Kiwi Herman - Completed Trades

I'm sure that's a completely legitimate review. As I said, I'll be waiting for the famous reviewers to get a hold on this one.

 

Thank you!!!

 

I'll be interested to see some decent reviews on KwH. It certainly sounds interesting, but that doesn't guarantee that it will be world class.

Something, I'm curious about that's been alluded to here & elsewhere is the deliberate manipulation of perceived trade values. Ok, label me naive, but are there people who deliberately inflate reviews to increase demand for beers they possess??? That seems so over the top nutzzz.

 

In that case, I'll let ya know hopefully by next week...

 

California reviewer here that has no bottles and had it on draft today. Its a 4/5 maybe slightly below. I gave it a 3.75. Fruit is super light almost non existent. Very crisp with minimal tartness. Nose is surprisingly good. I just did not get a ton of complexity from it. I like sours that are more bold so take my review with a grain of salt

If it was on the shelf I would buy it all day.Does it deserve whale status, not even close imo. Aurelian and NG WP are both far superior

Just one mans opinion that has no skin in the game

 

There certainly are manipulators out there, and apparently going in both directions. This is a brave new world we live in...(shakes head)

 

Yes...yes it happens. After the Resolute variant release i called a few folks out.

In threads they specifically stated the Vanilla Mole was the best and the other 2 were decent. They rated them as 5's across the board and put them up FT.

After calling them out, I believe the scores were adjusted.

The reverse actually happened the same day, causing me to call out fake reviews in general. Someone posted an ISO for a beer, specifically stating they never had it. They got upset about the inability to trade for said beer, and scored that beer a 1.

 

yes, this does happen.

just tonight we had ~ 15 reports regrding fake accounts/reviews for a given brewery and there have been instances in the past where uses here banded together to give a negative review of a new release because of how a brewer treated one of their friends.

over time. these faux users expose themselves (not like that!) and we can take appropriate action. when in doubt, report (but provide some rationale!)

we've already had several reports (on both sides) for kiwi herman. such is the way of things today. we can moderate what we see and what you all report, but we can't control behaviors or attitudes. trading isn't what it was, but cheers to you @JavaNoire for engaging and being as positive as possible.

 

This is the thing, it's ALL negativity. Some of the top contributors of this thread are guilty of it...some by knocking trade threads, some by inflating values (man I hate this word when talking about beer), some by turning beer into a commodity in the first place. This is a community based around enjoying beer. Let's keep it at that.

 

Yes, absolutely.

My comments in the other Kiwi thread got taken a bit differently than I intended, probably because of timing and others' frustration with some of the questionable cellar dweller ratings of the beer. What I'm really bemoaning is the change in the rating game in general. This site is certainly about community and advocacy, but it also (along with ratebeer) is one of the only long-standing forums where user ratings of beer have existed.

My frustration is with what a "5" has become, what a "4.8" has become, etc. The problem with releases over the past couple years seems to be much more skewed in the over-rating direction rather than under. I just wish people would take the rating aspect of this site a bit more seriously - e.g., a 5 is a perfect beer without flaws, literally a 1%er (or 0.1%er in my experience). People handing these ratings out like they're tootsie rolls!

Anyway, grumpy old man rant over, back to your regularly scheduled Kiwi:____ programming.

 

My guess is when the brothers created the trade forum the intent was a community based way for members to share beer with other members so people could try beer they couldn't get. As craft has exploded, the trade forum for some has morphed into a commodities exchange. I believe a lot of what is happening in the forum is bordering on being against the rules and definitely against the spirit of the forum. People may want to trade that way, many of us don't. But don't be surprised if the brothers take action to get that forum closer to what it was originally intended for, there are definitely ways they can do that.

 

we are getting way off topic from OP's original intent, but when it comes to rating a hyped beer, or even a personally sought-after whale, it's hard not to inflate, even unintentionally. I missed out 2013's Prop release by 25 minutes (as in quite literally the last bottle was handed out in front of me while waiting in line) so that had became my personal Moby Dick. After a friend traded one for my birthday we had a tasting. I can tell you the rating I gave that night was certainly a bit higher than what I would give a week later.

This KwH (is that what we call it now) thing just affirm my belief, when it comes to trading: don't buy into the hype, pre-trade be damned, patience is more than a virtue, and let the suckers take the first blows. I'm definitely interested in a taste, but I'll just wait until next month and hit up my trading partner in SD and see if there's any more he can locate for me.

 

Locked it down w Saison Bernice b7 + Florence. Trader also threw in a couple bottles each of Nelson & Duet.

 

I think we all know some beers trade above $4$, some way above $4$ just the way it is and to be honest I understand DB Huna not trading for $30 worth of beer. But Ya know openly trying to gauge current value vs say a year out kinda steps outta bounds a bit, sounds like trying to capitalize on a beer instead of just posting an ISO when you get it. If you post an ISO that's slanted you get crickets not abused, so next time just post what you have and what you want, that's the way the system is supposed to work.

 

Kiwi better be amazing because, damn, I just opened a Parageusia1 last night and it was stellar. In the Beatification vein with all that citrus and stone fruit but still dry, sour middle but not puckering, with a smooth, slightly funky finish. Paraguesia1 was probably a touch richer with an almost viscous body. Seems like a good deal for both all around though.

Now a digression ...

Funny enough, Parageusia1 wasn't an insane beer to acquire; maybe it is now, maybe it always has been and I'm just a lucky SOB trading with some generous east coast fools. The shocker in this is that I never had to consider value or whether I was getting a good deal; just asked for it and did my best to reciprocate with killer stuff.

Beers like Parageusia make me realize that for every "must have" new beer that people go apeshit for there are a half dozen overlooked beers that are just as good (or maybe better). Whenever I read these threads - and why I torture myself by doing so I'll never figure out - I feel innoculated against the desire to trade for the flavor of the month. Follow taste not trends.

Anyway, back to the beer "stock" market.

 

I think the thing that makes the beer "stock market" so obnoxious is that beers only "lose value" for a few reasons:
-they are getting old/losing flavor (like AB Hunahpu which people seem to agree is going downhill)
-the people who were desperate to get one have successfully gotten it
-people actually drink the beer and it wasn't as good as everyone hoped

To me, and a lot of other people, this Kiwi Herman thing is looking a lot like the third category, i.e. trade away all the bottles for as much as you can get as quickly as possible, before anyone has a chance to taste it, just in case.

 

I don't know a Kiwi Herman and its immaterial to this thread, but I take its a low volume brewery release that you win a ticket to buy maybe 2 bottles. It looks like its trying to be turned into a KBBS level brew by those holding tickets, just the nature of the OPs initial thread makes me think this. It doesn't make him a bad guy, lots of guys do this, but it does trigger negative reactions when it's so blatant it's trying to be turned into a mega whale, and I did see a 1:1 for KBBS. So there's that.

 

Playing devil's advocate here but what makes KBBS so much better/rare/worth more than Kiwi Herman? BTW I have neither beers in question.

 

Not a clue, I'll never try either, but I did see an ISO 1:1 Herman for Kbbs, and then this thread pops up. I think because it's a low count, difficult brewery release its trying to be driven to mega whale status. Or at least potential owners are trying to figure it out before they surrender their bottles. Just my .02.

 

No one with KBBS is trading it away for Kiwi, flat out not happening. Anyone saying they got it done is either exaggerating (they added greatly on the Kiwi end), or lying to increase the hype of their precious Kiwi (most likely). If anyone thinks that is too ridiculous to happen, I promise you that it happens literally all the time. The trades that are actually getting done are not on the level of KBBS.

KBBS has earned its hype. It didn't always command what it does now. I traded Prop 1:1 last year for KBBS and MD both. Both beers have been done a several times and are consistently among the very best stouts in existence. This Kiwi is just, as so many have pointed out, those locals trying to capitalize on the past craze for Chez and see if they can turn the next decent sounding release into an insta-whale, as what seems to happen at other established breweries elsewhere.