Saint Arnold Divine Reserve 11 and the Chase Mentality

Have I mentioned lately that I am a Star Trek fan?

Well, I am.

Back in the 1990s, when Star Trek was wildly popular and there were two different Star Trek shows on each week, Playmates had an action figure line that I spent a lot of money buying.  For Star Trek's 25th anniversary, Deep Space Nine did an episode called "Trials and Tribble-ations" where the current cast was Forrest Gumped into an original episode.  Playmate toys had a special series of action figures for sale, and I pre-ordered them.  After the pre-order went through, Playmates decided to make the Chief O'Brien figure a "chase" figure, making it very scarce.  Needless to say, my cellection remains incomplete.

Here we are in the 21st Century, and we can't seem to get that "chase" mentality out of our heads.

Dark Lord Day sells out in 23 minutes.  Now Divine Reserve 11 is out, and sold out, or almost, at any rate.  People were lining up at 8 am to buy the beer as soon as the liquor store opened.

I'm guilty of this madness, too.  Doesn't mean I have to like it.  This kind of artificial scarcity might be a great marketing move, but it's a bad customer relations move.  If you can't get Divine Reserve 11, you get to read every beer snob's review of Rate Beer and Beer Advocate telling you how wonderful it is.

Mind you, I don't have a problem with one off beers.  Just one off beers with a limited release.

Having said that, I do have some Divine Reserve on hold.  Sometimes it's good to have connections.  So I too will soon be doing the whole "Neener Neener! Isn't DR11 the most awesomest beer on the face of the earth" post shortly.  Doesn't mean I have to like it.