How often do you drink shelf beer?

Kind of rediculous...

 

Jai Alai is always available now and tasty so why not mix it up?

 

So you've stopped enjoying pretty much everything but sours and Saisons?

 

Biff you start some comical threads.

 

Last year I was vacationing in Cannes and I rented a Ferrari for a day. Ever since then, my Mazda just doesn't really do it for me. I now walk to work 22 miles every day. My wife says the Mazda will get me to work just fine but she's nuts.

 

Understandable on styles, but there are plenty of good and great shelf beers for all styles. Sure we all love delicious whales, but the reality is that it stops being about the beer, and ends up being about the rarity and what not. Lots of shelf beers are as good as the rarer beers.

 

If something on a shelf sounds interesting, I'll try it. That said, if a beer comes in a 12 oz. format, I really prefer to try a single before investing in a whole 6-pack that I might hate. I actually rely pretty heavily on reviews from this site and base a lot of purchases on said reviews. As another poster on this site once said, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me hundreds of times, shame on me."

 

I used to say the same thing, but now I think that's just a lie that a lot of us fool ourselves into believing.

 

A healthy mix for me.

 

how can you be a BA and not drink shelf beer? (not singling anyone out just saying in general) no wonder stores have tons of old IPA's and stuff collecting dust drink that shit you fools!

 

There are BAs who literally only drink whales and the like.

 

I clicked a link on twitter accidentally and went to this weird beer blag and the guy was all like "walez only man" and there was a picture of him drinking Stillwater Classique which (a) isn't even 99 rated and (b) I drank like a case of it last summer that I bought off of a shelf and like still now on that same shelf there's some and it's gotten a little dusty. Like maybe even spiderwebs and stuff. Anyway, spiderwebs, do you like No Doubt?

 

Welp, being but a mere mortal, I drink an awful lot of Wormtown, Jack's Abby, Newburyport, etc. Keeps my whalez more whalez-y.

 

Whalez only bro! That's when I stab myself in the eye.

 

I own and run a small business that's not beer related. I honestly don't have the time and energy to jump through all the necessary hoops to acquire rare beers. If a fellow BA has scored some and is willing to share, I gladly accept. I would rather spend my relatively small amount of discretionary 'beer time' getting better at my brewing. There's an amazing variety of very high quality shelf and local beer to be enjoyed, so I relax and enjoy...

 

I get the "thrill of the hunt" thing a lot of us go through. Finding something special or new can be fun. Where is the point that "only drinking special" becomes "nothing is special"? If you can't enjoy a well made "common" beer, how long before that new extreme brew bores you, too?

 

Don't feed! Unless you have spare leftover Loon cultures!