I am the wrong guy to ask that question. I personally refused to be a 'beer hunter'. A brewery that was local to me that had a HUGE FOMO aspect to it was Tired Hands. They would have weekly releases on Wednesday afternoons and people would get in line hours prior to them selling their beers and I just thought that was nuts. I never would do something like that. How could people take an afternoon off from work to wait for hours to buy beers which you had no idea would be available once you reached the brewery? Some of those people who arrived 'late' would get to the brewery after waiting several hours to find out that they were sold out by the time they arrived to the brewery. Now, for full disclosure I was good friends with one of the original investors of Tired Hands and I would periodically meet him at Tired Hands (e.g., for lunch) and he would come there with two BIG insulated bags and they would fill those bags up with stock from their cold room and he would give me a four-pack or two of those beers gratis. No waiting and no cost. So.... Cheers!
Amen. Couldn't agree more Jack. When I lived in Baltimore, I once thought it would be fun to attend a Kate the Great release. It was anything but. People started lining up to get their 3 bottle allocation before midnight. As luck would have it, there was an ice storm that night, and the brewery owners were concerned for the safety of the folks in line. So they held an earlier opening... by the time I headed over to the brewery they were already sold out of KtG. The trip wasn't a total loss. I got to have a couple of glasses of KtG on draft at the brewery and made some fun stops in Massachusetts and Connecticut, but suffice to say lesson learned. I haven't attended a FOMO release event since. I also attended a Younger event some years ago at the old Santa Rosa spot. This was before the Windsor build out. Anyway, got to the brewery about an hour and a half prior to opening, only to find several hundred people already in line. When the brewery opened, the line barely budged. I quickly decided no beer was worth this, and left. I heard later that waits to get into the brewpub were running between 4 and 6 hours. My reaction was exactly the same as yours. Who in the world has that kind of free time that they can spend that amount of time in line? Is their time that valueless? I'm retired now with way more free time and I still don't get it. Oh well...
This past fall I waited in line (I was 6th) for about an hour to get some of the BKS Recollection barrel-aged barleywines, the newest one (10/7/25) and a couple other older ones. By the time they opened up, there was probably close to 100 in line. The only reason I did it was because I had already planned to hit the KC breweries that Saturday and my 'brewery schedule' allowed for it. I won't be doing it again. Usually I just order online the first minute the breweries' website has it available but that time I was shutout within 90 seconds of trying to order, thus the wild hair of waiting in line. I agree, there's nothing that special to make me stand in line again & I'm retired with all the time in the world. Especially not for premium prices, even though every BKS and Alma Mader bottle release is worth every penny.
In New Hampshire, what used to be the best beer store in the state has cut back its inventory significantly and added more wine. They focus more on a cafe area they set up. I used to count on that store to get everything under the sun. Now, it's just the usual local and regional crafts that everyone gets. On a positive note, I am seeing a lot more convenience stores opening that sell craft beer, but you can't break up the 4/6 packs.
The few stores that are near me don't have much of a craft beer selection, it's about 1 to 2 cooler doors of craft beer and I usually can find the same beer at a grocery store with better dates. For a decent selection I have to drive further away.
Beer World is the big Hudson Valley chain and the Kingston branch has fallen off a cliff: growler station closed, local range severely cut, imports almost non-existent. You never could trust their BBDs, and that's still true. The seem to be under new ownership; no staff with beer knowledge anymore. The only reason to check in is they'll still get the odd grey market 4-pack of Fidens or Heady (for $30.) It's kind of no surprise because the hardcore beer geek is going elsewhere. Since the exodus from NYC during Covid, a slate of boutique food shops + high end bottle shops have opened in the area: those are the place to go for any of the ~100 breweries between the city + Albany (and they sell single cans.) That's aside from Union Street, West Kill, Return all opening satellite outlet taprooms away from their respective main brewery. Even the supermarkets have upped their game in response to weekend traffic; you're as likely to get fresh dates on bigger names like Equilibrium in Hannaford than in a beer store. So it's not hard to get good craft, there's just no more one stop shopping.
Twenty five years ago in Pittsburgh, D's in Regent Square with their Beer Cave was the go to place for finding craft beer singles. It was always fun to travel to nearby Ohio where beer was sold in grocery stores [and a number of beers not available in PA were for sale in Ohio]. Up to 2009, IIRC no Pittsburgh area grocery stores sold beer. Now days many Pittsburgh area grocery stores sell beer and wine albeit in a separate area with its own cash register. My local Whole Foods Market does dedicate one of its normal cash register stations to be used for alcohol purchases along with a customer's groceries.
Mega-Bev, the store with the 8 locations cited above is about to open their ninth store in a former big-box pharmacy building. Things must be going okay. But 4-5 of their stores are probably 8-10 times the size of the store that they offer me.
Small town pa, 2 small microbreweries. The local Giant store has actually increased its craft beer selection. My go to place is an hour away, and hasn't changed much since I first went there 7 or 8 years ago.
I do believe that no matter which store I go to, close to half the package beer is close to if not past the best before date, when there's dating involved.
My area (Elmira, NY) seems to be off its peak. A dozen years ago, I think there was one (very under the radar) beer store that had imperial stouts. Then a larger, more visible store opened and a had nice, rotating selection . . . usually 10 or so different bombers and 10 or so different 12/16oz multi-pack options of imperial stouts available almost year round. Then the local Wegman's expanded their craft beer selection to include a variety of imperial stouts. Then another, even larger, beer store opened just before COVID. Then the third beer store closed. The second has been, I think, sold twice, but is still there. Their selection is less varied (more very local stouts . . . less from different states) . . . and they claim little sway with their distributor in selecting what they get. The original beer store's shell space for stouts (and beers in general) has dwindled as well.
Our local indie beer store of 25+ years was recently sold to Beer World. I will not step foot inside, thank you. The other BWs around here (far too many IMHO) dont seem to care. No beer knowledge, no care/love for beer, old and uninspired stock. Thankfully, I can travel under an hour to Halftime, or an hour to the beloved DiCiccios, where a very knowledgeable, attentive, caring staff maintains an exciting and well-stocked inventory - plus a bar! Also an hour to great beer shops in CT and PA. PLUS, as others have noted, supermarkets have so stepped up their game! Several years ago it was UNFATHOMABLE to go into a Hannaford in mid-Hudson NY and find multiple offerings from LAWSONS and FIDDLEHEAD, as well as FROST's LUSH and MBC's LUNCH! As @cavedave used to exclaim from atop his DS soapbox, ITS A GREAT TIME FOR AMERICAN CRAFT BEER!
Our statewide chain had Cantillon 750s on the shelf at normal retail prices this week. I don't need more Lambic, so I passed. I still feel weird about not sprinting over there and buying at least one of everything.
One of my fave little liquor stores is doing better now that a judge denied a case and threw out the tea toddling creeps who tried to take away the THC bev license from the store. The store is countersuing, as they should, to pay for the losses and employee hours. They will win and they are doing better.
In my state, I can’t get beer delivered. I used to live not far from Half Time and would love to get shipments from there, but it’s prohibited. I’d love to get shipments of Pliny, but I can’t.
My local stores appear to be doing very well. They have a great selection of craft beers and carry some very desirable brands. They have good sales from time to time and bogo sales when they get beer that needs to move. The only thing that I have experienced is that you really need to watch the dates on the IPAs. I guess that applies to just about anywhere. I have learned that one the hard way
My closest liquor store with a huge selection: Domestic: https://www.discountliquorinc.com/domestic-beers.html Import: https://www.discountliquorinc.com/import-beers.html I find myself more drawn to the import list than the domestic (craft) list. We love going to nano- and micro-breweries, but if I’m buying for home consumption it’s almost always an import. I find them more relatable and easier to understand than the continually splintering styles of American craft brewing.
