Am I Paying Too Much For Beer?

Drinking & Thinking [Issue 18]

That is a four-pack of Humble Sea Beer that I created at my neighborhood beer bar/shop, Out Of The Barrel, here in Fresno, CA. It cost me $27 before taxes. A four-pack of one of these beers would normally cost $20 at the brewery in Santa Cruz, a couple of hours away. It is not a widely distributed brewery, only select shops have it. It’s very good, all be it hazy (foggy), beer.

Did I pay too much?

I asked on my blog and my Twitter, here are some reactions:

Javier Arroyo @javiercarroyo

@MikeyTopPour @Humble_Sea Also you have to take into account that Humble Seas dosen't sell singles...to get all 4 of those individually you would have to buy them as crowlers or each in a 4 pack. Which would cost you a lot more.

Patrick Murray @patrickmmurray

@MikeyTopPour @Humble_Sea Absolutely not. Would cost a lot more than $7 to get there and back again. 🍻

So there. Fellow beer aficionados say I am fine. I’m good. I choose to not pose this question to anyone outside of the Craft Beer world because I’m sure the answers would be different.

Cool Taproom Beer Boards Are My Favorite

I love an interesting Beer Board. There is art there for sure - sometimes literally. I stumbled onto this one by A Hoppy Place, located in Windsor, Berkshire:

@ahoppyplace @ahoppyplace

Fancy a beer? We are here and the sun is shining! Come and say hello! Plenty of space in our suntrap garden as well. See you soon for a summer pint! Or a few, as there's over 150 beers in stock. Or fancy some take out? We've got you covered whatever your beery needs Cheers!

I’ve never seen panels like that. I love all the stats and colors. Very cool.

Tap That

There is art here too. And skill:

Andreas Krennmair @der_ak

O'zapft is!

That was damn clean.

No Tan Cans For You!

The far FAR Eastern side of the Rockies can’t get COORS Banquet Beer.

Boon @belfastboon

Lads, have you ever seen @CoorsBanquet available for sale in the UK? @totalcurtis @ATJbeer @ourdoreen @PeterMacCiarrai Asking for a friend!

Adrian Tierney-Jones @ATJbeer

@belfastboon @CoorsBanquet @totalcurtis @ourdoreen @PeterMacCiarrai Afraid not

Interesting and kinda surprising. I would have thought that would be a beer available anywhere Coors has a presence, UK or no. It seems there is a reason:

Matthew Curtis @totalcurtis

@belfastboon @CoorsBanquet @ATJbeer @ourdoreen @PeterMacCiarrai Many years ago I think it was sold as just “Coors” but didn’t take. It’s not currently distributed in the U.K. Coors produce Carling which is the best selling beer in the country, so prob wouldn’t introduce a competitor.

Ha!

This is pretty rad. I’ve always wanted to do one of these things, never thought to make a Duvel glass though:

Jonathan Surratt @beerinator

Someone in Belgium rode a bike for 172 miles and their route was the shape of a Duvel glass.

strava.comSsst... hier rijdt den Duvel - Bavo Deneckere’s 277.5 km bike rideDuvel on tour familiefietstocht - biertank editie

More Of This, Please!

I love that breweries can print pretty much anything they want on the bottom of their cans. Trolling trolls is a great use of this:

Jace Gatzemeyer @BeerAcademic

Trolling the trolls.

I’m sure you saw this but…

Remember to cheer on your friend’s (and maybe strangers) accomplishments this weekend!

Rex Chapman🏇🏼 @RexChapman

This dude is hammered-drunk and trying to to put his shoe back on. A crowd gathers to cheer for him. I needed this today...

British Twitter Was Bloody Pissed This Week

England is spiking back up with their COVID numbers, prompting a 10PM curfew on pubs. A lot of people on my Twitter feed did not like that.

The COVID tension is also prompting brewery folks to blow off steam on Twitter:

The Hairstyle. @PollysArron

STOP TURNING UP TO THE BREWERY WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE FOR FUCK'S SAKE.

The Hairstyle. @PollysArron

I hate being so abrupt and brash with this, but being kind just doesn't seem to work at all. There's a pandemic with a rapidly escalating infection rate going on out there. We have high-risk employees. It takes seconds to send me an email, and seconds for me to send a response.

The Hairstyle. @PollysArron

STOP TURNING UP TO THE BREWERY WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE FOR FUCK'S SAKE.

Make those reservations, Whales people.

Well, that’s about enough for the day. Time to have another beer. I drank a Pizza Port “Today’s Forecast” IPA during the writing of some of this. It’s a good, clear WCIPA that has a little pineapple kick to it. It was only $3 for the can. I recommend it.

Be good out there and thanks for the read!!

-Mikey