Lost Abbey Barrel Night 2013

What I'm saying is you're describing a very, very tiny percentage of the population, here. Far more people mindlessly upvote .rar beers (like the dudes ticking V012 as a 5, probably, although I'll stop short of saying definitely) than the reverse. You also won't be able to convince the small number of people with V012 bottles to trade their beers for very little just because one dude gave it a poor rating (and in fact, you'll get laughed at if you make that pitch to someone with bottles if you're trying to trade for it). On the other hand, you have to actually learn how interpret the ratings here, in order to account for a myriad of psychological factors that impact how people rate.

Further, if you were to make broad, sweeping generalizations about the problems of Beer Advocate, "a microscopic number of users occasionally give an intentionally low rating to a rare beer, and I presume it's to drive down trade value" wouldn't make the top 10 list. Probably not the top 25, either.

I get that it's a pet peeve of yours, and yeah it's a fairly suspicious rating, but it's not a big problem at the site and there's a real easy way to combat it (report the rating).

However you slice it, this guy/gal and their rating are not "what's wrong with this site."

And yes, I realize I used quotations once in this post to actually quote you and once to present a summary of a perspective and not an actual quote.

 

What about the folks that get these new beers and promptly rate them a 5, then attempt to trade it away. That looks pretty bad too.

 

I give it a 4.75 and I'm looking for a Utopias for one. But I got three so can you blame me?

 

1) just because you've been on a site or not been on a site for any amount of time absolutely does not have any bearing on your palate. If I wanted to I could say, well, you've only been on this site since 2012, what do you even know? See, it's moronic.

2) If I understand correctly, V012 is basically Cable Car Kriek. Which was FAR from a 5! people rating something perfectly is practically trade baiting. It's already a rare beer, people will trade craziness for it.

3) Asian food is awesome. I imagine they've got pretty good palates eating all of that complex food.

 

Well, 0 for 3 is a rough start. Do you have a fourth point to get you back to .250?

 

First of all I didnt think V12 was that great. Sorry you feel that I am devaluing your "whale" thats so good you want to trade it away. I feel radshoesbro, manny90 and errantnight makes a valid argument. I was fortunate enough to have a friend that had an extra ticket for me to go. I didnt much care for it but after what ryno09 said I plan on opening a bottle tonight and if I feel it was signifigantly better I will adjust my rating then. I dont feel my personal rating devalued your "whale" at all since it still trades high. I traded one away already for something quite nice and you scored your Utopias it seems you were looking for for awhile. So instead of crying about it next time why dont you just go about your business? Thats all I have to say to you.

 

what

 

I, too, was not super impressed by the beer. When a friend spoke to Tomme at the CC release and Tomme mentioned that V012 was going to be a recreation of CCK, I was pretty stoked since CCK is one of my favorite American Wild Ales. Speaking with Alex during the barrel night, he too, stated that V012 was a recreation of CCK. I could not wait to get through the still ales to try the V012. After tasting V012, everyone at my table agreed that it was hard to pick out the fruit (we thought it tasted like strawberry) and that the base beer was not even close to CC. To me, the beer tasted like FdA, but with strawberry instead of raspberry. To be fair, I did not try CCK fresh, but eight months after the initial release, and I have not tried V012 from the bottle, but based on the initial taste Saturday, I would say this beer is a failed recreation attempt.

 

i thought it was pretty close recreation. i'll have to do a side-by-side one of these days to solidify my opinion though. i have drank more than my fair share of CCK in the past though.. probably upwards of sampling 15 different bottles.

if anything, it was slightly less fruit, and a tiny bit less sweet, but that was probably intended. they didn't want a gusher like last time if was ryan says is true, that's pretty awesome.

 

DDG was flat and underwhelming on draft also, just something to consider. Much better out of the bottle.

 

I have heard that from many others, and I am a huge fan of DDG batch 2 from the bottle. I will try to open a bottle soon and will be crossing my fingers as I would love this to be a suitable CCK substitute, especially if it is put into rotation.

 

Cracked open a bottle and have to say WOW! Huge difference. I dont know if I had a shitty pour or what but just like DDG it is much better out of the bottle.

 

My group went straight from the event to Churchills and had the manager ice one of the bottles to share amongst the staff and us. We all agreed it was something special, whole new beer out of the bottle.

 

Must have been a long drive from Cambodia to the event. I guess you were trying to finally complete your 2nd quick review. Quite the accomplishment.

 

Yes and yes.

 

Found the time to share a bottle with another person.

Don't want to start my beer review history with a review of a beer like this, so I'll leave this here. I understand that it can be looked upon as trying to inflate or deflate the value. Whatever.

The beer itself was remarkably different from the bottle. Carbonated well and pours a nice clean salmon-like color. The cherries are definitely there, without tasting like a full-blown cherry pie. Hits you in the back of your mouth, with an earthy quality like a kriek does. Funk is there, and balances the tart sweetness of the beer. I'm not too fond of cherries, but I had no problem getting through the bottle. The beer isn't heavy, and the mouthfeel isn't thin or overly viscous.

So, I haven't figured this beer out yet. I'd like to consider my palate somewhat developed because I deal with food, but this beer is one of those things you keep tasting because it's a bit of a puzzle. (In contrast, I found myself able to really enjoy DDG because of its well-blended typical characteristics). Not sure if this beer is better or worse, but it makes you go back for another taste, which I find to be a good trait in anything drink/food related.
In the same thought, I think the biggest plus about this beer is the fact that it isn't so saturated with cherries. It's more of a nuanced flavor that you "find" after your sip.

Cheers.

 

FWIW, I found this to be better than CCK. I shared a bottle of CCK at Toronado w/ 4 friends at 2012 Zwanze day. We all agreed that it was overly sweet, especially when drinking it next to Lou Pepe Kriek.

V012, on the other hand, was similar, but less sweet... which is better imo. The same buddies were at the V012 event, and also agreed.

 

We opened a bottle last night, and, I agree, that V012 is much better out of the bottle. The three in the group that had previously had CCK did not think that it was better. The fruit is very subtle in V012 and it tastes like a combination of fruits, with cherry in the forefront, where as CCK is straight cherry. The carbonation on V012 was similar to the three bottles of CCK our group has opened in the past few months. Overall, we thought the V012 was quite good, but not better than CCK.

 

I've only had the opportunity to try one bottle of CCK at Toronado SD, and I thought it was the closest Kriek to a perfect 5.

 

It was like night and day for me. Bottle was SO MUCH BETTER.