2022 Beer Memberships: Adding, Keeping, and Dropping

Kept:

• Bruery HS
• Alesmith Order of the Anvil

Added:

• Firestone Brewmaster Collective

Dropped

• Modern Time League

WHY?

• Contrary to many I know. I still enjoy the beer from The Bruery and find it to be one of the best run beer clubs I've been involved in. Easy ordering, extended storage, easy pickup.
• Almost dropped Alesmith this year, They transitioned to a new app this year which made shipping at the beginning of the year nightmare, but they have since cleaned it up. The people I share with seem to enjoy the bottles almost as much as me.
• I have nothing bad to say about Modern Times. Its a good club and they make good beer.. But I have had my fill of pastry stouts. I simply don't need the quantity I get from the club. Time for me to move on and make room for someone else.
• Firestone Propagator is hyper local for me. I might actually be able to make good use of the in house discounts, verses other clubs I've been involved in. So I thought I would give it a try for a year and see. Especially since they dropped their "included shipping" requirement that I do not need.
  
  

 

Keeping:
Modern Times Theory
Lost Cause Coveters (mead, for those curious)
SARA Cellar (although renewals aren't for a few more months I imagine)

Added:
None, bought a house, i'm poor

Dropped:
Lost Abbey

 

Keeping:
Highland Park Brewery Friends (huge value and their stouts generally aren't too sweet or too high in ABV)

Added:
None (just didn't feel like it)

Dropped:
Modern Times
Horus (shared - I might have listed them last time; their membership runs mid-year to mid-year, iirc)

 

Keeping:
Mad Fritz (yeah, nobody is heard of them, but they are different, make great beer, and gives me an excuse to spend a day in Napa Valley every quarter)

Adding (may be):
Clandestine Brewing (local who does styles I like - not just an IPA or BA Stout)

Dropping:

Alpha Hops (I am a huge SN fan boy and have been a member for the first six seasons, but the last couple of years have been beers that are just misses for me. BA Peanut Butter & Jelly Blonde. No thanks.)

 

Keeping:
Modern Times Theory - I haven't really been thrilled with the past 18+ months but I'm hopeful they'll get back on track in 2022.
HPB Bottle Friends (split) - No brainer to stay in. The beers are all enjoyable, reasonably priced, and there's zero hassle.

Unsure:
Lost Abbey Sinners & Saints (split) - Probably stay, as I enjoy most of the beers, but the communication as of late has been bad even by Lost Abbey's standards. I also wish they'd stop dicking around with adjunct stouts and just release a ton of Angel's Share.

Added:
Private Press - Absolutely stoked to get in, Brad is delivering exactly what I want out of BA stouts, barleywines, and blends.

 

Keep:
Modern Times Theory
Honeypot OOTH (meads)
Private Press
Barclay Brewing - Not much of membership yet since the beers are still BA’ing, but looking forward to what comes out.

Drop:
Horus - Technically someone took over my membership, but I don’t think he’s renewing and I surely won’t.

Add:
None

 

Keeping:
HPB - seriously best deal out there, beer tastes like beer. Plus discounts also work on deliveries. (which include member orders)
SARA Cellar

Drop:
De Garde - got too much sours, and I don't share nearly as much as I do

Add:
Nothing as of yet, maybe I'll finally whittle down "cellar". SARA Cellar buddy is trying to get into private press so maybe that? Idk...

 

Fixed that for you...

You doing housewarming share? I'll bring the guac.

 

Ha. I was already vetoed when I told the better half I wanted to turn the spare room into a walkin beer fridge. Even showed her all the gear I would need to get and how little energy it would use due to us now having solar. She wasn't buying it.

But yeah, a share will happen eventually when the house doesn't look like minecraft with all the boxes everywhere and we get a bit more settled in.

 

Right on. I've enjoyed all the Mad Fritz beers I've had. Thought about becoming a member, but too lazy to head out there, so just try to pick up a few bottles whenever I do go.

 

Keep:
- Cellador
- Highland Park
- Modern Times League
- Lost Abbey
- SARA

Add:
- Nothing (I have way too much fucken beer)

Drop:
- possibly Horus (I have a hard time drinking the pastry nonsense solo, and lord knows I have plenty of it on-hand already)

 

None to keep or drop,but I added de Garde Keepers this year. Their grape blends and gueuze-adjacent blends the past couple of years have been spectacular. With Cantillon basically unobtainable, these beers scratch that itch

 

Ready to renew for my 8th year in SARA’s Cellar. It’s the only beer club I want to be in anymore

 

I'd love to be in SARA and if Homage were to add one I'd be very down.

I currently am on Cellador's Syndicate. But I am considering downgrading since I am not fond of their new formatting: 500mls and cans. I have found their canned product to be too inconsistent this year, and prefer 750s. Also, not fond of all these beers with gimmicks and different adjuncts.

 

How was ooth this year?

I dropped them last year since the public bottles were better than the member bottles. Hopefully they changed.

 

Adding: Modern Times League

Dropping: Horus Convocation

Keeping: None I guess since the Convocation was the only membership I was in before the League

 

Keeping: Casey Extended Family, Cigar City Catador
Those cover the bases I'm interested in.

Been a Casey EF member for a long time and it's only gotten better with time. It's a slight hassle getting bottles from Glenwood Springs, but lots of people are coming and going from that area and they loosened proxy requirements. The bottles from the last 2 years have been some of his best, and I even managed to get them to make a jalapeno version of East Bank. Can't beat that.

My wife jumped on the Catador membership when they first started allowing pick-ups in Boulder (rather than Tampa). CC's big BA beers hit the right notes for me and aren't too sweet or too artificial tasting. The recent move to smaller bottles is welcome, too.

 

It’s fine, not amazing, but not horrible. I split it this year as I like having local access to good meads and ciders if I want. Members still get guaranteed access to everything they make, which IIRC was the same as last year. They could easily sell all their bottles out to members, but they’re small and need to try and drive people to their taproom for sales, so they set aside a certain amount for the public, which has pissed some people off. I also could be wrong, but I feel like there were a lot more releases last year than this year due to issues this year getting materials (bottles, honey, etc.). Had I not split it, I probably would not have renewed, but it’s worth it at the split price.

 

Adding: None

Keeping: Deschutes Reserve Club

Dropping: Fort George Lovell Auto Club (probably, I have until January to decide)

Dropping Fort George has nothing to do with the brewery, the beers, or the club itself. Fort George remains one of my favorite breweries, but I just can't drink the BA bottles as much as I used to. For reference, 16 of the 18 promised bottles have been released and 11 have been big BA beers - including all 6 2021 Matryoshka variants - along with 3 wild ales and two IPAs. Good value.