WWWBV Release

Yes please!

 

Well said sir, and right back at you on the thanks. Really appreciate you sharing those Bruery gems. For anyone that missed out on the allocations, you just found an awesome oppurtunity and a good reason to become a BA member or to get to know your BA friends a little better. The beer is still out there, now put yer big boy pants on and go get it

 

its simple match folks. CS sold a little over 1000 bottles. I am sure they kept the rest for cellaring and events as any good brewery does. at 1000 bottles that's 166 people, give or take, that can get some if everyone goes 6 deep. 166 people and how many beer geeks on the front range. I learned at Margarete, get your ass there early, beer release days are like powder days.

 

I posted some thoughts on the blog, along with some pictures from the day.

http://brewtallyinsane.com/2013/05/...-biv-day-and-the-current-state-of-craft-beer/

 

This is a good look at the event for those that didn't/couldn't make it.

 

Yeah, agreed. Great write up and great pics!

 

While I do disagree with you on some points, I think this is a great write-up. I do think that they should've decreased the bottle limit once they saw demand. Four is still plenty to cellar/age and taste over time and would discourage the hoarding/reselling aspect that seems to be more prevalent in today's craft beer scene (see below). Also, if you got there at noon, I doubt you got bottles.

Your write-off hit on one point perfectly: the craft beer scene in Colorado is changing and I'm unsure if it's for the better. These releases - as well as the demand for festivals/events - reminds me of what the concert music scene has turned into. $250 ticket prices, scalpers (if they havent discovered this avenue already), paying people to wait in-line for you. At some point, it stops being about community and starts being about competition. I hope that's not what we're heading towards, but I worry.

I hope at some point I get to taste WWBV. If I don't....well.....I may look back on this event as the end of the "good ol' days".

 

I appreciate the compliments and discussion. Thanks guys.

I'm curious about the reselling aspect mentioned in the post above. Where does one go to buy / sell beer on the black market these days? I have absolutely no experience in this department and it's not something I had even considered when I wrote the article.

eBay's been shut down for a few years now and a quick look on craigslist turned up nothing. It's not something I have any desire to take part in, but it's definitely an interesting twist if there are numerous bottles showing up for sale online after a release.

 

I plan on opening a taco stand, which is really just a front for all my black market beers. Only 300 more events and I should have enough inventory to stay open for at least a week...

 

Your stand will fail. Put it on wheels. Beer, er, I mean food trucks are all the rage.

 

JACKPOT!!

 

So you want the folks who showed up 4-5 hrs early to get the same number of bottles as someone who showed up at 1? I wish it worked like this because I hate waiting in lines but come on....

WWBV was on tap Sunday, why on earth didn't you drink any? It was dry hopped and fansomeonekeepsratting meoutforinappropriatelanguagetastic. I plan on going by manana to drink more. I may be there daily til it cashes.

 

Say it with me, BO-DE-GA

 

WWBV release complaints remind me of SourFest complaints remind me of this week's Bruery's Chocolate Rain re-release complaints. "Things" can always go better...for you. But unless you can get your beer/SourFest/Chocolate Rain at a warehouse or outlet store, people will always get shut out of acquiring something they want while others get exactly what they prepared for (early in line, faster internet connection, blind luck, a big wang, whatever). With craft beer's rise, more often than not benefiting you directly, there will be competition to acquire good beer. The entitlement perspective is what sucks. Sure you're free to complain about how "things were managed", but surely you have or will have the opportunity to consume where and when others don't. It's certainly a slippery slope towards overnight waits for beer, and while that shit's ridiculous to think about, it might also be kinda fun. Remember, this is a community...revolving around beer...it's not that f'n serious in the grand scheme of things.

 

I'll toss in my outsider's perspective, for what it's worth. It's definitely harder to attend releases out-of-state because you can't get a pulse on things quite as well if you're not "in" the local community. I probably could have sought out information more aggressively, but it's all good. We weren't really sure what this release would be like, having only attended one other (much more low-key) release at Avery last October. We decided to show up an hour early, and arrived shortly after 11. By then the line had wrapped around the building, so unfortunately we missed out on the bottle sharing fun. Great weather to stand in line, anyway, and the people around us were all pretty relaxed/in a good mood. I was surprised to see so many people show up, and it's definitely a testament to Crooked Stave's popularity.

The downsides of this release were, obviously, the delayed start time and the crazy crowded taproom. I don't think it was an issue for people near the front of the line, but the farther back in line you were, the worse it was. At any rate, we spent about two and a half hours in line before we squeezed into the taproom, where we realized that getting a drink was basically just a free-for-all. Managed to try Violet (twice), Rouge and St. Bretta, with a taster of Hop Savant. All were quite tasty and eased some of the pain of the hot, overcrowded taproom. I would have liked to try more of the "rainbow" but by the time we reached the actual cellar room, getting back to the bar for another sample required more effort than it was worth. I did feel for people who were farther back in line, because Rouge had almost run out by the time we made it into the taproom, and I'm sure a lot missed out on the first couple rainbow variants. I know at the Avery release, they actually had workers who come through the line and take your order, so that might be one way to ensure more people get to try what's on tap (though I know CS is a lot smaller operation, so that might not be feasible). After we got into the taproom, it took about another hour before we made it to the table to buy bottles. Saw Chad a few people ahead of us, but he left by the time we got to the table, so we missed out on talking to him. We finally made it out with our bottles, and headed over to a much mellower scene at Dry Dock, which is a fantastic place. All in all, we had fun and were happy to get our bottles and try some new things on tap. I definitely think there are some areas they could smooth out for the next release, but no event is perfect.

 

http://*.com

Not that I condone buying/selling at all, but it does exist.

 

What?? Now, I didn't see how far the line stretched back or how it "behaved" back there, but where I was there wasn't so much of a "line" as a group of people in some sort of order. People were walking back and forth filling glasses, getting there's filled, and mingling about. Sorry others missed this, twas fun

--what part of KS? I'm from Topeka/Lawrence and miss Free State quite a bit

 

Though I was only tipsy before noon, count me among the few that has no qualms with getting wasted on good beers with good people before noon. I wish these events happened more often so I could pawn off some more of my seven year old IPAs on to some of you turkeys.

 

Pretty sure office refrences should be in every thread.

 

Well to be fair, we weren't prepared for the bottle share either and didn't bring much of anything . But next time maybe I'll just go up and say hi anyway! And Lawrence, FTW.