Beers that weren't "Insta Whales"?

I'm calling Leon.

 

King Henry, although not sure if it's even a light whale.

 

My understanding is that Partridge in a Pear Tree is one, it sat around for months until Black Tuesday '09 blew up and people saw it as the next 02VE

 

uh.... most real whales. Dave was released in '94, won a barleywine competition in '98 and could still be bought for less than $50 in 2003 at the brewery IIRC. Izzy was sold by the case and was not that hard for people around the brewery to get. BT '09 you could walk in and buy a week after the release. 50N4E could be bought months after the release. PIAPT. 020202. Most whales from before '10.

 

Really? Please elaborate (no sarcasm- genuinely curious, as I didn't know this was the case).

 

My understanding was that '09 BT was available at provisions shop for a while after the release. I don't remember exactly how much time, but it definitely didn't sell out in the first few days.

 

To summarize the previous comments: THE BEER SCENE FUCKING SUCKS NOW.

 

Tell me about it.

 

Pretty sure Provisions didn't exist then. There was a 5 hour line where it did sell out. It was (")accidentally(") sold at Provisions once or twice somewhat recently though. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. Sorry for the derailment.

Beatification 002 and 003 were easy to get on shelves for a long time. I believe those qualify as semi-walez these days.

 

You could reserve bottles of 09 BT at the tasting room for about a month. It was on tap at that time, but bottles weren't released for 2 months or so after they shut down the reservations. The release day had a huge line and it was all sold that day. But you could buy as many as ya wanted ahead of time.

 

Phenomenal beer, I rated it a tad higher than KH. I hope it doesn't reach wale status though.

 

Something I've been wondering about that seems to fit in this thread: what was the timeline and circumstances that led to Midnight Sun M becoming the whaliest of whales?

 

Does it? If you don't concern yourself with whales you should be good to go, plenty of amazing, readily available beer out there.

 

The "insta-whale" thing really kind of got going with the CBS and King Henry 1-2 punch last year.

 

It's way too over-saturated for the most part. The bubble will certainly burst soon. And the first to go are all the local, mediocre brewpubs.

 

Will that really affect us though? I'm not drinking local mediocre stuff anyway.

 

I have my bet of BB HiFi Rye. Low bottle count, brewery only release, it's not going to be made again and it's a world class barleywine. I just think when people realize it's gone they will miss it, just like they miss Wooden Hell (and no, before i get crapped on lol, i'm not trying to compare the drinking quality of wooden hell and BB HiFi, just trying to use a similar beer in terms of the brewery and the fact that neither are going to be made anymore)

 

Couldn't agree more. Yes, I think the market is saturated. Yes, the mediocre spots will die first. No, that doesn't effect me in the least. I think the beer scene is at an all time high. Yeah, some things are expensive or overhyped, but more people are making good to great accessible beer.

 

I will go with any limited beer made before Black tuesday.