It's safe to say that we all enjoy drinking good beer. But with all the different releases that are out there, is it more that we enjoy drinking these beers or do we crave the search, the journey of finding and having these special releases? For instance, I've been fortunate to find bottles of Bourbon County Coffee and Cherry Rye. The plan is to drink them, but I have not yet. Mostly because there's a certain level of satisfaction of just being able to find and have them.
This. Now I just dread all the running around I'm going to have to do just to get a damn beer. Its become like a second job, and I'm ready to quit.
Don't enjoy the search, enjoy walking in not expecting to see something and then there it is sitting on the shelf then taking it home and drinking it.
To me, "having" a beer means drinking it. I do cellar some beer, but that's always because I want to taste it with some age.
...and she has awesome beer? Beer searching kind of reminds me of a time when I was (quite a bit) younger, and the days of finding "rare" Star Wars action figures. Except drinking beer is better than playing with small dolls
To me, the search is kind of a pain in the ass. While I admit I do get a nice feeling of satisfaction when I'm able to find and purchase a rare beer, that feeling is really more of a product of the work I had to put in to get to that point. If given the option I'd much prefer to be able to walk into my local store and purchase special release beers with little to no effort involved.
This fall I walked into a random liquor store. I never go to this place and it was extremely small. They only had about five varieties of craft, two Bells regulars, two Founders regulars, and then a single glowing four pack of Founders Harvest, and it was only about seven days old. Last spring I had to annoy my local store and reserve a single bottle of KBS. When I went in to buy it, the owner looked like he had been through a boxing match with the entire beer geek community all morning. I much preferred the first instance. However, 'searching' can be fun if it entails taking a road trip to a brewery for a special release or just something you couldn't get elsewhere. I think I answered that question...
talk about exhausting, i drove almost three hours to PA to pick up some stone enjoy by and of course drive back.
The search sucks. Finding out which beers are available where is exhausting. The point of good beer is DRINKING it, not spending $100 on gas getting it or fighting in long lines for it. If some of these breweries really gave a damn about their customers they'd make some of these more readily available.
The search overall is fun. It can be as exhausting as it it exciting. The negotiation is typically my favorite part next to opening the box of course.
Long time beer lover, just starting to get deep into learning about all the special releases. I couldn't sleep last night because my family just decided to visit Chicago in April, and all I could think about was the giant haul of beer that I might find that's not available in the Finger Lakes.
I admit that I am a hoarder, but not in huge quantities. I have about 20 "special beers" that I am holding and plan to keep them for special occasions.
I enjoy hunting down beer. I don't hoard it though, I hunt it for my husband. He also hunts for me. It's fun when you buy it for someone else that will love it.
I enjoy drinking them, definitely not hunting them. All the douchebaggery was too much for me. I no longer waste my time chasing them. Whatever the beer store happens to have when I happen to be there is what I buy.
it is quite exhausting and sucks but for some reason i find myself taking on greater and greater challenges and searching for rarer and rarer beers. Addiction? Maybe? Satisfying? most definitely would I do it all again? yes lol
This is my approach too. If I happen upon something rad I'll pick it up, but I don't really have the time or desire to go out of my way to get super rare stuff. Now if something shows up at a bottle share, of course I won't turn it down...
For my first year and a half on BA I traded for almost every highly sought after beer. Eventually I learned that hype and good reviews doesnt mean I will enjoy the beer. Now I go after styles that I like and word of mouth. Dropping $60 in beer, extras, and shipping for an unproven brew is for the rookies.
I prefer setting up good contacts that can get me bees that I really like, or really want to try. I won't chase a big beer anymore. Trading is good for that.
I wait for things to fall into my lap. I don't have the time, money, or care to be chasin' walez bro. Seriously, most people I drink these brews with anyway arent into it as much as me, they just enjoy a great beer. So im the man if I show up with Big Bad Baptist. Why would I go through the hassle of acquiring Black Tuesday again when ive already had it and they will piss their pants in excitement for BBB? (AS WILL I)
Unless I'm positive it's coming to my area, I don't really appreciate stubborn distributors and lazy store owners making me drive a long way to get a beer. Trading, especially in this community, is really a great thing. However, per Casedogg's quoted post, it's so wonderful when I walk into my local bottle shop and Sean says, "hey man, I set aside something you need to try, here's a 5% discount." Good contacts are amazing.
The search is terrible. Nothing redeeming about driving from store to store leering at beer racks like some kind of psycho and asking the poor clerks about some beer they have already been asked about 50 times that day and probably don't have anyway. Then there's the fact that I always feel like a douche asking about some rare beer and being like, "Oh...well, bye", if they don't have it, so I usually end up making a gratuitous purchase I don't need. For awhile that made me apprehensious about drinking whatever hard-to-get stuff I landed until I realized that there is some new rare elusive beer being released almost every week. Moral of the story I guess is drink em if you got em. They will make more.
I enjoy stumbling on a special or limited release beer on my weekly stops at my 2 bottles shops...I don't think I'd get the same satisfaction putting crazy miles on the car and spending hours going to a dozen different places trying to hunt something particular down.
Personally, I consider it a compulsion. Having the full beers in hand satisfies the compulsion for some. I also find the search extremely exhausting and think/hope I'll be getting over it soon.
And what if you're seen with beautiful women, while secretly taking satisfaction in the knowledge that you have several other beautiful women in your basement? But not next to your water heater because the heat fluctuation might mess 'em up.
Anyone who got into beer specifically so they could drive six hours and stand in a line could probably find a much cheaper hobby. I don't have the time, money, or frankly the inclination to whale hunt like some people, and I accept that I'm gonna miss out on some amazing things because of it. But there's certainly a collecting aspect to this, as anyone who looks in my basement can see. And I do enjoy digging around a little bit to find something cool. Within reason, of course.
Ill admit I horde between chasing and trading but then I will do one hell of a tasting with close friends where we try many great and beers that we cant easily obtain all at once
