Staying in the know

I think his problem is people who are unable to grasp written sarcasm.

 

ha too funny

 

Stalk the head of the distributor's personal FB, twitter, drive across the state to the warehouse to recon for delivery schedules, place GPS trackers on the trucks, y'know. Isn't that what ya'll do?

 

I check out BA, BeerPulse, and Facebook, but I'm at a point now where I'm close to not giving a damn if I don't find a beer that sounds interesting, limited if you will, on the many online beer stores that exist. Even when I do find one, I'm more hesitant to pull the trigger on it than in the recent past...

 

I know my bottle shop/ beer bar owner's name, the name of his wife and kids and pets. When I travel to Ca. I bring him a sixer of PtE. And lo and behold, like magic, I get some of the best stuff available saved away in the back of the cooler. Life can be sweet if you pay attention to the folks that matter.

 

It is amazing what a bottle of Pliny or Zombie Dust or a can of Heady will do for you.

 

Emails, friends in the area, regional forums, etc. Generally I don't care that much though. If I miss something I drink a run of the mill Belgian and remember that the latest hyped release isn't as good as the beer in front of me.

 

Just wait til your store owner finds out he can get Pliny in Oregon.

 

I know a beer guy or twelve.

 

No need to be crazy staying in the know. Share the love, as simple as that. Karma does in fact come back to you. Give a buddy, local beer guy or a follow BA (me, just kidding), something special and often, not always, it comes back to you that much better.

 

..and I thought I was the only one to do this

 

If Patio Pils is what you are looking for, just go to the brewery, they have tons of it there. I also saw it for the first time outside the brewery at a shop in Brandon (not sure where you are located).

 

I don't know, but it's pretty frustrating when a shop hoards the good stuff in the back. They'll say, "Oh yeah we have a really hard time with Stone.. they're a pain in the ass. Yeah we don't know IF or WHEN we'll get any Ruination 10th in. But if we do, it won't get put out on the shelf. We'll keep it in the back and only give it out to people who ask about it." Gee, that's great and all, but since you have no clue, what the hell am I supposed to do in the meantime? Be the annoying guy who asks about Ruination 10th every day? I mean, you probably aren't going to be all buddy buddy with me if I annoy the hell out of you. Seems like you just have to be very lucky. *shrug*

 

Not delivered to his store. It's very hard to get new accounts of RR

 

Really, that's weird. I can think of three small shops around town that opened in the last year or so, all get regular allotments of Pliny as well as whatever else RR sends up. Seems a little bass-ackwards to have to bring beer to your beer store, though I get the whole beer advocacy/sharing thing. It's certainly a nice gesture and all.

Out of curiosity, just what kind of "best stuff available" does this practice afford you?

 

We don't sleep and neglect all other obligations we have.

 

You shouldn't have to be very lucky to get something like Ruination 10. We've got cases of it sitting out on the floor here (it's good, but not the "perfect" beer). I guess I should be thankful I don't live where you live, I'd probably just give up in frustration...

 

Limited Block15, Bitter Monk, His own homebrew (which is freeking awesome, microbrewery on the way) Ect.

 

In some locations you do need to be "crazy in the know" from several angles - FB, twitter, getting to know the managers/owners, and probably the most important thing you can do is go to the store a couple times a week on the days when they typically get deliveries. You'll know those days of course if you know the managers/owners.

 

among the other methods listed above, beerstreetjournal tends get the word out on some of the releases and beer news