Blind Faith Purchasing Fail

You know, most of the time the physics major isn't the best baseball player. Calculations and research just don't matter here.

 

BLASPHEMY

 

This is why, if I'm after new stuff, I'm only shopping at places that will let me buy singles. I cannot fathom buying a sixer of something I've never tried. Just won't do it (unless, maybe, I'm headed to a party and was gonna pony up for something anyway).

 

Similar thing happened to me with a 12-pack of Mama's Yella Pils from OB. It's on the expensive side for a 12-pack and I was kinda left wondering what the positive reviews were all about.

Edit: My research must have been far more limited than the OP's. I just went back to my rating and found that I rated the beer more highly than the average. Perhaps this was just operator error after all.

 

Couldn't agree more. I wouldn't label this a "fail", more of a let down.

I'm sure that I'll catch a lot of flack for this, but I had similar expectations with my first FBS. So many awesome reviews, I thought I would be blown away, but it never lived up to what I thought it would be.

 

I was disappointed with Half Acre's Daisy Cutter and absolutely did not like Westbook's Black Magic Panther

 

Smuttynose Finest Kind. That stuff is AWFUL!

 

When I read this thread title I interpreted it differently (blind faith to me means to be certain without proof or research), but I'll post one of my recent "blind-faith" purchases anyway:

Lazy Magnolia Old Money
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/10990/138064/

I've had Timber Beast from them which I enjoyed. Not a top-tier DIPA but still a dang solid offering. So when I saw singles of their BA Imperial Stout I had to snag it. Later that evening whilst perusing my favorite website I came across reviews of "sour sewage; sour tuna; tuna salad" I very much regretted picking it up. Now I will say I haven't cracked mine yet so there's a chance I could get lucky, but I'm expecting this brew will be sent into my local water treatment plant.

 

Same experience. I was stoked to try Dale's and was not impressed whatsoever.

 

Surly Furious.

I would say vastly over-hyped, except I temper that with west-coast style IPAs not being my favorite anyway. (IOW, it might be just me, which as you see, I freely admit ...)

 

What music buying has taught me. Just because it's highly rated DOES NOT mean that you'll like it. In fact, avoid placing the lump sum of your buying power in the high ratings because they might just be flash in the pan antics and upon revisits they fall apart. Dales won't be that flash in the pan beer. But, here's what's important. You have your personal tastes which only you have and Dales Pale (fresh) is not going to work for those personal tastes.
Perhaps too, you might be falling too hard for the fresh beer always bit, and you need to let the beer sit for about three weeks so it's out of the freshy window. This might seem sacrilege but my taste buds don't really care. They like what they like. It's like food. Sometimes you make things to set it aside so the flavors get a chance to mingle and settle down, or like chili; it's the reheating of it which is where the flavor shines.
Sometimes, I find that I don't care for super fresh beer because its flavors haven't found the right balance for what MY drinking wants from it. Someone else might love that bite, and pull of it being so recently packaged where you can practically get inside the bag the hops were poured from. But, I'm looking for what's behind it because I know from experience that that beer can provide it. So, set some aside and let them hang out for a few and revisit it. You might find you love it with some fade and it becomes that 95 others think it is.
If you have access to mix a sixers, this is your best research for finding that go to. Read the reviews afterwards.

 

Never really cared for Dales either

Lesson here: don't buy 4/6/12-packs of something you haven't tried before

 

Exactly the opposite. As you may know we buy a lot of beer by the case in PA. Recently I bought a case of Boulevard Tank 7 and, more recently, a case of Victory's Harvest All. In both cases I included in my homework careful reading of the reviews done by some folks I already could tell have tastes similar to mine.

Both cases (literally and metaphorical) were wins from my perspective. Both taste much as I expect and if anything I may be given them a slightly higher score than those whose reviews were my final deciding factors. Love the reviews on this site. So much more information than simple ratings.

 

New Glarus Oud Bruin. I was so excited having loved every one of their other sour and fruit releases this was on the top of my list to get and try. Grabbed this and the Berlinner Weiss, well the Bruin made me sad. It wasn't bad but man I desired so much more from it that it just didn't quite have what I wanted. Now that Berlinner on the other hand, I wish I had just bought the store out, I have 6 bottles left and will cherish them.

 

Don't let it color your opinion of Deviant Dales though. I found Dale's a little underwhelming (not to the point of outright disappointment though...), bought a single can of Deviant and found it to be a delight.

 

Did that come in to play? I feel like that's about $5 to much personally. Sorry, eventually we all make purchases we end up regretting.

 

Here's one key to making proper use of the reviews. It takes just a smidge more effort than merely sorting by overall rating, though.

 

There should be a disclaimer that the only Oscar Blues beer to live up to the hype is Ten-Fidy

 

Both of those beers exceeded my expectations when I had them.

 

With APA/IPA's you really need to know what hops you like/dislike and need to pick up on that in reviews as well. Alpine Nelson is one that I don't really care for because of the hops, but reviews would tell me that it should be stellar.