Membership Renewal Season

I have literally zero clue where I stand with Barclay beyond I picked up some Epochs and a second DoT 13 last Friday. Supposedly Brian was visiting 12% later that day so maybe that relationship will continue. Beers have all been good, just slow coming.

Also picked up a bunch of random BA stouts 12% released over the holidays. So far they have been excellent (Abomination - Midnight Snack variants) and pretty good (that Fidens stout they contract).
 
I told my friend who really just likes sours and the occasional stronger beer about the SARA club opening like 90 min after their post last Tue since they had not replied that it was closed. He decided to join and I was shocked that it lasted that long. Then we get the email three days later that it's still open. Times have changed. I just hope they can keep Arbor open. It's usually dead whenever when I swing by tho TBF I've only really been during the daytime.

I stayed in but I did quit two wine clubs. Also split Private Press with a friend and why try to just get one of each bottle to force us to make the time to meet up and share them. Still sitting on like 5 cases of De Garde and I was only in that for two years.
 
Disco P said:
Did they increase the numbers for SARA or something? I was in it for a couple of years, splitting it with a pal and neither of us was even the name on the membership. We just never got around to err….normalizing our status.
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Most people I know that wee in it dropped. I was the last holdout and 2025 was my last year with it. I assume they increased numbers too, but demand has certainly decreased
 
Disco P said:
What’s Tim Clifford doing these days? Let’s be real, the beers went downhill after he left. Infected beers didn’t help either.
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This is a major factor. They also scaled the membership too quickly, making those super-exclusive, small-batch blends impossible to make. The exclusivity vanished once they began selling 'member-exclusive' Batch 2 beers to the public only a year later. Adding to that, they started offering member beers for on-site consumption to anyone willing to pay. It felt like the membership had become a testing ground for experimental batches, which a lot of them didn't work. Also those god damn Frederiksdal barrels!!
 
ABSTRACTlegend said:
This is a major factor. They also scaled the membership too quickly, making those super-exclusive, small-batch blends impossible to make. The exclusivity vanished once they began selling 'member-exclusive' Batch 2 beers to the public only a year later. Adding to that, they started offering member beers for on-site consumption to anyone willing to pay. It felt like the membership had become a testing ground for experimental batches, which a lot of them didn't work. Also those god damn Frederiksdal barrels!!
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This is the crux of the matter. Pay up front to be tested on with a bunch of exclusive misses and non-exclusive hits. I dropped the club thinking I'd save at least $200 just buying the good stuff. As it is, I haven't missed them and basically never go when I'm in the Bay Area.

This was my most prized membership when it first started. It is pretty sad how far it fell.
 
NSXr8ted said:
Deep Woods renewal is next week.

They are offering two tiers: base, and all-in with the Booster Pack (aka Four Tallboyz of the Apocalypse) included.

I would pay an extra $50 for a third tier where they don't send their long-winded emails.
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Way to bury the lede.
  • NEW: An exclusive Season Ticket Holder event in 2026 (will be announced)
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pen15clubmember said:
I told my friend who really just likes sours and the occasional stronger beer about the SARA club opening like 90 min after their post last Tue since they had not replied that it was closed. He decided to join and I was shocked that it lasted that long. Then we get the email three days later that it's still open. Times have changed. I just hope they can keep Arbor open. It's usually dead whenever when I swing by tho TBF I've only really been during the daytime.

I stayed in but I did quit two wine clubs. Also split Private Press with a friend and why try to just get one of each bottle to force us to make the time to meet up and share them. Still sitting on like 5 cases of De Garde and I was only in that for two years.
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I remember I was so excited to join back in 2015, dropped it this year. I don’t know anyone who has kept it.
 
theLostWizard said:
I remember I was so excited to join back in 2015, dropped it this year. I don’t know anyone who has kept it.
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only the hardcore stans still have it. They are in major denial and just throw their money at anything and everything.

Also the Arbor is awful. It's so small and hot all the time. such a horrible design for a building. Really wish they would remodel it or something to open it up and add more space. It blows my mind that they constantly keep throwing parties there.
 
ABSTRACTlegend said:
Also the Arbor is awful. It's so small and hot all the time. such a horrible design for a building.
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I'm 80% confident it will close by EOY. It's always dead. I haven't been to the other locations often in the past few years, but I imagine SARA is struggling as a whole, given how many people ditched the club and how the bottom fell out of the sour market.
 
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