I am long over due to try something new in the way of an ale and surprisingly enough discovered this afternoon that Costco now sells craft (for want of a better term) ales. They had a decent selection for a store like that, I am guessing at least 15-20 or so different ales for sale just up the aisle a tiny bit from the cases of their regular beers like Bud Light, Heineken, Stella Artois, Corona, and Kirkland Ales among others. Kirkland ales are a great buy at $18.99 a case and much better than swill like Budwiper, made by the same brewery as Saranac brand of ales as I understand . That is on the eastern side of the USA, the use a different brewery out west.
Among the single bottles of ale they offered they had Three Philosophers from Brewery Ommegang (Cooperstown, NY) and I put two of them into my cart at $8.99 each. Not a bad price considering what I would pay elsewhere. A few minutes later, I found a three pack box containing one each of brewery Ommegang's Three Philosophers, Ommegang Abby Ale and Hennepin at $18.99 per box. I grabbed two boxes and put the two single bottles back on the shelf; at $6.33 per bottle that price is hard to beat. The three different ales in those boxes are excellent abbey style ales; Three Philosophers at about 9.7% alcohol, Ommegang Abbey Ale at about 8.5% and Hennepin somewhere around 6.5%.. I also grabbed to cheapies - a couple of bottles of Hop Stoopid by the Lagunitas brewing Company of Petaluma, CA at only $3.99 per bottle but at a decent 8% alcohol. They also had Duvall Ale (no, not Duvel from Belgium, this stuff is from WA or OR - probably grunge beer), Dogfish Head Ale at about 10% alcohol and I think at $10.99 per bottle and several others whose names elude me at the moment. After picking up the the ales, I also grabbed a case of the Kirkland Ales which has a six-pack each of India Pale Ale, Pale Ale, Brown Ale and German Lager (why they included a lager in there just befuddles me but it tastes like an ale anyway).
Once home, my son saw the two boxes of Ommegang that I had brought into the house. He was impressed. Then I asked him to get the case of Kirkland ales out of the trunk. I guess he missed the two bottles of Hop Stoopid still in the trunk when he got the case. I threw the 6 bottles of the Ommegang ales into the fridge about two hours ago. Left the Kirkland case on the basement floor for later cooling (that's the beer for the BBQ on Independence Day) and just went out maybe 10 minutes ago to grab the two Hop Stoopid bottles. They went into the freezer right after that. I am figuring on giving them an hour in the icebox and then having one for myself and giving the other to my son should he feel like having one. The Hop Stoopid will be the new one for me; I had never heard of it, let alone seen it, before today. I'll clue you all in to just how wonderfully tasty of a beverage it is, unless of course it is unmitigated swill in which case I'll let you know that instead. I figure at the $3.99 per bottle that they charged for it, it is not going to be anything special but one never knows until one takes a few swigs (or a few bottles). Regardless of the taste, at 8% alcohol it was a bargain even if only about 1 pint 6 fluid ounces while the others were 1 pint 9.4 fluid ounces.
Waiting about another 15 minutes for them to have been in the freezer for an hour. Nope, that is wrong, my son pulled them out as I typed the period on the previous sentence. I guess now is the time. Mmmmm - hoppy goodness.
Ale for now.
Later 4 U,
GB
Among the single bottles of ale they offered they had Three Philosophers from Brewery Ommegang (Cooperstown, NY) and I put two of them into my cart at $8.99 each. Not a bad price considering what I would pay elsewhere. A few minutes later, I found a three pack box containing one each of brewery Ommegang's Three Philosophers, Ommegang Abby Ale and Hennepin at $18.99 per box. I grabbed two boxes and put the two single bottles back on the shelf; at $6.33 per bottle that price is hard to beat. The three different ales in those boxes are excellent abbey style ales; Three Philosophers at about 9.7% alcohol, Ommegang Abbey Ale at about 8.5% and Hennepin somewhere around 6.5%.. I also grabbed to cheapies - a couple of bottles of Hop Stoopid by the Lagunitas brewing Company of Petaluma, CA at only $3.99 per bottle but at a decent 8% alcohol. They also had Duvall Ale (no, not Duvel from Belgium, this stuff is from WA or OR - probably grunge beer), Dogfish Head Ale at about 10% alcohol and I think at $10.99 per bottle and several others whose names elude me at the moment. After picking up the the ales, I also grabbed a case of the Kirkland Ales which has a six-pack each of India Pale Ale, Pale Ale, Brown Ale and German Lager (why they included a lager in there just befuddles me but it tastes like an ale anyway). Once home, my son saw the two boxes of Ommegang that I had brought into the house. He was impressed. Then I asked him to get the case of Kirkland ales out of the trunk. I guess he missed the two bottles of Hop Stoopid still in the trunk when he got the case. I threw the 6 bottles of the Ommegang ales into the fridge about two hours ago. Left the Kirkland case on the basement floor for later cooling (that's the beer for the BBQ on Independence Day) and just went out maybe 10 minutes ago to grab the two Hop Stoopid bottles. They went into the freezer right after that. I am figuring on giving them an hour in the icebox and then having one for myself and giving the other to my son should he feel like having one. The Hop Stoopid will be the new one for me; I had never heard of it, let alone seen it, before today. I'll clue you all in to just how wonderfully tasty of a beverage it is, unless of course it is unmitigated swill in which case I'll let you know that instead. I figure at the $3.99 per bottle that they charged for it, it is not going to be anything special but one never knows until one takes a few swigs (or a few bottles). Regardless of the taste, at 8% alcohol it was a bargain even if only about 1 pint 6 fluid ounces while the others were 1 pint 9.4 fluid ounces.
Waiting about another 15 minutes for them to have been in the freezer for an hour. Nope, that is wrong, my son pulled them out as I typed the period on the previous sentence. I guess now is the time. Mmmmm - hoppy goodness.
Ale for now.
Later 4 U,
GB
