What qualifies as a whale?

IMO I wouldn't call Black Tuesday a whale. It's yearly release and for the most part not hard to find. I personally consider whales to be limited(Brewed once). But, even then it's all based on how much was bottled and made it to the customer.

 

I think it has come to mean beers that are not easy to come by, something once called tan whales. These days people call hopslam and bourbon county whales...

Here is an older list of whales: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aX2Bo6odEgdMgzpyHNvgEwy-nA-TDtBl3T-9j3idSzA/edit

 

A whale is completely subjective. For someone who has only has local beers Cali, Heady Topper may be a whale while that Black Tuesday wouldn't be. For someone in Vermont, it may be the opposite. I know when I first got into trading, I thought Huna was a whale that I would never get my hands on. I've now had two 2014s and a 2015 with 2 more in my cellar so it's no longer a whale to me. Once I got my hands on a Huna I set my sights on a VR and Prop. I've now had both and have a bottle of each in my possession. I even sent a VR to a regular trader as an extra a couple weeks ago. I've got my sights set on a DB Huna now but there are people out there that have multiples of that who are looking for KBBS. It's all relative.

To me a whale is the biggest fish that you've never caught. Whether that's a small mouth bass or a tuna, there's someone out there that thinks each are huge fish and someone out there that is looking for a bigger catch.

 

I'd say it's all pretty personal. While Sexual Chocolate may be a whale for some, for others its just a great beer that comes out in Feb and Aug. For me in NC, I'd consider any of the Vermont beers "whales" since it's more than just a little ways away.

For those with unlimited funds, almost anything is in reach.

 

A beer that very very few people have and a lot of people of want. (Over a good period of time. The flavor of the month new money adjunct stouts are not true whales)

 

Whales are often one time only offerings (one offs), brewery only releases with high prices and/or small bottle limits, beers in the 4.6 range or higher, Europe only lambics, etc. They also generally don't have a lot of reviews.

Years ago someone came up with a formula that was along the lines of if the beer had a wants to gots ratio of 25:1 then the beer is very likely to be a whale.

Black Tuesday 2009 is a whale. The other vintages are not.

Cheers!

 

I think it's subjective too. I mean there are some very limited releases like 500 bottles and that surely is a whale. Then there are beers you have only heard about but never tried, those too are whales. Hopslam was once a whale.

Slay it with honor
Slay it with purpose

 

A beer thats annually or seasonally released with bottle counts in the thousands will never be a whale. Exceptions exist like if its the original batch (like 2009 black tuesday which was the first batch, most limited and arguably the finest tasting vintage of BT) or there is a crazy high demand with unrealistically low bottle counts (such as what toppling goliath does with their stouts.)

Its all subjective but I think the term gets used much more loosely these days.

 

This. Captain Ahab's whale was totally different than Starbuck's whale. Think about it.

 

I'll respectfully disagree. IPAs can't be whales unless they are DONGs like Pliny The Younger (draft only no growlers). The shelf life is just too short.

 

Hard to get your hands on and usually a high price

 

If you can't taste the rare than no whalezbro

 

I never thought of it that way =)

 

lol Bah, yer just boasting

The great white whales of the beer world are usually not easy for the whale hunter to get. They are probably of a style, or possessed of characteristics, that the whale-hunter finds desirable (see all the "it's subjective/relative" posts above ). It is probably something they have wanted for at least a little while.

In some regards, your BT is a potential whale for some people, because it is aged, it is a popular style, and it has a limited availability. But if the person has easy access to direct purchase, is able to acquire it comfortably via trade, or doesn't care about the beer, then it's not a whale

 

Something you've wanted to taste for years; a beer that generally falls from the heavens and has it's own walk out music, and when you finally obtain said beer, most likely by giving away your last born and all of your money, you're too afraid to open it because you don't know if you can handle its awesomeness.

 

Hype.

 

Everyone knows that whales are just for looking at