Side Project / Shared (2021)

I completely disagree with flippers and would never flip any beer, especially SP. That said, I don't think they should worry a lot about what happens once it's out the door. Not worth the effort, and the white knights will do it for them anyway.

 

I’m genuinely curious how this guy gets his hands on the stuff he trades. Totally absurd.

 

This is 2nd or maybe 3rd hand information, but someone told me his family owns a chain of liquor stores.

 

has to own a bar/liquor store or be a distributor himself. Only way to explain that insane (and seemingly endless) supply that he has to trade

 

I have never traded away a bottle of beer I haven’t opened or know I have access to try; but ... who cares? It’s beer. People have some obligation to drink it? I don’t get the hysteria around getting something rare and selling or trading it. There’s a local liquor store guy who every time he sells rare whiskey to people, he twists open the top after they pay. This feels like the same thing. Why? Who gives a shit ...

 

that’s honestly brilliant, and totally how I wish I could buy rare allocated whisky at msrp or a small markup: after buying, open & have a dram with the store owner. That way, immediately devalue the whisky (to an extent), but for drinkers, who cares

 

Totally. I get it. But like if you buy something it’s like yours, I think. Like you can do what you want with it and stuff???? I don’t know - call me crazy.

 

Nah man, you pay to hold on to the bottle, but you can’t actually do what you want with it. Only what the white knights approve of

 

Buying internationally distributed whiskey over some off-highway liquor store counter, even if it is rare, is a helluva lot different than beer that comes directly from the brewery via a tiny members only club that was initially invite only.

Who gives a shit? The brewer and owner. Some distilleries, and even vintners, actually go to similar lengths to prevent the same kind of shit lordery in their own way--this isn't anything new.

If you're given privileged access to a limited, first time ever 1pp release, it's fair of the owner to expect that you're actually going to care to drink it or share it with friends instead of make a king's ransom off of it, considering the nature of the club. Sure, if they grow big enough that it gets to a point where it's totally out of their hands, and if enough LC members end up pulling this kind of shit, then the romantic notion of the club goes out the window, and you might just see everything go to public release. And hey, that's all well and good with me. The sooner that happens, the sooner the hype dies off.

 

Is this a posted policy or does he just open your property after you purchase it? That doesn’t seem right... I get the dislike of secondary but once you buy it, it’s yours and that guy has no right to open it. If you ask about a bottle and he says “sure it’s $80 but I open it before it leaves my store” then whatever, that’s on the buyer to decide

 

If I buy tickets to a concert and that concert requires you to show ID that matches the name on the ticket to get in and I bought the ticket for the sole purpose of scalping it, then I guess I can't 'do what I want with it' but I knew that going into the purchase. The same should (but doesn't) apply to beer right now because it has been the wild west for a decade now and no one actually is enforcing all these illegal sales. The argument can go on and on - some people see an opportunity and they take advantage of it as much as they possibly can and think the people who hold/enjoy the beer are dumb for not 'taking advantage' of the opportunity. The rest of us still like to hold onto the notion that this community of ours still appreciates one another and enjoys popping bottles without regard to what they could sell the liquid for on the secondary market. These people aren't 'white knights', they are people who enjoy drinking and sharing beer.

 

I am guessing a white knight is someone who is against selling beer? Most of us in LC know not only Cory or Karen, but the bartenders and brewers. It's not a membership like Costco you pay to load up on beer. It's a family and friends membership (actual name of the club) for people to share their achievements. So for those of who us who are actually family or friends it is disappointing to see people flip these beers for max profits. Meanwhile this forum goes crazy when Cory raises his prices by $10 or packages a stout to pay his staff a fair wage.

 

First off, keep in mind that it is illegal to resell alcohol without a license.

Secondly, Cory has said you can trade his beers all you want. He is against secondary markets because the inflated expectations that come with the secondary price. He doesn't want someone who paid upwards of $1000 to expect his beers to taste like it.

 

I assume this is replying to my comment, I did say I'm completely against selling beer and agree with everything you said. I drink my LC beers and know most of the people at SP.

The white knight comment is about the crusaders that try and police things. Good for them if they want to spend time doing so.

 

Has secondary for any items ever been stopped?

 

In terms of secondary sales? Adam at Floodland is pretty explicit that trading/charity raffles are okay but any sort of selling (or trading for non-beer items) will get you banned. Not sure if he's had to enforce it, but given the small size of the releases/no proxies for public sales imagine he can if he wants

Then again if some crappy person ignores that and tries to get away with it, not sure if keeping tabs on marketplaces/MBC/etc. is a focus for Adam

 

This x1000. Mind you, it’s not everyone here, but I’ve seen this forum go baths!t crazy when complaining about bundled sets for BA stouts/barleywines, rather than applauding Cory for doing what he needed to do during very difficult times in order to not only keep his business afloat but also to ensure that none of his staff lost their jobs. There’s an entire b****fest thread on BA complaining about which breweries people aren’t supporting because of increased costs, yet why shouldn’t a brewery, like any other business, increase their prices even a little if the demand is high enough. Simple Economics 101. It’s pretty fair to say SP has managed to successfully thread the needle of not being obnoxiously overpriced (eg TG) yet also not currently closed/hiatus (eg HF) in part likely due to a failure of adapting to the times. This, yet still managing to keep quality at an all time high, expanding their brand, AND still keeping the majority of their local and most loyal customers happy with an exclusive membership? Sounds to me like a win.

 

At the risk of playing devil's advocate a bit, is there any contradiction for those who support SP's package/pricing model and also denounce anyone who resells a high-demand beer for large profit? I don't want to start anything major, but I'm genuinely curious to hear other takes on this.

I'm certainly in the camp of people who understand SP taking necessary steps to stay open, maintain a profit, or achieve whatever they view as a success during the pandemic. That's every business' prerogative.

In that same vein, I also don't think I fault someone who finds themselves being offered a large sum for a bottle of beer when individuals are also trying to do whatever is necessary to make it through the same difficult times. I might not do that personally, and I don't have the SP history, relationships, or LC membership riding on any of it, but if parting with a bottle of MJK can provide for other aspects of my life, that's not a hard call to make.

 

I'm sure others feel differently, but I would welcome a bundle from SP that's just white label saisons. I've found that they're not super easy to trade for (although I do have some on the way) and I think the opportunity to purchase a bundle of them would be awesome. Granted, some times you could make your own bundle from the shop, but that varies. I hope to see more of them pop up in the future, and info on the SP Instagram seems to indicate that there will be.

 

I honestly like the bundles. It has gotten me to appreciate saisons more. Grisette has become one of my favorite beers they make.