Proprietor's experience

I'll be cracking mine open on NYE. it's the most "valuable" beer in my cellar but I'm really looking forward to drinking it. would take something really crazy for me to trade it.

 

Proprietors is amazing. Only trails fresh BCBVS as best variant. It's not rare because of bottle count. It's a tough bottle because most people only got 1 (or two) and they are never going to make it again.

That FW offer is nice, but those are released yearly and really aren't tough to find. Although it's wayyyy over $4$.

 

Your logic is flawed. While not every limited beer is a 'whale', every 'whale' is very limited. It may have not been upon release (certain Cantillon or other lambic) but there is no whale with the numbers Proprietors had available to it contemporaneous to it being demanded for/traded.

 

I think a few factors contribute here

- GI has a long history of producing unique annual beers which command high trade values. So, people at this point know what Rare, Vanilla, eventually commanded, and they know Proprieters will be at that current level soon, so some people don't want to 'trade low' now
- it's an extremely highly rated beer; all the early reviews were glowing
- single day release contributes to hype
- GI pricing beers way below what the market would support. This would have been snapped up at $50 just as quickly as it sold at $25. As opposed to a place like the Bruery which basically prices as high as they can.


but it's not like this is so so impossible to acquire. the FW offer is good but those are 4 readily acquirable bottles. Fou Foune was trading 1:1. it's just immediately trading way about $4$ b/c of the above factorts

 

How many Proprietors do you haz???

 

is Proprietor's going to age well? I haven't had it but it seems like the coconut would fade fairly fast and you would just end up back at BCBS.

If it doesn't age well then it won't become a whale.

The reason that beers like this are hard to get is due to people buying up as much as possible in order to trade them later, sort of a manufactured rarity.

 

Your reasoning is sound, not sure bout the conclusion. You present a new theory to determining whale status.
In terms of numbers made versus quality versus demand, many other beers would be considered whales.
I think myself and many others are hesistant to broaden the pool of whales based on more generous criteria such as you present. But I like how you think and you are being an advocate for this beer, nothin wrong with that.

 

Having brewed a couple coconut beers, I can affirm that coconut is not a flavor that sticks around for an extended period of time. Those who hold onto this for awhile will be disappointed when the featured characteristic is nowhere to be found.

 

See also: Syllogism. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syllogism )

 

My main worry would be the coconut oil going rancid. High sugar and high abv might help, but coconut oil does spoil fairly quick IIRC

Edit: also, ISO

 

coconut is supposed to fade, but in all fairness... it wont just go back to bcbs. it is in fact aged in rye barrels, which alone, make it different. Also, the coconut flavor will never really just up and disappear over the course of a couple years, but rather become much more muted. anyone that says vanilla has lost all its vanilla is mad. Same thing goes for 2010 bcbcs... there is definitely coffee flavors swirling about that beer (and not just coffee flavor from roasted malts), its just not super coffee forward as, say, 2013 is right now

 

No. For two reasons. One, coconut fades quickly as is. Second, from what I've heard from people at GI (people that would know), the coconut oil could possibly start to mess with head retention and stuff like that. I know I'm gonna tear through mine ASAP. I don't want another Vanilla situation (although it's trading like CRAZY now, that beer is a withered shell of what it used to be).

 

Come on how bad could it end up it is Bourbon county. They made it specifically for there own. If two years down the road it was going to be shit they wouldn't release it right.

 

also - the bottle still says "5 years" on it. that could have been an oversight on their part, or they wanted to stay consistent with the others I guess

 

Your statement of "IMO, it has attained legitimate whale status" sums up this debate. Everyone has their own perception of what a whale is based on their perceived ability to get a certain beer. Not everyone will agree with that perception, but it does not make it any less true for that trader. Currently, I am driving my self mad trying to find a bottle of Selectie C but to no avail. That is my white whale...

 

who knows how bad it will get, but it will fall off
knowing beer nerds though it'll still be a high value beer, look at all the dumb beers people give whale status to

 

This beer is actually the most similar to base BCBS of any of the variants IMO. I traded for one and while it was good, IMO it certainly isn't much better than the base beer. I definitely wouldn't trade for it again unless it's "value" drops a lot. Different tastes and all that, but I don't get the hype. Cheers!

Mike