Time for a beer thread bump.
A couple things I wanted to share with you guys.
First, KCUnited put me on to a store in Chicago that has a website where they sell and ship local beers (and other beers from around the world) to your door.
The name of the site is craftbeertemple.com
I went and made a purchase the day he told me about it, and wanted to hold off on posting about it until I received the box, to see if the IPAs were pretty fresh.
I ordered a few different IPAs from the Chicago area, and a few different saisons from around the country. The IPAs were all less than a month old, and everything was packaged very well.
I got four packs of Pipeworks Lil Citra, Spiteful Working for the Weekend, and Pipeworks Ninja vs. Unicorn. I got 22oz bottles of a couple of different Blackberry Farms Saisons and a Logsdon Farmhouse ale.
Just wanted to share the site with you guys and let you know that they're pretty legit, and they offer some great beers. If you want to try fresh IPAs from the Chicago area, I'd check them out. Shipping can be pretty pricey if you do two day, but I've done ground shipping on my two orders, and both arrived in about 5-7 days. With the cool months ahead of us, that shouldnot have much effect on the beer. My only warning would be that UPS does require signature upon arrival by someone 21 or older, so plan on someone being home to accept the package.
Secondly, I hit Great Raft in Shreveport for their 3 Year Anniversary party a couple of weeks ago. I want to recommend this brewery to everyone one more time. If you're ever near Shreveport, I'd stop in. They're making quality beers. Great saisons, IPAs, and, strong dark ales. Their flagship beer is a Porter called Old Mad Joy. I haven't tried it myself, but it's raved about down here.
Finally, if anyone is ever in Houston, do yourself a favor....go directly to Brash Brewing and ask for a pint of Pussy Wagon IPA. By far the best IPA I've had out of Texas, and probably in my top 5-10 from around the country. Brash just started brewing about a year ago, I believe, but they've got some really good beers, and Pussy Wagon is the cream of the crop.