Beer Club II :Taking delivery

The second part of the Beer52 trilogy

Now nine working days after payment the beer has arrived
10 actual days after the voucher arrived that I thought was the actual beers
and actual 3 days after were promised
okay only 3 days late

BUT THAT PROMISED DATE WAS NEW YEARS EVE

so that was a right pisser.

But the main thing is I got the beer, that is the actual clincher
now this will be the real revelation, what beers were actually sent

Okay there are pictures on their site & adverts
but as my dad said to me 'It says Typhoo tea on buses but they don't serve it'

Also a couple of big beer bloggers & reviewers have listed what they received
but there was no way of saying that their packs weren't specially picked
for 'beer celebrities' knowing that it would be great advertising

But I've got the beers & I've no real connections in the industry

So having ticked over 1100 beers over the past 3 years
it was a fair achievement that I got four beers I've sampled (one in the last fortnight)
and four new brews.

The Four I've had Fourpure Session IPA
a decent enough hoppy ale
and a fair argument for new quality canned beers

Crafty Dan 13 Guns
Actually this Thwaites off shoot provides a pretty good standard
and 13 guns is among the best, just not difficult to locate
"not found on supermarket shelves"? Do they not get out much?

Moorehouse's Black Cat
One of the rare breeds of Dark milds that converts to bottle
But they are on the shelves of Tesco
and ASDA & even in discount supermarket B&Ms

Brewdog Libertine Black Ale
Big name craft ale but not a favourite of mine, I don't rate it.
I don't think it's well balanced
but it's a whacking 7% & not part of Tesco or Sainsbury's regular BD line up

and
The Four I've not had
Hardknott Continuum
Knops Musselburgh Broke
St Andrews Brewing Oatmeal Stout
Stewart's Hollyrood 
(which includes two new breweries for me to tick off)


So was it all worth it?
I paid £10.99 with a voucher deal and for that price it's a fair enough deal
at least a couple of pounds saving & brought to you
but at the full ticket price of £24?
Hmmmmmm,
you would have to not be able to access a Booths & B&Ms

so if your stuck in the middle of nowhere or have mobility issues
or if that random element appeals which I'm sure it will
it might be a good thing

But the final part of the trilogy as well as a appraisal of the untried ales
will be documenting my attempts at opting out of the beer club?
Is cancelling going to be the issue I've heard it to be?

BEER CLUB! Liberté, égalité, beer not tea

There's 2 rules to Beer club & paraphrasing fight club is both of them

So I've been planning this blog for a while

a full account of the Voucher deal on beer club

but I still haven't received the ale so I haven't got the full experience but enough taste of it to blog a little about my experiences up to now

So here is the Mightydeals & Beer52 situation update

Julie got me the first month on discount via Mightydeals 

& I am not happy about whats happened

It would seem that the online discount voucher service is mainly to blame

they made it seem like you just paid them & you got 8 beers delivered, no reg, no sub.

It has since been changed on their website to include the details of the rolling subscription 

but since Beer52 upon redemption of the offer sent me a package with the code to get the first month & therein subscribe & give card details etc makes Beer52 complicit in this

Why wasn't I just emailed the codes with instructions to subscribe

because whilst that code & bottle opener was being sent to me & I could track it

it seemed that I had been bought the beers for the offer price with no subscription 

& would encourage all my friends to do likewise, luckily I waited to see what beers were actually sent before recommending.

I was for a time really made over, I ordered on the 19th of December and the 'package'

was received on Christmas eve but when I returned from work to find a voucher

that was a let down 

I subscribed & even then my thoughts on Beer52 were largely positive 

I thought £24 for 8 beers, when you see the specialist beer shop prices it's OKAY

but the P&P being free makes it tempting because of the hassle of going out of your way to those spec shops. 

I was going to let the subscription run.

I only work part time so my beers for Christmas were a bit limited so with the time frame of the previous package I'd have the beers for New Year's eve 

Like previously the Monday morning I got the tracker & this time it didn't update

just before midnight I received another tracker that has shown the package stuck at the depot local to beer 52

So I ended up celebrating Hogmanay with the bottles of Fursty Ferret & Ruddles County that a friend dropped off hearing I was beerless on NYE

I was drinking Weird beard & Cheshire Brewhouse, what a bloody comedown.

Now the second tracker had 'Fragile Glass' which the first didn't so reading between the lines
perhaps the first one got smashed by the courier 

in which case why the hell didn't they inform me?

So I won't let the subscription run now,

I've spent most of the day reading about peoples further experiences with Beer52
and it seems the main gripe is how difficult it is to cancel their membership/subscription.

I'll cancel my subscription when (or maybe IF) the beers arrive 

and if I have problems I'll just cancel my card if 

which will be such an inconvenience I probably start a campaign highlighting Beer52's flaws