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Beer Availability in Kentucky

Jun 24, 2008 beer

Though there will be a few Kentucky posts to come I thought I’d slap this one out first because it’s the easy one.

There is a lot of beer that is distributed in Kentucky that is not in Missouri. Some of it is in Illinois but not as widely and as easy to get as I found it to be in Kentucky. Most important of those is Stone brewery. I’d had a few Stone beers at Mike’s but this was my first opportunity to pick some up for my own stock. They make big beers that freak out non-big beer drinkers (the ones I bought anyway).

The second most important was Brooklyn Brewery. I’ve never had any of the Brooklyn brewery beers. I really like their brew master Garrett Oliver though so I’m hoping they’re okay. In Michael Jackson’s passing last year he is one of the people most poised to take his place as king of the beer geeks. More importantly, unlike many beer nerds, he likes wine a great deal as well. You’ll see him do beer vs wine pairing type stuff from time to time.

Bell’s also seemed to be more widely distributed, and I was able to grab a couple old sixes of Winter White and Double Cream Stout. They’re two of my favorite beers so they won’t be around long enough to really get skunky. I’m always sad to see them disappear from the shelves at the end of winter.

Rounding it out I saw a Dogfish Head beer I’d never seen: Burton Baton. Dogfish Head says it’s a blend of oak-aged English strong ale and our 90 Minute I.P.A.. Citrus notes from Northwestern hops meld with vanilla notes from the oak; 120min was only $7.99 as apposed to the $9.99 I paid in Illinois; and New Holland was also better distributed from what I saw.

The bounty is as follows…

• 2 Avery Maharaja as I hadn’t seen it in St. Louis in a while (though Mike says it’s coming back soon).
• 1 Stone Smoked Porter
• 5 Stone Arrogant Bastard
• 4 Stone Ruination
• 1 12oz Stone Ruination
• 2 New Holland Night Tripper
• 2 New Holland Dragon’s Milk
• 2 New Holland Blue Goat
• 1 Jolly Pumpkin Calabaza Blanca
• 4 Brooklyn Lager
• 4 Brooklyn East India Pale Ale
• 2 Brooklyn Nut Brown
• 2 Brooklyn Pennant Ale ‘55
• 2 Dogfish Head 120min IPA
• 2 Dogfish Head Burton Baton
• 6 Bell’s Winter White
• 6 Bell’s Double Cream Stout

Tags: Bell's Brewery, brooklyn brewery, Dogfish Head, garrett oliver, Jolly Pumpkin, Kentucky, Louisville, New Holland Brewery, Stone Brewery