Random Beer Thoughts

[drgarage1]

if you should remember anything about Trick Daddy it's that the man ******* loves conch fritters


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I did not expect you to be our #trickdaddyfoodfacts user

 

[purephase]

I didn't think any of Jeppe's ******** could ever induce anything more than an eyeroll from me at this point, but holy hell did I find this article featuring him complaining about beer geeks wanting to constantly tick new stuff and the negative pressures this puts on breweries infuriating. I could not think of a brewer I'm less interested in hearing wistfully reflect on a time before ticker culture than the guy whose brewery has fed into it as much as anyone's and whose business model seems to have been premised on it from the very beginning.

 

[WhalezB4Rarez]

I didn't think any of Jeppe's ******** could ever induce anything more than an eyeroll from me at this point, but holy hell did I find this article featuring him complaining about beer geeks wanting to constantly tick new stuff and the negative pressures this puts on breweries infuriating. I could not think of a brewer I'm less interested in hearing wistfully reflect on a time before ticker culture than the guy whose brewery has fed into it as much as anyone's and whose business model seems to have been premised on it from the very beginning.

That article brings up a lot of good points and I agree Jeppe is a hypocrite. But I don't know if it is specifically the consumers waging the brewery or the brewery waging the consumers.

A lot of the breweries that are producing a slew of new labels mentioned in the article (Barebottle Brewing, Monkish, The Viel, Other Half) are rather newer breweries.

You get someone like Sean Hill or John Kimmich to make an amazing beer and folks lined up just to get one or two of their beers that were available. Newer breweries not only were inspired by their styles but inspired by their ability to bring people directly to the brewery. These new breweries saw this and copied it.

The fact that there are more breweries than ever before in the USA may be a factor too. When plenty of people have the opportunity to take a short drive to a local brewery for fresh beer they may do that instead of going to a beer store and sorting out what beers aren't old.

Also it's funny that Jeppe says that some of his beers are being bought by "regular people". That was pretty much the whole point of craft beer in the 80s was to get everyone to drink better beer not just a select few.

 

[jivex5k1]

Jai Alai sucks, fite me

I get a 12 pack twice a week at least. I ******* love it.

 

[arren]

I didn't think any of Jeppe's ******** could ever induce anything more than an eyeroll from me at this point, but holy hell did I find this article featuring him complaining about beer geeks wanting to constantly tick new stuff and the negative pressures this puts on breweries infuriating. I could not think of a brewer I'm less interested in hearing wistfully reflect on a time before ticker culture than the guy whose brewery has fed into it as much as anyone's and whose business model seems to have been premised on it from the very beginning.

It's also incredibly tone-deaf when you consider that craft beer in its recent iteration has always been somewhat predicated on ticker culture. Now that craft beer is bigger than ever, we're seeing ticker culture at a greater magnitude.

It's not "ticker culture" that's changed; it's the fanbase that's increased exponentially.

Beyond that, I'm not sure I even understand the point of this article beyond reiterating what we've all known for years - craft beer, like most hobbies, has its trends, with its fair share of trendsetters and trendfollowers. There's always going to be an ebb and flow of new, young, naive consumers with every new trend - and that includes breweries.

**** man, both Toolbox and Council became incredibly popular when sour and wild ales were the hot thing - and look at them now, as that trend's come and gone.

 

[BadJustin]

I get a 12 pack twice a week at least. I ******* love it.

to each their own mang

 

[Jnorton00]

I get a 12 pack twice a week at least. I ******* love it.

Are you drinking all 24 each week?

 

[jivex5k1]

Holy **** update: was running around so dropped into craft store to see actual pricing...

BA 1050 stovepipe is $15 and the local 4-Pack of Haze hops: $22!!!!

So I was really choosing between $16 and $37.




It’s almost like they don’t even want us to buy their beer these days.

Yep.

Saw a bottle of CBS for sale, 30 bucks. Those are going to sit around for a long while.

 

[jivex5k1]

Are you drinking all 24 each week?

No man that's crazy. Brook drinks like 3 of them.

 

[purephase]

It's also incredibly tone-deaf when you consider that craft beer in its recent iteration has always been somewhat predicated on ticker culture. Now that craft beer is bigger than ever, we're seeing ticker culture at a greater magnitude.

It's not "ticker culture" that's changed; it's the fanbase that's increased exponentially.

I agree with this and would add that there's been a change in magnitude on the supply side as well. Lots of brewers have always liked brewing and experimenting with newer recipes and styles for public release, regardless of whether this drives line culture or anything of the sort. And the increase in the amount of tasting rooms can allow for exactly this kind of exploration and loads of new beers, regardless of whether or not those new beers get packaged to attract hype-driven tickers.

This is also one reason why just counting new beers registered isn't the most rigorous way to approach this issue if you are going to argue there's been some massive change that's taken place. A place like Jackie O's taking advantage of having a smaller brewing system for experiments and pilot batches to tap at their brewpub doesn't seem equivalent to a brewery constantly churning out packaged releases every other week, but it gets counted all the same for the purpose of this article and attributed to the cult of the new.

It's amusing that Kimmich in this article gets held up as someone dedicated to dialing in a single recipe since The Alchemist Brewpub afforded him precisely this opportunity to play around and release plenty of new beers long before the cannery opened.

 

[Jnorton00]

I also think Jeppe is also fails to account for the fact that his 3242342342 beers pretty much just sit on the shelf because they are either garbage and or generally extremely overpriced.

 

[JulianB1]

One part of that article that really annoyed me was this, because it's so ahistorical:

Ticker culture is making things pricier for consumers, too. Forget the days of buying a $10 6-pack of something you know you love, like Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Or even trying a $7 tulip of a new seasonal release. With so many breweries selling brand-new beers by the 4-pack, you pretty much have to stand in line and sink $20 just to try anything new.

Yes, NEIPA and pastry stout 4-packs that cost $18-24 are considerably pricier than SNPA or equivalent 6-pack beers that can be bought at the grocery store. But this is completely skipping over the Bomber Era, where most craft breweries around the country other than the big boys like Sierra were packaging everything in 22oz bottles that cost $8-12. Personally I'm a lot happier to pay $20 for 64oz of hazy IPAs than $10 for a bomber of west coast DIPA that may not have been refrigerated, as was common from 2011-2014 (for me).

 

[flyingbison]

Yep.

Saw a bottle of CBS for sale, 30 bucks. Those are going to sit around for a long while.

Still sitting on the shelves here for $25

 

[gregkoko]

One part of that article that really annoyed me was this, because it's so ahistorical:



Yes, NEIPA and pastry stout 4-packs that cost $18-24 are considerably pricier than SNPA or equivalent 6-pack beers that can be bought at the grocery store. But this is completely skipping over the Bomber Era, where most craft breweries around the country other than the big boys like Sierra were packaging everything in 22oz bottles that cost $8-12. Personally I'm a lot happier to pay $20 for 64oz of hazy IPAs than $10 for a bomber of west coast DIPA that may not have been refrigerated, as was common from 2011-2014 (for me).

Taking me back to when Sculpin bombers were $9 and were 1pp at the local store. oooooh or Sierra Nevada Estate IPA

Agreed I'll gladly go pick up a 4pk of Head High for $14 at the grocery store instead. And I know it's at work two weeks old.

 

[wuntrikpony]

But this is completely skipping over the Bomber Era, where most craft breweries around the country other than the big boys like Sierra were packaging everything in 22oz bottles that cost $8-12.

Don't forget Ballast Point pushing the price point for 6pks of IPA.

 

[drgarage1]

Taking me back to when Sculpin bombers were $9 and were 1pp at the local store. oooooh or Sierra Nevada Estate IPA

Agreed I'll gladly go pick up a 4pk of Head High for $14 at the grocery store instead. And I know it's at work two weeks old.

No doubt. Bomber IPAs were/are the absolute worst.

 

[reverseapachemaster1]

My favorite part of the bomber era was seeing a bomber for $6 sitting next to a six pack of the same beer for $10.

 

[JulianB1]

My favorite part of the bomber era was seeing a bomber for $6 sitting next to a six pack of the same beer for $10.

Stone Ruination (and probably other Stone beers) was a notorious offender in this regard.

 

[jivex5k1]

My favorite part of the bomber era was seeing a bomber for $6 sitting next to a six pack of the same beer for $10.

Now it's 4pk of tallboys for 18 next to a six pack of cans for 11.

 

[BadJustin]

My favorite part of the bomber era was seeing a bomber for $6 sitting next to a six pack of the same beer for $10.

**** man I remember CRUSHING bombers of Bear Republic Racer 5 back in the day since the LBS used to get them at 3.99 a pop

 

[flyingbison]

My favorite part of the bomber era was seeing a bomber for $6 sitting next to a six pack of the same beer for $10.

Ban the Bomber!

 

[FoudreGuy]

Now it's 4pk of tallboys for 18 next to a six pack of cans for 11.

Fremont keeping their hazy tallboy 4-packs at $12 is really nice.

 

[sacrelicio]

Toolbox and Council became incredibly popular when sour and wild ales were the hot thing - and look at them now, as that trend's come and gone.

For real? People are still really into fruited sours here. Of course I haven't head anything about Toolbox or Council for a long while.

 

[furley]

My favorite part of the bomber era was seeing a bomber for $6 sitting next to a six pack of the same beer for $10.

for those who struggle with both math and sound decision making

 

[FoudreGuy]

For real? People are still really into fruited sours here. Of course I haven't head anything about Toolbox or Council for a long while.

I heard that Toolbox kept losing their head brewer which made things difficult for them.

https://westcoastersd.com/2018/10/12/toolbox-brewing-announces-closing/

 

[arren]

For real? People are still really into fruited sours here. Of course I haven't head anything about Toolbox or Council for a long while.

Really? In just this past half-year alone, I'm hearing the rumblings of the backlash that happens when a trend starts dying. I've heard "I never really liked sours and saisons that much anyway" so many times this year from casuals and enthusiasts alike, and there's very little (if any) hype for them anymore.

I heard that Toolbox kept losing their head brewer which made things difficult for them.

https://westcoastersd.com/2018/10/12/toolbox-brewing-announces-closing/

Toolbox with their first brewer was a revelation - but the circumstances that led to him moving on were kind of the first red flag that the company itself wasn't really built for long-term success.

 

[sacrelicio]

I heard that Toolbox kept losing their head brewer which made things difficult for them.

https://westcoastersd.com/2018/10/12/toolbox-brewing-announces-closing/

I remember them being all the rage when I was out there in 2015. I traded some Smog City Bourbon OE to jmgrub's buddy for a Toolbox bottle.

 

[sacrelicio]

I've heard "I never really liked sours and saisons that much anyway" so many times this year from casuals and enthusiasts alike, and there's very little (if any) hype for them anymore.

That's funny, because I've been over fruited sours for awhile myself. I just thought everyone else was still into them.

Fruited sours are still pretty hot commodities here in the Twin Cities, as are "milkshake" sours, and sour milkshake IPAs, and dry-hopped India pale lactose sours.

 

[reverseapachemaster1]

Really? In just this past half-year alone, I'm hearing the rumblings of the backlash that happens when a trend starts dying. I've heard "I never really liked sours and saisons that much anyway" so many times this year from casuals and enthusiasts alike, and there's very little (if any) hype for them anymore.

We're definitely on the backside of sour beer as a trend. Maybe it's because Denver has a more rooted sour beer customer base but I still see a lot of breweries putting out at least one fruited kettle sour on their board--especially these awful rose sours.

 

[rrryanc]

My favorite part of the bomber era was seeing a bomber for $6 sitting next to a six pack of the same beer for $10.

for those who struggle with both math and sound decision making

I'd rather pay $6 than $10.

I'm much less of a ticker these days, but I also rarely drink the same beer two times in a row. I also don't usually drink on school nights. A six pack means 4 beers languish in my fridge for a couple of weeks.