Opinions on "Muling" Groups

+1 for using the correct phrase. Seems it is becoming less common for people to phrase this the correct way. When I see/hear it phrased wrong I always want to say, "oh please tell me, how much less could you care."

... oh and I agree with the other stuff too

 

So you guys are saying I'm the only one who takes my van down to the tomato fields to pick up migrant workers for bottle releases? Get with the program brah!

 

I know a guy who hired a homeless man to mule at a release. The guy literally crawled out of a dumpster next to the line.

 

I find that shit demeaning. To me it is rubbing it in the person face by paying them some small amount to have them wait in line for some "overpriced" beer.

 

You hit the nail right on the head!

 

Well said. You hit the nail on the head when you said that this is "the rich getting richer."

If mules were grabbing a taste for friends it'd be one thing, but it's gone way beyond that. What I am seeing on these boards are mules grabbing everything x's 3, one to drink, one to trade and one to cellar (or in the case of IPA, french press with some fucking rare fruit).

And yeah, I know, free market, capitalism, breweries can do what they want, 'Merica, etc. I get it. It's how it's done these days so spare me the Econ 101 shit. It's just not my cup of tea.

 

I want to know how they swallow ballooned cans of heady. That's gotta be a bitch to pass.

 

One man's demeaning is another man's capitalism.

 

If you're going to mule, I think you should be forced to stay true to the "drug mule" spirit of the origin of the term and only carry out whatever beers you can fit in your body cavity.

 

Here's what I do. I bring a few friends that are going to keep their fair share, and I bring a few friends that only want one bottle for themselves. I then buy those few bottles off of my friends and then bring those bottles to other friends, or trade them away on this site so I can get something from outside my distribution.

 

The term "played out" stopped being original in 1978 and your holier than thou beer bro attitude is does nothing to "build the community as a whole". In fact, all you have done is create a wider separation between those who hoard, those who don't hoard based on principle and those who don't care either way. Way to go!

 

I've realized from these threads that a lot of people seem to blur the difference between what's within your rights and what's courteous. The way I see it, the brewer wants to spread their beer among as many people as possible. While its perfectly within my rights to bring some friends along to buy me beer, I'm not going to, and will be fine with my 1 or 2 beers. If I don't get those I'll instead just walk to Toronado, order a Nelson, and realize that there's only a handful of beers I've had that I've enjoyed more that it.

 

If someone wants to spend a lot of money to aquire way more beer than they can drink before it goes bad, fine by me. For me, there a way too many great beers out there to limit myself to a few. It seems like there is a new one every week.

 

wow, I know it is "cool" to blame all the 2012ers and 2013ers for "issues" in the beer-geek-world, but I do have to say it is a little shocking to see them all harping on the guy we voted BAer of the year in 2011

 

Are you serious? There's actually a vote for who gets "Beer Advocate of the Year"? I literally laughed out loud in my office

 

...by making a well-thought out post that describes both his thoughts on mules and his reasons for not caring too much about them?

 

That's right.

 

you serious? You have been around for a while. Past few years someone puts together a LIF for who the community feels has been the most useful for the site. Obviously it is nothing offical or to write on a resume, but it is another way to try and make the site feel like a community.

My point is not that 2012/2013 are evil, jumping on some holier than thou member. Just that the perspective of BA has changed. Someone who the majority of people once agreed with is now being attacked.

 

As long as they wait their turn in line same as me and don't shirk the bottle limit using disguises or some crap why the hell would I care who buys what?

 

I have no problems at all with people who try to buy in bulk for friends. I also think it's really cool of breweries that are really onto something (HT, HF, etc in my neck of the woods) who try to ensure that their beer gets into the hands of as many people as possible while at the same time not making the limits so low that making the trip to remote places like that not worth it.