Waiting in Line for Beer

There's an old Henry Rollins bit titled "Airport Hell" where he comments on the "mentality of lines". I'm paraphrasing here, but he says "when people are forced into a line, people's IQs plummet"

Truer words never said.

 

I don't think I've ever seen a beer line in Wisconsin without people bottle sharing (line sharing), making lines quite enjoyable

 

I don't have a problem with people waiting in line for beer. I've done it a couple of times. It's not something I'd ever do on a regular basis, but that's my choice. If others want to do it often, good for them.

 

I stood in a few lines at Firestone Walker (both Buellton and Paso Robles), a bar or two and a San Diego brewery for releases in recent years past and decided it's no longer worth my time at this point in my life. The beer is great, but it's also expensive and, being an old fat guy with a bum knee, it's just too much milling about for me.

Also, the bottle-sharing in line is illegal here in California and FW has asked everyone very politely to stop, so if that was something you enjoyed, well... sorry.

I'll gladly drink shelf turds from here on out, I guess.

 

"But it’s a fine balance being an attainable luxury for the drinking public, and an inaccessible luxury good servicing the vanity of the middle class. (Kind of like wine. Ew.) If you line up for a super-rare beer release, you're complicit in making it the latter."

And that, my friends, is what it has come to. Brewers base their limited special releases around an event where they sell out of all bottles in the span of a few hours and make a ton of draft sales, thus resulting in making a boatload of money. The only way to make just as much money by sending it out into distro is to mark the bottles up to prices similar to higher end wines. So it's simple: as long as folks want craft beer to not have the high retail prices that premium wines carry, lines will continue to exist.

 

Yeah, I'm not trying to make his argument for him, as I don't have enough information nor care really. There were just some posts that seemed to interpret him saying lines were a miserable experience and people were literally intimidating newcomers showing up at releases.

 

2 visits to Three Floyds I waited about 30 minutes for fresh Zombie Dust... And I would do it again. It is a matter of perspective.. If you are in a hurry, and do not want to wait, then do not wait.

 

I didn't get the intimidation aspect either. I picture neck beards scowling, trying to talk up all the beers they've ever had in attempt to be the ultimate "that guy." I have stood in line before and I will again in the future, it's not for everyone and I get that, everyone has something they enjoy that I'm sure others don't. I don't think it's the downfall of beer by any means.

 

Never had to have a beer so bad that I need to stand in line for it. It's only beer.

 

What's more bizarre to me is the people who drive multiple states over to wait in line for a beer. I guess if you have the money and time..

 

I've done it once. Two weeks ago for PtY. Amazing beer.

That said ill never do it again. Ever.

 

I stand in line for beer at sporting events.

 

Hmm, I wonder when that day will come Dave?

I have never waited in line to buy a beer but based upon my reading of posts on BA it seems that every year there are more and more breweries selling direct to their customers via releases which come with lines. Also more and more special brewed (read: rare) beers being produced. Whether "hipsters" are the consumers in these lines or not is something I am unfamiliar with (since I have never waited in a line).

Cheers!

 

You would think this would be self evident wouldn't you? People wait in line to get a new iPhone on the day of release. How stupid is that? The lines in some stores on Black Friday to save a few dollars are as bad as any beer line.

Everyone must determine their own threshold of line time vs. how much they want the beer. Mine isn't very high but it isn't zero. I find Treehouse is worth the occasional 2 hour round trip and 40 minute line. I'd never put up with the Maine Dinner fiasco. I do appreciate that Treehouse restricts quantity to make sure more people get some beer.

 

It is amazing how poorly written and contradicting this article is. I have no knowledge of this writer, and for good reason, I'm sure. But I wouldn't be very surprised if he has little to no knowledge of this phenomena and it was just slapped on his desk one Monday morning. Whether you want to wait in a line for days on end or just go to the grocery store to buy a year old six pack of SNPA, why does anyone care what anyone else does? That is the part that is astonishing. You don't like that someone you don't even know spent a couple hours in a line for a beer you don't even want? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills and invented the piano key neck tie. Drink whatever you want or spend your time however you want, I certainly don't give a shit and neither should anyone else.

 

How are you going to thwart supply and demand? Hype by social media too? It's a free country after all. Not my cup of tea but whatever. Ever try to score some limited bourbon? Same thing.

 

I don't want to stigmatise the line-waiters, but I think he's got a point. It could be a dangerous trend, with every new amazing brewery becoming utterly inaccessible to the non-line-waiters... I have a conference in Montreal in August, I thought about going to Vermont to visit some breweries. But all that line waiting, that "come this day at this hour" etc... is scaring me. I don't see enjoying myself if I have to plan every single hour or every single day to get a given beer... I may just hit a bottleshop instead... So in a way, all those linewaiters are ruining my trip yes, and in that sense it does create castes, at least in Vermont. It was the same in Portland, I wanted to get some beers like Epiphany, but in the end only Maine Beer was available, and at the brewery. Can you find Treehouse beers in Boston, only 1h30 drive away from the brewery ? No. And to me that's ridiculous.

And where he's right as well is that you can find amazing American beers easily. In Europe, you've got to dig hard, but I've been able to find Toppling Goliath, Alpine, Lost Abbey, Alesmith, Prairie etc... all some of the best beers in America at the moment. I will never be able to find the top 10 in BA at the moment, but a Californian won't be able to find Treehouse beers or Alchemist either, East coast Americans will almost never have access to Russian River...

Honestly I think breweries should take advantage of this. I'm convinced that Treehouse could launch a kickstarter campaign to collect funds to expend the brewery and it would be a tremendous success. Some would think that it's unethical, but if people are willing to pay for it why not... Most people paying would be those same linewaiters, and people beneficiating from it would include the ones who would have never waited in line...

 

Don't let it deter you. You can get fantastic Vermont beers in many bars/pubs and in shops. Foley Brother, Frost Beer Works, Fiddlehead and others should be available. Fiddlhead will have no lines at the brewery in most cases. The Alchemist is building a new brewery in Stowe which should be open in August, and should dramatically increase access to their beers. Hill Farmstead you can just drink on tap. Prohibition Pig has stellar IPAs of their own, no lines, plus lots of others on tap.

My general take is that the breweries with consistent lines are in the middle of nowhere. Out in farm country, and they require a special trip, a pilgrimage really.

 

But would that eliminate the need to wait in line to buy their beers or would it just increase product amounts such that longer lines are assured of getting beer?

Cheers!

 

Sure I'd like to try some of the hard-to-get beers that are raved about here. But with so much good beer available on shelves (or at bars or brewery tap rooms), why in the world would I want to waste my precious little free time standing in a line? Quite a few other things I'd rather do with that time. I've read here about people waiting >4 hours in a line for some brewery-only collab release! Sorry, no can do.