It’s amazing what “unavailable” can do for a product’s popularity. I remember people doing runs to Cincinnati for Little Kings. I rode down to one of the small towns in Southwest Indiana (don’t remember which exactly) with my brother because word was out that a store had Olympia beer from Washington State. They had it, we drank some and thought it was the best stuff evah! Because it was hard to get. I wouldn’t touch any of those kinds of beers these days.
I have always kept in mind that products that are not readily available doesn’t mean they’re great-with one exception.
I never really liked beer that much, probably because the beer we grew up on (Bud, Miller, Old Style, etc.), were all piss water. I used to laugh at the IPA crowd as phony hipsters, but decided to give them a try as I couldn’t drink commercial beers anymore.
So, I’ve tried lots and lots of IPA’s, but didn’t much care for most of them, either.
That’s until I heard about Pliny the Elder. But you had to drive up to Santa Rosa at their brewery to get it. Word was out that it’s really good but not available anywhere but their store. I’m thinking, yeah I’ve heard this story before and not gonna get sucked in. I was up north of SR camping a couple decades ago and stopped in to the brewery on my way back. Life changing! 😂 God has not created a finer drink. It’s now been in liquor stores in NoCal, Whole Foods, and some bars for several years, but I still try other IPA’s occasionally just to verify that they make beer that I like because of the taste and not because it used to be hard to get. If given a choice, I will only drink Pliny or Revision DIPA.
I will add that when I visit Indiana, they have several beers available that I like. I put Bells Big Hearted and Two Hearted up there with Pliny. I had another one I liked a lot-maybe Zombie Dust? Also, Upland is decent and worth a visit.