How to be a better craft beer customer

HF and Suarez and both very good but I'm not sure I would personally call Suarez one of the best breweries on the planet but of course we all have different palates and opinion. With that being said I don't deny either brewery makes amazing beer but I do think a lot of their beers see at least a bit of artificial ratings because they are so where and hard to acquire for the majority of the country with a ton of traveling and people tend to want something that is hard to get. I also think some of this is done by locals who want to put a "rarity" tax on limited bottles for trading or secondary.

With that out of the Suarez Kinda Classic is one of my favorite beers ever but nothing else from them has impressed me as much. I've never gotten around to trying HF but considering just how many people say they are the best brewery in the country I believe that walk the walk and talk the talk.

 

Part of that is probably because Suarez doesn’t make hazy ipas (or any IPAs) or BA stouts, and HF does

Don’t get me wrong - HF is probably my overall favourite brewery (and Suarez my favourite in NY state). But IMO that will be a big factor here

 

Absolutely relevant point.

 

If a brewery has flights and is selling them I don’t care how long lines are. If it was an issue for the brewery then don’t sell them. I don’t buy flights more than 1-2x a year but I can see how busy/not a place is when I walk in. I have the ability to leave if I want and could care less if 20 people are ordering flights in front of me. I can wait or I can go elsewhere. As far as your asshole comment, if I want to ask a few questions that’s my right unless there is a sign saying one question per order( I would leave when I saw that sign) If you really have issue with that then just reverse your comment.

Enjoy

 

Fair enough.

I have the complete opposite opinion (more so with digital currency though than with robots doing everything).

But thank you for indulging my curiosity, makes sense from that point of view.

I order flights all the time, and I've been into craft beer for 16 years.

Part of it is the breweries only fault for having 20 - 30 beers on tap at any given time with a constantly rotating list.

And I do know what styles I prefer, but there's NO WAY IN HELL I'm trusting something like a Pilsner from a brewery that's new to me. And even some breweries that have done a Pilsner well before will completely miss the mark on other lager styles when they try their hand at them.

Also some places have multiple breweries in one area, so if I want to hit up multiple breweries in one day, there's likely MANY drafts I've never seen before and might be interested in.

 

LOL. Typical "I do what I want and don't care how it affects others" mentality.

Again, nobody is saying you can't order a flight or can't ask questions. But if a place is absolutely slammed, have the situational awareness and courtesy for others to maybe just order a pint (or half-pint) and come back up and get a flight when it's slower.

That you need ideas like 'courtesy' and 'situational awareness' explained to you as an adult means you'll likely never have either and I'm wasting my time, so have a great day.

 

Suarez is only 'rare' to people outside of NY state. Their drafts are easily accessible in the Capital Region, Hudson Valley and NYC and pre-COVID it was very easy to go to their taproom and leave with a bunch of cans and bottles literally any day that they're open.

There is nothing artificial at all about their ratings or reputation, they absolutely are one of the best breweries on the planet.

 

I would argue that being available in a handful of venues in a single state would would classify a brewery as "rare" considering the vast majority of the United States are not able to acquire it without spending a lot of time, money, and effort to get it. Not to mention Suarez is a micro-brewery with a limited capacity which inherently makes them at least somewhat rare. I do blie

That is completely subjective but I am glad you are able to get beers from one of your favorite breweries so easily! I would drink it more if it were available in my location I just don't enjoy it enough to trade for it. I would absolutely buy some of their stuff if I was in town. I am not shit talking them at all. Maybe my opinion will evolve as I try more of their beers but as of now it is what it is. It is OK to disagree we all have opinions. I don't like dark liquor for example and half this site would call me crazy for it buy it is just my personal taste. Regardless, at the end of the day I don't think at the end of the day there is any accurate way to determine their ratings are inflated.

 

A handful? I could go into like five bars in Albany alone right now that have Suarez. To say nothing of, oh, I don't know, the entire rest of the state.

And, again, when they're open, you can easily get their cans and bottles. They don't sell out day-of. Cans and bottles are *literally* always available. That is not rarity. At all. A brewery doing a run of 450 bottles that all sellout in a presale -- that's 'rare.' Not being able to get a NY beer easily because you live in Georgia -- that is not 'rare.'

 

@IGaveYouPower maybe if we switched out the word rare for inaccessible this conversation could go easier. Not to put words in @traction mouth but I can easily understand his point. When I read weekend beer reviews I look to see where the reviewer is from. Therefore determining what is probably overflowing in his liquor stores will never be found in mine. Hence what some call rare

 

I agree with the part about not asking too many questions if a place is busy, that's rude in my opinion. But you should be able to order a flight. Especially since most places I've been to have a card you can fill out ahead of time and give to the bartender.

If a brewery offers flights, you should be able to order it and not be judged as selfish. One could argue that you're now not ordering what you want so other people don't have to wait longer. There's nothing on the menu saying you only have to wait a maximum of "X minutes" in line. But a flight is on their menu. They're all paying customers.

I used to work in a restaurant that served three pound lobsters, and they took about 30 minutes at a minimum to prepare. Were people not supposed to order those on a busy Saturday night because other customers would now have to wait longer for their meals?

 

I guess with flights I was thinking more in terms of the kinds of people who hem and haw over what to include, take forever to order it, etc. If you go up and you're like "hey I'd like a flight with A, B, E and G" I don't have any issues with that at all.

 

That's fair for sure.

 

Ya I imagine I'm in a growing minority on my opinion here so it doesn't surprise me that more places are adding systems like you described. Hell, last time I was in Chicago my sister pointed out a noodle spot that had no human employees pressent on site and payment was digital only. I expect that those types of models will increase, I've also seen beer bars where all the taps are self serve and I expect that will also grow in the coming decade.

 

I don’t need it explained. I don’t need situational awareness to be able to order a beer or a flight. It’s offered I will order what is being offered. I am not really sure that it’s courtesy to order what I don’t want and not be able to ask a few questions just to save you a minute at the bar.

Again, if the bar is too busy I probably leave with no order anyway. If I stay I fully understand it’s busy and I am totally aware it will take me a bit more time to order and get served. If you have issue with a busy bar maybe you should go elsewhere and not put artificial constraints on those ahead of you in line.

I do agree with you that Suarez is one of the great breweries. I really love the fact that the beers are in smaller serving size. I had no issue waiting in line to order my beer, waiting for it to be brought out to me and then doing that a few more times.

It’s just beer, let’s just relax and have a good time.

Enjoy

 

How to be a better craft beer customer in 10 easy steps:

1) Ask your bartender for samples before deciding on your flight selections.
2) Replace one beer in your six-pack with one really expensive bottle that has a matching cap.
3) Smudge bottled on date stamps with your finger and then put the bottles back on the shelf.
4) Educate everyone at the bar minding their own business with your hard earned beer knowledge.
5) Invent affectionate but actually insulting nicknames for people who drink different (aka worse) beer than you.
6) Save your best empties, fill them with homebrew, and pass them off on trading forums.
7) Win against bottle limits by hiring people to stand in line with you.
8) Leave a detailed review for every half ounce free taster you get so the results of your ticking can be a valuable resource to others.
9) Make sure that you only drink the best possible beer at all times or you are doing it wrong.
10) Post comments in a BeerAdvocate forum about bad consumer behavior from other people while using a very hostile tone.

 

@zid see,he figured it all out for us. Nothing more to see here folks

 

Get this guy a fucking Puppers.

 

@IGaveYouPower @HoppingMadMonk @traction

While I would rarely fuck with IGaveYouPower and risk the ire of The Defender of the Realm (there is a 100 foot statue of him as you enter the Hudson Valley with the inscription "Thou Shalt Not Pass...............If You Say Anything That Could Remotely Be Construed As Negative About Any NY State Brewery") - and yes there is definitely a semantics argument to be had when it comes to rare vs inaccessible vs hyped - I think it is totally reasonable to characterize Suarez as rare. I mean up until very recently I lived in Brooklyn, and yes if I wanted to seek out Suarez I could likely find it - but it was still very much a treat, and the case of if I walked into a bar and they had anything from them on tap I would automatically order it.