As a craft beer connoisseur, I have a list of beers that I want to try.
I’m not a beer hunter, by any means, but after hearing and reading about how great certain brews are, I’d like to give them a shot. I’ve had some great ones, like Pliny the Younger, but there are a few I’m still eager to taste.
There’s an app called Beer Menus, which allows stores and bars (and customers) to update their selection and you can choose to follow certain beers, so you’ll be notified when they become available close to you.
This makes this infinitely more easier…or so you would think.
On one hand, yes, it’s far more convenient to wait until you get a notification rather than going to store after store after store asking for a beer that was made once, 73 years ago, and has been stored in a cave since then and can only be enjoyed on the third Wednesday of the seventh month of a leap year.
However, it’s not like the app is a secret and there’s a reason certain beers are so sought after. Yes, it’s supply and demand and the excitement around scarcity, but it’s also because they’re really fucking good. So when you get the notification, there are scores of others that get that same notification.
This happened to me on Wednesday.
At about 4 p.m., I was notified that a store about 10 minutes from my house had a beer I’ve been following. I was meeting my wife and kid for dinner, so I decided I’d hit up the store afterwards. The kid wanted to come with, so we took a ride. We walked in and I asked the guy at the counter for the beer.
“Sorry, man,” he said, “we just sold out.”
“You’re killing me,” I said.
“Once I put it on Beer Menus, it flies off the shelf.”
The app giveth and the app taketh away.
Oh well. Next time…
Here’s what I wrote this week:
“I have taken more good from alcohol than alcohol has taken from me.”
– Winston Churchill
Christopher Pierznik’s eight books are available in paperback and Kindle. His work has appeared on XXL, Cuepoint, Business Insider, The Cauldron, Medium, and many more. Subscribe to his monthly reading review newsletter or follow him on Facebook or Twitter.
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