Coming down after a "whale"

well I was a philosophy major...

it's not stealing, it's an homage

 

For years Fullers 1845 was a favorite of mine. Now it is unavailable here and even Binny's in Chi does not list it as available. Therefore to me it is now a whale, to many others it's just a beer. Tomorrow I will be getting several btls when the wife returns from LA. I will probably have one on the wknd. and save the others for another time. Unfortunately I will not be getting any Parabola or Helldorado as they did not to make the trip to Firestone Walker's Venice location-damn

 

Plus : great beers come in all shapes and sizes. Colors, too .

 

Permit me to share my buddy John’s best beer philosophy which he reminds me of when we go to parties: “the best beer in the world is free beer!”

An ancillary John quote on pitchers of beer: “I love it when we buy pitchers of beer because I know I will get more than my fair share”.

Cheers!

P.S. In many ways my buddy John reminds me of Homer Simpson.

 

It's kinda like sex.

 

Exactly. Also, having lots of hobbies (other than beer) helps spread out obsessive tendencies to tolerable limits. There is no beer that I'd rather have than finding a beautiful spear point.

 

If you actually no longer enjoy the "just ok" beers, don't drink them. There's no rules as to what you must drink or must feel. If you are no longer enjoying standard local offerings, have wine, whiskey, tea, water...

I have found what many have stated above, and I attempt to enjoy the beer I have in the situation I am drinking it. Sometimes it works out with an average beer and sometimes it doesn't with a "whale."

I think it'll work itself out in your situation, one way or another. Cheers to the journey!

 

always have whalez in the fridge.

/problem

 

I actually love drinking a great beer because it makes me appreciate how well a beer can be done. I never feel ruined so to say, yes its hard to beat a top end beer but it sort of drives me to look harder for quality and it expands my tastes, etc. You never know the next big beer to come, so that unknown keeps me motivated

On a side note I agree with others also regarding the situation or moment. I can be sipping a cheap beer but if the function I am at is special or the people I am with it sort of makes that beer fantastic, if that makes any sense lol.

 

Based on your two examples, a lot depends on how much you like bourbon-barrel aged stouts. Some people seem to only want to seek those beers out and go to great lengths to do so.

If BBA stouts come to be seen as "on a different level" than other beers, I'd venture to guess that you'll want to drink more and more of them. If you find other styles that you enjoy just as much, you'll probably even out. No judgement either way, but that seems to be the fork in the road for most people I know.

 

That makes perfect sense. If I was at a function with a bunch of old high school buddies and Bud was the only choice, that would be fine by me. Being snotty about others' choices of beverage is intrinsically stupid.

 

It's simple, only drink whales from here on out.

 

I understand the idea of, "I just drank a whale and it was as good as advertised, now what?", but I think appreciating things in context is important. I recently found BA and really got involved in craft beer and now have had a few whales, or what a whale is to me anyway.

One thing I have done is switch styles after the whale. Just had PTY at RRBC and after that day I switch to stouts for a couple days. Then just yesterday found and drank me first KBS and it was amazing, so today I am drinking some really good IPA's.

If this doesn't work, then try going back to the beer that made you love craft beer after a whale. No matter what a Lagunitas IPA or SNPA will always bring back memorizes of finding beer that wasn't Coors or Bud light and blowing my mind.

 

Usually I have the opposite issues. The hype behind a beer usually leaves me saying "that wasn't as good as (insert beer name here)". KBS may be king shit in the Midwest, but after the hype and what it tasted like to me, I will take locally distributed beers like double barrel big bad baptist and sump any day of the week.

 

If you don't think of beers as "whalez" you'll never have to worry about a come down.

 

Something to this. If I could get my hands on cases of KBS, BCBS, and Pirate Bomb - I could get by with that.

 

I think after awhile, you learn not to put them on a pedestal. I've visited many places, and traveled and feel so lucky to have had all the great beers that I had. But I guess when it comes down to it, Beer is just beer. Especially after 1 or 2.

I was in VT last summer for two weeks (doing non beer related stuff. who woulda thought that exists?), went to only one brewery (had an itinerary with 15+), and drank tons of shelf beer. Time of my life. No regrets that I only had limbo and tribute at my disposal most of the time.

 

There is so much great beer out there! If I have a beer that I really love I'll make the effort to get more, but if it's overly difficult to get ill just drink other stuff until I get around to it.

 

Everyone knows the more it costs and the longer you have to wait in line for it the higher the quality.