Originally posted by bsuedekum
Originally posted by cquiroga
Originally posted by bsuedekum
As a St. Louis beer geek who didn’t get started until 08 and who just started drinking with the St. Louis RB crew this year and who is slowly transferring to RB from BA where I started, I’d like to know more about what the RB community knows about Marc Nolan. Can anyone elaborate as to why he’s brought up in this post? I’ve never met him and wouldn’t know him if I saw him, but I’ve heard stories and find it crazy to read his name here. Did he really have that big of an impact on RateBeer and the entire craft beer scene? What exactly did he do?
He hired mules to stand in line for him at big beer releases that he could not attend, and then got upwards of 5 or 6 times the "personal limit" of bottles of some very limited beers. He sold a good share of those bottles on eBay to offset the sunk costs of hiring his legion. Some of these people were homeless or otherwise unseemly, and the terms he gave them (get the full allotment of beer or you don’t get paid a dime) made them even more desperate, pathetic, and unattractive to deal with during the release.
That’s basically it.
Hmmm... Interesting. How did this get out that it was him doing this? Was he using the same name on eBay? I’m guessing the back lash from this has given Marc Nolan a bit of an infamous reputation? Can’t say I agree with it, but I do give it some credit for being damn clever. Crazy how far people will go to obtain a desired beer.
He was pretty up front about what he was doing. He basically took a page from scalpers101 regarding mule hiring. His tactics are nothing new and not specific to the world of beer.
What happened to craft beer is that it has become very popular to collect rare beers. As the collecting side of any hobby becomes popular, it attracts people who are not hobbyists, but see money to be made. What will eventually happen is that collecting will reach a critical mass and like all other hobbies, what is popular today will be old and tired when the next big fad comes along and many people will move on.
We already saw a huge turnover cycle with the whole brewpub craze in the early 90s. Many of those brewpubs do not exist today because the majority of people who opened them were homebrewers who knew nothing about maintaining a business over the long term. We’l see something similar happen when the dust settles. My guess will be that we’ll see a huge drop off in the popularity of the limited releases when the kids who are the product of our current recession hit drinking age (some time towards the latter part of this decade). Right now, a lot of people driving the market are the tail end of the entitled generation with a small smattering of genXers still hanging on around the fringes. |
Originally posted by 3fourths
Originally posted by Satchboogie
Originally posted by TAR
Don’t even get me started on the whole Anchorage insanity! *cough* $15-$16 per 750ml?!?! *cough*
That’s due to distributors and stores, NOT the brewery. Their beers SHOULD be $10-$12
should? should be $5-6. oh, it’s expensive to make? stop the barrel treatments and take out the spices, you don’t need them anyways.
No one is forcing you to buy barrel aged and bretted beers. If you don’t want to spend the extra $ for it... don’t. Problem solved. There’s plenty of cheap saisons on the shelf. |
Originally posted by CharmCityCrab
I think stuff like that contributes to the pricing issues with craft beers. The peer pressure is that you can’t drink six packs and twelve packs, you’ve got to drink bombers. You can’t drink the Sam Adams or the Magic Hat, you’ve got to drink whatever the obscure ritzy beer of the month is.
Why don’t you just drink what you want and stop worrying what a bunch of faceless posters on the Internet have to say about it? I really don’t get this general attitude, which I’ve seen quite a few people post over the years here; not just charmcitycrab. |
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Originally posted by Phischy
Then there’s Nebraska charging beyond an arm and a leg. Their stuff is gathering dust. Those IPA’s are rotting on the shelves warm as they’re not even worthy of cold storage.
There’s also all the expensive imports like the Bogedal beers and the Italian imports that are over $25 each in some instances and sit and rot on the shelves. Most people don’t want to pay that much for something they cannot put in their cellars for a special occasion or gathering. |
Originally posted by Satchboogie
No one is forcing you to buy barrel aged and bretted beers. If you don’t want to spend the extra $ for it... don’t. Problem solved. There’s plenty of cheap saisons on the shelf.
I wish that was true. Even the Helios mentioned earlier sells for $7-9 a bomber where I am. |
Originally posted by DYCSoccer17
Originally posted by JoeMcPhee
Yup - I’m drinking some Traquair Jacobite Ale - ~3 bucks a bottle and tasty as hell. There’s a ton of great beer out there at good prices once you stop caring about getting the latest and greatest.
Wow, that’s a good price. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it for less than $5 a bottle...
I’m drinking Unibroue Trader Joes Vintage Ale 2011 here. $4.99 for a 750mL that’s 9%
I love that we have an American, drinking a dirt cheap beer that is produced in Canada, but not available in Ontario, in awe of an Ontarian drinking a less cheap but arguably a better deal on a beer from Scotland. This is why Ontario beer lovers go bonkers, lol. :)
I do find it funny to hear so many guys in the US talk about how crazy it is to get all these limited releases etc., meanwhile Toronto practically loses its shit when one local bar has a Stone brewing night, without a single one of their rare beers! It’s all relative! |
I think its silly to tie quality to price. It’s just not the way the world works. Price is not indicative of quality in the wine world, and it’s certainly not an indicator in beer, as has been pointed out often in this thread.
Further, an individual’s perception of what "quality" is will vary. I may step out of line for a limited release Imperial Stout, but I know there are more than enough people to take my spot.
Right now, I scoff at $100 bottles of Lost Abbey, but I do not believe even $100 bottles are anywhere near the ceiling of beer prices.
The first wave of "craft" brewers (late 80’s, through the 90’s, most of the 00’s) priced and packaged their beer in such a way as to compete with the macro six packs. Maybe they could sneak an extra buck or two or three out of a six pack. This is clearly not the world anymore.
It’s really basic economics - limited (and restricted) supply, growing demand. Love or Hate eBay, it is a decent indicator of where supply and demand intersect.
And screw you Eugene for getting everyone riled up.
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Or put another way "This beer is too expensive, and it’s always sold out!" |
Originally posted by Beerman6686
Originally posted by FL_homer
Kind of interesting and goes along with the topic (sort of)-I saw a TV commercial the other night for Sam Adams Infinium. It occurred to me that this is the first time I’ve ever seen a TV ad for a $20 bottle of beer.
A friend of mine just told me about this the other day. I was thiking the same thing, wondering how they expect the normal public who see Sam Adams as great craft beer to pay that much for a bottle.
That’s exactly what I thought at first, but then I realized that they have great marketing. So, perhaps the time has come that the casual "craft" drinker or normal public will plunk down 20 bucks for a bottle that they see as special. |
Originally posted by theisti
I think its silly to tie quality to price. It’s just not the way the world works. Price is not indicative of quality in the wine world, and it’s certainly not an indicator in beer, as has been pointed out often in this thread.
Further, an individual’s perception of what "quality" is will vary. I may step out of line for a limited release Imperial Stout, but I know there are more than enough people to take my spot.
Right now, I scoff at $100 bottles of Lost Abbey, but I do not believe even $100 bottles are anywhere near the ceiling of beer prices.
The first wave of "craft" brewers (late 80’s, through the 90’s, most of the 00’s) priced and packaged their beer in such a way as to compete with the macro six packs. Maybe they could sneak an extra buck or two or three out of a six pack. This is clearly not the world anymore.
It’s really basic economics - limited (and restricted) supply, growing demand. Love or Hate eBay, it is a decent indicator of where supply and demand intersect.
And screw you Eugene for getting everyone riled up.
Your right, it really is just standard basic economics. Your post reminded me of my old economics lectures. Really is just basic stuff. |
