Other Half December 2018

Or you could just try the beer on draft at any of the dozens of bars that carry OH rather than putting money in the pockets of illegal resellers.

 

The only bar that semi-regularly has OH on tap around me is 10+ miles away, and it's usually not their best stuff. Really don't feel like enacting that labor for a pour of Forever Ever.

 

Just cracked a Blueberry Crunchee now. I think my favorite thing about this beer is how clearly delineated the flavors are presented. I get an initial hit of the fruity and sweet components with a wave of the almond and cinnamon kicking on on the tail end. Far exceeds expectations.

 

Are jwakefield bottles usually that expensive or is OH charging a mule fee?

 

Miami Madness was $20 and Cuvee was $25 when they were released in Miami back in September

 

I totally agree with everything @Mrstiffington is saying here. Spot on.

If you want Other Half (or *insert brewery name here*) bad enough, get some gas and drive to the brewery. Anyone who pays $10 for an ipa or a DIPA either has lots of disposable income or, I don’t even know (smh).

The stores like that one don’t care about their customers, if they did they’d sell the cans for $6 a can, or maybe $7 a can, not $9 or $10. All they care about is their bottom line. They wouldn’t be sending a van to Brooklyn (which is pretty fuckin far from LR) if they weren’t making decent money doing so. And, then (yep) anybody who wants cans (usually local people I would assume) from the brewery at like noon gets shut out because some random LI distro bought like 12 cases between 3 of their employees. That’s not right.

The legality of it is already a problem, for me, but the posting of it on IG is like thumbing their nose at everyone. If they ever get nailed for it (doubtful) they’ll only have themselves to blame. They’re like a bunch of bank robbers talking about their next job on the cell phones. Just, dumb. Plus, shouldn’t your “regulars” be the ones who get “hooked up?” Not just some beer geek who lives on the North Fork who still has to drive a half-hour plus for the privilege of buying a 4-pack for $40 as opposed to driving 2-plus hours to Brooklyn.

The R+B thing was made even worse than it was to me when they actually posted something about having 14,000 IG visits in a 2 week period like they were bragging about it. Um, people were visiting your page because you posted some idiotic, passive-aggressive racist shit.

 

I think I fall somewhere in the middle on all this. Stuff like this falls very low on both the “Major Crimes” and “Stuff Wot We Need To Fix In The World” scales.

And I agree with @RobNewton that we’re talking about this on a website that facilitates beer trading. Which is more of the same gray area / illegal with a small “i” stuff. And frankly while there is some “good” trading out there (as there is “good” reselling), lots of trading is no different to me than reselling (whether the reselling is done by individuals or stores) - at the end of the day if Billy and his bros buy three cases of Beer X, what difference does it make to Johnny Local Single 4-pack whether they’re trading it or reselling it, if he gets shut out as a result. Either case he loses out because someone is being a selfish asshole.

But that all said - this reselling by stores is on the worst end of this gray area scale. And this particular store in question appears to be run by scumbags.

 

Total change of subject and flashback to a time of simpler discourse...

@rozzom, I'm in the same Park Slope craft beer store predicament as you; constantly keeping my eyes peeled for that Bodega Beer Mecca. I stopped in Natural Grocery on the corner of 5th and Carroll last night and their selection was pretty solid (LIC, Sloop, Barrier, etc.). Definitely give it a try...be sure to check canning dates, though; some cans were on cobweb status.

 

Sweet will check it out! Thank you

I think I mentioned this in another thread, but Mr Lime (Korean place on 7th av between 8th and 9th) is also pretty solid. I’ve bought CBS, KBS, BCBS, Mex Cake (all at better prices than I’ve seen anywhere else in NYC, plus it lasts there since I’m guessing I’m one of a handful of people buying them), and they also have Barrier and some other NYC area canned stuff.

 

Niceone. Never been in there. Will peep, thx.

 

Does anyone recall how early they sold out of DFPF last time at OH?

 

Orbit with vanilla cacao and cinammon is pretty damn good. For starters, it’s not overly sweet. Reminds me of SDW.

 

It wasn't that long ago that stores were selling cans of Grimm at these prices, and people were on board with it. Legality stuff aside, that kind of markup is more egregious to me since stores are getting the product delivered at wholesale prices. I recently picked up a few cans of Heinous from my local shop at $8 a can which I thought was pretty Heinous (HAHA), but I didn't mind paying since the owner is a cool guy and he usually has stuff priced competitively. It still feels shitty, but I can see paying these prices in a world where the people running the store weren't racist shitheads.

For me it's much easier to get behind trading versus paying a mule or reseller since one is motivated by trying more beer and the other is profit. I once went to Tree House and bought a full allotment of 17 cans of Alter Ego. I dunno about you guys but 17 cans of one beer is a lot of the same fucking beer.

I ended up trading 4 cans for 4 cans of some Kane beer. The guy said his only experience with Tree House was buying a can of Haze off of eBay that ended up being bad. I'm sure he ended up enjoying them more than if I had drank cans 13-17. Likewise, I had access to a beer I normally wouldn't have had access to.

 

Where’d you pick up cans of Heinous? I never saw it hit shops on social media except for in Massachusetts annoyingly enough.

 

Look don’t get me wrong I’m mostly being devil’s advocate and of course on this site, most people are going to agree with you (inc me).

It’s just that people are saying resellers are taking beer out the hands of locals - my point is that, in either scenario, Joe 4 pack loses out to someone who’s buying the beer with no intention of drinking (all of) it, but who is instead trading it (either for more cash than they paid, or for an otherwise inaccessible beer) - so what difference does it make to him why the person in front bought a full case and shut him out (“ah shucks I missed out - but at least I get the pleasure of knowing he gets to try that new Monkish release”)

 

Well in theory I’m a hellova lot more ok missing out because the people in front of me bought a full allotment to straight up trade some for an equal amount of other beer around the country or muling for buddies at home and splitting the cost than I am because of stores sending people to buy as much as they can or people buying up the max and reselling for huge markups online. Then again, I don’t hit up a brewery unless I know I’m able to get something in the first place and as a rule I don’t wait in lines (more than a few minutes anyway). People are entitled to buy full alottments. The second scenario though is a dick move regardless.

 

I think people who trade (I’m not one of them) or buy extra and give them to their friends or family are fine. To me, and maybe I’m wrong, it’s more the idea of spreading the wealth at either market value or, just, beer karma that sits well with me. I don’t even get OH that often and I try to split cans with friends, my sister or my brother-in-law whenever I have some.

Stores that send a handful of employees to buy full allotments of every beer just to resell at a profit (PROFIT!) of $5 or $6 a can, suck. I repeat, they’re not doing their customers any favors, they are making money. Circumventing the SLA while they’re at it.

 

And these shops are totally paying taxes on the sales...

 

Resellers totally suck. Made that point myself a couple of times. But people don’t generally trade for altruistic reasons either - there’s an element of personal gain there too.

And really my point is that both acts lower the availability of beer for those that would buy it from the brewery and drink it.

I have bought beer and traded it. I have bought beer and sold it at cost to friends that couldn’t make it. I have shared with family and friends.

I’m just saying trading is not a wholly selfless act, and in terms of motivation and legality, isn’t as far removed from reselling as people would like to make themselves believe.