Side Project / Shared (2023)

This conversation has been entertaining, but one thing that really gets to me is the whole "economic climate" perspective on it. What economic climate, exactly? Everywhere I go, from the gas station to the grocery store to vacation destinations, people are spending out the ass. There is no, absolutely no, tightening of the belt happening in this nation. I see no one struggling--family, friends, acquaintances, bartenders, servers--no one. And I've asked.

The reason prices are high is not just because of greed (and blaming it on post-pandemic is no longer viable), but because people will pay them.

Side Project being case in point.

 

People are struggling. Maybe not in your social circles but believe me, there is a large portion of the population surviving paycheck to paycheck or in massive debt who will live in the same small apartment for the rest of their lives. Then you have people like us spending more on a single bar tab than these people spend on a month’s worth of groceries.

 

The struggle is real. I made LC this year and can’t purchase like I would have in the past. Groceries/Gas getting the best of me, along with family medical bills. Lucky for my friends who are a bit better off that I can help get them stuff at cost and usually share with me as thanks.

The median wealth of black Americans has been declining for awhile and by 2053 if trends continue it will be $0. A statistic that is hard to fathom/comprehend. How could a whole set of people have the median wealth be $0?

 

My day to day social circle is south Akron, Ohio blue collar and lower. I've had 5 meth houses blow up in my neighborhood. There hasn't been a new house built here in 50 years. No one is worse off now than they were five years ago. Yes, eggs and gas are more expensive. But no, no one is hurting for work, and no one is consuming "less" of anything. Considering most of us all received stimulus throughout the pandemic, and then had nothing to spend that on for three years, that kick-started the inflation. But then people kept spending. Why? Because they're all employed. Gainfully so. And pent up. The spending everywhere is nonstop. If people aren't spending they aren't working. Selfishly , honestly, I'd love to see shorter lines at gas stations and grocery stores, but they're longer than I've ever seen, all across the US. I remember when gas prices spiked in the late 2000s, stations actually DID have a noticeable dip in consumers. Not so today.

That's not to say that people don't deserve to be paid their full worth. This country has done very poorly rewarding the working class relative to the corporate elite post-80s. Doesn't change the fact that people, working class, normal people, really are absolutely not struggling like we're being told by some that they are.

Feel you on medical bills. That's a whole other problem that has hit home, but that is an age old problem here in the US, where we like to pretend like we have a superior system, when we absolutely do not.

 

Says there aren’t shorter lines at places where people purchase necessities….what a revalation.

 

Disingenuous.

Maybe you weren't around then, who knows, but I watched people--loved ones, myself, the general public--cut back during the great recession. No one was at the gas station for long stretches. Grocery stores were dead.

This is not that.

People aren't just buying "necessities." They're buying just as much as they ever have, and often splurging. Not just "rich" people either. I don't live around the well to do. Like, not even a little bit.

Or hell, maybe Akron is experiencing a Renaissance that we're all unaware of and we'll see a news report on CNN about how well off we are compared to you, causing a flood of gentrification that will make me move to Greenbow Alabama.

 

Now this is the conversation this thread was missing

 

So, on Untappd the 10-yr barleywine says 20% abv, but the cellar onsite menu says 17%. Wonder which is correct.

 

Said no one ever?

 

I don’t mean any offense by this statement, but you have to be incredibly naive to not think that large pockets of the population aren’t struggling to make ends meet and to think that no one is worse off now than they were five years ago considering the price of nearly everything has doubled since then.

 

Struggling to do what, exactly, buy a third pack of bacon instead of just two every week?

No one is struggling like they were a decade and a half ago. I think I laid out pretty well how I'm not basing my opinion on my own experience alone, but this country has been better off than any first world nation on planet earth post-pandemic. People are employed, and fighting for better quality of life. I'm not downplaying the fact that things cost more, but they do even more so across the rest of the world. For some reason Americans think we deserve cheaper gas than everyone else, but imagine paying what they do abroad. Most of us don't even have a clue. At least they largely don't have to worry about losing their house over an ER visit.

That doesn't mean we don't need to do something about the corporate greed that is currently plaguing our economy, but prices would also drop if people weren't consuming at voracious levels, to bring this back to SP, in a way. The price of eggs, which spiked due to a massive case of bird flu btw, wouldn't remain so high if people ACTUALLY couldn't afford them at that price. No one NEEDS eggs. People were subsisting off giant sacks of rice and beans in the late 2000s. Let's stop being so dramatic.

 

I would guess Untappd given that MJK was 20% ABV. I’ve certainly seen copy-paste errors before on the online menus.

 

This is probably one of the most naive statements I’ve ever heard. Just because someone doesn’t seem to be struggling or says they are not struggling doesn’t mean they are actually not struggling. People tend keep their finances a secret and usually try to make themselves look better off than they actually are. It is also a known fact that credit card debt is significantly up over the last year. A lot of these people that are not struggling are probably swimming in credit card debt.

 

Well that's one of the dumber posts I've ever read on this website. Congratulations.

 

Anyone try Origin and Brett Project last night?

I know The Origin has soured, but curious if it’s enjoyable and what flavors are present.

 

Dumbest post? Far from it.

 

Would love to hear the same feedback. I took two steps into the cellar around 5pm yesterday and headed straight back out. The invasion of people seeing how many empty bottles and tasting glasses they can cram onto a table for their instagram was a bit much for me.

 

I’m heading out for a business trip. I am flying. I had a choice to drive (albeit a much more miserable day), which would have taken me through STL. Given what I knew today would be like, I didn’t even given it a second thought. Fly and skip the nonsense. I would love to get a bottle of the BW, but I can’t imagine how much time it would take me, and I hate crowds.

 

I got here at 11:30; there’s probably about 200 people ahead of me in line for the garage release.

 

Just cut the line at around 12:45. No one will say anything, but they’ll fume about it on the internet later today.