Tasting Ghost Whales

At this level, it is all about the experience. You don't plunk down a few grand for a bottle of beer, and drink it solely for the taste. In large part, you're buying the experience, and the ability to say that you've tasted one of these beers. When only 27 other bottles of something exist, you're experiencing something that maybe 100 other people have had the opportunity to experience, and it's something that only a handful of people will ever get to experience again.

I don't begrudge anybody having the means and desire to contribute to and take part in a tasting like this. I get the appeal of it, and if I were fortunate enough to have the time and money and interpersonal skills necessary to successfully get involved in such a pursuit, I could see myself doing so. But I wouldn't kid myself into thinking that the price tag of these beers is commensurate with their superiority to other, readily available beers. It's the exclusivity you're paying for, not the beer itself.

 

Fantasmic porpoise harpoonings happen all the time, just never all in 1 place with all the right people. There is also never a reporter/blogger on standby to the capture the moment when said coveted beer(s) are drainpoured with a resounding "yuck." Or the host dresses up in a ghost costume and the participants get too drunk to remember how/why they are even there. Also, some epic tome tastings happen without so much as a high 5 and a pic at the end.

The thing about this lambic tasting is that there is documented history behind what the beers are and what they mean/were meant for. I think thats pretty badass. The thing about Fantome ghost tomers is that you can show a picture of an obscure bottle to Dany P and his response will be "holy shit I dont even remember that, you are dumb for holding on to that this long. it should have been drank XX years ago. how is it?"

 

Here here.

 

http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/post-a-pic-of-your-tasting-events.13597/page-44

#1721

 

Looks nice, I have heard about most of those but some were new to me.

I am really surprised that I have actually tried some of these beers, the ones I have tried were obviously not the stars of the show.

 

lol I camped at Ebenezers with one of the guys in this article.

 

i would crash that thing like the Pink Panthers and swipe all the beers

 

I've seen folks plunking down hundreds for gold leaf coated ice cream sundaes too. I doubt gold coated ice cream tastes better than our local ice cream masterpiece, Jane's, and I doubt those beer taste better than our local masterpieces either.

Guess I will never be able to say I ate gold coated ice cream, or drank any of those beers. Funny, I doubt I will regret either.

 

To the bottle shop owner - "Pardon me, but where are the whales?" =)

 

I suspect you are not a collector of anything, let alone rare beer.

The thing that might help in understanding their mindset is to not look at those folks as beer drinkers or as being concerned with status, reputation, and how few people there are who have tasted the beer. Look at them as collectors. The mind set of the collector is about the search for and acquisition of the complete range of examples of the subtle variations in whatever it is that is being collected. Over time the collection gets refined and the focus sometimes gets narrower, but there is still this search to complete the collection. Often the avid collector of anything is aware of subtleties and differences the rest of us don't "see" or recognize as even existing. For these guys described in the article its is beer they collect and their focus is on things that had only a limited production. There is a personal sense of accomplishment in knowing the complexities and acquiring different examples and variants. True they eventually have to drink it, but that is also deeply involved with a sense of accomplishment and enjoyment. They are really no different that beer can collectors, people who collect historial information about beer and brewing, or people who collect empty beer bottles, etc. etc.

Edit: Similarly I know someone who collects fountain pens. He focuses on a 1970s model by Shaeffer called "The Targa" and takes great pride in the fact that he has almost every variant of the Targa ever manufactured. Contrary to what some other folks in this thread have said, he doesn't give a fig if anyone other than another devoted collector appreciates his collection.

 

A lot of sadness in this thread.

 

Two kinds of people in this world: Those that do things so they can say they did them (26.2 bumper sticker), and those that live their life without the need for adulation, either from themselves or others.

I say, if it feels good, do it. But don't expect me to be impressed.

 

Someone came in to my shop last week and asked if we had any fresh 6-packs of Pliny the Younger. Still can't figure out if that guy was trolling me or not.

 

Probably not. There are a regular supply of new folks on this site who ask in the mid-atlantic forum where they can get bottles of PtY in the Philly area. Most appear genuinely surprised when told that neither Pliny comes into the Philly area in bottled form and that PtY is not bottled at all.

 

This thread made me think of this

and this

 

good post
it's about the hunt/chase and scratching that personal itch

 

As long as we can all learn from the last statement: “These beers should be drunk; we just needed the right situation to open them at. Besides, there will always be more whales to chase.”

 

I'm not a collector (anymore), but did, in a younger age, collect comic book cards. Avidly. All my disposable income went to compiling full sets of Marvel cards. I understand the collector mindset and that desire to search/acquire the complete range of examples/variations in a given item.

What I don't understand is applying the mindset to a consumable, perishable (not in the conventional sense, since beer doesn't "spoil") item that is intended to be drank and enjoyed. In a way, it's like being a cheese collector, even though cheese will eventually become completely inedible. A collector of fountain pens, to stick with your example, can appreciate and enjoy the fruits of his search and acquisition without having to consume said fruits. Same with a collector of any permanent good--cars, stamps, bottles, pogs, cans, bobble heads, pocket watches, trading cards, comic books, fountain pens, Precious Moments figurines, etc--those are all items that, with care and maintenance, will continue to exist for the collector to appreciate the complete range and variations of that product they've been able to acquire. And while most collectors don't do this in order to avoid deteriorating their collectibles, the items they collect in those situations can all be "used" for their original purpose without having to deplete the collection.

Again, I don't begrudge these gentlemen--if that's what they enjoy, then they have every right to enjoy it. Who am I to tell someone else what they can or can't enjoy in life. It's just an idea that is very distant from what I enjoy about beer.

 

I did it, had a fun time, and when I was done I started enjoying "shelf" beer without the pressure of keeping up with the Jonses.

 

Great. Then I think you actually do understand. So lets move from tangible objects to the notion of collection of experience. To some degree my anlogy with a fountain pen collector is misleading in that it does include a tangible object with a great deal of longevity even if used periodically.

Just as there are people who collect things, there are people who collect experiences. Suppose the bottle is not the thing the folks in the article are collecting but rather the anticipation of and eventual enjoyment of the experience of drinking the beer. For different analogies, think of the individual who lives in or near New York City and has had Season Tickets to the Met Opera for 20-30 years. Those are expensive seats but the person is seeking and collecting a particular type of experience. Or take football, in Green Bay Wisconson all seats to Packers home games are held by season ticket holders, every single seat in the stadium. This has been true since sometime in the 60s and the right to purchase season tickets is often passed on from one generaltion of fans to the next in the inheritance. The only way you can acquire a season ticket is to get on the waiting list for someone to give up their right to purchase a season ticket. Again the ticket holders are a lot like the guys described in the article. Its pursuit of the experience of being there that counts.

While I think I understand that mind set its not for me either. And is also for me an idea that's far from my enjoyment as well.