Destroying a beer's legacy...

Times are a changin'

I see this with FW releases as well, not quite to the same extent but at work we used to get a lot less and it would be gone within the first hour of being open. We got 4 cases of Napa Parabola and it lasted a solid couplr weekls

 

With the rise of hyperlocal buying, and the mid to large scale craft brewers making more of their previously rare releases, it makes sense. Let's face it, if a beer sees distro at all it cant possibly be as "good" as a brewery only release, right?

 

At a certain point we have to take a look in the mirror and realize that if we regret that there are now easy to get versions of beers we used to go crazy for due to their rarity it says something about us. It also says something about the brewery

It says the brewery used the marketing technique of scarcity marketing to make us feel compelled to buy the beer when it first came out by stimulating our FOMO. And it says we are the kind of people who fall for that gimmick.

 

I think what you say is especially true for hoppy beers, something about the geometry of huge fernenters and the characteristics of how yeast ferment wort. But...

There are plenty of cases of breweries who only produce small batches and have a decline in quality.

There is ample evidence that as we try more beers, and the overall quality of beer improves (as it has without doubt) we have inconsistent or inaccurate memory of how beer used to taste versus present taste.

There is evidence that a beer's rating by consumers is influenced by rarity so that it reflects a higher rating than it would if not rare and hard to get, or very expensive.

So that certain point we need to get to in examining ourselves in the mirror, and breweries we feel are in decline due to expansion, will include honest reflection about these three factors IMO

Thanks for a thoughtful thread.

 

Along the same lines of a once sought after beer's legacy...
This week Russian River began distribution in Central California and a few bars had big welcome parties and plenty of people flocked to finally get their hands on Pliny the Elder and Blind Pig. Many bottles were sold and many kegs were drained, and many of us got to enjoy a visit from an old friend, now without the 3 hour drive. But I saw some people reacting saying "It's all hype." or "We went crazy for this?". I remember making it up to Santa Rosa for the first time, getting Pliny on draft, and having my mind blown. And that was only about 5 years ago. Somehow these legendary beers that blew everything else out of the water for years are being pooh-poohed and it kinda rubs me the wrong way. I get that they are different from the latest weekly released hop bombs of today, but ya gotta show some respect for your Elders.

 

If Founders had ramped KBS and CBS more slowly over several years, they could have maintained or even increased the hype by getting it into the hands of more people. By ramping it up quickly they essentially killed the cult status.

The hype worked on me, I'd buy as much KBS I could get my hands on, usually 4-6 bottles. The year I landed a case and could have easily gotten several cases, I lost interest. The beer was the same, but it then became nothing special and I realized there were several others BA stouts I liked as much or more, which were more available and cheaper.

A beer that lives on hype is Toppling Goliath KBBS. It sells to the lucky few for $100 a bottle and you have to go to the brewery to get it. It doesn't have phoenix feathers, unicorn hair, or dragon heartstrings in it, so they could certainly make more. Perhaps they are ramping up production slowly and quietly - but I still can't get my hands on one!

 

If you're in this hobby for the beer, wide distribution and beer sitting on shelves for leisurely convenient purchase is a great thing. If you're in it for collection purposes, where it's all about the chase, bragging rights, and impressing your friends, adequate supply to meet demand and wide availability takes the fun out of things.

No single beer is really worth hundreds of dollars based on the taste experience alone. No beer is worth hours of standing in line, unless you're enjoying the company of your fellow queuers. No beer is worth chasing all around town the day of the release unless you enjoy the hunt. Trading is time-consuming, expensive, and, in most cases, technically illegal, and it produces a negative environmental impact. Any activity beyond going to a convenient local establishment to pick up easily available beer is never going to be justified by the beer itself but rather the social factors and thrill around it.

For many people, almost the entirety of the appeal of beers like CBS and KBS lay in their function as a vehicle to deliver that thrill; it never mattered much what was in the bottle but rather what built up around it. The beer probably is as good as ever (I've never drunk the stuff; not a coffee guy), but the thrill is gone.

 

KBS tastes just as good as it did when it was hard to come by. If it’s more accessible because the pointy end of the beer geek population are focused solely on brewery-only 15% BA (sometimes having spent a whole 60 days in barrels!) imperial stouts with doughnuts, almonds, pecans, peanuts, wild thai bananas, candied coconuts and [insert expensive/rare coffee that has a delicate flavor profile that makes no sense being in a beer], then everyone’s a winner

 

There was a local guy who posted his haul of 40-something bottles of CBS 2 years ago on facebook. I realize this how some people fill the empty holes in their lives (chasing trucks all day), but I keep thinking where is the dude when we need him to clean shelves.

 

A really thoughtful, intelligent post, but I do disagree on this point. There are some beers (and admittedly there are few and fewer these days) that are so singular and irreproducible that acquiring them through lines/trade/black market are the only ways one will experience them. This was more the case back when I started trading in 2012, when many beers, especially from the East Coast, simply had no analogues in CA. I'm thinking especially of Heady and the first wave of NEIPAs from Tree House, Trillium, etc. It's true that there are "just as good" beers of most styles available in most places these days, but not always the exact same. Most recently, I think of Bamburana, which, although had a fairly wide distro footprint, still didn't make it everywhere. And the thrill is most certainly "what is in the bottle." I also have not found a WCIPA as dank and pot-like as Block 15 Sticky Hands, which I can only get through trade.

Short version: you can be "in it" for the beer and still find trading/chasing to be justifiable.

 

For reasons not fully understood, Scarcity has long been a motivation for members of the human race (probably dates from our days as hunter-gathers who survive in part by keeping a reserve supply of food on hand incase they are unable to kill food or find enough edible plant stuff). Thus the desire for something scarce isn't unique and shows in collectors of all kinds. e.g. I know a few folks who are so passionate about a certain type of glasswere from a certain era that virtually all their off work time is focused tightly on getting a particular piece of glass produced at small, short glass factory where it was produced only once in the mid-to-late 1800s. (I inheritied one with background information. It's kept on a shelf in a case where it can be seen and just in case I need an emergency $5-600 dollars.)

Marketers and some companies have noticed this effect and deliberately make use of it by deliberately hyping up a product and deliberately not producing as much as they could. That reinfoces the hype and increases the desirability.

This there is real scarcity cause by lack of capacity and that feeds the folks who deliberately use it/

My suggestion is that Founders did a special release when they were smaller (e.g., before a 30% sale that allowed them to expand capacity). The liked the possiblities and gradually have expanded their ability to produce more. It pretty much had to be slowly since CBS requries that the barrels that once held maple syrup after they held Bourbon and there are not many small companies that age their maple syrup aged in ex-bourbon barrels. So there is a real bottleneck in their ability to produce more even when they want to....

As they lose their restrictions on production capacity they produce more of what the public wants and eventually there's enough to meet demand. Excitement fades and there is a chance for the non-truck-chasers to buy some as well. Throw in the difficulty of estimating what demand will actually materialize usually means some areas will indeed have bottles aging on the shelf.

 

Do you think perhaps this is a reflection of how the beer scene has changed over the past 5 years (or so)? In other words we now have such a good selection of high quality beers (especially brewed locally) that beers such as those from Russian River have lost a bit of luster in comparison?

Cheers!

 

Curious. Where is the line draw between inherent scarcity caused by a bottle neck such as not enough barrels that once held maple syrup to produce more (ie natural scarcity) and making a deliberate choice to produce less that might be to create artifical scarcity? The only place I can find one is in the intentions/motivation of the brewer and that is hard to know for me. Any help you can offer?

 

Hmm, interesting. Wondering if it is related to the fact that there are many more choices these days for quality beers and that has an effect on things such as RR and the urgency with which folks used to seek it out.

(BTW one of our mutual favorite places had Elder on tap not long ago. Might be some still.)

 

First kbs I had was a 2015 in 2017. Damn tasty. Since then, at my usual bottle shop, it's always on the shelves, and I'm happy to pick up a couple. Only had cbs once, so would be ecstatic if it was always on the shelf.

These are great beers whatever the age. While a rare beer I've craved appearing on the shelves might increase my heart rate, sipping either of these on a quiet evening is pretty damn good too

 

The beers are just as good, but now they brewed in greater quantities, distributed over a wider area, and have legitimate competition.

Some of the posts mention trades and purchases in 2011, 2012, and 2014. At that time many of these beers truly unique and much less available (deliberately or not). They were grabbed up right away because you couldn't find anything else comparable and you didn't know when they would be available again.

Nowadays there are beers that are, arguably, just as good at a lower price point. The KBS's and Pliny's of the world are still excellent beers and have earned their reputations, but they are no longer alone at the top. Why rush to pay $24 for a 4 pack of KBS when you can now choose a comparable BBA for $10 less?

Founder's has teased that this might be the last year for CBS, that's not a bad idea. Pull CBS for a couple of years and shrink KBS down to a limited regional distribution. Give nostalgia some time to work and then gradually reintroduce the beers at a more competitive pricing.

 

^ This!

 

I really don't mind seeing KBS and CBS (to a lesser extent) sitting around. These beers can be aged and it's great to be able grab one when I'm in the mood. It is crazy how much the hype level has dropped in just a couple of years though.