I need some beer!!

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Liam.k.b

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Hey!

So, I'm based in the UK, Sussex to be specific.

I'm looking for a friendly American who would be keen to do a beer trade.

For years I've wanted to try what's considered the best IPA's in the world, Pliny the Elder or Heady topper but we just can't get these beers in the UK :(

If there is anyone in the US that would be up for sending some over to the UK for an exchange of somelocal Sussex Ale ??

We have some fantastic brewery's here so if there is anything specific I'm happy to hunt it down! I am also a stone's throw from the Dark Star brewery, absolutely excellent beer!

Thanks in avance!! :)
 
Hey!

So, I'm based in the UK, Sussex to be specific.

I'm looking for a friendly American who would be keen to do a beer trade.

For years I've wanted to try what's considered the best IPA's in the world, Pliny the Elder or Heady topper but we just can't get these beers in the UK :(

If there is anyone in the US that would be up for sending some over to the UK for an exchange of somelocal Sussex Ale ??

We have some fantastic brewery's here so if there is anything specific I'm happy to hunt it down! I am also a stone's throw from the Dark Star brewery, absolutely excellent beer!

Thanks in avance!! :)

Hi, and welcome to the forum.

Do you have a bottle shop locally? I've recently re-discovered my local bottle shop and they stock all sorts that are not prevalent in other shops. Hopefully you might have one local to you where you might be able to pick up some extra special beers.
 
Hi, and welcome to the forum.

Do you have a bottle shop locally? I've recently re-discovered my local bottle shop and they stock all sorts that are not prevalent in other shops. Hopefully you might have one local to you where you might be able to pick up some extra special beers.

Hey,

Thanks, for the reply!

I do indeed! They have some great beers, However, I have asked them about the Pliny and Heady Topper but sadly they have said they can't get them :(

I've wanted to try them for years, but it seems they just are not available in the UK.
 
Hey,

Thanks, for the reply!

I do indeed! They have some great beers, However, I have asked them about the Pliny and Heady Topper but sadly they have said they can't get them :(

I've wanted to try them for years, but it seems they just are not available in the UK.
That's a shame, but glad you have a bottle shop near to you.
I'm relatively new to home brewing, and am learning a lot about the different styles. Buying a couple of different bottles each week to work out what I want to brew next.
 
Although it's a bit old, this is worth a read : https://boakandbailey.com/2015/12/if-you-cant-get-x-try-y/

The likes of Human Cannonball often get mentioned in the context of Pliny (and Unhuman Cannonball as their Pliny the Younger equivalent) - and I'd rather have a fresh one of the UK beers mentioned in that post (and comments) rather than a stale version of some of the big US names. It seems a fairly common theme from the people who get to try them regularly that the difference in the hoppy stuff is not so great between the two countries, although the differences are greater in some other categories (either way - we generally do weaker beers better than them, they do stuff like big barrel-aged stouts and sours better than us).

Also, there's lots of homebrew recipes for Pliny kicking about, including direct from the brewery.


So don't get too FOMO about it.
 
120g of bittering hops in that recipe, my how times have changed.

Those beers are pretty difficult to find in the US unless you live close by the breweries. My experience with drinking some of the really popular ones has been a bit disapointing. So I would do what the author northernbrewer linked recommends and brew ones that are to your preference.
 
Pliny is not that hard to find - for instance you can get it at pretty much any Whole Foods in California (and it looks like Oregon as well), it's not one where you have to queue at the brewery to get it. As an aside, it's worth keeping an eye on the beer section in Whole Foods here if you have one nearby (there's one just off Piccadilly Circus for instance), they get all sorts of random US beers in, particularly around Christmas. Never cheap though!

Sending bottles across the Atlantic can get pretty expensive - and it doesn't help that the most "tradeable" thing we have to offer is cask beer which just doesn't really travel. I imagine the trade value of Verdant will have gone up due to increased interest following Lallemand releasing their yeast, otherwise your best offer would be eg anything else in the Ratebeer top 100, or a curiosity like Tynt Meadow for the Trappist completists. Don't forget that Fuller's always had pretty good distribution in the States and now that they and Dark Star can use the Asahi distribution network, I imagine they're one of the better represented UK breweries across the pond.

Bizarrely, perhaps one of the most valuable things we can trade is retail packs of Incognito hop extracts, Malt Miller and Get Er Brewed seem to be some of the only places anywhere breaking down wholesale Incognito into retail packs, I've seen US homebrewers complain that all they see are the 2kg jugs (for US$500 or so).
 
Yeah I recently heard Russian River opened another brewery now and it's easier to find these days but still pretty limited to California. I'll definitely get some next time I am in the region.
 
... you can get it at pretty much any Whole Foods in California (and it looks like Oregon as well), it's not one where you have to queue at the brewery to get it.
... but if you do find yourself in California, I'd highly recommend getting yourself along to Santa Rosa and go to the Russian River Brewpub, the Pliny there is straight from the brewery, the pizzas are good and they'll also serve you a flight of ALL the beers they have on tap at the time ... here's a pic of the 20 beer flight we had when we were there athumb.. ...
33372679050_5f76ce48bf_b.jpg


Cheers, PhilB
 
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