Wolves & People

I was just at acadian for the first time a couple weeks ago. What an incredible spot - very glad it's close to portland as its quickly becoming a must hot spot in the gorge.

There fight with the city was not entirely successful. They are allowed to sell beer to go but can only give out free tasters. That being said the tasters are generous and you can always tip generously.

 

Propolis just won GABF gold for Brett beer. So I want to get my hands on that beauty.

 

Damn, looks like I'm going to the farmers market on Sunday. Will tell the wife we are going for honey or some shit like that

 

I didn't read most of the novels you guys wrote^ so I don't know if anyone made the comparison to The Rare Barrel when they did something similar a year ago. Big $$ membership before beer was released, based off of the styles of beer, and brewer alone.

I know quite a few members were disappointed with the first beers released. Just check out the Pacific forum. But visiting there a week ago, they're turning out some awesome new stuff, and only members are getting them.

So maybe the payoff for those 75 people will be that at some point W&P (can I get credit for using this first<<<) will release some amazing stuff and they'll be the only ones getting bottles...a la Spencer and The Lily??

 

so, $750... but no membership... ?

 

Right!?

 

Just tasted through 4 of this year's releases on Wednesday at the bar and honestly, every one of them was totally amazing. I get why they're ignored, to some extent. Still pretty new, 2 usually totally new releases every month, uncommon names, $15-20 shelf-price, a few things that sound really weird ingredient-wise, no split-cases at the distribution level (making it hard to smaller shops to afford multiple facings, especially if they aren't flying off the shelves), and they're from Washington. Seriously, that's a reason. I didn't even know they won GABF gold in brett beer until Weds, because I hadn't read 50 blog posts about Washington winners like I have Oregon winners. That beer is amazing. Subjectivity aside (do you love peaches? you still might prefer peche n brett), it's an absolutely beautiful beer. As were the others I tried (Litha, Beltane, this year's Spruce, and another I've forgotten the name of....see??). The bottles now come with that spider-web-like taste range thingy to give you an idea of what you're dealing with. Hopefully this GABF gold leads to some legit cred, which would be highly deserved.

 

Truth is, I wish all of my favorite breweries had a society. The idea of never having to trade for the beers from my favorite breweries, and never having to stand in line for half a day at a release ever again...is really appealing idea to me. Paying up front for the beer and having it secured as it comes out is a nice way to go about things for me. I like it. I still have to pick and choose. I can't afford every club that comes along.

 

Their labeling has always been pretty helpful, I thought. All of the beers are described by style and ingredients at least, which is more than some labels I've seen. Anyway, since they come out with a new beer every month and as far as I know, haven't remade any beers (edit - looks like this may not be true), it's hard to recommend one. I usually just grab whatever has ingredients that interest me.

 

Propolis is great. They're at my farmer's market (U-District) every Saturday. Great interesting beers and nice people.

 

I snagged a bottle of Propolis Erthe from the Wall of Beer at Brews for New Avenues. This thread has convinced me to move it into the fridge and open it tonight. It will be my first Propolis beer, and I'm really looking forward to trying it.

 

I get where you are coming from, but with the pleathora of great breweries in our area, i find myself more buying into a brewery's story, style, vibe - you know that certain.. je ne sais quoi

I only got limited funds to through at these establishments.

 

really? because it sounds like you can...

But truth is, I'm just give you a hard time.

 

Who knew Filladelpians were so sensitive? I thought they were tough guys, I mean they have a jail in their football stadium, and they throw snowballs at Santa.

 

Couldn't agree with this more. It's also amusing to see it being spun in a positive light, when most beer geeks will b anything but excited by it.

 

Excuse my ignorance but does WA still have that law where if a distributor brings certain beers, it has to be made available to all stores that want it? (Part of the reasoning RRBC left) and if so is that why Shelton is screwing you guys?

 

Yes. But it is routinely ignored. RR left for other reasons, that law was their smoke screen. BTW, a lot of states have similar laws. Otherwise, it could getting into restraint of trade issues, and other business-y things that are over my head.

 

lol Yeah...appearances can be deceiving. I budget myself about $10 a day for beer. Which...isn't bad. I don't smoke, I don't drink coffee. I don't have any other vices or expensive hobbies. And I don't drink but a couple times a week, really. I figure between the clubs I've signed up for, I'm in for about $1125 ($350 Wolves & People, $330 Wakefield, $150 El Catador, $295 Bruery). Really, that's about 1/3 of my budget for the year. Not too bad. Leaves me plenty for attending some brewery only releases and going out for a few beers now and then.

I guess I have room for some more clubs in my budget, but the travel expenses, events, etc. chew up the balance of my slush fund quickly. lol

 

I have to disagree. I think many beer geeks will see it as a positive, most probably don't have an informed opinion about Shelton or don't care, and a vocal minority will be bothered by it. I suspect that many who are bothered by it also fall in the "don't have an informed opinion" camp. They either object to Shelton because everyone else does therefore, wisdom of the crowd, Shelton must be big / bad / evil Washington haters that are looking to exploit beer lovers everywhere ... or they sample a few experiences - e.g. they want Cantillon and Drie and can't get it (boo hoo) - so it must be bcause Shelton is incompetent or nefarious. This is the availability heuristic at work ... if Shelton does a good job 90%+ of the time you're never going to notice or recall that. You're going to notice and recall the 10% of the time they do a bad job.

I'm not defending Shelton. I admit I don't know enough about their practices or the nuances of distribution to form an opionion. But I'm deeply skeptical of poorly supported / rationalized blanket statements that get turned into groupthink particularly when I see counterpoints (e.g. the portfolio outside of Cantillon and Drie is pretty well represented). As far as I can tell, many negative opinions are based on anecdote and a sense of entitlement.

For Wolves & People it serves the purpose of A) connecting them to established businesses (in essense - hey, you aren't giving your money to some scammers that will disappear); B) contextualizes them with a community of high quality producers (in essence - we're not going to make crappy beers); and C) seems like it gives them access to some capital, both financial and intellectual. IMHO, that all sounds pretty good.

 

Philadelphia sports fans are passionate. Unfortunately many are fucking idiots too. But not all of them. I'm from Chicago originally...so I'm a model citizen.