Toppling Goliath Rue the Crown

Indeed. Yet again, $50 in my pocket and not being in Iowa doesn't sound too shabby.

 

They bring good beer, just not the whales...but they love to tell you about what's in their cellar. I wouldn't have anything even remotely close with which to reciprocate, so I don't have an issue with it. My cellar is stuff like Parabola and Darkness, none of the whales. I'm just not willing to pay big bucks or trade half my cellar for that stuff. The law of diminishing returns kicks in big time on that stuff IMO. I'd buy it at face value if I got the chance, but it mostly goes to mug club members.

Shrug. No big deal. I'm pretty sure I can live a long and prosperous life without ever having had any of those unobtainium beers. If one falls in my lap, I'll certainly drink it with my friends, but I'm not gonna bust my butt or empty a bank account to get one.

 

Not even remotely true. MD was a lottery style release, SR71 was first come, first serve, Assassin has hit distro. If Rue the Crown is Mug Club only it will be the first release of its kind that TG has done since 2014 (not sure about before that, as I didn't join the mug club until later.)

It does take some paying attention to social media and some flexibility with work, but if you want to get the hard to find TG stouts and you're within driving distance of Decorah it's not like it's that hard. SR71 lasted two days at the taproom, you could have just taken the following day off work to go grab some, you didn't have to drop everything and go. I saw the tweet, requested the following day off work, got up early, and made it from the TC to Decorah by 10 am. I didn't have to kill a hooker, decipher a riddle, or pay a troll to cross a bridge. If you're willing to pay $20 for a bottle of darkness I think you'd appreciate SR71 for just $5 more, but that was your choice, I guess.

 

Delicious.

 

I'm proof anyone with internet access around the announcement time had a shot at MD. I was at work during a major tech problem when the lottery announcement was posted and yet I still got an email sent in time after trying to get a chance to occasionally check their timeline. Had to be close since mine was sent near the followup post that they were sold out but I got through.

Also, wasn't Assassin a silent release so it was available much longer?

 

Yes, it was available 3pp for like a week

 

So as someone who has never made a TG release and is not a Mug Club member... what do you do? Follow them on Twitter/Facebook and wait for them to mention release details?

 

Exactly yes.

 

I never really check Twitter. Do they post everything to FB as well?

 

They don't cross post *everything*. What you can do though is set up your Twitter on your phone, then go to the account you want notifications for and get notified. It will then let you know each time they tweet. That's what I do anyway.

 

Hey, if I get the chance, I'll spring for it, but I think a couple things are worth noting. SR-71 has reached cult status (as has KBBS and Assassin). They did a lottery for non-BA MD. The BA stuff will, at a minimum, be a lottery, but from what I heard, the big three will be mug club first, and, if there's any left, lottery for the remaining bottles. If they're only $25/bottle, I'll be floored given that MD was essentially $40/bottle ($100 for two bottles, a small pour and a glass).

Rue the Crown is mug club only and lottery within the MC (indicating they don't have enough to satisfy all of mug club if everyone wants one). I imagine if there's any left they may open it up, but I'm betting that won't happen.

KS sells out in 2 days now and that's not a BA Whale and it's been released three times in the last 9 months.. Times are different with TG now...mules, trading and huge aftermarket values will make them that much harder to get. I heard KBBS is going for over $1K/bottle. It doesn't mean I won't try, I'm just not holding my breath.

 

I've pretty much figured that the only chance I have of ever seeing TG BA Stouts is if the massively increase production and start doing a national release (where they have distro). I'll keep trying though.

 

Again, if Rue the Crown is mug club only it would be the first TG BA beer to be mug club only. If setting up twitter notifications on your phone is too much work for you, then you're right, you probably won't get to try those beers. There's nothing wrong with that, I just don't understand why you're complaining to us that some of the most sought after beer in the world doesn't "fall into your lap" as you so eloquently put it.

To correct some more of your misinformation though - MD was not a lottery. It was first come first serve via an email sign up. There was a tweet that went out the day before the sign up that notified everyone that the sign up would be the next day. Then, as promised, a tweet the next day with the sign up information. You had about 30 minutes to look at your twitter notification, read the post, and send an email if you wanted MD. The beer itself was $35 when they released it to Mug Club members. The "small pour" was literally a full glass, filled to the tippy top as you walked into MD day.

In addition to being able to try these beers with a minimal amount of work, you can also try them at events. Assassin, MD, KBBS, Vanilla Bean Assassin, and SR71 have all been poured at events in the past.

When Mikkeller was in town Clark and Mike opened 12, 13, 14 Assassin and 13, 14 KBBS on the patio for free to anyone who drove up and hung out.

At Great Taste of the Midwest they pour Morning Delight every single year and had an SR71 event at Dexter's last year.

Huna Day has gotten SR71.

Casanova cave fest this year had all you can drink Morning Delight for like two hours straight and they also cracked a couple bottles of Assassin.

I know I've seen events at El Bait Shop where they open the big stouts as well.

I'm sorry if you came here looking for pity, but I'd recommend you actually put in a modicum of work if you want to try the beers you talk about.

 

That was an AWESOME day. I was blown away by how calm and fun the event was. Met a great group of people at that event that I still keep in touch with. I bought a couple pizzas from Mabes and passed them around.

SR-71 was on tap that day too. They announced that SR-71 would be on tap before the event. The KBBS/Assassin/Naughty Temple/whale share just kind of happened. According to my Untappd it was June 2, 2015 so roughly a year ago #memories

 

Can confirm. Best day ever. Wedding is a distant second.

 

I have TG twitter notification on...for tgnews and hop patrol. I have dropped everything and driven up to Decorah multiple times for Nelson Schmelson, King Sue etc. I was aware of the MD release, but the tweet or email I saw called it a lottery. I didn't pursue it at the time due to cost. I had MD at Reds....it's not really an unobtainium beer IMO. FWIW, For the Love of Almonds from Pulpit Rock is much better than MD IMO.

What I meant by "drop in my lap" was that the stars would align such that I could finagle it. Price, conflicts, and being late to the party all can add up to missing out on those opportunities. If the stars align, great. If not, oh well.

I have new responsibilities at work that will make dropping things on a dime to drive to Decorah very difficult going forward. Just the nature of the beast. I'm not looking for a pitty party...as I said, if I never have the BA stuff, I'm not going to lose sleep over it. If you want to interpret that as me wanting violins to sooth my woes, knock yourself out. I'm happy that you've had great luck getting opportunities to try those beers. I've been drinking craft beer since the late 80's, but only in the last year have I gotten wrapped up trying to try all these epic beers. Just as quickly as that started, I'm bailing on it. As I said in my original post, there's too many great beers more easily obtained to worry about the ones everybody and their brother are chasing.

 

If rue the crown was mug club only / mug club only lottery, you would think the email would say that

 

My friend, who got the email last week, said that the email said it was a lottery for mug club members. Either he misread/misinterpreted it, he lied to me, or I misunderstood.

If I'm wrong, that's fine. I'm not too worried about it. I'll leave the rest of the discussion to those of you who are clearly far more TG savvy than I.

 

Not so fast, you must atone for your sins as you have upset the TG Gods on the holiest of beer advocate message boards.

 

To atone, I will open a Galaxy Sue and savor it when I get home.