Rare Barrel Founder's Society

[chemman141]

If anyone pops open a Gifted Branch, let me know what you think. Debating buying an extra or two.

you're not going to like the answer to that question...

 

[chemman141]

 

[HeadytheElder]

Haha, well that makes my decision easy.

 

[ewwiccc]

Gifted Branch was great if anyone was wondering. Up there with MotM


Also, renewal starts next tuesday:

We’ll be opening re-enrollment for 2017 Ambassadors of Sour starting next week! However, before we get into those details, we’d like to take a moment to thank you for filling out our survey last month and to let you know about three new benefits we’ll be adding to 2017 Ambassadors of Sour. You spoke, and we listened…

More Exclusive Bottles | In addition to the 10 beers included with your membership, The Rare Barrel may release a few limited small batch bottles that will be exclusive to Ambassadors of Sour. While these will not be included as part of your membership, as an Ambassador of Sour, you will have the opportunity to purchase bottles online, on a first come, first served basis. These may sell out and access is not guaranteed. These exclusive bottle releases could be beers we have already made before or they could be new beers. We expect that we will have around 2-4 of these exclusive bottle releases throughout the year, but that could fluctuate based on production.

Expanded Growler Fill Options | Another request we have seen a lot over the past couple years has been the desire for increased growler fill options. We are currently purchasing equipment so that we can have 4 to 8 growler fills available for you in the near future. For those members with multiple growlers, you are welcome to choose to fill them all with the same beer or you can fill it with a combination of beers. The choice is up to you! We'll continue to update what is available each weekend on the Ambassador Homepage and let you know once we’ve installed the equipment to expand our number for growler fills!

Ambassador Second Chance Sale | We heard from many of you that you would like the ability to purchase bottles that are currently available in the tasting room. Ambassadors will occasionally have an additional opportunity to purchase some bottled brands online, however, the main difference is that these orders must be shipped. This second opportunity to purchase bottles online would occur after the bottles are released through the Ambassador Online Pre-sale and Tasting Room.

With those new benefits announced, we are very excited to let you know that we'll be opening reenrollment for 2017 Ambassadors of Sour next week! The details are now on our website, but here are a few snapshot details…

Who | Re Enrollment is available to existing Ambassadors, with a limit of (1) membership per Ambassador

Cost | $300 (+tax), non-refundable

What | Click here to review the 2017 Ambassadors of Sour benefits.

When | 9AM Pacific on Tuesday, September 6th through midnight on Friday, September 30th. Existing Ambassadors are guaranteed a spot in the club during the enrollment window. Public enrollment will commence on Tuesday, October 11th at 9AM Pacific. Ambassadors may still renew their membership during the public enrollment period, but space is no longer guaranteed.

 

[matedog]

Gifted Branch was great if anyone was wondering. Up there with MotM

Untappd feedback looks great.

BTW, they sent the renewal email out today. Touting new benefits such as: more exclusive bottles (cool), more growler fill options (didn't get any growlers all year and I'm close, but sure, cool), availability to buy tasting room bottles but you have to ship them??? I guess the idea is that if you live nearby, you can visit the tasting room and pick it up there. But sometimes I'd rather not be bothered with heading over at a certain time out of fear that it will sell out and want to just put a hold on a bottle or two of Ensorcelled for pick up at my convenience.

 

[ewwiccc]

Untappd feedback looks great.

BTW, they sent the renewal email out today. Touting new benefits such as: more exclusive bottles (cool), more growler fill options (didn't get any growlers all year and I'm close, but sure, cool), availability to buy tasting room bottles but you have to ship them??? I guess the idea is that if you live nearby, you can visit the tasting room and pick it up there. But sometimes I'd rather not be bothered with heading over at a certain time out of fear that it will sell out and want to just put a hold on a bottle or two of Ensorcelled for pick up at my convenience.

yeah i agree. Would rather not have them forced to be shipped. Oh well...

 

[chemman141]

Untappd feedback looks great.

BTW, they sent the renewal email out today. Touting new benefits such as: more exclusive bottles (cool), more growler fill options (didn't get any growlers all year and I'm close, but sure, cool), availability to buy tasting room bottles but you have to ship them??? I guess the idea is that if you live nearby, you can visit the tasting room and pick it up there. But sometimes I'd rather not be bothered with heading over at a certain time out of fear that it will sell out and want to just put a hold on a bottle or two of Ensorcelled for pick up at my convenience.

Agreed, that is bogus as that is exactly the same "perk" the public gets. We should be able to have those bottles held.

 

[DannyFullpint]

Leaning towards not reupping....

 

[matedog]

The Bordeaux barrel beers were meh and the peach/apricot ones were really good (okay, haven't tried the peach one), but it all seems a bit uninspired. Even when they try something different (tequila barrels), they still kinda end up the same. Trying new adjunct combos is about the best they do vs. new base beers and brewing techniques.

That being said, I will probably reup. I live so close and do enjoy their beers. We'll see how next year shapes up though. Started as a Founder and enthusiasm has mostly been like,

 

[ewwiccc]

Splitting my membership for 2017 is making things a bit easier.

 

[chemman141]

Splitting my membership for 2017 is making things a bit easier.

Splitting memberships is the way to go. The only one I think I will remain the sole owner of is the CASA membership since the brewery is 10 minutes from me.

 

[bobsacamano1]

Splitting my membership for 2017 is making things a bit easier.

That's a good plan. I'm on the fence.

 

[rrryanc]

Even splitting, we're both giving up. Too many beers that all taste nearly the same for me.

 

[shanrath]

Their tendency toward either one-note or highly acidic stuff (or some combination thereof) coupled with the lack of exciting new beers is probably going to keep me away for next year.

I have a friend who loves everything they put out though, so I may be looking into just passing the membership on to him.

 

[ewwiccc]

Reminder: Ambassador of Sour Renewals Now Open for current AoS.

 

[RyanG1]

Reminder: Ambassador of Sour Renewals Now Open for current AoS.

 

[MKtheGeneral]

I currently split a membership with someone but they're the primary on it. Have any of you been able to have the account updated to reflect a new name / email? I ask as I'm looking to take over the account and take on a different person to split it with from out my way (NY/NJ.)

 

[ewwiccc]

Digging into last year... looks like they never released Shades of Cool. Golden sours w/ black currants

this just showed up on the ambassador page as a new draft release.

 

[mzdoja]

Might just have to go get my first growler fill of the year.

If anyone wants to split a membership, I think I want to join again. I hope my feeling is right about this being the year they focus on style variety....

 

[DannyFullpint]

Anyone going to the anniversary party next month?

 

[tosh1]

Not doing the actual search thing. But they have flights of 3 Barrel samples to taste.

All Golden Sour, obviously.


Far right was blandest, not a lot going on. Far left was most interesting, smelt winey and was the smoothest and tastiest. Middle one was as as ****.

I really am not the person to be judging beer samples.

 

[matedog]

Not doing the actual search thing. But they have flights of 3 Barrel samples to taste.

All Golden Sour, obviously.


Far right was blandest, not a lot going on. Far left was most interesting, smelt winey and was the smoothest and tastiest. Middle one was as as ****.

I really am not the person to be judging beer samples.

I was there 5-6 or so doing the full taster. Some of the barrels were kinda off. Like caramel notes. Maybe that was the oak. One of the samples was the clear winner for me. Not overly sour and a bit more funk than the rest. It was an interesting and unique event.

 

[matedog]

There was also free draft pours for the rest of the night and a free pizza which would have been awesome if I didn't have soccer right after.

 

[coldstorage]

Did the 6 to 7 group. Was not really blown away by any of them. Was really blown away by free food and drinks all night. Couldn't take advantage because of other commitments but that was really generous.

 

[BigToad22]

Not doing the actual search thing. But they have flights of 3 Barrel samples to taste.

All Golden Sour, obviously.


Far right was blandest, not a lot going on. Far left was most interesting, smelt winey and was the smoothest and tastiest. Middle one was as as ****.

I really am not the person to be judging beer samples.

I'm kinda cheesed that I missed this. I joined as a founder to participate, and stayed as an ambassador through last year.

 

[coldstorage]

Well I guess I tasted the Rare Barrel. It was the one I ranked second highest.

 

[BigToad22]

Well I guess I tasted the Rare Barrel. It was the one I ranked second highest.

What's it's provenance?

 

[coldstorage]

To the best of my knowledge they haven't shared that info. We had three digit barrel IDs (the "rare barrel" is 9Pt) and no other info that could affect objectivity.

 

[matedog]

I'd like to see the rankings or at least the Friday rankings to see how mine compared. 9Pt wasn't in our group.

 

[Dogleg1]

Went ahead and reupped; almost solely for the likely release of Home Sour Home (b3). Also helps that Pittsburgh has zero sour options.