Tactfully complaining to your trade partner?

I'd delete this post cause, I'd be annoyed if someone was complaining about me on an open forum without brining it to me first.

It's like any other relationship, some work, some don't when you ask the hard questions

 

Sounds like a perfect trade, other than you complaining about the beers not living up to your no doubt monstrous expectations. If everyone contacted a trade partner every time that happened, no one would trade anymore.

 

Or, it might be entirely you... Not trying to be a dick, but your palate might be off, you might be a bit sick, or the beers just aren't the mana from heaven that you were expecting. I personally wasn't blown away by Julius, and gave it a very similar rating to you, so I would put it down to hype...

Just for the hell of it, I looked up the weather in Monson, MA and Boston - the hottest it got in the past 10 days was low to mid 80's, but most of the time it was high 70's as a max, and below 60 overnight.

The beers in question are all in cans, so no risk of light damage, and even if this guy literally left it sitting in the trunk of his car all week (and what beer guy does that?!), it was perhaps 10-15 degrees warmer than room temperature for a few hours a couple of times for the entire week.

A few extra degrees of storage temp isn't going to make a 10 day old IPA suck - he would have had to store them all week in the oven to do that...

 

Since you're asking for people's opinion there is no issue. You asked for IPAs in a trade and received very fresh ones. Then you rated them fairly high for beers that you believe were affected by the heat. I would think that you were expecting something mind blowing and the beers didn't live up to your expectations. So I would suggest not to contact him.

 

All this ^
Way too speculative on your part. Also, I've had HT travel coast to coast during a heat wave and it was still hoppy and killer.

 

When you say "0 hop presence" what do you mean?

I can take any IPA and put it in the microwave and it will still be hoppy. Maybe you just expected them to be way better/different than they actually are?

 

Wait a second. As the more experienced trader schooling the lad, didn't you make sure he gave you the standard "100% satisfaction or your trade back!!!" guarantee? I mean shit, standard forms for that are available--there's no reason to use them.

Seriously though, let's turn the tables for argument's sake. What would you do if he--after he tastes the mango sourer that you sent him--writes to you moaning about how it was too sour, or not mango-ey enough? What if the only explanation he can think of for why that beer didn't rock his world is that you must have mishandled it? Will you go fetch him a new one and tell him how sorry you are?

C'mon man. I don't recall if TH date-stamps its cans--but if it does, and if they were fresh, then to me you have 2 options: (i) tell your partner that you weren't blown away by them, but would love to try them again to see if maybe it was just an off batch (and you'll be happy to work out another fair trade when the time comes and he can snag them); or (ii) not worry about the fact that you didn't fall in love with these couple beers, not "tactfully" accuse this guy of mishandling the beers, and just try other TH beers down the road (or not) via another trade with him (or someone else). Seeing as how he seemed so enamored with your trading style and how he offered to be your TH hookup, I'd go with the option 2. I mean, if he keeps sending you IPAs that he's purposely par-boiled, he should probably realize that's not going be a recipe for longevity.

If TH doesn't date-stamp its beers and there's some concern he's sending you old-ass IPAs, then pursue option 1 or 2 above or just move along.

Nobody likes the person who eats their whole meal at a restaurant and then bitches to the waiter about how it wasn't their favorite meal with the expectation of getting it taken off the bill or getting a free dessert. Don't be that person.

 

its
date stamping some, and not date stamping others. Theyre in the process of testing out the system. I know this for a fact because when I was there last week I noticed that the Julius cans had no date stamp, but the alter ego cans and green cans did. I asked and was told theyre still in the testig process.

 

Not for nothing, but you do realize that once you posted this thread the whole "tactfulness" part of your inquiry was lost?

 

Maybe the heat from shipping? You should be messaging him directly. Nobody can help here.

 

Hey man, had the beers you sent. They were good, but not amazing as I expected or heard. Some of the cans seem to have very little hops in them. Have you had previous batches of these, if so, how do they compare? Incidentally, do you usually keep your beers in the fridge or cool dry area of the house?

A trade relationship is like any relationship. The key is communication and always honesty and civil approach to concerns. Make no assumptions of how anything was handled, simply ask questions without accusing. A good trade partner wouldn't mind questions and a new trader could use some guidance if necessary.

 

If you really think the issues are caused by the heat then don't trade/ship beer in the summer anymore. Problem solved.

 

Tree House beers aren't very hoppy. If you were expecting a hop bomb, you traded for the wrong beers. I should look way back to my first trade and ask for my stuff back, those FFF beers were way too malty.

 

I recently got a growler of Green from TH and I was wayyy underwhelmed. Way Bitter and not nearly the beer i was expecting based on reviews. Not my Trading partners fault though. I'll know in the future to not trade for that beer again.

Sometimes expectations exceed reality. Again not the trading partners fault.

 

He said "If you ever want anything from Tree House, let me know".

I'd reply, "thanks for the offer, I think I'll take you up on it when the weather cools off a bit. Those beers were not as hoppy as I was expecting, and I'm guessing it probably had to do with getting hot during transit, since they were obviously fresh. I'm looking forward to trading with you again though!"

That way you get your message across (heat damages hoppy beer, its very important to keep them as cool as possible) without directing it squarely at him.

 

I've had a lot of IPAs. Personally I think Julius is way overhyped. Green is ok. Haze is fantastic. Here's the rub I know what type of hops I like, maybe the blend in Haze has more varietals of the hops I prefer. I wouldn't say the julius I had wasn't "hoppy" it just wasn't my preferred definition of "hoppy". I have a feeling this may be what you are experiencing.