2023 Beer Memberships: Adding, Keeping, and Dropping

Ended up not renewing American Solera and Perennial over the past few months but will absolutely keep WaxWings moving forward. Would jump at the opportunity to get into LC at Side Project if given the option but not holding my breath on that one.

Cheers!

 

Not so much for me.

I'm not sure all the driving is worth it for pastry stouts, some of which are not very balanced and lacking in barrel character. Missing out on Minutaie (I was out of town for the fest, lost the lottery) stung a bit as well; having easy access to the non-sweetened stuff was my best reasoning to stay on...

 

Minutiae wasn’t guaranteed to members?

 

Minutaie DAY was guaranteed...but I was out of town. Just the bottle = lottery only.

 

Bizarre.

 

Sounds like there will be one but 1.) he is going to have to shrink the membership from what it is currently. 2.) It would be pay as you go for each individual release vs one big set. 3.) It will all be shipped direct through Half-Time Beverage instead of a release event.

Shipping direct sounds nice and more convenient.

The shitty part is that current members don't necessarily get first shot at the membership. He said he is going to produce half as much beer as he did before so it would follow that membership also will be cut roughly in half. Since there is no fair way to do this, I think he is kicking everyone out and starting over with fresh signups

It also sounds like anyone who was reselling the DoT sets were put on a "list" to be removed from consideration.

I will most likely drop, because the market is so crowded with good stouts and hazies that I don't need more.

I may also end up dropping Afterthought, not because of the beer (which is fantastic) but because I have like 6 cases of Afterthought bottles in my basement and it just keeps growing. Think I would rather just make the occasional visit to the taproom.

 

Keeping :
Floodland Oakworks
Perennial SdC
Rev season pass (I split this one with a friend)

Adding / dropping : none

Of all the membership models, Rev is definitely the best in that you know exactly how much you are getting and when. Plus the quality of the deep woods beers keeps getting better every year, and there are really no stinkers at all.

Floodland guarantees two each of 5 member beers , and usually 3-4 other offerings every 2 months, which can be bought individually. Even though the Chicago brewing scene is amazing , I haven’t found anything quite at that level for saisons locally (maybe Keeping Together and gin BA stuff from Afterthought have been close), so I don’t see myself dropping this one.

Perennial tends to be more of a gamble , but I have been happy enough with the non adjunct BA stouts / barleywines and saisons that I can tolerate the 2-3 heavily pastry offerings.

 

Good. Fuck those people. Wish every membership did this. Wish there was a greater effort put in by some memberships to check in on this and actively remove people.

 

Actual post that makes me look like I hate money. This also includes mead so I must hate money and like sugar.

Keeping:

Side Project (presumably) - duh

2nd Shift - The beer quality keeps going up and this is the cheapest membership I’m in

Xul Beer Co - IYKYK

Zymarium - this is finally starting up

Foxes Den - see above


Dropping/Dropped:

Main & Mill - lol

Boneflower - on the fence about this. The membership is two years and it’s not like it’s an outrageous price once you factor in the member party, and the mead is really good. But it’s ridiculous that a meadery that doesn’t even have a taproom to sustain can barely release 6 meads a year.

Added:

Bluewood Brewing - because it’s important to support friends

 

Keeping:

3 Sheeps (no brainer; such an awesome and hassle free membership)
Hex Meadery

Dropping:

Lost Abbey (their choice not mine, no info yet for 2023 so I'm out)
Speciation (love their stuff but club feels like an afterthought now for them)

Adding:

None (at the moment unless I get off the P3 wait list)

 

Keeping:
Rev Season Pass (as long as it’s offered)

Dropping:
8th State. Pricing has just gotten out of control.

Adding:
None. I now consider myself in a monogamous relationship with Rev.

 

You *****.

 

keeping: SP LC

dropping: no others to drop (see below)

adding: none - can’t afford another membership after SP lol

 

Keeping: Side Project and Perennial

Dropping: Modern Times. Easy decision after the shitshow from this past year

Adding: None unless Floodland or Phase 3 come calling

 

Keeping:
SP/La Coterie - I have my issues but it’s still better run than other memberships

Dimensional Loyalty - Just got in to it, but honestly their stouts are as good and normally better than my other memberships

Dropping:
Barclay DoT - Beer was just ok to me, and while it wasn’t bad and pricing was fine, just not a needle mover and I don’t need more beer.

Boiler - Was excited to get into this, but between the cost of the membership, the cost of the beers, the fact that most of the beers were available to lite members (who paid half the price) and that their biggest beers now hit Tavour, and the decline in quality, it’s hard to justify keeping it. Some of the beers were awesome, but there are a lot of misses thrown in as well.

 

Didn’t know bluewood had a membership, and glad to hear 2nd shift is getting better. Their stout quality fell off hard in my opinion when they moved to the city and it took them a long time to get close to what it was.

 

Keeping:

Revolution Season Pass
Barclay

Dropping:

Phase Three (too pastry and a hike of a drive from the city)
Afterthought (amazing beer but not enough storage)
8th State (too pastry and extremely overpriced)

On the fence with Modern Times as I love their beer but it's been a shit show.