Equilibrium Brewery (2020)

I remember trying to buy tickets for Grateful Dead shows on the lot, and we had an ethos that it was wildly uncool to pay above purchase price to get in. I'm still that hippie at heart--people with oodles of money don't necessarily deserve the best of everything. Wait in line like the rest of us.

 

@Greyvtrayn pretty much covered it. Me personally, I think it’s insane, but I don’t personally care if someone else does. I’m not concerned about the price because I don’t want it anyway. I have no problem buying Willitized for $14 a 4-pack and KBS variants for $24 a 4-pack. Hell, I bought 9 different Bourbon Counties on Black Friday. That’s my idea of splurging. All market value.

I think I said it but I was offered the chance to buy a bottle of Bourbon County Rare for $60 which is the market value and I didn’t think twice about saying no. Now, I’m beginning to think I should have bought it and sold it for 3X the value but you know what? I wouldn’t feel right doing that.

I’m not new to this. I’ve been a functioning alcoholic for more than 25 years now. Take that for what it’s worth, judge me if you want, but I’ve happened to like good beer (hell, almost any beer to be honest) since I was 20. My take...I’m not paying that kind of money for liquid gold. More for those that do. One less customer on EventBrite or whatever it’s called.

 

I would love to say I don't care too, but I have to admit I do a bit. Thing is even at MP & without eventbrite hoops to jump through I still wouldn't buy the beers in question in this thread. But just conceptually I really dislike it. Of course it's naive to think beer would be different than anything else (e.g. tickets to @ColdOne 's point), but goddammit if people just had a bit more self control then it would avoid opportunists and cash-splashers getting in the mix.

 

Oh, I don’t like it either. Even if I had the disposable income (which, let’s face it, I spend any I have on beer at this point anyway) I still wouldn’t buy it.

This kind of behavior just enforces the sustaining and thriving cycle of craft breweries, their behaviors and the behaviors of their customers. They’ll keep charging an unGodly amount of money for a damned half liter of beer (basically a glorified pint) and people will be at their tablets and phones at 8:59 to try to buy it. If I’m Equilibrium, if I’m Other Half, if I’m Kane...I keep doing it. Why not? It’s obviously selling.

I don’t like it and it sucks. But just because some kid has a nice job and no family to take care of and a lot of disposable income at their disposal, our soapboxes aren’t gonna mean much to them. I keep thinking this secondary market shit will just dissolve at some point but it isn’t and unfortunately all the ranting we do ain’t gonna change anything until people with money divert their spending habits to another hobby or their disposable disappears.

Unfortunately for me, my disposable income years went toward Guinness, German beer and shots of Tullamore Dew. There weren’t $150 16.9oz bottles in existence at the time.

 

The breweries' hyping/pricing/method I have less of an issue with, especially like in HF's case where (I believe) in some instances the $ has gone to a good cause. My issue is (mostly) with the secondary shenanigans, and this idea that cos some douche spent $150 on a sugarstout via MBC, that it's somehow "worth" that cos econ 101 brosef.

 

This is exactly why I don’t fuck with any of this. I just have a laugh at it. That’s all I can do.

 

I get your point, it's a lot of money, but many average people spend crazy amounts of money on pretty basic stuff. We don't bat an eye if someone upgrades from house wine and spends $100 on a bottle at a restaurant (ahhh, those were the days). A couple hours at a spa with a massage costs multiple hundreds of dollars in NYC. People spend $1500 on phones when there are plenty good quality ones for a couple hundred. Fancy outfits that people wear a couple times in their lives are super high in price...hell, I had to rent a basic tux while being a groomsman at Men's Wearhouse that ran me $250.

No judgment on any of that, but to me, if I could have a beer I truly enjoy and maybe even share it with a few people I love over an hour or so, I'd rather spend it there.

 

Just to be clear I don’t have a major issue with any of the above (forcing self not to have a hypocritical rant about Apple as he types response from iPhone), because in all these cases you’re paying for the service/product directly (though restaurant wine mark ups are also a standalone problem). Whatever my thoughts may be it’s a sort of separate issue. Same goes for EQ/OH charging whatever they want for their beers - so be it. For me it’s the secondary market aspect and this false sense of “value” purely because someone with the means and/or lack of self control is willing to pay that much. Cos it then bleeds into other peoples thinking/trading scene etc, on top of the fact that i think it’s wrong to begin with.

 

Secondary market will exist as long as there is a secondary market. There’s nothing anyone can do about it until it blows over or the secondary market dries up.

It’s more of a “don’t hate the playa, hate the game” kinda thing. Until people stop buying bottles at 2X or 3X the brewery’s price, Other people won’t stop hitting submit at 9am and then selling them at a profit. And, I don’t blame them. I just don’t have the stomach or conscience to do it myself.

 

Good point on the secondary game. While there is no shortage of craft beer these days, there are only so many BBT 4s out there or whatever specific beer that creates the latest craze, so demand tends to accumulate. Do I really need to try North Park's Triple Vanilla BA stout after I've had Weldwerks'? Yeah, probably not. There's only so many ways to make a beer (though they do keep finding ways to innovate and push the limits, but still...how many truly unique beers are there?).

If you're in a major metro area, you can find enough of whatever you crave: Haze, BA stout, sours...and many, many of those cities have great quality. With Evil Twin, Finback, Other Half, Equilibrium, and Kane in driving distance for me, what am I truly being deprived from? These are world class breweries with tons of variety that covers the spectrum, and if I want something good there's really nothing I can't get from them. Yet, when some crazy shit pops up on IG from from Horus or Toppling Goliath, all the sudden I get all lustful for it.

I don't know if I have a grand point, but it's interesting how the market could be absolutely flooded with quality craft beer, even high quality BA stouts, but yet there's still a shortage where demand can't be met because of tiny differences, like who brews it. I've had a hundred Hazy IPAs this year and 95 of them were the same freaking beer. Only a few truly stood out, but it creates an obsession with finding that rare diamond that stands out. That's what drives the black market: individual branding, perceived uniqueness, and the chance that perhaps you'll strike it big and get the beer of the year. Otherwise people in metro areas would just buy whatever was around them and it might be a slightly expensive hobby, but no one would be shelling out Benjamins.

 

I'm okay with paying $1000 for my Galaxy phone because smart phones these days are essentially computers.

My wife is okay with paying $200 for a 90 minute massage because you're paying for someone's time and skill.

I'm okay with paying $700 for dinner for 2 at Le Bernardin for an incredible meal because I sure as shit can't cook like that.

I'm not okay with paying a $120 markup on a bottle of beer because some guy was faster at clicking his phone than I was.

When you have X people and Y items and X >>>>>>>>>>>>>Y, there will always be a secondary market. I've dealt with collectibles in the past, and have no problems with secondary markets. As others have said in this thread though, beer is a luxury consumable that has plenty of substitute goods available. If you whiff on EQ BA stout sold on Eventbrite #25, you can be sure that #26 will be available in the near future.

It's human nature to want rare things that other people don't have. Behind that IG post is someone with a marketing degree to make people want their products along with their expensive camera to make it look nice so you "all of a sudden get lustful for it".

 

I think that's you though. 700 bucks for a few hours to me is too hard to stomach when I can get an exceptional meal for $40 at a hole in the wall down the street. The difference in what I experience between the two is negligible (this is for me, personally...I'm not generalizing for others). Atmosphere and all the rest of the bells and whistles don't add value for me. But it's OK if others find it worth the cash.

We overpay for the things that we personally find valuable and we'll justify it after the fact, but scoff at when other people overpay things that we don't find as valuable...so we wouldn't pay that quantity for it.

I had the Weller 12 BCBS last night and sipped on it for two hours and it was unreal. Just speaking for myself, the difference between that and my experience with OH's Bubble Wrap (non-adjunct) that I paid retail for was a football field in distance. So if you'll overpay by $660 to be waited on and served an elegant meal, why is it so offensive if I overpay for a BCBS by $65? Cause I sure as shit can't brew like that.

 

Again want to make sure we're being as apples to apples to the extent possible. This whole sideshow started because you questioned the LOL'ing at $100+ secondary prices for these stouts. I too - like @Xerlic - am happy to pay $700 for an incredible meal as a special occasion treat. But to your point - horses for courses and someone else may eat a McDonalds (paging @algebeeric_topology ) and choose to drop the $ on whatever - whisky, rare model cars, who knows it's all good. But to make it comparable - let's say Eric Ripert puts on some sort of special one-off ticketed meal for $1000 a seat. While we may try and get a spot, if we miss out neither @Xerlic or I are going to be paying $2500 to some reseller fuckbag just because we really really want to try the food.

 

That's totally cool. There's no right or wrong here. I was just trying to make a point regarding buying something at the producer level where the costs are (IMO) more justified versus the reseller market.

FWIW, I'm all about hole in the wall places over Michelin star restaurants on most days of the week.

I'm not offended by the secondary market lol. You do you as does everyone. Everyone works for their money, and they can pay what they see fit. I do think that paying $65 for a bottle that retails for ~$30-40 is way less egregious than buying a $30 bottle for $150.

Edit: I misread your post and see now that you overpaid by $65 so I'm guessing you paid somewhere around $100 for anniversary BCBS. Again, not offended by that at all. I'm glad you feel like you got your money's worth since I actually have a bottle in my basement.

 

You once complemented me on my use of a metaphor in relation to the craft beer world, now I return the favor. That’s a perfect metaphor for this situation.

 

Yeah, I didn't mean to direct that at you specifically about the offense. I just see a lot of posts that say something like, "It doesn't bother me if people wanna overpay for beer, but," and then they talk about how it bothers them for the rest of the post. Replied on your post since the meal comparison was where I wanted to go.

And yup, paid $90 for it. No idea what it retails for, but I guessed $25. If you like a Weller barrel, you'll love this one. Nose is tons of barrel but drinking is super smooth, complex, and a joy. Cheers!

 

Go right ahead and spend $150 on 16.9oz of beer. I could care less. I don’t deal with the secondary market.

Hey man, you asked the original question. I just gave you my answer.

 

Free 4pk of nugs with any mobile order at my local McDs (til the end of the year). With that said, I've enjoyed plenty of overpriced meals across the city. Perhaps my willingness to partake in both ends of the spectrum is proof that I have no taste.

I went through a phase where I was really into barrel aged english barleywines. Arctic Devil was all over nyc and consistently my favorite in terms of availability and price, with Central Waters BB Barleywine getting honorable mention. As I was doing all of that, Hill Farmstead rereleased Aaron and it was a bucket list beer of mine. I saw one on MBC for $150, thought about it over night, and pulled the trigger the next day. I didn't blow me away, but I was really happy to have that beer. I might also have paid $8-12 per for a few cans when Bright w/ Galaxy was released for the first time. I get excited about some of these beers and will indulge myself if it's something I'm really excited for.

I missed on yesterday's double barrel release as I too was stuck in queue for 30 seconds after trying to time my browser refresh at the right time and then it was gone /shrug. I've won some, I've lost some, it all washes out.

 

So for you at least, the contempt is toward the profit of people who are basically scalping beer but had no input into the production? I get that. And I get that it's frustrating that in order to enjoy that product you'd have to overpay because other people will. So it's easy to become irritated by those buying and driving up the market.

The alternative is that people only buy the beer they are going to drink, which would be great. But I also don't see any road to a stable equilibrium there. The game theory just doesn't provide a path (that I can see). So it's inevitable that we get sales to the highest bidder, which exceeds some people's threshold.

Anyway, like you said, like you said, I started this because people were LOL'g at people paying top dollar for and EQ DB stout. I was unclear why it was absurd, but I guess while I can sympathize with your view, I'm of another opinion. Cheers.