5 biggest whale let downs

Never had a whale letdown. Three reasons why:
1. Narrow definition of "whale". Some people throw the term around for stuff that is relatively common. If you're drinking whales (or "whalez" if you prefer) every week or every month because you define it loosely, then yeah you are clearly gonna have some letdowns. Personally I only consider beers that are extremely hard to come by (years between purchases, maybe even once-in-lifetime) to be whales. [Note: I am definitely not saying they are better just because they are rare. I am just saying that rarity is implied when I and many other people use the word "whale". I understand for some people, whale just means they find it to be really good for them.]
2. Good research. If you read up enough on what kind of beer you are getting yourself into, and make sure you are familiar enough with the style and as many variations as you can find beforehand, then you won't be disappointed when you catch a variation you haven't yet had, and you won't get trapped having read only the most prominent characteristics among reviews.
3. Realistic perspective. Pleasure of the palate is not boundless. Once you approach your personal ideal, all the beers near that area are really close to each other in terms of your perspective of their quality. If you've had some beers that you already find mind-blowing/perfect, but you've never had a whale... how good can a whale really be? It's not going to blow those ones out of the water. It might be slightly better.... maybe.... but don't expect it to be the best beer experience of your life. Just be realistic about the fact that in the end it is roughly the same ingredients as other beers.

 

BVDL
StS
CBS
Cherry Rye
Dragontrax

 

Assassin
Morning Delight
Sherry Atrial

 

Cable car
Assassin
Sr71

 

I actually made a site dedicated to being a glossary for beer trading, as this frustrated me when starting out as well. When I tried to post it here the post got removed and I got warned though. According to Analytics someone else already posted it on this thread, but it has since been removed. I wonder if even sending it to people who PM me asking for it would get me banned? I don't want to lose my rep so, google it I guess?

Anyway,

Cherry Rye
Rare '15

 

KBS
Pliny
Big Bad Bastard
all sours because I don't dig on the style (all gi sisters and sublication)

 

bo and luke, no thank you

 

Listen...It's best not to pontificate to others what are whales and what are not whales. Much of the time a person's whales are determined by geographics and ease with which certain beers can be aquired. Take it easy.

 

Not exactly a "whale," but Xocoveza Charred was a complete and total letdown.

 

Zombie Dust must loose it's edge quickly in the bottle. I had it on tap at Three Floyds and loved it! Hmmm, thinking about it is making me thirsty.

 

I found it more to have an artificial cherry Nyquil flavor. Even aged, it's going to develop that more and more. The chocolate will likely dissipate.

 

The Westy Red Cap I traded for was way past its prime.

 

Apple Brandy Huna
Heady

I'll think about the other 3...

 

Yes , It had that tart cherry flavor profile, this needs to age like 3-8 years i think, maybe the chocolate will , come forward after the Tart, & hottttt flavor will settle down a bit, i Hope ? I'm going to age my last two for years & years. I could not drink my first bottle, so I Marinated a Chik..Breast- & grilled it ! Not bad Top-shelf Chick. LOL...!!! @ $11.00 for 12oz. - not a drain-pour !

 

Quite the class-A marinade.

Yeah, put 1 bottle away myself to see if it gets better in 3 or 4 years.

 

I realize everyone is entitled to their own opinion. My own opinion is that Zombie Dust isn't a beer that you take a few sips and think "this is amazing". I find it so highly drinkable that within 10 minutes you don't even realize you finished it and without hesitation order a second one even though you're at the brewery and could be drinking Dreadnaught. By the time you're leaving the tap room, you suddenly realize that it's one of the best beers and definitely the best pale ale (including pseudo sue) that you've ever had. Must be consumed fresh.

 

Surprised by MBCP. You must have had a bad bottle. I've never met anyone here in Florida that doesn't at least like if not love this beer. If three people drinking the bomber all didn't like it than I have to believe something was wrong. MBCP only has a hint of smoke so right there I know something must have been off.

 

I'll second that! I replied to carlso_aw with a similar response.

 

DL and BVDL

 

That is not true. That is not what a whale is. There are already numerous threads on here that have been the same question, but not specifying that it applies only to whales. As the original poster already said, what he was asking was (and what he meant by the term whale - which is also what the term has historically meant) what beers that are extremely highly rated and only produced in small batches. Of course ANY beer that only has local distro is going to be hard to acquire in plenty of other places across the country. That does not make it a whale if, like Pliney, Heady, KBS, or many other beers mentioned on this thread have annual bottle/can counts in the hundreds of thousands....if you are talking about those beers, it belongs on the overall thread of any beers that disappointed you this year (I think we can assume that if one is reading these threads on BA, you aren't going to be listing Blue Moon...). Ballast Point Sculpin does not see distribution to Indiana. But BP makes hundreds of thousands of cases per year of this beer, so it doesn't matter that there are people in IN that can't get any Sculpin; it's still not a "whale."

In fact, pretty much no hops will ever meet that definition. The original poster is asking people to list what beers, which are so highly rated that basically anyone who likes that style of beer would want to try it, yet which are produced in such small batches that for basically anyone to trade for one they would have to give up quite a lot....were ultimately disappointing? This calls for its own separate thread, because it takes so much to get these beers that those of us considering trading half their cellar for one of them might actually think twice...massive rant over. Cheers!