Bruery Reserve Society 2014 Allocations/Discussion Thread

[LawIsTheUT]

 

[boogercrack]

i'm ISO a trustee for a new RS membership. if any of yall that do trustee can take on another, please let me know.

thanks!!


**edit: closed!

 

[daniel1]

Last week we introduced you to the Arbré Series, which takes a look at different chars of oak barrels. Today we'd like to let you know about the Chronology Series. This vertical release of ales will showcase a beer similar to our Anniversary ale, a malty old-ale, that has been aged in previously used bourbon barrels for 6 months, 12 months and 18 months. We love aging our high gravity beers in bourbon barrels and this will be a wonderful opportunity for you to understand the different flavors that come from letting a beer rest within these barrels for different lengths of time. Tasting these beers side by side will certainly be an eye opening experience.

 

[JulianB1]

In theory I like the idea behind the Arbre and the Chronology series. In practice I'm finding less and less am I interested in busting out big verticals or horizontals of related beers, especially really big beers like the Bruery's anniversary series old ale.

 

[ridglens]

In theory I like the idea behind the Arbre and the Chronology series. In practice I'm finding less and less am I interested in busting out big verticals or horizontals of related beers, especially really big beers like the Bruery's anniversary series old ale.

Couldn't agree more. ESPECIALLY when there's 3-5 750s, they are all 15+% and $30 a pop. I might be more interested in something like a 4-pk of 375s or something, but dropping $100+ for what amounts to subtly different variants that would likely dominate a night of not-so-casual drinking is just not something i need to do very often, if ever.

 

[matedog]

Couldn't agree more. ESPECIALLY when there's 3-5 750s, they are all 15+% and $30 a pop. I might be more interested in something like a 4-pk of 375s or something, but dropping $100+ for what amounts to subtly different variants that would likely dominate a night of not-so-casual drinking is just not something i need to do very often, if ever.

But remember, Bruery doesn't do 375s because (something about sharing and drinking with others that seemed kinda chintzy).

 

[stupac2]

I used to really like the Bruery 750's, until literally everyone I know decided that they weren't drinking Bruery at tastings ever again. Then they just became a colossal pain in the ass.

 

[tinypyramids1]

I used to really like the Bruery 750's, until literally everyone I know decided that they weren't drinking Bruery at tastings ever again. Then they just became a colossal pain in the ass.

this is one of the big reasons i'm dropping my bruery membership for next year, infections notwithstanding. i opened the rum sucre on saturday and i couldn't drink more than two sips it was so ******* boozy. i'm trying to decrease the size of my cellar overall, and near 20% ABV 750s that often border on undrinkable are not going to help the matter.

 

[Heatwaves1]

Couldn't agree more. ESPECIALLY when there's 3-5 750s, they are all 15+% and $30 a pop. I might be more interested in something like a 4-pk of 375s or something, but dropping $100+ for what amounts to subtly different variants that would likely dominate a night of not-so-casual drinking is just not something i need to do very often, if ever.

Exactly. This is the perfect thing to try in a tasting room, not buy 750s of each.

 

[ApocalypseZombie]

near 20% ABV 750s that often border on undrinkable

 

[wyatt1]

I could crush a 750 of BT with a friend over the course of an evening. easily.

 

[CommanderofAwesome]

I could crush a 750 of BT over the course of an evening. easily.

FIFY

Also, I have a few bottle stoppers which work great for big Bruery beers solo. Crack a big guy and drink half, save the second half for the next day. Solves my 750 problem easily. The real problem is not downing the BT in one sitting solo. Such a great beer.

 

[franch]

fiancee and i will regularly start off an evening by splitting a BT/CR/GM/etc

 

[ridglens]

hell guys, drinking one of these (or even two) solo or with wife isn't that big of a deal, but ***** i'm talking about doing the obvious lineups they are talking about... 3-5 of these things that are probbaly high enough alcohol that you need to find some additional mouths, not to mention maybe the biggest detractor, the $30+ price tag each....















































* hahahaha I said *********

 

[kscaldef]

So proud of everyone who considers cracking open a Bruery stout with only 1 or 2 people no big deal. You have truly shamed the weaklings who would like smaller bottle formats for these beers.

 

[Usofar]

So proud of everyone who considers cracking open a Bruery stout with only 1 or 2 people no big deal. You have truly shamed the weaklings who would like smaller bottle formats for these beers.

There may someday come a time, when bottle sales actually decline, but it doesn't sound like that's a problem for them at this point. Money ultimately talks, but right now it's a small minority complaining about the bottles and putting their wallet behind the point they are trying to get across. Seems like most people talk a great game about "Bruery sucks" this and that, but still buy the bottles. We sometimes forget how small of a percentage of the beer population that we represent. 6000 people allegedly tried to get tickets for Lost Abbey's barrel night. So if you assume 1000 were mules for Moe and another 1000 were mules for all the other shady places out there that leaves 2000 beer nerds trying on two devices to buy tickets for the same 30 frustrating seconds. And all the while the same 30-40 people bitch about the Bruery on here or FB.

 

[kscaldef]

There may someday come a time, when bottle sales actually decline, but it doesn't sound like that's a problem for them at this point. Money ultimately talks, but right now it's a small minority complaining about the bottles and putting their wallet behind the point they are trying to get across. Seems like most people talk a great game about "Bruery sucks" this and that, but still buy the bottles. We sometimes forget how small of a percentage of the beer population that we represent. 6000 people allegedly tried to get tickets for Lost Abbey's barrel night. So if you assume 1000 were mules for Moe and another 1000 were mules for all the other shady places out there that leaves 2000 beer nerds trying on two devices to buy tickets for the same 30 frustrating seconds. And all the while the same 30-40 people bitch about the Bruery on here or FB.

Sorry, I don't really buy it. One by one, almost everyone I know in the local beer community here has dropped their Bruery memberships, mainly for the reason that they just can't find opportunities to actually open the bottles. I guess people will probably rush in to grab those memberships for a year or three until they too find themselves will a cellar full of beer that their friends don't want to drink any more of. And maybe the Bruery is fine with that sort of constantly rotating membership base. Or it'll stabilize out to the population of people who find taking down a BT solo or with their SO no big deal. But, I think it's interesting that no one is actually saying "yes, I'm that guy that Patrick Rue talks about who shares all his Bruery 750s with 6 people", but the two camps we do hear from are "my tasting group is sick of their beer" and "just dome that ****".

 

[waltersrj]

Sorry, I don't really buy it. One by one, almost everyone I know in the local beer community here has dropped their Bruery memberships, mainly for the reason that they just can't find opportunities to actually open the bottles. I guess people will probably rush in to grab those memberships for a year or three until they too find themselves will a cellar full of beer that their friends don't want to drink any more of. And maybe the Bruery is fine with that sort of constantly rotating membership base. Or it'll stabilize out to the population of people who find taking down a BT solo or with their SO no big deal. But, I think it's interesting that no one is actually saying "yes, I'm that guy that Patrick Rue talks about who shares all his Bruery 750s with 6 people", but the two camps we do hear from are "my tasting group is sick of their beer" and "just dome that ****".

I definitely agree that it is getting harder to find times to open these Bruery beers, especially the high abv bottles. I generally try to open them with roughly 2-3 people but will dome them myself every so often. The good thing for myself is that I generally don't buy more than say 30 bottles max each year. I'm definitely glad to see the RS adding more sours into the mix as well as other BT variants but there are also many beers that they make that sound terrible to me that I never buy. It would be pretty cool to see their higher abv beers in say 12 oz bottles. I'd honestly rather have say 24 (12) oz bottles of BT than (6) 750 ml's.

 

[3rdto1st1]

But, I think it's interesting that no one is actually saying "yes, I'm that guy that Patrick Rue talks about who shares all his Bruery 750s with 6 people", but the two camps we do hear from are "my tasting group is sick of their beer" and "just dome that ****".

Fine, I'll say it. I'm that guy. My group has a few buddies with a killer house and home theater setup, and a few that are killer cooks. We watch the Formula1 race every weekend it's on. My buddies with the house supply the cable subscription to watch, the guys who cook bring the food, and I bring the beer. So for ~20 weekends a year, the 7 of us will hang out for a few hours and kill a bunch of these 750s. None, of my group is "sick of their beer" and I have never actually heard someone say that out loud anywhere. I also know of 4 other groups that do the exact same thing, but with different sporting events.

So there's your small statistical sample of people who are Patrick's target audience.

 

[ApocalypseZombie]

I definitely agree that it is getting harder to find times to open these Bruery beers, especially the high abv bottles. I generally try to open them with roughly 2-3 people but will dome them myself every so often. The good thing for myself is that I generally don't buy more than say 30 bottles max each year. I'm definitely glad to see the RS adding more sours into the mix as well as other BT variants but there are also many beers that they make that sound terrible to me that I never buy. It would be pretty cool to see their higher abv beers in say 12 oz bottles. I'd honestly rather have say 24 (12) oz bottles of BT than (6) 750 ml's.

Although I enjoy doming them and stand by my GIF, I never max my personal allotment due to bottle size vs available 12oz options like BCBS and Black Note. I agree with you synopsis.

 

[3rdto1st1]

I'd honestly rather have say 24 (12) oz bottles of BT than (6) 750 ml's.

Of course you would, because 24 (12oz) bottles is closer to 12x750s than it is 6x750

#mathfail

 

[kscaldef]

Of course you would, because 24 (12oz) bottles is closer to 12x750s than it is 6x750

#mathfail

I mean if you want to deliberately misinterpret what he's says, which is obviously that he would buy more of the beer in smaller formats.

 

[Usofar]

Sorry, I don't really buy it. One by one, almost everyone I know in the local beer community here has dropped their Bruery memberships, mainly for the reason that they just can't find opportunities to actually open the bottles. I guess people will probably rush in to grab those memberships for a year or three until they too find themselves will a cellar full of beer that their friends don't want to drink any more of. And maybe the Bruery is fine with that sort of constantly rotating membership base. Or it'll stabilize out to the population of people who find taking down a BT solo or with their SO no big deal. But, I think it's interesting that no one is actually saying "yes, I'm that guy that Patrick Rue talks about who shares all his Bruery 750s with 6 people", but the two camps we do hear from are "my tasting group is sick of their beer" and "just dome that ****".

I'm that guy. I would say Bruery beers are still 15-20% of what gets opened at most of our shares and my regular circle includes 7 or 8 Hoarders and another 8-10 RS members as well as people that aren't members. I guess we're spoiled in that we're all local and at least for this year and part of last we've been able to try most of the beers before buying any. I think we've also reduced the amount of bottles we all individually buy because of the large overlap.

To this point the Bruery has expanded it's memberships each year. from 700 to 1000 to 1400 to roughly 2000 with the RS and from 300 to roughly 500 with the HS. Its my understanding that they are done growing the societies and they're at the numbers they feel they than successfully maintain so now it's only about replacing turnover. Assuming 20% turnover (Which I understand is much higher than they have ever experienced) that's 400 RS member and 100 HS people turning over and not renewing. To this point they have expanded more than that each year. On top of that there are well over 1000 PS members already contemplating making the jump to RS.

 

[beerandraiderfan]

"sour stout"

Not a "style" that has a high percentage of successes, IMO.

But from the brewery that makes the best two in the world, (TOD + TOD w/ cherry/vanilla) I am optimistic.

 

[waltersrj]

Of course you would, because 24 (12oz) bottles is closer to 12x750s than it is 6x750

#mathfail

I'm a Civil Engineer...when I'm at work the only real math I want to do is work related. But here you go...
(6) 750 ml (25.3605 ounces) bottles = 152.163 ounces/12 = 12.68025 (12 ounce bottles).
In summary, I'd love (13) 12 ounce bottles compared to (6) 750 ml bottles...is it okay if I'm greedy and rounded up to include an additional bottle instead of just asking for (1) 8.163 ounce bottle?

 

[JulianC]

I'll just add that this was a good night.... Of course you can see that we had a few people to help

 

[3rdto1st1]

I'll just add that this was a good night.... Of course you can see that we had a few people to help

I'm gearing up for this exact same tasting in November for the Abu Dhabi Grand prix. You have ranks for them so I know what to expect?

 

[kscaldef]

I'll just add that this was a good night.... Of course you can see that we had a few people to help

Just you and 20 of your best friends?

 

[franch]

i also bring them to shares, not just sit at home with the wife-2-be and drink BT and watch hunger games during the day like degenerates. we have a regular tasting group that has 1.5 hoarders this year and will be 2 hoarders next year and there's always a BT variant or two and an anniversary beer. no one's tired of it (i was RS last year, it's not new and novel) - BA stouts are one of our favorite styles, so being able to have a ton of some of the best in style is great.

i'd be down with 24 375mls instead of 12 750mls (and just bring a couple to the shares), but not if they were more expensive per ounce. it's expensive enough already

 

[JulianC]

I'm gearing up for this exact same tasting in November for the Abu Dhabi Grand prix. You have ranks for them so I know what to expect?

To each his own of course but I actually think the best variant is the shelf bourbon one. All of them are pretty good and very different, which is good. We also drank about 6x Hottenroth as palate cleansers in between each barrel.