Le Bleu release date announced.

WTF...I was in the brewery when they ran out and got shut out by one person and now this random liquor store has bottles for sale! That is not right at all

 

I disagree. You lacked management when you let several people get away with buying more then the allotted amount. I also used the rare skill of counting(just like cavedave) and was a few people under the 100 case mark. I know this applies to me and the very few people in that # range around me, but it's extremely disappointing. As a result I'll never buy another one of your beers. That's just the effect it had on me personally. If I owned a brewery I can guarantee you sure as shit it would never happen like that. Also throwing the last 2 cases on the shelves was hilarious. The staff got a real kick out of people mobbing and trampling each other over the beer while they just sat there laughing.

Also. WTF is up with that liqour store selling bottles of Lebleu.

 

Speculation at its finest. Perhaps you should acquire the skills and resources to operate a Brewery before you begin stating such nonsense.

If you don't plan on supporting the Brewery in the future, you wasted a bunch of words and time writing this.

I, for one, am happy to see that Ithaca is taking it in the manner that was expressed in this thread. They did nothing wrong, aside from the fact that a few people walked away with a few loose bottles of Le Bleu, and they are aware of it. Its quite simple: if you wanted the beer this badly - evidently most of you did or else there would be no bitching on here, ratebeer and facebook - you would have made it a priority to show up before 10:30. I cannot tell you the laughs that we at the front of the line had of people pulling into the parking lot at 10:45 with VT/PA/NJ license plates. Those who decided to showed up right before the doors opened decided to play a game of Russian roulette, based on past experiences, and all lost.

 

I showed up around 9:45. I was in the range to ABSOLUTELY get my allotment(remeber that pure counting skill). If I showed up at 10:30 I would have been WAY behind where I was. Also I never said I don't already work in the brewing business. Oh and several people in the front of the line who I know PERSONALLY were from PA and NJ so I guess they were laughing at themselves?

 

So what you are telling us is that you and your chuckle buddies were the ones that were getting cases as well as loose bottles? You have mentioned how much fun you and the "front of the line" were having and others have said that the people grabbing extra bottles were stopped relatively quickly. Thanks for taking more than you should have while laughing the whole time.

 

Thats odd. There is a picture of the line posted in here that was taken at 9am and the line was 20 people deep. Between 6am-8:30am there was about 6 of us on line.

Why would they be laughing at themselves? They showed up promptly. The laughs were had at the expense of those who decided to drive 4-6 hours to show up right before the doors happened. That, in my opinion, is utter stupidity and they should have known better.

 

No. i received one case and one case only. As I stated earlier, that began with the group behind us. To be specific, it was a bunch of guys from PA that we spoke to all morning (a couple of them are well respected in the PA beer/brewing scene, and I will refrain from mentioning names). My buddy and I were at the bar tasting 14, and even mentioned it to the little red head who was pouring about what was going on. She replied that no one could get more than a case, however, she did nothing to enforce it.

I posted a picture of my Le Bleu haul in the "post a picture of your latest haul" thread shortly after the release. If you question my sincerity, please use it as a reference and put your assumptions to rest.

 

Funny, I got there at exactly 9:45 and was about 50th in line. I'd say it took until 10:15 until they got around 100 people in line. I was counting also.

 

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

 

Something is not right because I drove over 3 1/2 hours from PA and arrived between 10am and 10:05 and I was around 70th to 80th in line. I got a late start and was very worried I was not going to get any LeBleu at all because I have been shut out of two other brewery release only in PA in the past two years. One was my fault because I left late and knew I was going to get there by the time they opened so I took some bottles to trade and was able to still get two bottles after they sold out. The second was because of line jumpers and missed getting bottles by 10 people after waiting for over two hours.

If you arrived anywhere before 10am then you would have been in front of me and gotten LeBleu. I do agree that they should have walked the line or annouced so everyone in line could hear that not everyone in line was going to walk away with LeBleu when they opened at 11am. They could have sent an employee down the line and asked each person how many they were planning on buying and then arrived at a cut off and let everyone else know that they were going to sell out. I'm sure they have learned from this along with everyone that attended.

What I dislike are people bring mules and that's how it shows up at beer shops and e-bay. There were certainly mules in the line and by limiting the bottles it just means they will bring more mules. Not sure how you prevent that. Just my 2 cents.

 

Definitely did not receive lebleu. I was precise enough to count everybody in line and ended up in the low 90's regardless of the time or not, 9:45 sticks as the time I remembered pulling in. I had the opportunity for a bottle but like I said they took the last 2 cases and threw on the shelf it was mobbed by one person in front of me and a few behind me. It was being put on the shelf and then in a flash it was gone. It was my fault for not being quick enough at that point. Had the few people in the front of the line not gone over the allotment, all would have been well for ME. Like I said in my post a before my last. I was expressing my personal problem with the release.

In the case of mules there is nothing you can do really.

 

how could it be that you got there at 9:45 and there were 50 additional people behind you that got beer and someone else got there at 9:45 and got shut out? i guess if it was a foot, it was a mile? either that or someone should get a new watch battery.

when you got there at 9:45 did you notice the line double within a minute or two? something seems off in the stories. i'm no wopner, but something seems fishy here...

 

I was in line and did not get any Lebleu. I can blame no one but myself. I got a late start. I certainly didnt expect there to be any line based on ALL their previous releases. I feel bad because I have a few regular BA's I trade with and I like to have a few bottles for them. It's all "sour Berries" at this point. Those of you who got some, Cheers; to the rest of us who got shut out....we learned a important lesson

Disclaimer: past performance is not indicative of future results

 

Evan you don't understand the massive influx of people that showed up between 10-11. There was honestly only about 50-60 people on line by 9:30-9:45. People were still pulling in to the lot at 1130 as Blake and I put our cases in the car to head back home.

 

Truth.

 

i was still fighting the battle with my wife to make the drive early on sunday when i heard the news that it sold out. i immediately turned to my wife and said, "ya know what, you are right...there are things more important than beer. i'll skip this one, i'd LOVE to go to your friend that i never met kid's 1 year old birthday party" - the reward i got was far better than 2 cases of LeBleu .

 

If the earlier post from Schulzy, Parentheses Happy Sales Manager at Ithaca Beer Co, is legitimate, then I am just shocked at the amateurism of this company, its management executives, and sales staff. I traveled over 500 miles to attend this release and left empty handed. I admit, I'm still a little bitter after two days. Prior to the trip, I was planning to buy a case of LeBleu, two Ithaca T-Shirts, the Excelsior glass set, a case of Flower Power, fill a growler, and buy several bottles of 14. Yes, like many of you, I have a little bit of a beer problem. After learning that LeBleu sold out and talking to a few mules transporting cases and would not sell a single bottle because they were buying it for their <fill in the blank>, I was extremely disappointed and upset. One of the employees tried to make everyone feel better by saying they still have a barrel for next year and free tastings and cheese. I for one found this insulting and in poor taste, like that is going to make us forget about what just happened.

In the end, selling beer is a business, unless Schulzy and everyone else at Ithaca Beer Co is working for free. To disappoint more people than you are satisfying is asinine, to say the least. I don't understand how anyone could come away from this release thinking that it was a success, especially someone in a management position at Ithaca Beer Co. I for one scrapped all my Ithaca Beer Co. purchase plans, will not be offering them free advertising, and have no plans to purchase anything from them in the future. Ithaca Beer Co. was going to make its money from LeBleu, regardless of the limit size. Instead of changing their limits to satisfy everyone, they decided to follow through on a poor business decision and make enemies. They drew the line on Saturday and I was on the wrong side. Now, I am staying on this side, taking my business elsewhere, spreading the word about the debacle an how poorly Ithaca Beer Co. is managed.

 

Christ alive some of you people are the biggest fucking babies.

 

The "attack" is a general observation, not directed at our community specifically, but at our society generally.

I got to CL CdC and saw 150 people, yet there were way over 400 tix taken. Were those others taken by people expecting people who would not show, in hopes of giving to friends or to use in trade, just because there was no supervision and they could, taken by people who would leave and not come back? I love a good bottle share so I stayed, but I also hoped to get beer, and the idea that I knew I had no chance of getting beer is ridiculous. And I ended up getting beer because someone gave me a ticket taken by him for someone else who didn't show, so my point is valid.

OTOH I counted the people in line at Ithaca and I knew almost exactly who would and wouldn't get beer. And there was a great, low key, bottle share of a smaller scale by us in line at which you, as you are always, and everyone else was certainly welcome.

 

Not even close my friend - they made about 65 cases less this year. I believe last year was 175 and this year was 110. 900 cases would be almost 11,000 bottles less.