Destroying a beer's legacy...

This is the biggest point that everyone is overlooking.

I used to wait outside the store to.by BCBS every year, but now I can just grab a 4 pack of Finkel and Garfs BA Stout off the shelf and be just as happy.

Big Bad Baptist is readily available to me so I don't have to trade for KBS if I want a coffee stout. Now that KBS is available I can just grab that when I want.

There isn't a scarcity in the style anymore therefore you don't have to trade, line up, etc.

 

When I was in CA I saw bottles of the previous two CBS releases sitting side by side in a liquor store...maybe it's time to re-adjust pricing on those.

Maybe Founders needs to start following GI's stout release model.

 

The same thing is happening in whisky it seems, and I don't fully buy it. Sure, Lagavulin 16 or Elijah Craig maybe were better back in 1990, but they also didn't have half as many competitors in the marketplace as they do now. IMO that's the No. 1 reason why whisky drinkers say Whisky X was better 20-30 years ago: competition. That's obviously happening in beer in spades.

I love the coaching analogy. As a general rule, you're right — good coaches don't get stupid. But, man, if beer drinkers love the next best thing, sports fans make them look like amateurs when it comes to coaches (and quarterbacks). It makes for high entertainment. Watching fans bitch about their coach as if the next coach is guaranteed to win 10 Super Bowls or national championships is hilarious.

 

Case in point: Bill Dooley coached both UNC and Wake Forest football back in the 70s and 80s. He was fairly successful at UNC and rebuilt the Wake Forest program. The guy was an awesome man and a helluva coach. I have always loved him for buying my kids ice cream at Wrightsville beach in the late 80s.

 

Everyone.??

 

Not me, for sure. I've posted similar thoughts in another of the numerous threads about how KBS is not what in once was. It sure isn't! It once wasn't available!

 

OK haters get ready...I feel the same way about Sierra Nevada. I remember ages ago [I'm old] SN beer was a prize;something you gave a friend as a special gift or something you saved for that special night. Now,and I hate to say this,they are just another 'grocery store' beer. A 'flavor of the month' brewery with their trendy hazes and Mexican lagers.
This thread is relying heavy on what used to be and that,to me,is sad. I like the fact that I looked forward to the release of KBS,CBS,and SN Celebration. Lately I've had a half dozen beers as good as KBS USED to be and it seems the whole scene is just leveling out at rating of 3.50 to 4.0. I just want to be excited about beer again.

 

They added a barrel facility a little south of the main brewery to make more barrel aged beer.

Do they create new barrel aged beers to fill that faculty? Do they shut it down? Do they make hard Seltzer's?

 

GTFO SNPA GOAT!!!

 

KBS tastes fantastic and ages well. I have no issue it’s available anytime. It’s a nice treat and even nicer I don’t have to wait to get some.
Cheers

 

Here, it was Westbrook’s Mexican Cake. People used to line up at Total Wine, only one per person, I made some great trades, this year it hung around for months, I still have 2016-2018 that I’ll probably never drink, and I really don’t trade anymore. So, there ya go

 

What do you mean?


Are we gonna argue semantics here?


I get what you're saying never mind. Not everyone!



It just seems that a majority of folks first go to is Those Young Uns dont appreciate beer!

 

And with places even putting it on sale, I drank a ton of it last winter.

 

Semantics ?? Nah, just didn’t want you to feel alone.

BTW, “just semantics” can be a trap. I’ve seen more than one thread on this site deteriorate from civil to vitriol and name calling over miscommunication caused by “just semantics.”

No insult intended.

 

SNPA is a staple and quite good still. I always keep it around and it's fresh and often very inexpensive ($12.99 a sixer) As to chasing all of the other hot flavors around; fruited, hazy, sour- I rarely like any of those beers. Count me as Dennis Hopperized (Pabst Blue Ribbon! on SNPA.

 

Kentucky Bourbon Hard Seltzer (KBHS)

Maybe make other barrel aged releases, a Bastard aged in Scotch barrels or porter in reused KBS barrels.
I'm not in marketing so I don't have an educated answer, just a personal observation.
KBS is available practically everywhere and (compared to the competition) over priced, CBS is just over priced. To me it seems that if they want to avoid having those beers collect dust they need to lower the price or limit availability.

 

Man, if rarity is not a flavor to you it's a great time to be a craft beer fan! KBS and CBS at your local stores waiting to be picked up at non-gouging prices, I've definitely picked up my share of KBS this year and enjoyed it just as much as when it was next to impossible to get in CA. I hate waiting in long lines and getting screwed over by pricing so I'm loving how many quality beers are readily available at a good price point. I'll let others fight over the hyped and rare beers, more power to them.

 

Where is the line when a beer goes from just "hype" to "legacy"?

 

~5yrs ago I worked at a Whole Foods on the side. You'd be surprised how much Chimay/ Rochefort/ Duvel sells when you put it at eye level at the correct pricing. People aren't hooting and hollerin for it, or calling the store to find it (they don't need to obviously) but those are still big movers. Those are monster brands and have loyal customers who buy over and over, which is actually and quietly much more important to a brand success then chasing fads or chasing the one and done millennial customers.

Same with your Glenlivets and Glenfiddichs and Laphroaig 10s... no people aren't going nuts on social media about them, but the kind of guy who drinks a bottle of scotch on the rocks before bed most nights is putting back cases of these products per year. You just don't hear much about it.

 

I could not agree more. I still buy Duvel because of the trains in Europe having this choice in 1970. That beer made me downright gregarious, easily so, and we had a blast point to point. We were a traveling group of strangers on a mission. Scotch Whiskey is just simply a contemplative companion.