Beer52

Anyone used them/are using them?

I have just subscribed for the free Oktoberfest box (via CAMRA), just pay the postage. Monthly delivery of 8 beers at £24:00, sounds about right if the beers are decent and new releases.

I am now reading it is difficult to un-subscribe and some of the beers are their own, any comments?

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Not a company I’ve dealt with myself as they seem to be very hit and miss, and mostly a miss for people like us I think? Probably good for people new to the world of craft beer and/or who don’t really want to seek out beers themselves. In terms of price they seem fine, especially when you get the first box free you can’t complain. But “you get what you pay for”?

As you’ve read already, the difficult process of unsubscribing is the number 1 complaint people seem to have. Others things I’ve read that put me off personally were people saying the boxes lack variety with most being pale ales, all entry-level stuff too. Short-dated / end of life beers. Beers that are readily available in supermarkets. Their own beers being used as fillers.

But anyway it varies from month to month so could be good one month and crap the next. That’s why I personally wouldn’t bother, I much prefer spending time picking and choosing beers myself.

I will see what arrives in the second box (the first I pay for), cut and run, or stay for another, or until I think it’s a con/waste of time.

I will also post on here what’s in the boxes, so others can see what you get for your money; so keep checking this thread once in a while.

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Yeah keep us updated I’m curious how good or bad they are, most of what I read was from a year or two ago. Also I just had a look at the ratings for their own beers on here and UT, they seem ok, average I guess, so not bad per se.

Myself and a colleague signed up to a P+P only offer a few months ago. Both of us forgot to cancel so ended up paying for a second box. However it was easy to cancel - just rang them up and they were very polite. They tried some sales patter on me but I just cut them short and explained I’d rather choose my own beer. My colleague came up with some nonsense about having a baby so they obviously put him down as a 'may subscribe again and he got a phone call a couple of months later.

Thought their own beers were particularly bland other than one stout/Porters I really enjoyed. I think I was lucky because I didn’t subscribe in a month when they chucked in supermarket beers.

PS - they also take the piss and ask for breweries to sell to them on the cheap in return for the exposure. Their magazine seems like an excuse for their employees to get holidays for free.

Well I will post on here what I got, so if it’s not up to scratch they will not get any custom from RateBeer users. If however it’s all good, then it’s free advertising for them.

I look forward to seeing what arrives and sharing the experience!

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They’re actually banned on the UKCB forum or whatever it’s called on Facebook.

Flavourly are supposedly even worse for doing this. Also some weird goings on behind the scenes regarding the business ownership. Another reason why I avoid them.

If subscription boxes are what you’re after there’s plenty of actually decent ones about, providing you’re willing to pay a little more. HonestBrew and Hoptimism have decent offerings, Mikkeller and To Øl both definitely worth checking out too. For Londoners, CraftMetropolis and Hoppist could be worth a shout though I don’t know much at all about those two.
DeskBeers also worth a look for those of you who drink with work colleagues.

As the offer came through CAMRA I hoped they would have done a background check on the company.

Beer52 sponsored the GBBF this year too, so it can’t be all bad surely?

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Did the postage box. Didn’t know I was signing up for the club until I had confirmed postage date… Haven’t canceled yet, but might. Attached are the beers I’ve received.

Cheers for those photos SHIG, they look OK for the cost.

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Went in for the P+P only box a few months back. Went into it fully knowing that it was a subscription. Got the same beers as @SHIG 's first photo. Pretty unimpressive but decent value. I cancelled immediately which was more inconvenient than i made imaged. Basically just had to email them 2 or three times where they tried in vain to convince me to stay. Job done.

My very understanding wife got me 6 months’ membership as a surprise present a year or two ago. It’s very easy to suspend it for a bit if you want, I think I spread my 6 months out over about 10 months in the end as I don’t drink huge amounts at home.

We were really impressed with the customer service we had; they were always quick to respond and helpful. My wife had no probs at all cancelling after the 6th box (disappointingly… I had hoped they might keep coming!).

Out of my 48 beers, 46 were new rates for me, and most of those were ones I couldn’t have easily picked up elsewhere. My Beer52 rates scored about 0.2 higher than my average for all my rates, so they were decent quality (although obviously you’re not going to get too many 12% impys or quads at that price point!). The beers came from about 8 different countries during my membership (although with quite a few from Scotland, where they’re based), and I’ve seen they’ve covered more countries since. The boxes are sometimes themed on a certain country or theme. They do occasionally do their own collabs with breweries, which do at least have the advantage that they’ll definitely be new rates. The couple of collabs I had were pretty decent. Everything was always very fresh - nothing anywhere near the best before date.

My only criticism was that they were very pale ale -oriented, and you’ll get a lot of APA’s, IPA’s and SIPAs (and no doubt these days you’ll get those new-fangled murky jobbies too). Call me old-fashioned but I’d have liked more dark beers (usually just a token one dark beer per box).

The magazine, snack and occasional free gifts are best described as nice little freebies, although the spelling, layout, language and editing of the magazine were sometimes so poor that I couldn’t face reading it all (glossy photos alone do not make a good article!).

Overall I thought it was excellent value, and I would be very happy to have it as a gift again (certainly in preference to the uninitiated trying to choose gift beers for me themselves!). People seem to regularly update both this site and beer52s Twitter account with beers received, so you should easily be able to determine if you think the beers you get will suit you.

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When I’m next on my desktop PC I’ll try to post details of all the beers I got from them. The Oktoberfest one sounds interesting, wish I was still receiving them! Enjoy!

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Cheers for that, someone who was happy with Beer52; I hope I am too.

I look forward to seeing what you had (if you get round to it).

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No complaints from me for the first box; seven new rates, all of which look interesting and each has plenty of life before it’s BBD.

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I’m wondering if this will be my set this month, got a bunch of ads for reduced price box if it isn’t I guess. I think that would be 7 new ticks for me as well…logged in and confirmed this will be the box I get on or around 10th. The will get my money for one more month.

Not sure when it arrived as I just found the toddler playing with it but I received a ppsrcaed from Poland. An off of Polish beers for £2.95 P+P. Tempted. I wonder how many free offers you can get away with. The Mrs will be once strict instructions to remind me to cancel this time.

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