Equilibrium Brewery (2020)

I was obsessed with Mad Men in the late '00s, and got into drinking Old Fashioneds because of it. I had just graduated college, so I didn't really have the money for the top shelf stuff. My baseline for "good" bourbon was Maker's Mark 46. The best old fashioneds I ever had were at Blue Hill at Stone Barn (s/o to another Michelin Star restaurant). I dunno what bourbon they used, but it was a lot better than what I was used to.

I never got into being able to discern high end whiskeys, and that's probably a good thing for my wallet.

 

Wow, that was a whole lot of conversation about a beer release. Just here to say Juice=Juice is amazing. Stayed away from EQ for awhile due to quality issues on several shipments but all good with this beer.

 

How's Fractal Galaxy/Strata? Worthy of $20?

 

I bought it a few weeks ago and thought it was great. I found it pretty berry forward, so it depends if you dig strata hops.

 

How likely is it that I could pick up Binary Elements for my father if I have his ticket and ID? He managed to get a ticket but won't be able to pick it up

 

I've never been ID'd the few times that I picked up a stout with an eventbrite ticket. My wife's name was actually on the BA LADS ticket, and my name is clearly not Michelle.

 

Thanks for letting me know. I think I was carded for BA LADS, I can't remember

 

I picked up my binary bottle today and they didn't card me to add another data point.

 

Yeah, I was there today as well. Got it with no problems. Thanks!

 

If you're a fan of EQ's DIPAs, OG's axe is probably the best one they've put out in a while. The Citra, galaxy, and strata all come out really bright. It has a really strong EQ #melon finish.

 

Anyone grab todays release, Elemental Gorilla? I got on at 9:00am but eventbrite would not allow me to purchase tickets even though the ticket button was active.

 

I refreshed until the ticket button went live, clicked the ticket button and was told there was no availability.

 

I managed to luck out for once. I was logged in at 850. And clicked the details right at 900 am and checked out with PayPal

 

That is my experience thus far. However, today I did not even get to the no availability screen, LOL!

 

Nope. Bottle in cart then system timed out. Yet again. Bottom line is the Eventbrite system seems to come down to luck on these releases. Would be nice if they had a 10 minute window for locals only, no proxies, but $$$ > loyalty. Not a good look for the brewery and their representatives to joke about "bots" either - driving away many former supporters in the meantime. Maybe these limited releases will immediately sell out forever, but if demand dries up they'll regret pushing away those who would have supported them on the regular.

 

9:00-9:15 - Mr Simcoe & select VIPs; no limits
9:15-10:00 - regular way plebs

 

I only asked for 10 minutes! You can have 9:10-9:15!

Also fine with the 1pp limit. Would just be nice for locals (who supported them from day one) to get a better crack vs. those in random other states that in many cases are buying just to flip for a profit.

 

Kidding aside - I’m no eventbrite / online sales expert, but trying to set up some sort of locals-only window prior to a general window sounds like it would either be a nightmare for the brewery to manage, easy to circumvent, or both.

I would have thought the only way to give locals* access would be to do an in-person release, and given COVID, that would also be very tricky for the brewery to manage / a potential bad look (see recent Finback BQE release).

So it’s sort of a lose/lose situation for them all round.

*I also feel like “locals” in itself is a bit of a misnomer. Maybe “people-wot-lined-up-and-bought-their-beer-before-COVID”. I say this as someone who until very recently was local to OH, and had been since they originally opened. There is a running (light hearted) joke in the OH thread about OH hating locals. While maybe I supported them emotionally by going week in week out, I definitely don’t see myself as foundational to their success. That would be the guys - for better or for worse - staggering back to their NJ-plated truck with five cases, as I walked home with two 4-packs after a pour at the bar.

 

2021 EQ Hates Locals.....OH on the shelves in NJ