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:

The U.S. Microbrewed Beer Club 

"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."

The U.S. and International Variety Beer Club

"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."

The International Beer Club

"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.

The 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

Website: http://www.beermonthclub.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beermonthclub

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/beermonthclub/

Google+: https://plus.google.com/+beermonthclub/posts

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BeerMonthClub / https://twitter.com/RareBeerClub