Know what my grocery store carries? Fuckin' 5 different kinds of Leinenkugel, which not even my old-school lived-there-for-100-years Wisconsin inlaws drink. Know what my grocery store doesn't carry? More than 3 kinds of Weinhard's.
They're from PORTLAND.
Like WEINHARD'S. Which, back when I was in college, was available in cases in seven different varieties.
Unless I want to buy individual bottles, "decent non-pretentious craft beer" available to me is
- Sam Adams
- Sam Adams Light
- Heineken
- Heineken Light
- Pilsner Urquell
Corona and Corona Light, but who drinks that shit.
#getoffmylawn
The problem with craft beer in the northwest is that everyone drinks IPAs. If your taste pallet is for anything else then sucks to be you. The owner of the local bottle shop "Beer Authority" says that he cant sell though any of his Pilsners, German or Chezh beers but even the shittiest IPAs have no problem selling. So of-course hes replacing them with IPAs. Personally I don't mind the occasional IPA but I dont really understand how you can drink more than one and taste anything. To me the IPA flavor pallet is too strong and acidic its like trying to taste the flavor of lemon juice, after the first few sips the flavor and acidity just overwhelms you and you taste nothing but acid and sugar.
Where the hell are you getting coffee for $7.99 a POUND? That must be nice. Even my go-to inexpensive online roast-to-order shop is ~$12-13 per pound, and anything out of SF/Santa Cruz/Portland is $18-22... Then again, that same place sells green beans for $5 and I roast them myself (ecib)
The flavored robusta crap next to the arabica tends to be oil-slick shiny. I used to think this was a coating difference but it sounds like it means that even up here in Hicksville North Seattle the whole bean buyers have better sense than to buy robusta. I have yet to buy coffee up here as bad as the best stuff I could get in LA.
OK, that's what I was hoping would be the case with Weinhard's. I'm going to tell my brother to seek it out and try some and report back, if he hasn't already I like Yuengling quite a bit, not everyone does of course. I think IPA snobs are generally unimpressed by it.
You are right. That is an abysmal beer selection. Will your grocery store not order what you want for you? I ask my liquor store and my grocery store to order me items all the time. Lately, I have had my grocery store get me: Darth Vader espresso creamer, crumpets, leg of lamb, and some Delmonico cut steaks. I have had my local liquor store order me Anchor Steam and Magic Hat #9. They order the products because if I want them then someone else might like them as well. The usually order one minimal shipment from their suppliers which gives me a little supply of what I want and if the product sells well they carry it for as long as they can. Take the Darth Vader espresso which they carried until it was discontinued. It is worth asking them anyway.
The giant 200,000 sqft store is the corner store. They're a 10-minute walk away. Only thing closer is a Wendy's. If I want to wander further afield, there's a "corner store" that's an Indian grocery and produce market. It would not occur to me to check their beer selection.
There's Total Wine and More that has quite a selection as well as decent prices. But that's the thing - I wanna buy beer when I'm out of beer. I don't want to plan ahead and hoard the stuff like some expat buying a crate of macaroni and cheese and then taking just the packets to France to save on weight. That's my beef - why is it that those of us who want something between Apocalypse IPA and Michelob Ultra only get like five choices? I'm sure it's a temporary thing and I'm sure it'll get better (these $3 a bottle 10-oz cans are not going to survive the coming recession) but in the meantime, it's a drag to have to make a special run for beer.