Stout BIF Round 4 Hints & Hauls

While it's ultimately up to the OP of a BIF to ask for it, I think at this point part of standard sign-up information (like address and tshirt size) should include:

"What breweries are available to you that seekabrew does not include?"
"What breweries are not available to you that seekabrew says are?"

Florida is not the only place with a fair amount of new distro, expanding and contracting, and a proactive role in course correcting this will only help you get a better box.

 

Hopefully its @PG2G because as his friend I claim his beers as well.

 

Damn @ajaylock , are you sure that's a "warning box" you sent me? PRon to follow here shortly.

 

@slvrmon82 you still with us?

 

So when @ajaylock let me know he was sending a "warning shot" box I was pumped. If this is his idea of a warning shot then I better warm up the fork-lift for when the actual stout box arrives:

Beers
Southern Star Buried Hatchet - Want!
Karbach Weekend Warrior - I love getting local canned beers I've never heard of.
Hop & Grain Porter Culture/Green House/Zoe - See above.
Armadillo Quakertown Stout - Should have been a want.
Lone Pint Yellow Rose - Long time mega want!
Saint Arnold Divine Reserve #15 - Long time mega want!
Southern Star Black Crack - BA version of Buried Hatchet and a want.
Prairie Bomb! - Finally got one of these recently, permawant!
Non-Beers
Cuvee Coffee Black & Blue - Cold pressed coffee on nitro in a can, sounds awesome!
Saint Arnold Root Beer (x2) - Andrew saw my note about my son loving craft root-beer, already gave one to our receiving guy as well as he keeps asking for root beer.

Thanks so much for all of this awesome beer, can't wait to try everything!

 

The thing you have to be careful with when it comes to seekabrew is that yes a state may now carry a certain brewery. But this does not guarantee that all parts of the state get said brewery still. Nor does it guarantee that you will get that breweries full portfolio, most likely just their flagships to start. And lastly, if it's anything like Chicagoland area, when new beers finally hit our distro the "special" shit tends to move pretty quickly and so a target may not even have the opportunity to get that breweries beer.

I understand that some people may not like receiving things they can just go buy, but on the other side of the coin they may be getting something they could have bought but passed on because they didn't know better and now get it for free.

Just some things to consider.

 

It's dawned on me that I have no idea if my target suspects me yet... I'm curious to know how many people still have me on their potential sender list. So, if you think I may be your sender, like this post! As an incentive for playing my game, if my target actually likes this post, I'll drop another big hint tonight.

 

That's a big part of why I suggest telling the OP of your BIF what breweries seekabrew includes/excludes incorrectly. Changing distribution is a big part of it, but that's a factor as well. For example in PA, the western part of the state has pretty good access to Fat Head's, whereas I almost never see it; conversely, Philly gets a lot of things Pittsburgh does not. Another example is that while we see some Hardywood, I would be hard pressed to track down a Bourbon Gingerbread Stout, one of the more sought-after (but [in their home area] not necessarily hard to come by) bottles from them.

There's obviously no easy answer or catch-all, but I'm of the opinion that the more information you provide your sender, the better a job they can do putting together a box for you. And you're right, sometimes it's nice to get a bottle that you've passed over a few times because you didn't know any better, or even a bottle that you see just not as fresh as it can be (for example, Cigar City is in my distro, and while I haven't seen Jai Alai in a while I certainly have in the past, but it was quite a treat to get it with only 4 days' age).

Generally speaking though, it only 'bothers' me to get beer I could have bought myself because it seems like a waste for all those involved to have spent money and resources on packing materials, shipping fees, and the intangible cost of the risk of having that box damaged/lost, when I could have gotten the same item off a shelf.

 

Yeah, this does make a lot of sense. At this point it would almost be easier to just Quick Pay someone and tell them to go buy the bottle and enjoy it. That really takes the spirit out of it, but I see what you mean.

This is why I really like to send obscure local bottles I love, that I know don't get distribution outside of my state, and hope my target will enjoy. Oh, and I also hit a shit ton of wants when I can too.

 

I think i have you as number one suspect atm.

 

VCPCS (Virtual Cold Press Coffee Share):


Cuvee Coffee Black & Blue - cold press coffee w/nitrogen. Good thing I got this from @ajaylock today, I'm on all kinds of meds from being sick and I'm not allowed to drink the next few days!

 

You're right that it takes some of the spirit out of it, but that's exactly it; unless it's a freshness issue, adding a $10 bill to a box and saying "go get X bottle" is functionally superior to shipping it; but for me at least, no matter how many walez/dolphins I chase, I always enjoy trying good locals that I'd never heard of; as an example Dry Dock's Apricot Hefeweizen is from a brewery I'd heard of (from their Barleywine) but I would never have traded for that can, but once it was sent to me I enjoyed it thoroughly.

 

I send updates to seekabrew whenever I see something new not reflected in my distro, but the dude that runs it is not very quick to update. I've definitely gotten some things that were not updated yet, but I have still gotten a fair number of brews that were properly reflected and not on my wants lately that I can walk down the street and buy. I'll always take the beer obviously, but the more people that have gotten into these BIFs I've found some do not do their due diligence.

 

Hint: I am not shipping south

 

Package has been secured, thanks! **** coming later, gotta take the furbaby for his yearly check up

 

This is also true; I think when it's a fairly consistent group like ours we sometimes forget to remind everyone/inform newcomers of some basics like to use Seekabrew.

 

To my sender, on the off chance you were going to ship this week, please don't. I will out of town starting Wednesday and the box will sitting on my apartment building's porch until Monday if so.

 

new hint

My target had posted as of the first 12 pages (which is about where I left off) he/she has posted since then.

 

Finally hit single digits of possible senders. Down to 9.