Chasing Beer

In my experience, just make friends, share generously, welcome all tastes...and the beers you once chased will come to you.

 

That guy sounds like a real douche.

 

When I read the title... I thought it was gonna be a thread on having a chaser with your beer. Anyone else? Haha

 

I'm a pedestrian with a gimpy leg. The race goes to the swift so I chase nothing.

As if to compensate for this, nature has determined that I have no taste for barrel-aged brew, and thus balance is restored to the world.

 

BA Siberian Night AND Wulver as every bit as good as KBS and much easier for both of us to find. Thirsty Dog is so underrated.

 

I literally made the same thread last February

 

I'd rather spend my time, energy, and money chasing tail instead of a beer truck. To each his own though.

 

Out of curiosity, which shop was that? I'm not in need of KBS, just curious

You can PM me.

 

The problem is the Internet and sites like that that overhype things. I have been into craft beer for about 6 yrs and I have never seen it so bad. Darklord and KBS are the most overhyped beers ever. Yet people flock to it like it's a winning lotto ticket. Every barrel aged or fruit infused beer is the next best thing. Brewers love it, distributors and reps love it and so do the liquor store beer managers. But hell, do you honestly think they are going to tell you it sucks and not to buy it? I have never witnessed such a race for beer by uneducated consumers (not the real beer fans, not trying to offend or alert the BA sensitivity police) just saying I watched moms yell at LQ store mangers when BCS was released last November 2013. You know they aren't drinking that shite. If this is what it is coming to, the industry is doomed and this will be a fade like everything else these days.

 

People chase whats limited and what people hype (they go hand in hand), thats all it comes down to. I bet you if Rochefort 10 was not sold in the US it would be a top 10 beer right behind or above Westy 12 and everyone would be trading for it and on the other side if Pliny The Elder was widely available it would be hanging in the bottom half of the 60's with Enjoy By and it would sit on shelves for weeks.

I think beer pops up and initially builds hype (for good reason) and then everyone else chases down that beer and probably rates it higher than they should because they want to follow suite. I bet there are a ton of people on here who might drink a beer and think, "this is a 3.5" but then they look and see its rAVG is a 4.50 so they add .75 points onto it because everyone else did.

Half of these "whale" beers that I have chased and tried personally taste identical if not worse than highly available and not as talked about brews. I had my first few bottles of KBS this year and guess what, I would take a FBS over it any day of the week which also happens to be sitting all over the place. It genuinely tastes much better and its easy to find so its a double win. Why is KBS so much better? Just because you BA something and add more booze doesn't mean its worth 3x as much money and requires 3x as much time acquiring it. I think Enjoy By 4.20 and Pliny taste damn near identical and I'd rather have an Alpha King over a Zombie Dust if they were both sitting on the shelf next to each.

Honestly, Fat Heads Hop JuJu is probably the best beer I've ever tasted. I have had plenty of Heady and if both of these beers were widely available and year round I would grab JuJu over HT at the local shop.

Also, I think what might be happening is because the craft brewing world is growing so quickly we are seeing more and more members on beer sites like BA, RB, and Reddit Beer Trade and the first thing they do is start hunting the beers that top all the lists without knowing anything about them. This is a big factor on the decreasing availability of these brews at shops IMO.

 

I have two local shops that I frequent all of the time. If beer karma is good, then I get to try these beers. If she is fickle, then I miss out. No jumping from store to store to chain store, no lost sleep or panic. It's some how meant to be. I respect the limits when she is good, because I know there is someone like me wanting their first taste of said beer. Respecting the beer, as well as the advocates; be they the shop owners or people like you and I, is really what it's all about.

 

I live on the other side of the river in Florence KY and i was able to get 12 KBS this year total. Its all about making friends with the store owners honestly. Buddy up with them. Hook them up with some stuff you get on trades, and they will look out for you.

 

working in the beer industry for the last 8 years has afforded me the luxury of never having to chase after any beer. I pity the people driving miles and miles just to get a few 12oz bottles. It's a blessing and a curse though, because while I can get my hands on every limited release beer by just showing up to work that day, I end up spending stupid amounts of money on them. Luckily I am single and have a good amount of disposable income to back up my spending habits.