Help Needed

So, I've been tasked with bringing back a slough portland's best microbrews (or oregon/PNW in general) to the good people of Northwest Indiana. My plan is to get a bunch of 22s and pack them away real good to check with Southwest (gotta love no baggage fee there). I've got several ideas of my personal favs, and was thinking that Belmont Station will probably be honey hole for me. I wanted to get a lot of good input for this one, as it will be a real treat for a few folks out here that like the microbrews. So, collective beer wisdom of Pilot Nation, what say you??

See if you can get a foam wine shipping box from Belmont. Much easier to pack beers with that. Fill in around the bottles with paper or packing peanuts. Beer explosions are bad.

pilotram wrote:See if you can get a foam wine shipping box from Belmont. Much easier to pack beers with that. Fill in around the bottles with paper or packing peanuts. Beer explosions are bad.

Yea, that was what I was thinking - I'm glad to hear they have those. Last time, I had a 22 of New Old Lompoc C-Note explode....weren't pertty.

Well it depends on if you want to go with the winter style brews, go nuts on the hop crazy brews that seem to define "Oregon" beer, or if you just want to get obscure stuff that you would never see in the shadow of the golden dome...

DaTruRochin wrote:Well it depends on if you want to go with the winter style brews, go nuts on the hop crazy brews that seem to define "Oregon" beer, or if you just want to get obscure stuff that you would never see in the shadow of the golden dome...

I've got several in mind, and of varying styles, but I don't want to stifle the creativity by putting things down that I already know I'm going to get.

Ah, the days when you could carry on as much beer as you could hold...

well, I dont know the "beer-education" level of the lucky folks you are doing your saintly work for, but IMO here are some basic "must drinks" from Oregon: Deschutes Mirror Pond, Widmer Brrr & Drop Top, Ninkasi Total Domination IPA, Deschutes Jubelale, and no portfolio is complete without something from HUB.

But, really, you can't go wrong here...

So what is the size and weight limits on your checked baggage. What about a styrofoam ice chest with shredded paper packed in between the bottles. A wine box might not be big enough

I think you are going to find that your selection might be better if you go with regular sized bottles. 2 or 3 regular bottles of each beer might be better than one 22oz of each. I can help get rid of a few bottles from each 6 pack.

Education levels are pretty high - one is an avid home brewer and brewed professionally for a time many years ago, another is a regular micro brew drinker with a fine palate, but really has only experienced east coast and midwest beers, then the rest are so so as far as knowledge goes, but they may not get anything depending on the amount I can bring back.

I liked the list of classics. I also plan on getting the Deschutes Abyss, the Lompoc C-Note, and some Widmer Brrr (I love it so much), and some "classics" (Mirror POnd etc.).

I'm not sure you can take a hopped up west coast beer back East and get it accepted. It's an acquired thing.

I took a few bottles of Pliny back East Last year and people thought I was feeding them turpentine or something.

Speaking of which, the latest Belmont Station tweet is pushing Hop Valley Hopocalypse Blackout Stout ( try getting THAT through the IPad spell checker)

I have no idea if it's any good, but WHAT A NAME!

Rochin54 wrote:Education levels are pretty high - one is an avid home brewer and brewed professionally for a time many years ago, another is a regular micro brew drinker with a fine palate, but really has only experienced east coast and midwest beers, then the rest are so so as far as knowledge goes, but they may not get anything depending on the amount I can bring back.

I liked the list of classics. I also plan on getting the Deschutes Abyss, the Lompoc C-Note, and some Widmer Brrr (I love it so much), and some "classics" (Mirror POnd etc.).

One of my hobbies is building robots. One of my best robot buddies started into the business because he wanted to automate his home brewery. We had to stop meeting at his place, because we couldn't stop sampling. No robots got built. Now we meet elsewhere and he just brings a couple bottles.

Best brews I have ever had. Beer is a lot different if there is no limit on cost of ingredients.

You know my dearest R54, if you need someone to help you sample said brews... You've got my digit, plus it's the holidays, I'm always up for volunteering for a good cause and I'm pretty much as stand up as stand up guys get...

you should have plenty of space for checked baggage...40 lbs x 3 people x 2 bags (per person)= I need a drink to figure out the answer. And if you want, you can drop some off here on your way back.

I am so far removed from Oregon beers anymore I don't really have any other suggestions than the ones already mentioned.