I will not wait in line for beer

I go to the store? On my way up to one of my mt bike events in VT, I stop at Hunger mt co op for some Heady Topper. If only they had focal banger instead. One could hope. SOS shipping to MA this week for the win!.

 

I don't care if people stand in lines for beer, that's their choice. I don't do it because I don't want to encourage the trend of brewing artificially rare beers that sell for exorbitant prices.

 

I wait in line time to time to get super fresh beer. That way I know if it's an IPA that will be in my fridge, I'll have a 3-4 weeks to enjoy it. To echo other people's points, if I'm not getting local beers, such as Ballast Point, Lagunitas etc, the beers will most likely be a couple months old already as they sit on the shelves here in NY due to a lot of good local choices. However, if an out of state beer comes in that is fresh, and I either know I already like it or want to try it, I'll pick it up. My main reason for waiting in lines is due to freshness, and the only way you'll get some of the top notch beers in the NY area.

 

This thread is missing the point. If you don't want to wait in lines, just get a flop house or a helicopter.

Bing bang boom.

 

I'm very familiar with the history of India Pale Ale. I'm not sure that what was germane for brewers in the 1800's has to do with waiting in line for beer in 2017, but I'm willing to listen, especially if you find evidence of Citra or Mosaic hops used in the aforementioned 1800's IPA's.

 

^^^This^^^

 

The bank, grocery store you name it. You have to wait in a line at some point. Why not wait in a line that has fantastic beer at the end of it.

 

OP, OP, where art thou, OP?

 

I tend to not wait in line for beer, and the only times I have they have been pretty short waits - maybe 20 minutes being the longest. None of this camping out business or whatever other madness goes on. I can see both side of the story, however. It has the potential to be a good time with a bunch of cool people, or it could just as well be a s***show with a bunch o' dickheads stocking up the trade coffers.

I can go to Jack's Abby, Smuttynose, Allagash - no lines 90% of the time. Even Trillium if you time it right - not much of a line...

I don't know.. I guess it kinda goes by what you want to do and how you value your time. If somebody really "has to have" a particular beer and the only way to get it is to wait in line, that's the way it is. Or if someone just wants the latest and greatest doesn't ship well and will suck an hour after it's poured beer, then the choice is automatically made for you.

But really - individual choice. You want to wait in line, great. You don't want to wait in line, great. Plenty of beer to go around to satisfy all types. Neither approach has inherently more or less merit. I don't think waiting in line establishes the hype over the mythically rare or hard to get beers - that already exists or the lines wouldn't exist. I can see commenting on a specific incident at a release (I recall some clusterf*** a few years back in Florida), but the OP making the simple point "I won't wait in line" is just stating a personal preference.

 

Waiting in line at...

 

I want to take a beer vacation to NE, someday. I expect I'll get all my line waiting done while I'm there.

 

I will wait in line. Cheers!

 

I won't wait in line either, but to each their own. People do all sorts of stupid shit that I wouldn't do and, in contrast, I do all sorts of stupid shit other people might not do. It's not really worth analyzing because it would be a waste of time (much like waiting in line).

The faux (drunken?) outrage about your personal opinion is really sad/hilarious though!

 

A flop house with empty camp chairs leading to the brewery.

 

another good read thread

 

I will wait in line, I will not participate in the schmoozing of liquor store clerks for the DIPAs that are limited one per customer. The entire transaction is like a drug deal, no thanks. If it's there, I'll have some.

 

Well, an open-ended post like this one is gonna bring out some sarcasm, and it is a subject that gets rehashed from time to time.

DEvil's advocate moment here... There is a valid point in the "dude...ya gotta have these IPA's fresh" comment. Some of these new-age IPAs do fall off quite rapidly. (which ties into another debate about whether a brewery making them can sustain a launch into distribution. I don't remember - it was a few weeks ago). So there is at least a perception, and I would say founded on some reality, that these beers have to be obtained from the source when they are at their peak. In that sense they certainly are not the IPAs of the past, or at least they are not treated nor consumed that way. And really we have no idea what those barreled and shipped IPAs tasted like when they got off the boat - they may have been total swill by our standards, but it was all they had at the time.

So ya - people are going to line up at Treehouse or Bissell Brothers or Trillium looking for that straight from the brewery experience. It is just a matter of choice, a topic of mild debate, and ultimately one's own opinion is what matters. I'm sure it will come up again the next time there's a bungled launch and people are bringing disguises to go through the line twice or hauling in distant non-beer drinking relatives to add to their allocations.

 

Good for you.

I will and I have. And I enjoyed it. I have met a few cool people in line, traded in lines, sipped beers in lines, etc. And I got to try some of the best beers I have ever had in lines.

And I have traded some of the beers I waited in line for other amazing beers I otherwise would not have been able to try.

So in the end, its up to the person. Drink the beers you like. Stand in line if you want. Don't stand in line if you want. But save me the preaching.