How do really sought after beers compare?

I buy those super-rare beers when the opportunity presents itself at my local bottle shop. While I must admit it is a nice feeling when you can tick one of those big boys off your list, I am firmly in the camp that believes there are so many great beers right there on the shelf collecting dust, that there's no need to exert myself trying to track down something ultra-rare.

Well, except for BCBCS. That stuff is so good it's worth a terrific effort. Man, I wish I was drinking it right now....mmmm, BCBCS ... (insert Homer Simpson drooling sound)...

 

I'd have to disagree. I'm a hop lover and when I look at the top IPA's out there, most of them are head and shoulders above what you can grab at a decent beer store on an average day. I try new IPA's all the time and NY is a relatively good place to find good beer, but can you walk into a beer store on any given day and grab something even close to Double Sunshine, Heady Topper, Abner, etc.? No. In my experience, the sought after beers generally live up to the hype, or at least come close. Notable exceptions for me: Hopslam, Dreadnaught and Pliny, but I think that's just because by the time I'd gotten around to trying them, I'd already had newer IPA's that stood on their shoulders and kept going...

 

Many of them are as good if not better. Just as many if not more are not.
In general, I wouldn't go that far out of my way to try most of them. In 3-4 years they won't be "cool" anymore anyway. Seek out the classics. If a beer can stay highly rated even after it has become old news - it's probably a winner.

 

It's all about hype yo! The first time I had Big Bad Baptist my mind was blown...compared to the first time I had KBS..I gotta admit, I was a little disappointed. However, I think they taste fairly similar.

Both amazing beers, one with massive hype, one without.

 

After work I am going to pick me up a sixer of stowaway.. That is my long forgotten go 2

 

I've rarely found a stout that is head-and-shoulders better than some readily available options like Breakfast Stout or Stone RIS, but in my area finding a rare fresh IPA is a rare yet wonderful thing...

the IPA-in-stores selection in NJ is limited to the same stuff from Stone, Troegs, Victory, Terrapin, etc. without any variation or excitement. apart from Boat (which is a session), there isn't an IPA worth a damn being brewed around here and put in bottles/cans. the IPAs that are in bottles usually has a few months of age on it anyway because they travel so far and Hunterdon/most beer stores around here don't care much about freshness/proper storage. so as far as IPAs go, that's the style I usually seek out the most in regard to a rarity. in fact, I've stopped buying IPAs in stores altogether around here, instead just opting for Kane/Carton growlers when I can't nab a Heady, G-Bot, or other beer whose hype guarantees the bottle/can I receive is fresh.

so in NJ at least, the difference between IPA store options and the ones on Beer Advocate Top 50 are HUUGE. Dirt Wolf is the only thing approaching comparability and even that's a bit too sticky sweet/unbalanced for me to love non-stop. Flower Power could compare when fresh, but I've never seen a bottle less than a month old due to the wonky distribution of distributors around here that prioritize quantity over freshness. hard-to-find IPAs are guaranteed to be fresh usually because of the high demand, which is desirable in itself.

 

Agree 100 % about Hopslam. I'd add Nugget Nectar to this list as well. As far as KBS, it used to be my favorite but this years batch completely underwhelmed me.

 

I only hunt for Bourbon County. I would give blood or drive 10 hours to get more. There is beer, and there is Bourbon County (Stout and Barleywine). Offer me Parabola, KBS, Heady Topper or Pliny and I will say thanks... and then trade it for more Bourbon County.

 

This is only marginally on topic, but can anyone explain why Fifty Fifty Eclipse stouts seem to never be talked about? This thread for example lists at one point or another a pretty diverse selection of BA Stouts from all different tiers, and I didn't notice a single mention.

 

I think them being $30/bottle has a lot to do with it.

 

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I love Eclipse I have 4 on the shelf right now, and the EC20 might be the best BA anything I've ever had. Most guys balk at the $30 pricing point give or take. I can still find Event Horizion on the shelf and it's $14, and its a great beer, BA Sexual Chocolate was $20. If was a $20 brew it would be scooped up, and more would try it. But price aside I love the ones I've had.

 

Not many beers hit my area that are as hard to get as bcbs. That being said when stuff like ba biscotti or parabola I'll grab 'em.

 

That does make sense, being in PA everything is expensive, so $30 for one of those is not as far out of line as it might be elsewhere (Halia etc and most Bruery are also $30/bottle in my area, for example).

I was lucky enough to try 3 of them at the PtY event I went to, the owner cracked a few and served 4oz pours for like $7... he made out like a bandit I know, but it was worth it to get to try three different ones for less than the cost of one bottle.

 

I kinda disagree with that, as good as Heady and Pliny and Hopslam and Double Sunshine are (I love Pliny and Hopslam, so I'll include them), I enjoy HiRes, Flower Power, and Jai Alai a lot too. If you put a Pliny and a Jai Alai in front of me, I'll pick up the Pliny every time, but when it comes to IPAs I think there are enough really great ones out there that beyond experiencing something new that you haven't had, it's not necessarily worth a ton of effort to get something different.

That said, I feel the opposite about BA Stouts. The really good ones are typically seasonal at best and highly limited as often as not, making them worth some extra effort not because they're "exclusive" but because there's just not as much to go around and they are just as worth trying out.

 

hard to ignore hype. there's a reason for it and I think it's valid, if a beer's hyped it means lots of people agree that it's awesome. also means that there's beers out there that haven't been discovered and are probably just as awesome. craft beer is an art like music or anything else. just because it's popular and hyped up doesn't mean it's the best. and as far as it being rare, that's because the demand is growing so fast, and the beer requires some constraint to keep the quality level. they can't just be brewing more and more KBS, there's a process involved that limits the amount that can be released while still keeping it awesome. that's why I like to try random beers that I've never even heard about, and I like to buy beers before I read up on them. I also do the opposite, relying on what I've read. it's always different, I guess that's where I give in to hype. like you said though, it comes down to the individual's palate. you answered your own question already

 

Although not a regular "shelf beer," Event Horizon sticks around for two or three mos around here--prob can still find some and hangs with the big boys. A little brewery in Va--3 Bros--puts out a similar offering: Resolute and these are in our back yard.

In NC we have:

Hop Drop and Roll--just won number one American IPA at World Beer Cup
Jade IPA is almost as good.

Many would say Roch 10 and St B 12 are on par with Westy and I agree-can buy almost every day. I love to try the rarities and seek them out if I am traveling but not worth much more effort than that.

If you enjoy the hunt, ok but man there is something world class made or available to purchase around the corner EVERY DAY in many parts of NC.

 

There are so many good beers out there, obsessing about a particular example is pointless. Unless you're a ticker.

 

Depends on why you want to drink a particular beer. For me, it's fun to try something I've never had, and you can't beat the frission of trying something that was pretty hard to get ahold of. But just because these beers are rare does't make them great.

Westvleteren is tasty beer. And it's fun to be able to have tasted it. Is it really the best beer in the world, like some people say? I don't think so. Heady Topper is also very tasty. But I think Maine Brewing's Lunch is as good or better, and far easier to come by.

So drink what you like, and make an effort to get something that sounds like fun, or that you've heard a lot about.

 

I would say that 90% of the time, they are not worth the effort. There is a lot of good beer out there and to me, all of the wasted time, effort, and money do not bring the extra value these beers are supposed to bring. Thats me.