Voodoo

Their BRC maple baltic porter was a solid meh. I haven't had any Magicks yet, but rye zangief and Hot Garbage (DO) were both fantastic.

 

Great info here. It looks like I need to buck up and go for a black magick if I want to try some of the best they offer. And yes the notorious manbearpig. Always wanted to try it, but by this time it's most likely way down hill.

 

I'm new to the voodoo scene but I'll do my best to give my opinion. I think most of their stouts are outstanding. It seems everyone wants the Magick's and that's the high bar for them, the will trade high, but some of their other BA stouts like Zangief, Aphotic, GNVP and Hot Garbage are great as well.

In the Pittsburgh area it is possible to drive between locations and buy at two places, harder with Magick releases but if you jump on it, its possible, I have a friend that has done it. I'm in the Lancaster market and have one option that usually sells out in 45 min to 1 hr depending on the beer, so when you see the release post you just drop what you are doing and go.

I've personally traded multiple voodoo beers for both KBBS and BBT b3, a friend traded for an SR71. So it is possible and there is some trade appeal there but sometimes it takes time to find the right trader. The BBT trade happened on a voodoo fan group page, the KBBS was here. Usually with voodoo when the beer is released there will be some very high offers as people who know they can't get the beer will try to get on an immediate trade. It's almost never necessary, because the values usually come down and stabilize a bit, often within hours.

One thing happening with voodoo is they recently upgraded their capacity, and for each barrel they empty their goal is to fill two. So the release have been coming more often. With that though, they are opening more locations which spreads the bottles over a larger region.

 

Of barrel aged stout?

 

No. I'm not a huge fan of Mexican mole stout sort of beers.

 

I haven't had any Black Magicks since September of '18, but I consider them a top three or a top five non-adjunct stout, collectively. I've had the blue, red, green and silver wax on more than once occasion and they're very very good. Here's the problem for me, and why I haven't had any BM in over a year, it's "EXPENSIVE." Trading for 12 ounces at their valuation, to me, is just too much. I refuse to do it. The value proposition isn't there, even though they are really good. I share my beers and you need two of those bad boys to make it a decent pour among several friends. It helps that I can get my hands on Maman every year and BBT every now and again.

I've not had the Aphotic or Zangief stuff, which I would expect to be very good, but the other BRC or notable releases (GNVP, K13, Quadfather, Pumpkin, etc) have not been worth the time or calories for me.

 

This an opinion so take it FWIW.

Voodoo makes some great brews....Nose is great, taste is great but compared to other world class brews (ie SP, Perrenial, BCBS stouts) they are "thin" imho. Again, just my opinion. I've had them all except OG BM.

Whether it's it's because "Voodoo traders" are in a bubble described above or single "trader" single handedly raised the "perceived value" of BM about 6 months ago trying to collect 12 sets, there is a huge disparity between "Voodoo traders" value of Voodoo brews and the rest of the nation. Especially BM as @JPick can confirm. The format may play a role as @rmpic82 stated above.

A common theme I see on the trade boards is "Voodoo traders" always trying to "trade up" with the "bad beers" @N-Gogol described above. I rarely see their "world class" stouts (ie Green, Blue, Red or Silver BM FT).

I personally love BM but not at the price of admission recently. Green, Blue, Red and Silver BM were artificially inflated 2-4x their normal value due to a single trader, trading for 12 sets recently. The same person inflated the value of BBT b2.

Just my 2 cents.

Cheers fellow BA's!

 

I didn’t know some of Voodoo’s beers sell out that quick. That’s good information to have. Sante Adairius (my local) typically does the same style day-of announcements, but you’re pretty much always in the clear if you make it there within a few hours.

 

BM's, aphotics, and zangiefs are ANYTHING but thin. They flirt ten fidy thickness IMO.

I do concur GNVP, K13, and BA big black voodoo daddys to be thin.

 

Black magick sells out in 1-2 hours depending on when they release it. Other 12oz stouts create slightly less of a frenzy. Aphotic took about 3 hours to sell out at all locations last week. Back in November hot garbage lasted into the next day, though I'm pretty sure it would sell out in in a few hours if released again.

It's a crapshoot how long anything else will last. I think k13 maderiera was available for 3 or 4 days at some locations the other week.

 

Here's a shot of the pricing from Voodoo's cellar list for on site consumption at their compound last weekend if that helps anyone.

 

Voodoo is not the only brewery doing that over here. I'm pretty sure Aslin and The Veil also do similar pricing for vintage bottles for on-site consumption, and I'm sure others do as well. The irony with Voodoo is they'll go to the trouble of blacklisting people who sell their bottles. They're ok with it being traded for secondary values, but not sold explicitly.

 

(I apologize ahead of time because this thread will almost certainly go on a tangent but)... why? Products that breweries sell are already divorced from the actual cost of ingredients to a degree (that’s one factor, but “demand” is certainly another factor). What’s wrong with the same principle applied to beers that are very high in demand?

 

^^I may actually be wrong about The Veil and Aslin, but I know I've been to a few places that do sell vintage bottles for inflated prices to drink on-site besides Voodoo. My mind is just a bit hazy this morning and I don't want to ascribe any practices to any specific breweries without being sure.

 

Westbrook is well-known for doing this. See also J Wakefield. Hill Farmstead prices are inflated but certainly not secondary. I’m sure there are plenty more.

 

TG had KBBS (12oz), for onsite consumption, some years back for $500

 

I would be soooo pissed if Side Project charged a few hundred dollars for BBT. Not mad at the brewery, per se, but mad that there is a 0% chance I’d purchase it.

I’m not sure why it’s a disgrace for breweries to benefit from their hard work and yet the alleged end consumers don’t get their ass chewed for selling on secondary. I am against both/either, but how do you stop it from happening?

 

And there’s also breweries like De Garde, Cantillon, Side Project, and Sante Adairius that sell vintage “whale” bottles on-site for very small markups compared to the original to-go price.

 

Agreed. $250 for a 12oz directly from the brewery is a massive turn off. That is full on secondary prices. I absolutely respect Voodoo a bit less after seeing that. I don't find "other breweries do it to" to be a very valid defense. I don't defend my poor actions by saying other people do the same thing so shouldn't it be OK for me to do the same?