Your thoughts on Alpine's decision?

he could have worded his blog a little more professional, but since he clearly cant make his point come across i guess i understand all the frustration that comes out of his writing at this point

 

We all like beer but beyond that we choose to take part in a beer community. If we want to be part of a community I feel that is perfectly reasonable to expect a certain amount of respect for others in the community. The brewer obviously made it clear that he did not want his product on ebay, some one chose not to respect the brewers wish, I fully support the brewers action, respect is a two way street. There is always someone who wants to ruin it for the rest of us.

The brewer also makes a good point, this is illegal. I do not want to hear the BS that people put on the bottom of these ebay pages saying they are selling a collectable item, that is a load of crap. People are knowingly selling alcohol illegally.

 

"Someone wrote a dirty word on the bathroom wall, now the whole third grade class is going to have to stay after school!"

Seems like an excellent way to punish the innocent without doing any harm to the guilty.

 

Will people have to be strip searched before they go inside to make sure there are no hidden growler hand fill shenanigans afoot?

 

I understand his frustration, but at some point brewers need to to act like grown-ups and recognize that once they sell a beer, it no longer belongs to them. It's all going to get consumed regardless, the brewer gets paid in full for every drop, and getting all indignant doesn't help anybody.

He should feel free to flag every eBay listing for being illegal, but to stop selling his beer to go seems beyond extreme.

 

That's a bit extreme and will probably end up hurting the brewery in the (not so) long run.

Edit: that poll is so cool!

 

I feel that the brewer, I don't know his name is perfectly inline to do what he wants. He started a small brewery in a small town to feed his local friends. He didnt put his beer on ebay and asked people to respect his wishes. This is why Vinny doesnt have Younger growler fills. They are local craftsman who want the best for their breweries and small towns. If they dont want to bottle it because they want it for the community its their right.

Cheers!

 

It is not like Alpine is a huge brewery. I am not sure that not selling growlers or bottling one particular is really going to hurt them at all.

 

it wont!

 

legality is relative. it used to be illegal for women to vote...just sayin. i think he's angry that someone is making a bigger profit on the beer than he is. that being said, he has every right to do with his beer what he wants.

 

I'm with Kzoobrew on this one. An artist can choose to make what they want to make. One bottling woudlnt hurt any brewery. If Goose Island never did King Henry again they be ok. Besides, because of the time it takes to ferment such a big beer he might be better off not doing it at all and cranking out his regular stuff.

 

Not selling growlers of one beer won't hurt them especially because of how much support they get from the locals.

 

Telling people not to do something that they're going to be rewarded for doing fundamentally doesn't work. What works is making the thing impossible, or reducing the incentive to do so (or adding a potential negative consequence). He can make it effectively impossible by not bottling or growlering the beer -- that's completely fine with me. Lots of other great beer out there.

I don't really buy the argument that it's wrong (illegality is a red herring -- the beer trading we do is likely just as illegal) either. People don't have any obligation to a brewer to treat their product in a particular way after it's purchased, and I don't think private individuals choosing to buy a possibly-mishandled product at a crazy markup is wrong, just a little silly.

This reduces the ability of a large number of people to enjoy the brewer's beer while not-really-actually-punishing a very small group. It does tell you something about where his priorities lie.

 

I understand his frustration, so if he wants to go no growlers that's his prerogative - its his product to begin with so he can distribute it as he sees fit. That being said as long as there's a market for these things, some of them will inevitably still end up for sale.

 

I for one am totally in his corner. The last couple releases he has asked that growlers do not make their way on to ebay but understood that bottles would make their way on there. They make so little of it each batch that they want to make sure the locals are taken care of after all those are the ones that have grown his business to what it is today and will continue to do so. He may have gone about expressing his opinions the wrong way but he has asked for the respect of the beer community and up until now we have given it to him. It only takes one asshole to ruin it for everyone.

 

Beer used to fun....now it's,,...a commodity... BUY!!...SELL!!!!....Fuckedup

 

on the one hand, i'm fine with keeping the beer in a format more locals can appreciate.

on the other hand, pat is completely schizophrenic regarding his beer. back when he had diacetyl issues, he blamed it on improper storage (which isn't exactly true, but let's allow it). then he self-distributes the beer to beverages 4 less, which doesn't refrigerate (in the middle of hot-ass klantee) and also resells the beer for tremendous markup in his mailorder business.

so... pat, why is it ok for only some people to resell your beer?

 

I agree that it is a bit extreme. Now Alpine is going to be "careful" about what they are going to put on the market in the future? Lest it happens again? What will happen if all brewers did this????

 

He's the brewer and he can do what he wants. Seems like they are having the same issues RR are having. But who is to say it isn't locals selling the beer on the bay?!