Holy Mountain Midnight Still

In a sense, we're all just mules to our own FOMO.

 

huuuuboy.

I could not go due to my wife's birthday, but I am thankful my friend went and snagged me a bottle. Very much appreciated.

Overall, it sounds like those who went had a fine time and mostly knew what they were getting into. Glad to hear it.

The point that a few folks have alluded to is one of quality, quantity, and over-saturation. I am not at all surprised that it took Holy Mountain less than a year, really, to get to this point. Colin, Adam, and Mike spent several years BEFORE opening the brewery getting everything right. Remember their opening night? Line practically out the door? Seattle, in spite of it's insane wealth (or glut) of craft beer options, was starving for an ultra high quality (and thus small quantity) brewery that specialized in non-hoppy beers. As soon as they started bottling, lines were going to be a foregone conclusion. Quality and scarcity drive demand and HM murders nearly every other Seattle brewery in both departments. Fremont, the other top brewery in Seattle IMHO, has been at it since 2009 and has been super successful and has been able to expand their production while maintaining a ridiculously high quality barrel aged beer program. Time will tell if HM decides to expand at all in the next 5-6 years, but that's entirely up to them.

So yes, we are super spoiled to A) be able to grab a Cinnamon BBomb off the shelf at Fred Meyer at almost any give given time and B) to be able to wait in line for a super high quality but smaller quantity barrel aged beer from Holy Mountain.

If anything else, I would like this trend of quality with a sensible quantity to persist and push out a lot of the mediocre breweries AND/OR inspire a few of them to step up their quality in order to compete. The HM hype started because of quality and I really don't see what's stopping other breweries from learning, adapting, and competing.

/Okay, rant over

 

First off, Holy Mtn is absolutely killin' it, so there's no wonder why the line was as long as it was. Keep rockin, HM!

Second, any option for releasing bottles is gonna leave those that weren't able to get bottles feeling left out. (The only way this would be completely alleviated is if HM were suddenly able to brew A LOT more beer; precisely why I agree that it's disingenuous to compare their operation to Fremont's. There's a reason I can still get bottles of BBADS + BBOMB at my local QFC, and that reason ain't quality...) Take silent releases for example, which people will also get POed about and claim is unfair — it's not like a silent release is some magical cure-all; hell, these days, silent releases will be silent for a few seconds, and then there'll still be a line, and it'll still sellout. I personally spend more money at Holy Mtn than any other brewery these days, and I'd find it super frustrating to not have some predictability regarding when bottles are going to be released. I can afford to stand in line for a couple hours on a Saturday to get a few bottles of Midnight Still, but I can't afford to head over to the taproom erryday hoping that maybe, just maybe, it'll be a bottle release day. I don't have the money, I definitely don't have the time, and it seems far too random for the loyalists among us...

You could try 1pp taproom-only consumption, but even that'll have it's fair share of detractors. Take-home releases have allowed me to share some bottles with family and friends when I travel outta town (and don't worry folks, these are not beer nerds sending mules to get your HM).

I dunno, perhaps I'm shortsighted. I just wanna show my ongoing support for what HM is doing, and enjoy the wonderful brews they're releasing, and having a specified time for a bottle release allows me to do that fairly consistently. If I have to wait in a lengthy line for that, I can deal. I've waited around for shit that's way less important to me.

And come on, at the very least, can't we all be thankful that we can stand in a PNW beer line without having to brave sub-zero temps + wind chills; that counts for something, right?!

 

Can we go back talking about beer?

I'm drinking our just bottled Comicon IPA, Dark Heron, and enjoying the HBC 438, Mosaic and Chinook interplay with the oats and am open to a trade for some Midnight Still

 

And to the previous poster, you find our beers BECAUSE of quality and the opportunity it has provided to meet my vision of quality beer, with integrity, for more than those who can wait in line...just sayin.

 

no limited release is ever going to make everyone happy. havent had a chance to check out holy mtn but its on my list next time im down! On the beer front im happy to have access to KDS that will be heading cross country come the next Canada BIF!

 

I actually think he was trying to say this, but just did so somewhat clumsily.

 

I'll trade some Midnight Still for some Ancient One... Okay, fine, I guess Rusty would do the trick too.

 

Let's do an in person trade next week.

 

As my retirement approaches, this beer mule thing might work for me in the near future. Should I charge by the hour or bottle? Extra- popular-brewery, overnight surcharges? Another cool thing is that a much of my family lives near Monson MA, so I could keep on working there on my extended visits and likely charge even more to those desperate fools.

 

Yep, apologies if my phrasing was confusing – Fremont's BA beers are among some of my favorites. I was attempting to imply that there's more quantity of BBADS + BBOMB available, compared to HM releases, meaning I can still score some at my local grocery store when I realize I finished my last one. These beers are assuredly not sitting on shelves still due to lack of quality...

 

I think a base flat-rate, plus the bottle price (rounded up, of course) would be good. Plus, your time is worth something, so your, say, first half-hour of line-standing is included in the basic retainer, anything over that is subject to a surcharge, based on various factors, including, but not limited to; hygiene level of those in line near you, # of dumpsters required to negotiate, quality (or lack thereof) of the bottles being shared with you, hand-truck rental fees, weather conditions, number of hobos available from whom to steal warm Coors Light, and male/female linestander percentage.

 

Amen, brother!

 

It's a good thing my wife doesn't charge a muling fee for all the beers she brings me from her Boston work trips.

 

What is the barrel-size brewing capacity of HM ? 7-barrel? 14?

 

Is this a violation of minimum wage laws?

 

We can produce 14bbls of wort at a time from our kettle.

 

Thanks for the speedy response! I hope to make a dent in your supplies, soon!

 

Drinking all by myself at Holy Mountain. Back to normal.

 

l33t...