Rochester, NY Trip

I don't do the Facebook thing but my wife does and I've taken a look at it. Not for me. Mostly Wendingo posts and go-get-this-now type mania. Plus they kicked Joe out which is hilarious. The nicest most generous dude I've met over the years who can actually bring something to the group other than "This local brown ale tastes like a brown ale 5/5." Not saying anything personal about members because I honestly don't care to know who is who (besides a couple) - just from the very very little I've seen, i'll pass.

I used to be annoyed that I couldn't buy a lot of my favorite beers that used to be regular purchases. That group is pretty much directly responsible for that. I almost never even try anymore. We now either have to be a member of a society, have a hookup near a brewery, regular trading partners and random trades. Fine - done. Mostly over it at this point but it still costs me $$$$, and more importantly time. Sure, its helped some people find a new hobby. At the same time its also been kind of a pain in the ass for others. They probably disagree. I don't really care. Maybe that's me being self-centered or entitled. Maybe i'm just an asshole.

Edit/Disclaimer - obviously the Facebookers have infiltrated this thread. I'm not going to post my personal info on this site but i'm not trying to be anonymous. If I have personally offended you somehow...for not liking your facebook group...?... let me know.

Also, @UNYHA - you should take that lady's facebook link down.

 

I'll be in Rochester for Xmas. I can bring a 4-pack of 13.8% 2014 Bourbon County for trade, if anyone's interested. And I may have a couple 2013 (NOT 2014. 2013.) Bourbon County Barleywines, too, if anyone's interested. BM me if so with interesting and fair offers in trade. I'll be on the east side in the 'burbs.

 

I was just up in Rochester, Macgregors in Henrietta has a ton of Goose Island still on tap and as always, 125+ taps to choose from

 

Everybody all ready told you the good places but I will too. Go to ajs and Nathaniel square corner store for bottles. Old toad, tap room, and tap and mallet are great for beers on draft. Just found out Abraxas will be on tap at the toad on friday so that's a must. Also if you are looking for some bcbs I way be able to help you with that. Would love some Michigan beers and maybe we can set up a trade. [email protected]
As far as fcbaa and Dave coniglio go... seeing pictures of the same beer 20 times through my news feed on a release day with the worst descriptions imaginable is the worst. Dave is not the pioneer he thinks he is. The page was good for maki g trades and finding out about events. And thats all! Rocbeer has been on Facebook for 3 years longer than fcbaa. Fcbaa has 2000 members who mostly know nothing and are just getting started in craft beer and that's fine. We all have to start somewhere. 1800 of whom don't ever post and another 500 who don't even live in rochester. Most the people on there are sheep who are listening to a Sheppard who knows nothing. Tom the other founder on the other hand is a great guy. Knows his stuff. Only differance is he doesn't govern what people say on there like it's his child or vested interest. Dave is spineless and couldn't even bother to talk to me after he kicked me out for speeking my mind. Not having that garbage in my life has been a blessing! P.s. if anybody would like to share this with him go right ahead. I'm not afraid of hiding as he posted on the thread in fcbaa earlier.

 

Exactly

 

ruh roh. Looks like I touched a nerve over there. Who's the crybaby now?

No sweat off my back. The people in that group can try to defend the culture they've created all they want but when you have people trying to buy 8 cases of bcbs at pittsford wegmans, it's pretty easy to hate on them.

 

Love all of this.

 

This is great. We got people creating profiles to come in here and defend facebook

 

Don't apologize. It's my fault this thread went off track. I think you've got some good recommendations but if you need any more, don't hesitate to ask.

 

I don't get it. What's wrong with Flying Bison ?

 

It's kind of a drive but if you have the chance, take the 45 min trip to Abandon Brewery. Great beers, great setup. Their DIPA is very good!

 

Abandon is probably the best the Rochester area has to offer right now. Just a bit inconsistent.

 

That's exactly right, and they seem to lack any kind of common sense either. I have a favorite local place that gets several cases of BCBS every year, and up until this year, that beer went out on the floor on the honor system and it would last at least a couple of hours and it wasn't really a hassle to lay hands on it if you showed up at the right time. You know the date - the rest isn't difficult to figure out, it's no big secret. Full disclosure, last year a friend and I purchased half a case between the two of us - we could've easily bought a lot more, but that's not fair to everyone else.

Apparently word had spread that there would be "no limits" at this store (ie. meaning the usual stack on the floor) this innocent comment got spread on social media and miscontrued to where I guess people must have thought there was a truck that was going to show up with just endless pallets and pallets of BCBS et al sitting on it and it would be a free for all.

Fast forward to black friday, we now have 50+ people in line caught up in the hype because of that FB group - the person next to me asked me several times "do you really think we'll get some if there's no limits? It said there would be no limits on FB!"...and thats when I realized that aside from a hoarding problem, this new generation of craft fans has no common sense and no grasp of the concept of supply and demand, either. We were firmly in the middle of this long line. You'd have to think they thought that there was either an unlimited supply coming, or the first 10 people would get a case each and everyone else waiting would just riot when they got shut out. Obviously everyone only got to leave with a 4 pack (if they were lucky) and their dreams of pulling cases were firmly squashed, because of supply and demand, and because it's the right way to treat the release.

This group has bred a city full of truck chasers and has unfortunately turned Rochester into probably the worst place in this part of the state to try to get even just a little bit of a limited release of any kind. Hey, I'm happy with a single bomber/4 pack/6 pack/whatever of a limited release, but you really need to adopt their mentality in order to even get that.

Ultimately, I get it, the chase is part of the fun of it all, but social media takes the romance out of it, along with it up until now being a fairly stress free hobby. Beer is supposed to be fun but there are people who have just recently latched onto the hobby with an apparently insatiable thirst for the rare, and in large quantities. I miss word of mouth among friends. It seems like this trend has led to some of the better shops becoming a little too inside baseball too.

This hobby needs to grow but you've got class A beers sitting on shelves gathering dust because they're not the big new thing that came out this week, so there are definitely some growing pains and FB makes it too easy to get wrapped up in hype and makes otherwise great beers be overlooked.