find, the same beer every other beer geek in America is looking for right now: Deschutes The Abyss. As you can probably tell from that list above, dark beers, particularly stouts and porters (especially of the Imperial variety) are my favorite brews, and The Abyss is generally considered one of the best Imperial Stouts (and best overall beers) around. Released by Deschutes Brewing Company in Oregon, I knew that it would take a little bit of time to make it’s way out to Colorado and down to Durango. I checked Star Liquors last week and they didn’t have it yet. Argonaut (and many other Denver liquor stores) were already sold out. When I got back to Durango and saw a post on Beer at 6512 about The Abyss being in stock at Star Liquors I rushed down there, but I was already too late, it was sold out, this is a familiar story to many beer drinkers (in fact it happened to Soggy Coaster, author of Beer at 6512 last year). Feeling sorry for myself I didn’t leave Star Liquors empty handed, I picked up a small selection of seasonals:
- New Belgium’s 2° Below Ale
- Alaskan Brewing Winter Ale
- Samuel Adams Imperial Stout
- AC Golden Winterfest
- Durango Bootlegger’s Society Insider Ale
I bought these five beers, four 12oz bottles and one 22oz bottle for about the same price as I would pay for one 22oz bottle of The Abyss, but that was no consolation. My only cosolation is that Lady Falconburgh’s Barley Exchange should have The Abyss on tap soon (if they haven’t tapped it already, hope I don’t miss out again…) I won’t be able to put a bottle or two away in my cellar, but hopefully I’ll get to try it this year.
Argonaut is amazin. Thats literally 5 blocks from my house (and on the way home). Nice post.
I guess I should go and stock up. My local liquor store still has a few bottles of 2008 Abyss on the shelves. I do have one in my cellar from 2008 but will have to clear them out before it’s too late. You can never have enough of this good beer.
I believe Hatcher had this at Hamiltons on Saturday when he was visiting. I think he just kind of picked it at random not realizing it was so sought after. Or maybe he was picking it based on ABV, I think its gone now.
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