Do you have a BEER GUY?

Yep, he's also turned out to be a friend. Most of the time he doesn't ask what I want, he just knows and set's it aside for me.

 

On my island, I live on the south shore, and work on the north. I've got a guy on both shores. My south shore guy's been my go-to since I got into craft, and I gave him a Westy XII for xmas, since I had managed to pick some up when they were released and it was on his bucket list.

My north shore guy is a newer relationship, but just today, hooked me up with a Parabola he'd been holding on to. Like me, he's a dark beer man, and he loves the limited stuff (don't we all.) He doesn't have much in the way of beers out of our distribution area though, so I'm going to thank him with a 3 year old Serpent's Stout on my next trip, which only makes its way out here through trades, online sales, or people like me who travel a lot.

No back shall go unscratched on my watch.

 

You live in Pennsylvania and regularly support a shop that can't get Weihenstephaner Hefe? Sorry, bruh.

 

Well it's support them or not buy beer at all. So it's still a pretty easy decision for me!

I don't live in a big area, so I'm lucky to be able to get what I do get. The guys at that distributor are great though, and the selection is pretty good for a small town that primarily drinks piss.

 

I see what you did there.

 

I've got a couple of beer guys, it makes finding the hard to find beers much easier to do! A must for any beer geek/BA.

 

My beer guy is the manager of the best liquor store in my state.

 

Yep,got a few of em.I take care of em too!

Helps to avoid limited release shit-shows.............

Cheers

 

Which would be?

 

I have quite a few... I'm an avid cyclist, and local business supporter, so I make my rounds and spend waaaaayyyyyy too much money.

but it's for the greater good, or gut, as they say in german. beer gut.

 

over the last year or so, i have made some friends that have ties into the industry, both in retail and distribution, so aside from my usual checking for releases on my own, i have a couple other people that routinely know whats going on before i do and give me the heads up to be on the lookout, or even put aside a bottle or two from time to time

 

I know it's not quite what was meant, but I rely on two people. The guy who sits next to me at work reads a number of different beer blogs and keeps me posted on new things (thanks Phil!!). And then, I email my mom in Cleveland who runs to the beer store (Warehouse Bev in South Euclid, can I get an amen!). See we live in Ottawa, ON where the selection is nigh relative to our brethren ‘down south.’ Then the hard part, wait until someone visits someone and can do the beer exchange.

So I guess my beer guy is my mom!

 

Rob seems to Rule!

 

Every state needs their own Rob!

 

With as crazy as it has gotten in the last 2-3 years where Parabola/KBS/etc are considered "whales" by people newer to craft beer I don't know how you can get anything you want without having at least one guy. I have 3, and it can still be hard to land certain beers. For people who work semi-normal hours, if you don't have a guy or two looking out for you, the truck chasers will descend like locusts and clean a large metropolitan area out in <6 hours.

 

yeah i do and he held 6 bottles of parabola for me when he got it in

 

Conversation earlier today, "I have a couple of bottles of Parabola left. They are in the back. Do you want them?
Do you like it aged? I have one bottle from last year and one from 2010. Do you want those too?"

Yeah I got a beer guy.

 

There's a small likker sto on the south side that doesn't carry a whole lot of beer, but the guy runnin' it is friendly and will talk beer and sports with you all day long. He'll order any beer available in the state if you want it, and he keeps a bottle of Yuengling on display. Nicest guy in the world, and a beer lover to boot. I don't know his name. I call him "Dude".

 

Right now I have a "temporary" one. I'm on an out-of-town work assignment in Temecula, and I made friends with Ken, the beer buyer at Baron's, which is an amazing little grocery store with one of the best beer selections I've ever seen. When I first arrived in town, he gave me the low-down on all the local pubs and bottle shops to try/avoid, plus some great recommendations (including Far Out IPA, which I ended up buying his whole supply of). I dropped in a couple of days ago and handed him a can of Heady I'd received in a trade, and I swear he almost cried. Who knows if he'll "do anything" for me, but I figure he already has in a way, and if nothing else, I'm paying it forward. (And back, to all the great BAs who've been awesome re: trades so far.)

 

Charlie Meers. 5 Points Bottle Shop. He is the man.