Shape of things to come?

But it need not be an either/or situation. We could have 20 fresh ones. I rotate through about 10 different IPAs and always buy the super fresh ones, even if they weren't necessarily what I wanted to buy that day (like a week old or less).

Depends on how you look at it. If the shelves weren't cluttered with so many mediocre options that people wanted to try just once then there would be better turnover of the stuff that is actually worth buying regularly. Not enough people have reached that point in the hobby where they stick to the best stuff regularly and be more selective about trying new beers and/or breweries.

 

Like you said earlier it would be nice to see consumers chosing two hearted/racer/5 or even dirtwolf as opposed to their local average IPAs which would generally be a good thing. But with the clutter, old stock and the possibility of being overwhelmed by options it isn't that simple to do.

Not to mention come December those 3 aforementioned IPAs and every other year round offering will be overshadowed when the seasonal big guns come out to play. Celebration, Hop Ranch, Nugget Nectar, Hopslam, and probably a handful more of epic seasonal IPAs will lead to a staggering backlog for the normal "year round" guys. and This is when having 20 really good Ipas on the shelf all the time is a curse and not a blessing.

 

After three years at the WF Plymouth Meeting location, the beer buyer (Bill) has since moved on to the WF Devon location. There are still great beers to buy at both locations IMO, but both stores have a lot of foot traffic so certain brands/releases go quickly. Gotta keep up and be quick to snag certain bottles with so many people drinking craft these days.

 

I totally agree with most of what you say in your entire post (which is easy to do because I live in SEPA which is one of the best distribution areas in the US. There is no shortage of well made beer from out of state or out of the US.). My one caveat is the importance of some of what you've said in the section quoted here.

If we want the presence of the well-made from out of state to contribute to improving the quality of what's done in state, the new kids on the block need some degree of encouragement and support for improvement. As you've pointed out more than once, simply following a knee jerk "buy local" response won't improve the quality of what's available locally.

However, I don't think simply having better beers on the shelf to pick from will be all it takes to lead to improvement among the locals. Seems to me it requires selective encouragement of the good at the local level so that they will continue to grow and get better rather than wither and die because there's always something better to buy by one of the big kids. This is why I make it a point to try out multiple locally brewed beers and selectively give at least some of my business to repeating on the reasonably good even though I could always find something better from out of state. Sometimes the perfect can be the enemy of the good and encouraging improvement on the good takes a bit of nudging here and there.

 

I think I agree with you here as well, as long as there is some reasonable grounds for optimism. I make it a point to try every new local brewery, multiple times too, because if there is a gem in the rough then I want to get behind them and see them make it. And by that, I mean the ones that might become the next Bell's, or Founders, or Victory, etc.

Too many cases don't fit that description, however, yet the more common norm I see is to support them anyway. It's as if anything negative about anything local is taboo.

And even worse, it sometimes morphs into giving bloated assessments of the rather mediocre ones, because if we can't have the quality of local ones that we want we therefore just shower the existing ones with praise anyway. Many here are like Chicago Cubs fans. That sort of thing can be innocuous and admirable, but the ones that honestly think their "team" is much better than it actually is are tough to endure sometimes.

 

So the Weis beer cafe that just opened in West Manchester Township stocked the shelves with all old Spring House beers from 2013. The Giant in York did the same type of thing when they opened a few years ago. I dont get it. Why/how does that happen? Id probably buy some She Monster Mango if it wasnt so damn old. But its like they want these to be dusty shelf turds.

 

Amen. I try as many new breweries/beers in the area (and there have been a ton here in PA in the last two years or so). Many are thoroughly mediocre, others flat out bad. I keep going back to try new beers and I more than willing to give them another chance to impress me, but I am not about to reward them by buying growlers/six-packs/cases just because they are local. Thank god for samplers/flights/singles.

 

I compared VA vs. PA on seekabrew, and saw that PA gets considerably more than VA.

So it was with high hopes that I went to that Plymouth Meeting store this weekend. What a disappointment, Far less selection than the Whole Foods here in NoVA.

 

Check out the post by @jesskidden a bit above yours. I'd suggest he's spot on in his analysis since I've more than once seen the same thing he describes. Basically the shop buys an intial stock to suit what they are told by the beer geeks, most of whom are one-and-done drinkers. The rest of that beer sits and gets old. No way for a retailer to return a partial case to the distributor.

 

I've seen this go on for years. When Duck Rabbit entered the Eastern PA market a few years ago, the beer they sent was at or past the best by date. When Great Lakes came to Eastern PA and just this year to NEPA, the beer they sent was 2-4 weeks away from the best by date. Just last week, Shangy's was bragging about bringing Champion Brewing from VA into PA. The IPA they sent was canned 7-8-14.

 

To be fair most Great Lakes beer has a best by of 30-60 days. Not surprised they would be out of code in PA.

 

Actually got a timely response from both Shangy's and Champion. Old beer was sent by accident and a fresh batch is heading up this week.