No Password Required: Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club

**This service was provided to me for review. All the following nouns, pronouns, adjectives and thoughts are my own**

I'm here to tell you about a club. In this club there are no decoder rings. No secret handshakes. No secret clubhouses with passwords. Although if there was one, everyone knows it would be "New England Clam Chowder."

No, in this club there is only one thing. A shit load of awesome beers. This club, Ladies and gentlemen, is the Beer of the Month Club. And it rules. It rules so hard.

Let me start from the beginning...

About a week and a half before my Beer Bloggers Conference adventure began, I was contacted by the Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club to see if I would be interested in reviewing the service they provide. They asked that I pick one of the four tiers of membership (that's right, four), and they would send something out to me. Obviously, my answer was an enthusiastic "YES!"



Being the ball of neurotic that I am, spent the next hour or so debating between the three membership levels, weighing the pros and cons, and contemplating my existence. The three groups are:

"Twelve, 12 oz. bottles of hand-crafted beers each month from two different lightly distributed U.S. Microbreweries. You'll get four different beer styles, three bottles of each style."

"Twelve, 12 oz. bottles of hand-crafted beers each month from two different international breweries. You'll get two different beer styles, six bottles of each style."

"Twelve, 12 oz. bottles of hand-crafted beers each month from two different international breweries. You'll get two different beer styles, six bottles of each style."

Now, this is where the real  "variety" ends. The last club offers just 2 beers, with the quantity being multiplied per membership rate. There is a lot to read about, so you can click the following link and check out everything they have to say about their totally exclusive, super awesome Rare Beer Club.


There are three choices for this membership; two bottles, four bottles, or six bottles. Like mentioned above, its just multiples of two different beers.

The biggest factor that helped me out was being able to see what all the past beers have been (Past Selections). Seeing that made it a no brainer, and I chose the Rare Beer Club. I arrived home the day I had to hop on the train to travel to the Beer Bloggers Conference, and my box of goodies was waiting for me!

If the beginning of my judgement started then, I was already surprised. It was a bit less than a week after making my selection, and finalizing the communication and everything, my box was waiting for me. That speed really surprised the hell out of me, and pleased me to no end. Check out my loot!

Do you like it as much as I do?

The first thing I noticed, aside from the super quick shipping, was the packaging. Handy cardboard bottle holders, very much similar to the ones from Letspour.com.I used them again to send out the swag to the winners of my last giveaway. Then there were the cardboard coasters, and 4 sheets of paper. each one dedicated to each beer. It gives all kind of brewery information, and information about the exact beer that you're drinking. Including food pairings, glassware recommendations, serving temps, so on, so forth. AND WHAT NOT.

I thought those inserts were super cool. Sure, having the beer is great, but this beer is all relatively rare. It's nice to have some information to checkout while you check out the beer (without having to go on BeerAdvocate).


Saint-Germain Page 24 Brune
De Proef/Cigar City Tropical Triple



















Dupont La Bière de Beloeil
Grassroots Arctic Saison






















Now, it could totally be my ignorance, but I haven't seen these bottles in any of the shops I frequent. I was definitely more excited about the Cigar City collaboration, and the Grassroots brewing.

This post isn't necessarily about these beer though. I mean it is, but it isn't. Plus, of the four beers I received, I've only enjoyed one.

I shall never forget.

In doing some of my own research, I thought it would be best to do a list of pros and cons of sorts. So, you know here goes nothing.

Pros:
  -You get beer mailed to you. Right to your doorstep, and nothing is better than beer mail.
  -You have the opportunity to try a variety beers you might not have the chance to try otherwise.
  -The service is fast, and extremely friendly.
  -Some of the beers they have, are simply phenomenal.
  -You can re-order past beers you missed or thoroughly enjoyed.
  -Option to pay full membership at once, or monthly.

Cons:
  -Price-wise, it can be a bit expensive. At the least expensive, you're looking at $39 for a 12 pack, or $47         for two bombers. Those prices include the shipping charges.
  -With the twelve packs, you could potentially be stuck with quite a few beers that you just don't care for.

The odds are good, right? 5:2. But you know...Beer is an expensive hobby. Even without having joined this club, I probably spend...a lot more than I should. It would be really hard for me to justify these added expenses, unless I decided to curb my already pre-existing beer buying condition. That could prove to be difficult, as there is such a huge availability of great beers that I can pick up off the shelf. With that said, I still think what they provide is a great service, with lots of options available to the consumer. I mean, lets be honest, buying beer is expensive enough, and buying beer online is even MORE expensive. We all know this. In that aspect, the Microbrewed Beer Club is not special, in the least. In fact, their shipping costs just might be lower than some other places.

Really, the best thing you can do for yourself, if this is something that interest you, is check out their website. If you have any questions, do the Twitter to them, or Facebook them.

And uh, I guess that's all I have to say about that. Check it out and let me know what you think!

Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club

8 comments:

  1. I have been looking at getting a few months of the Rare beer club. I agree checking out the past months / years selections gives a great idea as to what you may be getting.

    I would put much more faith in this than one of those beers of the world / style /etc gift packs you see at bottle shops. Which may or may not be of questionable freshness.

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    1. I have been looking for a while, also. I just have a hard time justifying the cost. I know that If I adjust current spending trends of mine, it wouldn't be an issue, but I'm stubborn. Your freshness thing is definitely something to think about, and perhaps a point I should have touched on!

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    2. having worked in retail liquor for a few years, those holiday ones were always either distro left overs, or they just gave us the cartons to put out odds and ends in :)

      Same here i love checking out new bombers so unless i stock to a 6 pack a week and the club I couldn't swing it. This would be something I would ask for as a holiday gift for a few months.

      That is unless they came out with a Sours of the month club then i woudl change my buying habits :)

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  2. Very impressive. The Tropical Tripel is on shelves here for close to $20.

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    1. I happened to see that one on the shelf the other day $16.99 i think.

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    2. I happened to see that one on the shelf the other day $16.99 i think.

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  3. We ship to all states other than Utah, Hawaii and Alaska. Our featured beers are shipped to us within a couple of weeks of bottling – very fresh. Some of our Rare Beers are brewed just for the club with limited availability in stores. The Microbrewed beer of the Month club was founded by Kris Calef in 1994, he one of the biggest beer geeks you will ever meet! Kris was very excited to acquire the Rare Beer Club and offer other Beer Geeks limited production and releases of brews from all over the world.

    RBC club has a Personal Shipment Program (PSP), which means a member receives an email at the end of the month letting you know what beers are coming up in your shipment – giving you the option of skipping, double down or pick something from our previous months collection that you just need to have more of. Basically in our Rare Beer Club, you never get a beer you don’t want.

    The Microbewed Beer of the Month Club is special in the fact that we have the most variety of club options than any other Beer of the Month Club. Great idea for gifts, who wouldn’t want to get a box of beer on their doorstep every month?

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