ProductReportCard Editors' In-Depth Review
Pros And Cons
Pros
- Great variety of high quality beers from California
- Can choose the beers you want to try from their list of featured beers
- Featured beers are rated by members, Rate Beer and Beer Advocate
- Can easily reorder your favorite beers
Cons
- No satisfaction guarantee
- Slightly more expensive than your average beer club
- Specific beer information and tasting notes only on website (not included in shipments)
- Only shipping option is monthly
- Cannot ship to Alaska, Hawaii, Kentucky, Minnesota and Utah
Key Features
Products
CBC's Specialties membership features premium craft beer from California. They offer a variety of beer including Belgian-style beers, ciders, dark/lighter ales, seasonal and specialty beers and session beers (lower alcohol content).
The October shipment from Craft Beer Connect's Specialties club.
Credit: Mary Griffin
Quantity
Members of CBC's Specialties club will receive six 22-ounce bottles of beer each month. The shipments will include two bottles of three different types of beer.
Each shipment includes two bottles of each type of beer.
Credit: Mary Griffin
Membership Options
CBC's Specialties (or Tier 3) membership is the most premium of the four memberships that they offer. It features CBC's entire inventory including exclusive, seasonal and other limited production beers. As with the other CBC memberships, you will be charged on a monthly basis, but you can cancel, upgrade or downgrade your membership at any time. Unlike most beer clubs, CBC allows all of its members the option of selecting their own beers each month or receiving CBC's selections. You can make your selections from the members' area of Craftbeerconnect.com, but you must "lock" in your picks by the 22nd of the month to guarantee delivery.
Cost per Beer
Excluding shipping and handling, the Specialties club offers beers that cost an average of $10 each.
Newsletter
A short newsletter is included in most beer shipments. It typically provides an update on the club, new microbreweries they are working with, featured beers they particularly like, etc. On the CBC website, you can review all of their previous newsletters, and you can also learn more about the beers you want to try or the beers you have received (brewery background, tasting notes, food pairings/recipes, etc.).
A newsletter like this is included in most shipments.
Credit: Mary Griffin
Recently Featured Beers
Some recently featured "Tier 3" beers include: Lost & Found from The Lost Abbey, Renegade Blonde from the Iron Fist Brewing Company and Speedway Stout from AleSmith.
Gift Information
When sending a gift membership, you can either have CBC put together a shipment of beer based on your suggestions (ex. "Mary loves IPAs") or you can just send the gift recipient an email with the details of the club, the number of months you have purchased (1, 2, 3, 6 or 12) and instructions on how to make their own beer selections. If you have CBC put together the shipment, they will send it out during the next shipping cycle with your gift message included. If you choose to email the recipient, they will be notified immediately.
Shipping Schedule
Beer shipments are sent out on a monthly basis. Your credit card will be charged on the 23d of each month, and your shipment will be sent out shortly thereafter. Delivery times will vary depending on how far from San Diego you are.
Beers come securely packaged in boxes like this.
Credit: Mary Griffin
Satisfaction Guarantee
CBC doesn't offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee. If you have received the wrong beers in your shipment, CBC will cover the costs of exchanging the bottles for the right ones. However, if your bottles are damaged by "Acts of God or weather", they will not replace them. You can cancel your membership at any time without incurring cancellation fees, but you must cancel before the 18th of that month or else your request won’t go into effect until the following month and you will still receive/pay for that month's shipment.
Reputation
There aren't any consolidated customer reviews of Craft Beer Connect's beer clubs on independent (unbiased) websites, but it seems like the individual reviews I saw were mostly positive. I have personally been paying for a Specialties Club membership since June 2013 and have been very happy with my experience. I love that you are able to choose which beers you want to receive and that their website includes each beer's ratings from other members, RateBeer and Beer Advocate. Since I'm not from California, I find it especially helpful when trying to discover more obscure breweries.
Whether I have chosen my own beers or let the club choose for me, I have been consistently impressed with the quality and variety of the beers I've received. While I do wish the club offered a satisfaction guarantee, I have never gotten a beer that was bad or had an issue with the shipments. All shipments have consistently arrived on time and in perfect condition. The only other complaint I have and think the club could easily change is including background and tasting notes on the beers in each shipment. This information is on the website, but it is kind of a pain to look it up when you are trying to enjoy your beer. Overall, the CBC's Specialties Club is an awesome beer club, and we would highly recommend it to our members as a gift for themselves or for another beer lover in their life.
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