Tired Hands (November 2016)

Any chance anyone was there late Monday -- curious if there are any cans left? Thinking about running up from Bmore and be there around noon.

 

The pilsner had already lasted 2 weeks, so chances are it's still there.

 

I do not put a lot of weight in ratings as a whole, but I know some people who do. I have one friend who won't buy anything under a 90 on BA. There are also annual awards for overall scores on this site and the others. So, yes, I would say that some people do take them seriously.

I was not trying to discredit the scores overall, but merely pointing out the discrepancies when trying to compare the two. It was more about the method than the content. Whether one beer tastes better than another or one brewery is better than another is subjective. Which is why these message boards and sites exist.

Not to derail this thread anymore, but the bias/inflation that @jmdrpi mentions is baffling, to say the least. Here is rather lengthy article about Pioneer(CT) that is worth a read regarding hype and untappd ratings: http://www.ctmq.org/part-2-pioneer-trailblazer-neipa/

 

Well yes, but obviously there is a bit of bias in that assessment... I imagine that the co-founder of a business would say anything to help to legitimize his business.

 

"For in 2016, he had Untappd and he had “the scene”. If you rule Untappd, you can rule enough of the scene to succeed. And with Untappd, it’s fairly easy to game the system from the get-go. Or so say the naysayers."

"What I mean is… Untappd reviews poured in… before it existed. Unfortunately, Untappd makes it impossible to go back through 2,700 reviews to those first few hundred, but I’ve been told over and over and over that this is what went down. Seed Untappd with a ton of 5-cap reviews and boom, success."

"Trailblazer represents a new, weird, beer life-cycle: Hype -> Rate -> Promote -> Release -> Encourage Hype -> Promote -> Fridge/Haul Pics -> Hype Again, etc. Once a few fridge/haul pics get out there of a 5-cap rated beer, other people must then post fridge/haul pictures of the same beer, and since it’s a 5-capper, it must actually be a 5-capper, on and on"

@ColForbinBC thanks for the link, very entertaining read.

 

Agreed. I'll give my updated assesment of Hidden River as I plan to hit there Friday. They have 2 new IPAs going on tap for the weekend.

 

What is this from?

 

I don't know about others, but 99% of the TH beers I stand in line for are drank by myself and my wife. No trade inflation of ratings here........I just love their beer. Period.

 

This is great. I need some more Punge to drink while I read this.

 

Thanks, that article was a great read. That's most of the reason I have never stood in line for beer, and generally I am not willing to pay drastically inflated prices for "limited release" beers. In my experience most of them aren't much better (if at all) than similar widely available beers on the Beers of Fame list.

The placebo effect is a hell of a drug.

But I generally I do put some stock in written out reviews on BA, as they tend to at least force the reviews to explain why or why not they have rated the beer the way they have, which hopefully results in more thorough analysis than a quick "5-5-5-5-5' rating. Count me in the group that has always thought the full reviews on BA should have more weight (once Hads/Ratings started counting).

 

They are quotes from the article I posted above.

 

That's fine and I respect that. It just seems that you're in the minority based on the chatter on BA and other social media.

 

rumors of next week possibly being monkish/TH collab can.. get out your chairs if so!

 

Ready!

 

Great, make the line longer with that big ass chair!

 

Hey guys I have never been to a release before, is it a crazy long wait?
Like · Reply · 59 mins

Levante Brewing No. we don't do lines.

Awesome lol.

 

I used to think this too, but I've since realized that the upside of trading is that good breweries that create high demand product will recognize additional revenue from this activity. Small brewers making great beer seem to like to put this revenue into expanding their breweries, making the beer more available (and less tradeable) in the process.

It's kind of a natural part of the brewery life cycle. I don't love that it happens for the downsides you give, but in the end, I like that it allows Tired Hands to keep expanding. We all benefit from that, unless of course you don't like Tired Hands, but then it just doesn't affect you.

Trillium is every bit as expensive as Tired Hands, perhaps more so. And they do a lot more volume in cans.

 

I don't know if "we all benefit". In the larger picture you may be affected even if you aren't one of the people standing in line for beer.

Increases in demand lead to increases in price which are market driven (irrespective of production costs). Which in turn may drive up other local breweries' pricing as well, if a $16 4-pack is seen at the "new normal".

Which is frustrating if that market demand was "artificially" increased by traders and brewers stoking the hype.

 

Ummmm......

 

They just said they didn't do lines, never said their customers didn't....