There exists a world where single-serving beer (and more) is kept behind glass doors, in cold rooms, available for sale. You can find portals into this world if you live in at least a small city.
This world is known colloquially as the liquor store (or the convenience store, if you’re fancy), and it lives to serve one’s spontaneous desires. Want an adult beverage and a chocolate chip-cookie ice cream sandwich? Or perhaps a lottery ticket and some antifreeze? This world was made for you. I, of course, will be concentrating on the “craft beer” side of things.
You may have noticed that I put “craft beer” in quotation marks. This is because one’s expectations should be tempered here; we’re not talking about a Bottlecraft bottle shop here. But you can definitely get pretty lucky, depending on what a random distributor sells to the store, and how long ago they stocked it.
I decided to visit this world not long ago, and my first stop was Country Club Liquor in Palm Desert, which offers numerous options for single-serving alcoholic beverages. I purchased one tall can each of New Belgium’s Voodoo Ranger Tropic Force IPA and Voodoo Ranger Imperial IPA, alongside a single can of (believe it or not) Delirium Tremens. The Delirium was as good as it’s ever been, with bubblegum, citrus, clove, a little pepper and some floral notes from the alcohol. I suspect this is as good as it gets when it comes to liquor stores.
New Belgium’s offerings, on the other hand, while not terrible by any means, seemed sort of like sideways entries into the malt liquor market. Both were at least 9% alcohol by volume, and the Tropic Force tasted like it either had juice, flavoring or terpenes (though I doubt the latter)—like a seltzer with juice. The Imperial IPA at least tasted like beer, but it sealed in my mind exactly what New Belgium is going for nowadays. You see, it wasn’t so long ago that they were a well-respected player on the scene. My friends and I often talk about their incredible barrel-aged sours like La Folie, or the collaboration they did with Alpine Beer Company called Super IPA that was one of the best beers either brewer has ever done alone. Now New Belgium is the modern-day Colt 45.
My next stop (this wasn’t done in a single day; I’m not a maniac) was the Circle K on San Pablo Avenue in Palm Desert. This one is a 10-minute walk from my house, and it is not uncommon for me to stop here and grab a beer after a hard night of work. Usually, that beer is Sierra Nevada’s Torpedo IPA. It’s always there, never out of date and always cold. It also happens to always be good.
Drinking this and Delirium created a kind of liquid nostalgia for me. Torpedo holds aromas and flavors of grapefruit and pine (a staple of the American IPAs of the past), as well as—if you happen upon a really fresh one—melon. Oddly, there was no sight of Sierra Nevada’s Hazy Little Thing. I’m pretty sure that’s what has kept their motor running in the past few years, but I am very glad they still make some of the oldies, at a high quality and consistency.
One’s expectations should be tempered here; we’re not talking about a Bottlecraft bottle shop here. But you can definitely get pretty lucky, depending on what a random distributor sells to the convenience store, and how long ago they stocked it.
Next, I cheated a little: I went to Total Wine and More. Their singles selection was abysmal, though. It was either heavily neglected, or there was a huge run on the stuff that day. Not wanting to try an abomination such as a strawberry chavela, I settled for stovepipe cans of 21st Amendment Brewing’s Hell or High Watermelon, and Bell’s Two-Hearted IPA
San Francisco’s 21st Amendment Brewery has been making Hell or High Watermelon for many years now—but I’m not sure I’d previously tried it. It’s a matter of taste; fruited wheat ales are not my jam. Even since the days of Samuel Adams’ Cherry Wheat, I’ve not been partial to the style. Hell or High Watermelon was a very pleasant beverage, though—light and crisp, with a good amount of non-fake-seeming watermelon flavor, but not enough to cover up the beer underneath. I could see why one would reach for this on a warm day while tending the barbecue, or using it for a vinaigrette. I’ve not always been a fan of 21st’s beers, but I know they’re capable of greatness; I recall their Tasty IPA, dedicated to the late, great homebrewer Mike “Tasty” McDole with fondness. It’s good to see part of the old guard of craft beer still kicking.
Bell’s Two-Hearted IPA is another staple in craft-beer circles. The brewery operates out of Kalamazoo, Mich., and people have been touting their beers for decades, for good reason. When on tap at a local bar that doesn’t always have a decent IPA choice, Two-Hearted is a relief. Pine and citrus abound, like any good old-school IPA, but I also get an herbaceous quality, and some caramel from the malt underneath, with a bitterness that reminds you of its roots. It’s just a very good beer, and while I don’t reach for it that often, I’m glad it finds its way here, even somewhat fresh.
(Honestly, the real winner at Total Wine was the four-pack of Fremont’s Coffee and Coconut Barrel-Aged Cuvee I also picked up, but that’s a column for another time.)
In summary, I’d call my liquor store adventures a success. The only regrettable beers I had were the New Belgium offerings, and that doesn’t surprise me at all. If I had gotten around to this topic a few years back, Modern Times would most certainly have been on this list. They pushed single stovepipe cans of great beers like Orderville and their excellent German-style pilsner, Ice, to the market when not as many others were doing so. An oft-mentioned brewery in these pages called Brewery X is doing this now, and their beer seems to be good across the board, but I didn’t find it on my recent outings.
If you’re in dire need of a scratcher, a convenience-store hot dog and a beer, your chances of drinking well are higher than you might think.
