How has the quarantine changed your buying habits?

Both my wife and daughter are high risk, so I haven't left my house in 7 weeks.That means I'm buying whatever Instacart can get, or whatever my friends feel like dropping off for me. Yesterday I got a case of Hamms and a case of Pliny. I'm just so confused right now.

 

Heeeey, my father is going out every day, refuses to wear a mask, and has poor hygiene (not to mention age and underlying health conditions)

 

Some firsts...
-buying crowlers from the locals
-buying 4 packs from the locals
(Pre-covid it was onsite or growlers)

Other than those, I typically buy from local retail distributors or Wegmans. My local distributor went to all online/curbside. I haven't used them since because I like to check dates on the beers I buy. I skipped Wegmans for about the first six weeks to avoid crowds. I would say I'm drinking slightly more than normal volume-wise. I am definitely drinking more often. Typically, I'm a Fri/Sat/Sun drinker. For the last couple months, it's been just about every night and sometimes in the afternoons, if I'm home.

 

I was drinking tap craft about 4 or 5 days a week.
I was visiting a new brewery almost every weekend.

I now buy beer either growlers or crowlers from my local breweries about 1 day a week.
I buy a 10 or so craft beers from my neighborhood tap and bottle store about once a week.
Overall I'm drinking less, and definitely not enjoying it more.
I am definitely looking forward to tap craft.
Visiting breweries, enjoying the atmosphere, and fresh beer.
It won't be soon enough.

 

Well then, he should swing by and drop off some beer for me.

 

Buying more/larger quantities of hoppy beers for me. If I buy beer for home, it’s usually something sour or dark, but one of the silver linings is being able to get great, previously hard to get (for me) IPAs shipped to the house. Sante Adarius, Cellarmaker, Monkish, North Park, Highland Park. The only reason I am able to get through it all is because my son is home from college.

 

Luckily I was trying to buy less new beer anyway. Still working so loss of income isn't a factor but a lot of local breweries aren't doing contactless curbside pick up here, which is the only way I'll buy. Been trading cellar beers and drinking them, and some friends have done porch drop offs of local stuff. I usually drive up to Tampa for angry chair or to miami for 3 sons/Wakefield but havent done that since the virus took hold

 

Only buying super local, breweries within 15 - 20 miles, or homebrewing.

 

I have consolidated my buying down to the three local breweries, all within 2 miles, I want to see survive, home brewing more (nice to have a few things on tap again), and occasional trips to the local craft beer place for some out of region obsessions.

 

Before the Coronapocolypse, every Saturday morning I'd run to my favorite craft store at opening to buy singles of new-to-me beers and/or packs of favorites. I'd also stop on my way home from work when there were announced releases, though it's ~30 miles out of the way.

For the past 2 months I've been WFH so only getting to visit there once every 10-14 days or so instead of 2-3 times a week. Saving a ton on gas and beer, and mostly drinking down my cellar. I could easily go another 3-4 months at this rate, and could continue WFH if I want. I'm subject to surprise calls/visits, so can't day drink.

 

I thought you might have been calling @AWA your father.

 

Welcome to the daily drinker club. The way I look at it is if God didn't want me to drink beer it wouldn't be so delicious and make me feel so good.

 

As buying habits go , I'm doing less frequent, but "higher magnitude" volume purchases.
As for drinking, it's the 2-3 beer a day (or more) instead of 2-3 days off, and 2-3 days of dranks on back in the old days.
Gonna have to scale it back a bit this summer - being realistic - so that I don't put on a ton of weight on. But the running outdoors has kept the COVID (19 lbs) off so far. We'll see.
Stay sane, stay healthy everyone. x (Fingers crossed)

 

Yeah but it makes you feel bad in the morning...

 

Roughly speaking- I feel incredibly lucky every day that I still have good paying, safe work. So I try to buy my beer directly from local breweries. I figure the BMC, wine and liquor drinkers will keep the liquor stores alive. I have strayed to the liquor stores sometimes to get my fav's (Sip Of Sunshine) and far away brewed beers I see on this website that I can't resist. But I remain committed to the locals. I am still really, really worried about the local craft scene.

 

I used to test beers more often. Being older, I thought I should limit going out to buy beer, so when I saw a "sample pack" that was 12 instead of 6 cans, I thought it would introduce me to a new brewery and enough beer to prevent an immediate trip to the outside world. I had not bought 21st Amendment before and seeing the 12 pack at ALDI created curiosity. It kept me out of the stores, and introduced me to a brewery that is great. The ALDI sampler is now gone, so I went to BEVMO and there is a different one that I am now trying. I think that since breweries are struggling right now, they should consider the "sampler" approach to introduce their beers.

 

I normally buy a mix of local craft and whatever interesting beers (one-offs, imports) I can find at gourmet grocery stores and liquor stores. With the pandemic, I haven't been visiting the smaller stores where I find the interesting beers, so I'm only buying local craft. The breweries in my area are almost all doing curbside pickup, and some of them have had pretty sweet deals (like $5-6 for a 6-pack, or canning beers that are normally draft only). I'm happy to support the local breweries, and online pre-ordering and drive-thru pickup has worked pretty well. Actually hoping some of that continues when this is all over.

 

I’m buying a lot of beer from local breweries; trying to support them all.

 

Here its weird. Most stores didn't really close down & we're still great shape on this thing stat-wise. The few that insist on drive through, I play 20 questions with them on new beers. Local brewers, I have not seen smooth operations set up for ordering or for pick up. Zero web presence on all of these places, but it could be because we barely locked down. Bars, Churches, Gym & In building dining are the main things affected

 

Here in the oak/maple/beech climax beer desert of NW PA, I've found little change in my drinking habits, other than the lack of variety. My local beer distributor also sells milk and jerky so he's a grocery store and thus open (or some other shady criteria-matching, I don't really care.) Most of his customers are drive-thru BMC drinkers so those of us who wander through the stacks rarely ever see anyone else outside of employees. The biggest effect on me has been missing my usual spring trip(s) to the Lancaster/Philly areas for Mrs. Lizard's quilt coven stuff. This enables me to try local brews plus head over to MD to State Line Liquors and stock up on assorted booze I can't get at home, so variety suffers. My local distributor has the best beer selection between Pittsburgh and Erie, but there's the time delay in the three-tier system to deal with, plus I'll swear that whatever they can't sell in Erie turns up here.
Anyway, my total drinking volume is about the same - 2-3 beers a day and occasionally a mixed drink in the evening. What I really miss is the freedom to travel outside my immediate area.

 

Yes, I've been buying Resin from Sixpoint quite often. It's a very fine beer but I can't explain any further my infatuation with it. Seriously, just been killing the stuff

 

I'll pass on the Hamm's beer. Not a fan.

On the Pliny case though, all in. I was greedy and picked up 6 bottles. Torn down were any limit signs. Really fresh too. Didn't take long to kill them off though. But then Alvarado Street Brewery were kicking it back into high gear, and went back to the Hazy Double IPAs.

Sad to say but CBS is running through at a high rate too, and getting low on inventory, so will need to snag another 4 pack. At least from what I am seeing, beer sales slipped for a couple weeks, but seems like demand is beginning to pick up. I am more selective, but still buying beer.

 

The "pandemic" has not changed my buying habits in the least; fortunately, I was working at home prior to this epidemic destroying much of our economy and jobs. The liquor stores never closed as they are considered "essential" (we don't need an outbreak of "DTs") and there are very few cases of the virus where I live.

 

I have been buying any good brews that are on sale. I have bought Founders, Cigar City, Victory, and looking for others.

 

I've been burning through my bbs, and right now I feel as though if if never see CBS again it will ve too soon.
And the Hamms is totally working as yard work beer. I've replaced my gutter screens and rewired my irrigation control thanks yo Hamms. Hell, if I could get lumber delivered I rebuold a fence with that damn beer.

 

I've spent far more money with Tavour recently, as I think a lot of people have since stuff seems to sell out very quickly now.

I've never bought a crowler prior to COVID. I've bought several now from my favorite local brewery. I usually go with distributed packs/singles, on-premise special release stuff in various formats or whatever I get on tap when I'm there (not possible now).

Otherwise, I get my beer relatively hassle-free since I work at a liquor store. I can just buy it and take it with me when I leave for the day.

 

Beer + outdoor projects are among life’s exquisite pleasures. I’ve done a crap-ton of projects since this all started...too many to list. But they have all included beer.

 

Hard to beat power tools and a beer buzz

 

What’s there to be confused about? You pour a few of each into a salad bowl and stick a straw in it.

 

I currently have a giant eagle that's trying desperately to unload beer so they've been putting like four or five dollar beers in their mix a 6 section for two bucks. It's not even old beer most within date by a couple months but it is a lot of ipas. Still at that price I was happy to walk out with at least a case worth every time

 

I'm drinking the same, but buying less and drinking through my beer fridge. I have spent less, but still getting quality beer (Waldo's Special Ale and SN Bigfoot).

 

Damn, my neighbors would just love that.

 

Bought last two months in larger volumns than normal as not going in stores, and it's all been local two breweries. Did parking lot pickup and had two deliveries to house.

Figured support some local businesses and been able to order decent variety from one.

Not drinking at bars/resteraunts, so price per glass always cheaper at home

 

I've purchased bulk items. Specifically, Jack's Abby House Lager 15-packs; Allagash White 12's; Night Shift Nite Heavy 12's.

I'm realizing I could probably just have these three beers in my fridge for around $45 every three weeks and be really happy. Throw in that $12 18-pack of High Life and I'm golden.

 

My buying habits are largely unchanged. I buy the beer for a local grocery store and got 90% of my beer on my way out of work before this all started, and I still leave work with a 4 or 6 pack on any given day.
That said, I have ordered deliveries from local guys as that is an option that's nice for days off. I also just want to support these guys as much as I can so they're hopefully still running whenever this ends.

 

I can tell you assuredly the traffic situation is rapidly returning to normal, at least in Chicago.

There were only a handful of cars during rush hour two months ago, I'd say it's about 60-70% returned and growing each week. They are resuming their aggressive nature against pedestrians & bicyclists as well after two months of goodwill.

At the Half Acre event, the amount of pedestrians was consistent with any past summer/spring, not to mention the continuous flow of 40 + beer geeks in line for the sold out and sadly overrated Riwaka release.

Hope you are locked and loaded at this point with fresh beer!

Cheers!