"Hype beast"-ing in craft beer

There are still plenty of craft enthusiasts refusing to jump on the hype wagon and a majority of breweries don't play that game either. But yes, some breweries such as Toppling Goliath with KBBS are artificially limiting availability to drive up costs and hype. I don't believe KBBS has unicorn hair, phoenix feathers, or dragon's teeth - so there is no technical reason they couldn't mass-brew KBBS and actually distribute it.

 

To be totally honest, beer is no better (or worse) than other collectible hobbies. Bourbon is (100x) worse than beer. Collecting records is really bad. Concert tickets are a little different but scalping tickets is the original "flip." In music gear- guitars themselves are so expensive they never had that "sell for double what I bought it for" mentality, but the handwired amplifiers and handmade stompboxes had a huge "collector"/"fllipper" thing going on for 10yrs+, although common sense seems to have returned.

Look up a guy who makes "eurorack" synthesizer modules named "Cwejman." He releases modules, that are really not much different than things from other brands make thousands of that can be bought off the shelf for $200-300, yet his stuff (with the boutique look and genuine scarcity since he makes dozens of modules per year, not hundreds or thousands like big companies) has a massive waitlist, and every release gets destroyed by bots and flippers, just because his $300 module can be resold for $1000 or whatever.

People just like rare shit and thinking they are cool. And people think they can get in the flipping game, no matter what it is, and make "an easy hundred." Best is just to laugh, never buy over face value/msrp, and move on.

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On instagram, I gues because I follow some cigar stores/ whisky companies,I get recommended these series of pictures that are presumably rich fucks with no class, posing a $25 stick, 1 or more $300+ bottle of scotch or rare bourbon, and often, bizarrely, a handgun. The cigar is never let, the bottle is never open, and the gun, well it's just sitting there... but apparently this is a thing to pose you expensive shit and do hashtags. In skateboarding we used to all this being a poseur but apparently some people never knew that was lame af. Some people put their lolRolex in the frame too. It's like a who's who of classless people from LA or Chicago.

 

Good post. I'm of the age I grew up around Jordan brand, and Nike SB sneakers. It's of the same similar lineage of BF electronic sale waiting and Apple iPhone release waiting. Some of these folks grew away from the electronics and jumped right into beer. It's a way of life for some.

People just inherently like stuff that is bigger than themselves. It's not fun if there is no line and you're walking into a store solo for a 4 pack of beer. Maybe it's the drama or perceived community aspect of everyone trying to obtain the same items

During hurricane and storm prep, we see some buy up all the water and snow shovels and try to flip them. Having something many more want makes people feel important. Most of their lives are materialistic and lacking of any true value.

This has the trading cards crash of mid 2000s all over again. If 30 breweries all produce something super limited, you better have the people ready to drink it. If perceived trade value ever drops, some may not even wait in line. As much as these guys are making, I want to say it's still very fragile.

 

The basis of the emergence of craft beer seems to be a demand for fresh, tasty, and varied beer. Most breweries are trying to provide one or more of those. The brewers that chase the hype will live and die by those whims. The brewers that make a tasty spread of styles will have a core customer base and as long as they pay attention to their sales and control production properly they will have a long life.
Like others have said, this aspect exists in all consumables, it annoys the die hard fans (I have sat through many a rant against whatever the hip brand in their hobby is). We will survive, I don't worry about my access to any styles disappearing anytime soon

 

I get the impression that this phenomenon, while certainly still present, is on the wane in many areas of the country. Yes, of course some breweries brew certain beers primarily to generate hype. Yes, many breweries employ artificial scarcity (unnecessarily low volume and well-below-market prices) to generate queuing and the buzz that comes with it (as well as to avoid silly but reputation-sullying accusations of price-gouging). Yes, this has resulted in a lot of stupid beer for people more interested in the scene than in the beer. But trading seems to have been receding as so many markets now have so many options, the cultural tide seems to be starting to turn toward mockery of (not just complaining about) these practices (based on comments I see in these forums and that I hear in real life from fellow craft beer fans), and I notice much less hype for new releases than I did a couple of years ago. I'd give you personal anecdotal evidence about the length of lines for releases, but I'm proud to say I can't recall ever standing in one. That said, I've heard from local industry contacts that the lines are shorter than they used to be.

On the one hand, from a personal preferences perspective, I think this relaxation of hype is a wonderful development. Pardon the vernacular, but that shit is dumb as hell. I do, however, think it may portend a falloff in demand for craft beer. Without a scene, the scenesters will disappear, and the scenesters are a big chunk of the customer base of many of the most widely discussed (i.e., most highly hyped) breweries.

 

How much of the customer base it's really scenesters though? Maybe it's way way different than I experience but I have a hard time imagining more than 10% of the crowd being there for just the "scene"

 

Some people just like that aspect of craft beer , but it's not for me.i don't buy beer to trade it , I buy it to drink it. To each their own I guess.

 

Agreed.

Perhaps I am not lining up or just tone deaf (or just shooing off lawns) but the "craze" seems to have waned considerably--at least in these parts. I am not sure if the muling, etc described for things like KBBS is as much to get beer but more to score a cheap buck like ticket scalping.

When such behavior focuses on a fast buck and not a desire for the product, I suspect it is the leading edge of a "slide" which I feel we are in.

However, solid and wonderful beer appears here to stay and if that is what is left over, fine with me.

OK-- resume play on the lawn.

 

Seems to have almost completely run its course in New England. Alchemist just kicked off distribution to all of VT, which feels a little bit like a bookend to this particular era of beer culture.

 

It may be a small percentage of people but it is a much higher percentage of sales dollars. These ‘scenesters’ and hype beasts, by definition, are buying the high end stuff.

 

By "scenesters," I mean people who are interested in the cultural trappings of craft beer more than beer as a drinkable beverage and who would be likely largely to abandon their consumption of craft beer if the culture around craft beer significantly shifted, faded, or became uncool and the social advantages to consuming craft beer dissipated. I don't believe that the rather sudden and massive surge of interest in craft beer in the twenty-teens came solely or even primarily from people discovering en masse that they prefer the flavors of craft beer. Indeed, the flavor shifts we've seen in recent years ("The Great Sweetening") suggest that the flavors that had been associated with craft beer were less than ideal for those newer customers. I think, rather, that craft beer, for whatever reason, was able to capture the zeitgeist and consequently extend its appeal well beyond people who wanted intense versions of classic beer flavors to people who wanted intense versions of trendy cultural experiences. Hence the flood of hip, young people (no longer mainly middle-aged, fat, male nerds) into taprooms and the emergence of queuing among those with the strongest desire to demonstrate their fealty to their newfound subculture of choice.

It depends on the brewery, but, in general, I suspect the proportion of scenesters among craft beer drinkers is well over 10%, especially in urban areas. 30%? 40%? 50%? 60%? More? I'm thinking of a certain brewery in my area where it seems to be the vast majority (80%? 90%?). I think a lot of individuals who entered this hobby in the last few years are not cognizant of or in denial about what motivated them in the first place and what drives their continued interest. Drinking historically is a very social activity, and there's nothing inherently wrong with drinking for social reasons rather than for the enjoyment of the beverage. I dare say that the vast majority of alcohol consumed throughout history was done more despite its flavor than because of it. It does behoove the industry to understand what's really driving its customers' buying habits, in order to cater to that customer base (such as with beer that doesn't taste like beer, helpful because so many of those customers don't much like the taste of beer), for marketing purposes (the hipper the better), and when considering major business strategy decisions such as expansion (probably not a good idea in most instances given the reliance on such a fickle customer base).

 

I don't know about that-an upstart brewery in Fitchburg MA, River Styx, just released 22 dollar 4 packs that sold out in a day. Lots of people are clamoring for these expensive beers with offers to trade other hyped breweries above $4$. hype is still rolling.

 

You're right- you could say that about pretty much anyone who doesn't do silent releases and / or have a club that "anyone" can join (so I'm not counting clubs that have lotteries or other exclusion to join).

There is a brewery in Northern VA who does sporadic BA stout releases, and yesterday, there were the usual people asking "how long is the line?"... "why don't you guys just do silent releases?"

The response is "zomg did you see how long the line was outside our brewery !!!111!!!!?

Being a national or regional brewer may be risky, but having your entire operation require people to show up at your brewery to buy $20 4x16s, I just don't see that being sustainable in the 5yr window, for anyone.

 

Yeah I mean people still play Pokemon Go, too. Crazes don't disappear, they just find their level in the overall cultural ecosystem. Five years ago, if someone wanted to do a New England beer vacation, there'd be this whole crazy list of warnings about how Tree House has been limited growler fills to three, don't go to Hill Farmstead on a Saturday because the line is two and a half hours, tracking the Heady truck... that stuff is by and large over. You can still find a line if you want, but it's much more the exception than the rule these days.

 

I'm glad somebody posted this just as Smartmouth released "Saturday Morning" last week.

Starter info: SM has had no "hype" releases... ever... in its brief craft beer existence. Anything not a flagship I can walk in day of release, walk out 5 minutes later.

Cue Saturday Morning... a "Lucky Charms" beer which I believe is basically just their Game On with marshmallow added. Granted there have been other brefus cereal beers in this state before (Strangeways has had a Berlinner like this for 5 year at least). I was out of the country at the time, but apparently this beer was HYPE-D up, like ridiculous. Believe it made Tonite Show/Jimmy Kimmel/whatever.

I drive to Chelsea (Norfolk neighborhood for Smartmouth) 10 of noon (SM starting time). Traffic is miserable, I assumed there was a 5K/10K/race I wasn't aware of. No, it was all for this beer. There was a line 400-450 people deep waiting to grab 4 packs.

Immediately I said "F**k this" and just went beer shopping at TW/bottleBOX. The hype beast is real, my friend. This time, I think it was the fact this beer "made mainstream TV" that drove it home.

 

Nature will take its course. Hype without quality doesn't sustain long at all in the beer world but just during the shiny/new period. Seriously, are there any brewers putting out beers for over 2 years with under a 4.2 overall rating of certain beers still sustaining lines for re-releases? I don't think so (but if there are any, would love to know). It takes really special beers (scaricity but also quality) to keep people clamoring for them over and over. Once enough people taste the inferior beers, the trade interest will wain, and the lines will dwindle.

 

@islay, if your assessments are accurate then I feel bad for your area's beer scene. I suspect you may be mistaking some hipster's with beer scenesters but I can't really know obviously. I think that there are many people who drink beer from local breweries without being a total beer nerd. I don't think these people are really on the verge of abandoning beer consumption and they are also not the people at the big hype releases. I think that the big beer lines are probably a semi endangered species because I could see your estimate of upwards of 80% people just there for the IG pics/secondary value/general social status being close but I have never been in a brewery where I looked around and thought to myself 'I bet most of these people don't even like beer'

 

How prevalent is the above beer scene in your area? Can you please name breweries? How long are the lines (e.g., 2 hours to buy a 4-pack)?

As others have discussed in this thread in my area this practice is on the wane. If you had started this thread 2 years ago I would be in agreement with you here.

Cheers!