Hype Train

RareR D.O.S. was originally from Peg's Cantina, which for a time, was highly ranked on BeerAdvocate's top 100 beers list (it was in the top ten or so). Since then, the brewers there formed Cycle Brewing, in which they continue to make all the great beers that made Peg's famous in the first place.

 

People drank it > people liked it > people that liked it said it was great ... but it was hard to get > people wanted it and had to work hard to get it > Repeat.

 

Heady was highly rated years before it was canned. It was a hole in many ticker's lists since you either had to visit the brewpub when it was on tap or find someone to trade you a hand-bottle. Back then, there were no VT traders and most people in the Northeast thought it was crazy to drive for hours up to VT for that.

 

I don't get why it is rated so high

*I also don't understand all of the hop profiles

 

I don't get why so many "hyped" up whales are so highly rated even though there are other beers out there just as good or better. Well actually I do, because taste rarely (pun intended) comes into play when limited numbers and lineage align.

 

Because .rar tastes SO damn good!!!
LOL... actually in only about 9-10 months of trading I've realized most beers that require me to put up 2-4 dolphins to get them are usually not worth it. I want RareR Dos & BA Muy Bonita but I know that I don't have the ammo now unless I give up a couple of things that I haven't even had a chance to taste yet...so no thanks. Hopefully I get them later but in the meantime I've traded my way into a crap ton of good beer that I haven't even tried yet.
In fact I'm having a System of a Stout right now & it's pretty damn good even though the hype ended a couple of months ago!!!

 

I agree. Lately I've been trying to trade rarity for quantity with exception of a few rare(ish) beers that are permawants. But...I just did the opposite and traded quantity for 2 RareR. If its as good as the small growler I got from Pegs than its worth it IMO but time will tell.

Competition is also picking up nation wide. There are great new breweries popping up all over the country every day so what was once considered great isn't so great anymore. It also gives those who are satisfied not having to have the latest whale of the week less reason to trade.

Having said all of that I will always have my perma wants (ie NG fruit beers) that I've yet to find comparable competition.

 

I traded away the farm to get AB Mexi Cake, only to see that our 10+ group like BA Biscotti more at that same tasting. Kewl

 

And then you are on a mission trying to figure out a way to recover those bottles you traded away that you hadn't tried. It's a never ending story. The addiction then transforms from drinking great beer to trading great beer.

 

Tim, I loved AB mex cake.... loved BBIBB too... but i love that apple brandy

 

You have to draw a line in the sand somewhere. I personally never trade beers I havent tried, I also try not excessively cellar a beer Ive never had.

 

Yea nothing wrong with that, I definitely save beers for tastings and occasions. I just wouldnt do like 1-2yrs on a beer ive never had.

 

I think we all wonder, or at least many of us do. But really think about the steps and it's sufficient to explain it. The fact that it's "hard to get" and that people have to "work hard to get it" are significant. Mystique builds as people hear about it and are unable to get it. Mystique contributes to how people evaluate the beer; it's indisputably good so perhaps they inflate it a bit. Check out this list of cognitive biases and think about how many of these may play into our ability to evaluate highly rated beers that we want for a long time or have to invest significant effort to acquire:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases

Anchoring? Sure - "all I know is it's the best IPA out there!"
Availability Heuristic? Sure - coupled with anchoring and the emotional charge of having desired it for so long, you'll over-emphasize how "amazing" it is.
Bandwagon Effect? Sure.
Belief Bias? Sure - it's believable that it's the best IPA out there ... particularly if you're rooting for it to be.
Endowment Effect? Sure - if I'm from the Vermont area or surrounding states and it's hard to get Heady there (moreso in the past) then I will "hold it hostage."

As you can see, the simple factors play into some complex cognitive behaviors.

 

Yea that's how I feel and now I have cases of beer waiting for a "special occasion". It's hard to find time with 2 toddlers tearing shit up and working away from home during the week.

 

I lied, I had a few last night; there was 6 people there, and it sounds like @Kramerbarthomer may have like AB Cake more than BA Biscotti