Hauling vs Hoarding

All of this is artificially focused on the case at hand, seems to me. That being Bourbon Country and variants - it's the most visible poster child at the moment. I've never had any of the product and really don't care. I won't go through waiting in line for much of anything, but especially beer. That works for me and if it makes me "less" somehow, don't care.

I did an inventory over the weekend and have a bottle count of 112 - I'd call that a hoard by definition, intentional or not. Does anybody give a shit that I have a random collection of 112 bottles of beer from about 10 different breweries? Of course they don't. But...if I had 112 bottles of the most volume-restricted Bourbon County Brand <whatever> or something of that nature and called it "my precious", then I would hoarder AND a dickhead no matter how I acquired the bottles.

That trailer truck full of 'gansett hidden under the brush pile in my back yard is a hoard. But who cares? It's 'gansett...

Welcome to the dark side...we got cookies.

 

For sure, Bourbon County has way too much hype.

But I think that's a little bit tangential to the issue: it's more about whether one person buys a lot of something knowing that it means several others won't be able to have much or any at all. From your example, it's clear that if you see the other people who want some of the supply, you wouldn't take it all. So I think this boils down to whether just knowing those other people exist---even if they're not present in the same place and time---is enough to influence your actions. If it's not, then you're looking like a hoarder. That's not the end of the story of course, as we're debating what's a 'reasonable' way to behave, but as a basic outline I think it's accurate.

This is really a question of whether a 'legal' action is a 'proper' action. And we all know there are some ridiculous laws out there.

 

I would tend to agree with you but if you are buying so much of it that nobody else really gets a shot at it then it's still hoarding, I can see it would be hard to hoard if your store only gets like a case then there's no making yourself a dick even if the store has no limit. But if a store gets a good supply and has no limit and you clear the place, I think you're being a total dick, there is no need to have that much, even with intent to share, I would like it all to be fair, but that's a foolish fantasy

 

I do agree that the argument over "Proper" is where the separation lies in this discussion. I would think there are very few, if any, of us that would state that illegal actions are okay. Good call out!

FWIW, I supported the previous poster (to which your reply was quoted) on the premise that legal amounts of beers were being sold by the retailers (based on whatever law governs in that locality) and the buyer was not making attempts to dupe a single retailer into more than their allotted limits. In addition, if no "mulez bro" are involved, then driving all over creation MAY be hoarding, but is legal, and is up to individual opinion to determine it is proper.

My stance on proper based on what is laid out above... if you want to make calls and drive around all day, knock yourself out.

 

Not sure who you're talking about, but the only looking down I see going on is by people pissed that they didn't get enough beer, not people bragging about how much they got, i.e., this thread is focused on so-called "hoarders."

To the question posed, I can't for the life of me understand why anyone has a problem with a person playing by the rules and buying the bottle limits at as many stores as they feel like spending the time driving around and waiting in line at. Frankly, it's none of my damn business how many beers someone else thinks is enough for them as long as they aren't screwing me over (e.g. bringing random mules, cutting in line). If I don't care enough about said beer to get up early, drive around, wait in line, spend the money, etc., why the hell would I care if someone else does? Enjoy your haul dude.

 

Guy I know sent me this pic of his buddies BCBS haul. This constitute a haul or a hoard?

 

To maintain quality is really tough when expanding so rapidy.. They tripled production this year and many of the bottles were deformed or contained mold on the outside. There are various additional reasons but quality is my favorite factor.

 

I would of been happy with the haul of 2 props 2 vanilla 2 4 packs of coffee 2 4 packs of barley wine and 4 4 packs of regular. That could keep me satisfied until next year.

People posting cases of props and vanilla are ass holes. Maybe I am just a hater who knows.

 

I tend to agree, but I suppose we're just jealous.

I don't mind people who get a large haul and then dole it out to friends, family, etc who don't have the time or means to get it themselves... But to see people doing that who just do it because they can kind of sucks.

 

Just the various lines like "If I saw 4 guys in front of me in line why should I care if all 4 of them are going to drink 6 bottles or one guy is going to drink 24? Either way those 4 guys are drinking those bottles. I should have gotten there sooner to get in line in front of them", "If I got up in a hungover stupor and stood in line in the cold to get BCBS then I am more deserving of it", and "If beer failure upsets you to the point you look for scapegoats....You have a problem."

I have no dog in the fight, really. My favorite beers are, for the most part, all readily available to me year-round or otherwise not of the whale designation. I'm just amused by the concept that one camp of people feels that it's not only perfectly normal to camp out on a sidewalk to get a beer, but that those who opt not to do so are lesser and "failing" at the craft beer hobby.

 

I was searching craig's list chicago and I believe the one dude was selling a case of Prop for $1800. Every time I see shit like that I flag it.

 

Wouldn't that person have to be a liquor store employee or their relative/best buddy? It's not like they stood in line at 24 different places to get a case.

Probably a beer geek working at a liquor store who didn't even put it out for sale. Just paid for it himself after the distributor dropped it off.

 

Probably and that's bullshit.

 

I didn't read the whole thread - mostly because I agreed with the second post so why look for more opinions? - so I apologize if this point has been made ...

But two of the arguments people buying an unreasonable amount of something rare regularly trot out that irk me are:

1. Dude - to the victor go the spoils! I just tried harder / cared more / and I'm not such a lazy whining $#@%. Man up and stand in line at 2 am and you'll get yours.

AND

2. I'm being a good BA because I bought for my friends, cousins, trade partner, random stranger that offered me a boat-load of rare beer. Aren't I a nice guy?

On #1, that's the same kind of reasoning people use in all kinds of "tragedy of the commons" scenarios to despoil. I get the incentives but it's basically acknowledging that that you have no sense of generosity, community, or empathy. It's almost always single dudes - a category I fall into - making the argument. Perhaps the people that weren't there at 2 am have some normal human priorities like family, jobs, hell - sleep - and that doesn't make them undeserving of a crack at beer. (I'm not saying everyone is entitled, just that justifying a rush to the worst behavior due to obsession is a funny argument - "I'm a jerk because I care more!!")

On #2, the claim is that by depriving local people making an effort to get the product so that you can preferentially redistribute it according to your whims ... you're doing a service to the community is ... weird. Apparently we should just funnel all rare beer to these folks so that they can dole it out because they're the best judges of the worthiness of others to possess said beer.

A simpler, and more accurate, way of summarizing both these justifications are "ME ME ME ME ME ME ME .... me me me."

 

This blows my mind... Would love to get my hands on an entire case of 2013 BCBS (or 2014 for that matter)!

 

Totally serious. People lined up starting at 3:30pm on Friday afternoon for a beer dropping Saturday at noon. I got there around 10pm Friday night and was nearly 1,000 back in line. It's actually a really fun event, people bring and share their whalez and you can try stuff from all over. I tried Rum King, CW16, Raspberry Truffle Abduction, Zombie Dust, BA Maloko, Surly Seviin, Backyard Rye, Dark Lord, Marshall Zhukov, and I'm sure a ton more that I'm forgetting.

The bottle share is super fun. Like a big tailgating party for beer geeks.

 

Would this argument apply to other specialty release beers like hunahpu day, dark lord day, etc? I've never been to any of those but I imagine there will always be much more people there than bottles available. Should the people in front of those lines only purchase 1 bottle in consideration for all the other people in the back who may not get lucky? Those that purchase the max limit allowed at these events should they be considered hoarders and made to feel like they did something wrong? I would place a safe bet that all the same people here that made a fuss and complained about the "hoarders" here from Black Friday would not buy only a single bottle of hunahpu or single bottle of Dark Lord just for honorable intention of saving the rest for others if given the opportunity. It's just the nature of the game with limited available beers. Happens all the time. Some people will get it, some people will not. Getting back to my prior point, can't get too hung up on one beer or these kind of situations. Too many other great beers out there to enjoy. Let's not even mention those people that buys up cases and cases of heady at a time.

 

I don't care enough about any beer to get angry at people who manage to get a lot of it. BCBCS is my favorite beer and I feel lucky to have gotten a few bottles this year, but even if I got none while some other guy bought a case it just doesn't register enough with me to cause any real reaction; the last time that happened I just shrugged my shoulders and bought something else.

The only thing that sets me off is the people who buy it all up specifically to sell at a ridiculous mark-up, like the beer is some kind of stock commodity. Same thing when a ticket broker buys up all the best seats to a sporting event/concert just to turn around and sell the tickets for a 200% increase in price.