Overwhelmed by hype

I for one believe and respect the hype of certain breweries. A small brewery in Torrance doesn't become "hyped" because people want it to be it's because the beers is extremely good, very hoppy, thick juicy, with zero hop burn. The first time I had a monkish I quickly realized why they sale for $10 a 4 pk. It's simply because they are just that good and well worth. The same goes for the best of the best BA stouts. I have had some great beers likes of BBT, Maman, Bake, KBBS, Monster Tones and several others and they were just not good they where amazing and well deserved of their "hype". The balance flavor is simply better and not just a little better significantly better. For those who disagree they either are upset that the best beers are in the highest demand or their pallet simply isn't refined enough to appreciate the subtle differences and balance it takes to make an amazing beer.

Now if you want a box of Monkish just let me know and I'll be glad to send a box your way.

 

Yep! About 2.5 hours away. Love going to Jester King, Roughhouse, Vista, Acopon. A few more opened recently that I am looking forward to visiting. Also in rural central Texas is BS Brewing, Wild Bunch and Huff. Wild Bunch has a “wild” IPA that is excellent- bottle conditioned. Fly into Austin and Enjoy!

 

I remember the day I sipped an Industrial Arts Wrench that I bought super fresh, for 16.99, with no wait or hassle at my local store, and my self delusion stopped. I was a line guy who thought that I needed to wait hours and pay 5.00 more for a four-pak of world class IPA at Equilibrium or Other Half. What I was was a fool.

You are right, I am upset, but not that others are drinking better beer that I'm jealous of. I'm upset for being an idiot about this for as long as I was. Having waited with them in line I know for a certainty that my palate not only is as refined as theirs, but even more refined, and I even spell the word correctly

 

The solution is simple: drink more, read less.

 

When I really got into craft beer in 2013, I went trading crazy and it was really fun. Then over time the excitement wore off, but even more so, the majority of beers I once traded for were now available in Southern. California. Every now and then I like to scratch the trade itch, and even on some occasions some bad ass BA’s just ship me stuff because they are awesome (I try and return the favor if I can). But yeah, I think a lot of places in the US are so saturated with good stuff, it’s basically pointless to try and get a beer maybe rated one point higher than a local or whatever.

Cheers!

 

Like others have said, especially living in Michigan, you likely have access to stuff that is solidly in the same league with any of the hypey stuff.

That said, you might consider that the psychological/emotional satisfaction of obtaining some "rare" or "highly esteemed" beer and either loving it or realizing that it was not worth the effort. There's the straight neurological high of obtaining something of perceived value (maximized if you use social media and can show the world that you obtained it!), there's the organoleptic (cheers to BA for teaching me this word!) joys that result from drinking what are clearly delicious beers, and there's the potential satisfaction of realizing that the hype is just that and the psychological ease of never having this question ****ling around in the back of your brain.

So personally, I don't find value in pursuing these rare, elite, mythical brews. But you might get a lot of benefits from pursuing them, especially if its something that's bothering you. Might as well find out, if you can afford it

 

Depending on the brewery, the line shares are incredible. If I had it to do over again I think I would do the shares and leave without buying the beer.

 

Just wondering which beers are are you alluring about?

 

I went through a phase years ago when I was very focused on finding hyped Belgian beers. I probably hit every obscure bottle shop in Belgium just looking for rarities. So I completely understand that fear of missing out. Of course, in my "defense", there are no local examples of Belgian-style beers (world class or otherwise) being produced in Germany...

After a bit of this, I came to the same conclusion as many others: mostly not worth the effort (and definitely not worth the money!). Ex. Westvleteren is great, but Saint Bernardus is just as good (and much easier to get).

Now I am more of an "opportunistic" hype hunter. If it is not too much extra effort, I'll go after a hyped beer. But it is more about the enjoyment of the hunt and being a "ticker" than really expecting the beer to justify the effort. Having said all of that, trying these beers really helped me appreciate the quality of the more easily accessible beers.

 

It’s at the point I’d rather drink Bud and PBR and I’ve pretty much fallen out of beer in general

 

I think you're correct to an extent. High end BA stouts are difficult to replicate. They can be a little more 'worthy' of their price point / value, but again, that's subjective. Trading out hundreds of dollars worth of beer to try BBT or Maman may dilute the experience, and not make it worth the 'hype' to acquire. As far as Monkish, there are just so many quality NE IPA breweries these days that the hype isn't always worth it. @SFACRKnight made a case for Weldwerks to be in the Top 250 list in another thread, and has a point. Then Narrow Gauge and BKS are both offering up fantastic NE IPAs, and yet none of those three get the trade value of Monkish / Treehouse.

I don't think it's necessarily a problem either. I can acquire great NE IPAs without digging around for a trade (even if I do want to try Monkish), but it does make me curious why some breweries get the hype (and thus value) and others don't. In those cases, I haven't always found the hype to be worth the effort.

P.S. Sounds like we should swap some Monkish for Narrow Gauge/BKS.

I don't really use social media much anymore, but I remember excitedly sharing photos of our King Jjjuliusss and King OJ Run blind side-by-side. I got a response from someone who isn't even into beer asking about King Jjjuliusss and if I had anymore because they wanted to try it as they'd heard great things. Just thought it was funny. That beer has developed a reputation even outside of the beer world, meanwhile it's equivalent sat unnoticed in the same Instagram story.

 

Hype is just that. There are very few breweries that I have chased down that are worth it. Like @Harrison8 alluded to, I made a case for weldwerks to be in the top 250. Why? I have had beers from them that are better than their hyped equivalent, most notably KBBS. Weldwerks put out a barrel aged Coffee maple achromatic that blew KBBS away side by side. The hype locally for that weldwerks brew was huge, and lines at GABF were 5 minutes long at WW while TG had no line at all. Regional bias? Maybe.
As for hype, the only brewery that ever lived up to the hype for me was HF. Juicy was the shit. Everything else left me wanting.

 

Never understood why people would wait in line overnight to get a bottle of whatever. But in some parts, that happens or used to. Guess they got nothing better to do.

 

Well a few things. I’ve worked second jobs in liquor stores as a beer guy and I’m burnt out due to a lot of people’s attitudes in the beer business. Not as in rude but in general I personally don’t like where it’s at right now. Also my health and family. Budget also. I still love great beer but sometimes it feels like a hassle to me not finding styles I like because everything is hazy and there’s a certain crowd that seems elitist which to me isn’t what beer was ever about.

 

I'm surprised it took only two years for you to get to this point. That seems...quick. It took me several but I would say that I had the benefit of being near a few of those breweries and making regular trips out (HF, Trillium, to a lesser extent Tree House). I don't really trade for stuff. When I travel, I'd visit breweries, but I never felt like I needed to trade for anything when I had good stuff in my then backyard. I'd say a big part of my personal pin in the hype balloon was my changing tastes. I think that this was also accelerated by the fact that my favorite local brewery at the time (Trillium) experienced some quality variability (this is kind) that I did not feel justified the premium prices they charge.

Michigan has some great breweries - I went to college there - I assure you that you're not really missing out on the IPA side if you just drink your local IPAs. Trade or secondary, you're paying more for a label than you are the liquid with some of these hype breweries.

Just commenting on the first three, only Tree House of these is, to me, a unique commodity. Their house yeast character is not something that's been duplicated by many. A lot of folks are doing stuff similar to Tired Hands and Trillium. I could take it or leave it. Just my 2 cents in terms of wading through some of the hype.

 

I think your right, most BA Stouts are very similar, juicy beers are juicy beers. I liked most TH beers like Very Green, the others are all very good, very similar. Trillium is hit or miss.

Is be ok with fresh Stone IPA , and

I haven’t had a lot of TreeHouse, but what I’ve had has been very good, some better than others though. I’d say I can get about the same quality of beers here, if not exact close enough. For my palate the low bitter juice bombs are remarkably similar. Now WC style IPAs are a bit different, there’s a few here I like most are mundane imo. Imo again, but it’s a bit harder to trick the palate with these beers.