Rare Beer Club
The Rare Beer Club is an online mail-order club specializing in exclusive beers for craft beer enthusiasts.[1][2][3][4] The original Rare Beer Club was founded by the late English journalist and television personality Michael Jackson, whom The Wall Street Journal called “the world’s leading beer critic.”[5][6][7] A year after Jackson’s death in 2007, the club was taken over by C&H Clubs Inc. of Lake Forest, CA, which still manages it under the name MonthlyClubs.com.[4]
Background
Founding and acquisition of The Rare Beer Club
The Rare Beer Club was originally founded by the English journalist Michael Jackson who wrote many influential books on beer and whiskey. In 2008, the year after Jackson's death, the Rare Beer Club was acquired by C&H Clubs USA run by Kris Calef and Greg Hall. The club continues to focus on artisanal, hand-crafted and rare beers.[4]
Features of the club
The Rare Beer Club differs from similar mail-order clubs in that the beers selected for club members are curated by a testing panel[8] through a blind taste-testing process, so that the judges do not know the brewery of the beer they are sampling. The purpose of this procedure is to prevent them from being prejudiced either for or against a particular beer.[5][8] It is claimed that only between 20 to 30 percent of all beers tested are ultimately chosen for the club.[4][5] The club also differs by only offering its monthly beers in two 750 ml caged bottles.[4][5][9] In addition, many of the beers in the Rare Beer Club are exclusive to the club.[1][2][5] Other beers are offered first to club members before their commercial debuts.[5] The brewers whose beers are selected are those that frequently experiment, using ingredients like cocoa and unusual hop and barley varieties. Many age their beers in barrels made of oak or cedar before distribution.[5] The company has a personalized shipping policy, in which the company sends the subscriber an email detailing the upcoming selections, and allowing the recipient to customize the order.[10][11] The club’s deliveries are accompanied by a detailed newsletter, which provides profiles of the beers, histories of the breweries, tasting notes and suggested food pairings.[3][5][9][12]
Reviews
The Rare Beer Club has received positive reviews from many print and online media sources. A Los Angeles Times critic referred to the club as “game-changing,” with “expertly curated bottle shipments that continue to be among the industry's best,” and noted that about half of the beers featured in the monthly selections were produced exclusively for it.[1] Fortune magazine affirmed that the club is a “favorite” of craft beer enthusiasts, and that it is “the way to go” for an experience “more off the beaten path.” The reviewer, however, cautioned that, given the high monthly price of membership, a “willingness to gamble” would be preferable for those who would consider joining.[2]
According to Popular Mechanics, the Rare Beer Club offers its members “the good, weird, funky stuff,” pointing out that “there are actually a few beers you likely couldn't find anywhere else, like extra hoppy harvest editions of Belgian pale ales or small batch fruit sours from rural Oregon.” The reviewer indicated that, though there are cheaper options for craft beer fans, the Rare Beer Club “offers the very most.”[13] The reviewer for Men’s Journal noted that mail-order clubs had first flourished before rare craft beers became widely available in grocery stores, and that the Rare Beer Club was “the one club still worth its dues.”[14] The Berghoff blog voted it one of the three best mail-order beer clubs in the United States.[7]
Among beer specialty websites, the Berghoff blog rated The Rare Beer Club one of the three best beer clubs in the U.S. and declared that Michael Jackson would have been "proud to see what the club has become."[7] According to the American Craft Beer website, “There are lots of decent beer clubs out there – but few as good as The Rare Beer Club.”[15] On the video podcast program Hop Cast, the show’s cast (Ken Hummemeder, Brad Chmielewski and John Burkett) reviewed the strong Belgian Witbier Triverius offered by the Rare Beer Club. In the video, they praised the beer, calling it "well-balanced" "crisp" “pretty strong,” “beautiful” and “perfect for a summer day.”[16]
The Rare Beer Club is frequently recommended in holiday season[15][17][18] and Father’s Day[19][20][21] gift guides.
Philanthropy
Beginning in 2010, the Rare Beer Club banded together with individual brewers to raise money and awareness to help fight prostate cancer.[22] A limited edition beer offered by the club features the Pints for Prostates logo on its label, including the blue ribbon to remind people of the ongoing search for a cure to prostate cancer, a leading cause of death among American men. A donation from every bottle sold is also made to Pints for Prostates.[23] The club engaged in this campaign for four years in a row from 2010 to 2013.[23]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Bennett, Sarah (November 3, 1917). "Microbrewed Beer Club offers best of-the-month subscriptions to the craft-beer industry". The Los Angeles Times [registration required]. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Morris, Chris (October 24, 1915). "Everything you need to know before joining a craft beer club". Fortune. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "A Rare Beer Club Tasting: Best Served Chilled with Cheese and Good People". The Local Beer Blog. August 13, 2013. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 "History of Mail-Order Beer: The Founding of the Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club". Retrieved July 24, 2018.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 "The Rare Beer Club Reviewed – Is it worth it?". Mantelligence.com. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
- ↑ "The Rare Beer Club". Retrieved July 24, 2018.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "Beer Blog: 3 Best Beer Clubs In The United States". Berghoff Beer Blog. May 26, 2016. Archived from the original on August 8, 2018. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Nason, Adam (December 15, 2012). "Top 10 reasons to go with The Rare Beer Club as your holiday gift". Beerpulse.com. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Lothian, Chad (September 10, 2013). "Beer of the Month Clubs". Bangor [Maine] Daily News (blog). Retrieved 25 July 2018.
- ↑ "The Rare Beer Club (About This Club tab)". The Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
- ↑ "Monkish Rara Avis brewed exclusively for The Rare Beer Club, available this month". Beerpulse.com. April 24, 2015. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
- ↑ "Port Brewing / The Lost Abbey - Ten Commandments (2009 Vintage) (Tasting Notes Tab)". Beer of the Month Club. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
- ↑ Allyn, Matt (December 21, 2016). "The Beer of the Month Club Isn't Dead Yet". Popular Mechanics. Retrieved July 25, 2018.
- ↑ "Rare Beer Club Membership: Holiday Gift Guide for Beer Lovers". Men's Journal. Retrieved July 25, 2018.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 "The 2017 American Craft Beer Holiday Gift Guide – Part II". American Craft Beer. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
- ↑ "Episode 185: Triverius & Perennial Violet". Hop Cast. September 8, 2012. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
- ↑ Weitz, Grace (December 12, 2017). "The Best Gifts for Your Beer Loving Significant Other". HopCulture. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
- ↑ "Art of Manliness Holiday Gift Guide 2014: Best Subscription Services For Men". Art of Manliness. December 1, 2014. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
- ↑ Bell, Daniel (June 19, 2015). "GG Bailey's 5 Digital Gifts to Get Online". GG Bailey. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
- ↑ "The Father's Day Gift Guide". Goop.com. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
- ↑ Wang, Kimberly (June 10, 2016). "The Ultimate Father's Day Gift Guide for Every Kind of Dad". Brit + Co. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
- ↑ Barbera, Greg (July 1, 2010). "Jolly Pumpkin and Rare Beer Club Brew Limited Beer to Help Fight Cancer". All About Beer Magazine. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 Staff (August 29, 2013). "Noda Brewing, Rare Beer of The Month Club to Support Pints For Prostates". All About Beer Magazine. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
External links
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