Is rare beer really that much better?

Yes. Because I said so.

 

If something is rare it does make sense that it would have better odds of being good.

Beer becomes rare for two reasons. Because of a very high cost to produce, or because the brewery wants to create hype inflate the price. For the former reason, if it costs a lot to produce and nobody likes it it never gets brewed again. For the latter reason, it wouldn't be effective if people didn't love the beer.

That doesn't make it better than good easy to find beer, of course.

 

Quick, someone send me a Pliny/Heady/Zombie Dust/ and BCBS - I'll get to the bottom of this.

Rare, by the definition of the word, implies demand exceeds supply.. so what brews are we talking about? Limited run beers are rare by definition, unless they are absolutely horrid. Seasonal beers can be rare.. heck main production beers can be rare if the demand for them is high enough.. I can find Pliny pretty regularly, but it always sells out.

That being said, IMO, of course "IMO".. "limited" run beer will always be better than the best regular run beer because it fragments into so many variants, and therefore supports a wider - and particular - palate range, i.e. Sculpin vs. Sculpin Grapefruit vs. Sculpin Habanero vs. Sculpin Kumquat vs. Sculpin Key Lime - Oaked, Bourbon Barrel Aged 2010.. (some of those are made up, but you get my point!). It's also always on the bleeding edge, and if it sells well, there's a good chance it may become a regular or seasonal. There's always a better beer on the horizon, and its life typically starts as a limited production.

From personal experience.. when I first tasted Pliny the Elder I went into it completely blind. Someone handed it to me to and said I'd enjoy it. My reaction was "this is the best fcking IPA I've ever had", then I learned about Russian River, the double/triple hop process, and it was pretty clear why it stood out. I had Pliny the Younger and essentially said.. look, I can get Elder frequently, that's good enough, if they both existed side-by-side at my local liquor store I'd probably get the Younger every time though as it is better. I don't feel the need to murder anyone to get it though.

 

There is definitely no direct connection between how good a beer tastes and how rare it is. Taste is a very subjective thing that varies from person to person, but you can turn rarity and availability into numbers pretty easy.
But there are various indirect reasons why rarer beers have a better chance of being better. I think people here have already mentioned a lot of them, like better beer being harder to mass produce, more care given to small batches, going along with hype and expecting a highly rated beer to be good, etc... None of those reasons are only inherent to rarer beers, but a lot of them are more likely to come with a rarer beer.

 

How can you do a lot of tastings (blind or not) of a rare beer?

 

I disagree Founders Imperial Stout IMHO is a better beer than KBS.

 

i do enjoy myself rare sours.

i tried patridge in a pear tree. meH, but i did it!

 

Put the harder to get beers against not so hard to get beers. Either get a group and have someone not participating to set it up, or set up a tasting for a friend, and have them set one up for you. I try to do them as often as I can - they are great - they take all the prejudice out of drinking the beers.

If you're asking how to acquire rare beer in the first place, that's a different question.

 

In more of a serious note- I prefer medium rare beer. Interesting and well executed things, but not things you have to stand in line for, or trade your car to get. What I consider a good example: I stumbled upon a '13 Old Stock Ale two days ago. Not a rare beer by itself, but it already had a year on it... medium-rare beer. I also remember having a two year old Bolt Cutter from Founders. Despite the ho-hum marks from the rest of the BA cognoscente and even the Alstroms, I found this rendition to be quite nice, and again, medium-rare.

 

1) there can never be no reality. there can be no ubiquitous illusion. reality is just what is. even if it's influenced by perceivers, it's still reality.
2) well, of course. to perceive is to have a frame of reference; to be located somewhere, and to have that as your point of view.
3) ehhh, yeah, pretty much. i've had some truly phenomenal $40, but in truth i've had world class $5 pints.
4) no doubt.
5) don't give a shit about any of that. i try beers that sound interesting, and the praise of people whose tastes i seem to share or trust makes me more interested, but in the end the beer is the beer. also, i'm a direct realist and a wittgensteinian. along the lines of this guy (at least when i studied with him), and even more so this guy. so commonplace, objective, public reality is no problem with me.

 

Actually I think Rare is dropping off a bit from what I heard. I would have loved to try it in its prime.

 

I stop on my way to Vermont in the Albany area. I know in years past Cable beverage has had plenty of cases well after Black Friday as well.

 

Had loads of rare beers, very rare beers. I'd have preferred a pint of Tetley's Mild in the Black Dog in Leeds to many or them.

I love Courage Russian Stout, but as a regular drinker, Tetley's Mild kicked its bum.

 

dude it is called diminishing marginal utility.. So YES rare beer DOES taste better and its nothing to be embarrassed about.

Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility:
Definition and Statement of the Law:
The law of diminishing marginal utility describes a familiar and fundamental tendency of human behavior. The law of diminishing marginal utility states that:
“As a consumer consumes more and more units of a specific commodity, the utility from the successive units goes on diminishing”.
Mr. H. Gossen, a German economist, was first to explain this law in 1854. Alfred Marshal later on restated this law in the following words:
“The additional benefit which a person derives from an increase of his stock of a thing diminishes with every increase in the stock that already has”.
Law is Based Upon Three Facts:
The law of diminishing marginal utility is based upon three facts. First, total wants of a man are unlimited but each single want can be satisfied. As a man gets more and more units of a commodity, the desire of his for that good goes on falling. A point is reached when the consumer no longer wants any more units of that good. Secondly, different goods are not perfect substitutes for each other in the satisfaction of various particular wants. As such the marginal utility will decline as the consumer gets additional units of a specific good. Thirdly, the marginal utility of money is constant given the consumer’s wealth.

Explanation and Example of Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility:
This law can be explained by taking a very simple example. Suppose, a man is very thirsty. He goes to the market and buys one glass of sweet water. The glass of water gives him immense pleasure or we say the first glass of water has great utility for him. If he takes second glass of water after that, the utility will be less than that of the first one. It is because the edge of his thirst has been blunted to a great extent. If he drinks third glass of water, the utility of the third glass will be less than that of second and so on.

 

Thanks but I won't be driving to Albany just to buy beer. Rockland county is about as far as I would go.

 

I can see how you read that post in that way, but Cable beverages is in Rockland County. Their supply of BCBS did dwindle last year (the 2012s were around through the next summer, but the 2013s only made it to March), but I doubt it will all be gone in one shot this year. They also have it at the growler station a few times throughout the year.

 

Wow, I found it sitting on shelves this summer. Didn't finally sell out until August.

Among those beers I'd call "hard to find" rather than rare, most are hits (BCBS, BC Barleywine, Parabola, Sucaba, Heady, Maine Lunch) some are not misses, but not worth seeking out (KBS, Pliny). But location changes everything. My friends in KC rush out to buy Bourbon Barrel Quad which sells out on release. In MA, I have it sitting on the shelf at my local shop, and it will be there for weeks at least.

 

It's all in your head.

 

Oh man, I've heard that BCBS was much easier to come by in New England for whatever reason, but BCBBW too? Now I'm real jealous...might have to set up some trades with you NE folk, since I swear SE Michigan got next to no BW, and the one bottle I traded for last year was fantastic.

Or GI could just send more of these to the areas where it sells out immediately, and less to areas where it sits on shelves for the better part of a year. Just a crazy thought...

 

Oh yeah, hell there was Barleywine into September...not cheap though. A solid $25 a four pack. Not sure why, but I can't complain. I'll still head out Black Friday to snag variants.