The Hopslam Cometh

It's that time of year again where liquor store employees are harassed on a regular basis about the arrival of that one magical, elusive beer that every beer nerd in the city lusts after. And for the love of God, no, I'm not talking about Chocolate Ale. Yep, it's Bell's Hopslam season, and if you've been keeping a close ear to the streets, you probably know that it is likely to hit any day now. In typical fashion, Glazer's (the distributor for Bell's) has been keeping pretty mum and noncommittal about an actual arrival date, but the general buzz from retailers and bars has been that it would be here "late this week."


Finally yesterday, we got a committed answer from one Kansas City store. Gomer's South announced on Facebook and Twitter that customers can expect to see Hopslam hit shelves (well, if it even makes it to shelves which is highly unlikely) on Friday the 25th. It will be limited to one six pack per customer, first come first served.

I've also seen rumors that our friends at Martin City Brewing Company may be getting their Hopslam as soon as today, but I haven't received confirmation of that yet (trust me, I'm working on it). Given the fact that they were one of the only two places in town to get a keg of Bell's Black Note and were the first to tap it, this could very well be true.

So with essentially no concrete information on where Hopslam will be popping up when, what's a drinker to do? This is where social media kicks in. I've put together an advanced Twitter search that looks for the keyword 'Hopslam', and specifically searches through the tweets of a number of key accounts in the city that could potentially be getting some (both retail and bars are included) and are relatively active when it comes to tweeting about new beer arrivals. Just fire up the link below and you can monitor when Hopslam is getting mentioned.

http://tinyurl.com/a8lx7vu

If you aren't interested in playing the social media hunt/guessing game, there's one more surefire event coming up where there will definitely be some Hopslam available. And there's even a set time and date! On Monday, January 28th, Flying Saucer will be tapping a firkin of Hopslam at 7pm. This is a ticketed event, with tickets going on sale at 6pm, and chances are that means you'll want to get there by 5:30 at the latest because I have no doubt these will sell out quick.

If I get any updates on Martin City or other locations over the course of the day, I'll update this post accordingly, but I highly suggest bookmarking the Twitter search above and keeping a close eye on Hopslam announcements via tweet.

Good luck to all who are taking part in the chase!