Heading to Toppling Goliath this weekend

Thanks for stopping by the Cellar! Just for pricing clarity: David was on the bottle list this weekend. It was definitely "bar" priced, but not $20! They're $12.50 - TG bottles get roughly the same mark-up any of our bombers get. We still have some David hanging around, FYI.

We received a very small amount of Temple it didn't make it onto the bottle list. We still have a few bottles hanging out. Was a beautiful weekend to be in Decorah. Cheers!

 

Buckle up! I have spare time on my hands and have a problem with short responses! I was one of the people (have a full-time job that can afford a craft beer hobby by the way) that made it to Toppling Goliath on Thursday night for the Naughty Temple and David release. I would say there were anywhere from twenty to thirty people there, majority of people there for the bottles.

David cases were selling like cheese grits at an Alabama Waffle House! It certainly did not seem like as much Naughty Temple was being sold. I will say that the $25 price tag was eyebrow raising. However, I feel the price was justified once we opened our bottle in the taproom! That is a really well done barrel-aged offering. And they really did not spare expense, I later learned from Mike that this beer had been in Heaven Hill barrels for 12 months! It definitely tastes like it, again, my opinion.

One of the bartenders told me there had been people that were buying two cases of each beer. Honestly, that made me jealous more than anything: that there are people out there that can afford to do something like that, but that is life: grass is always greener and all that.

Full disclosure: I ended buying a mix case of half David and half Naughty Temple. The friend that was with me bought a case of each. Not that anyone that missed out on this release cares, but most of these beers will end up in other BA's hands. I know that both of us were only planning on keeping a few bottles of each to ourselves. We like making trade partners and friends who did not have the luxury of being at TG happy, because beer is a happy type of thing. Although, that can be hard to tell from this thread.

However, I have no issue with the case limit. I mean, it was $300 for ONE CASE of Naughty Temple!!! $300!!! This is Madness! No... THIS! IS! TOPPLING GOLIATH!!! (Sorry...) And if you can pay that prohibitive price, then by all means, you deserve it!

Please, help me understand all the griping, though, fellow BA's... If Naughty Temple and David are so great, were they not worth being there for Thursday night? ESPECIALLY with the known track record of rare TG releases, and on top of that, a BARREL AGED beer release?!! How could anyone NOT see this coming??? I mean, there is absolutely nothing special about what I did, or the other people that were there. We thought it was worth it; so we made sure to be there for it.

Did you have a reason you couldn't be there? Kids, work, can't afford the beer, etc... etc... That really is unfortunate, BUT... How is this TG's fault? And why is it worth complaining about? It just makes you sound like somebody needs to call you the WAAAAHmbulance. And I chuckle in your general direction.

I even went one step further and drove from Decorah that night to be at Perennial the next morning for the BA Abraxas reservation. Because I did not want to miss out on BA Abraxas. I was not going to take my chances of getting to St. Louis late the next day, missing out, and then getting on BA and going "WTF that line was so long!!! I can't believe I missed out! Beer SUCKS! Perennial could have done a better job! etc... et al."

OR WORSE, try to get a bottle in the lottery, lose the lottery, and come on BA and "That lottery SUCKED! I didn't win! I deserved the beer! etc... et al." And yes, we shared bottles of Naughty Temple, David, Pseudo Sue, and a growler of Millennium Falcon for those fine folks down in St. Louis, except the Cards fans, always except for the Cards fans.

I want beer, so I go get it. Or, I find a way to get it! No excuses, no whining for other's amusement on a craft beer hobby board. I go, have a damn good time, get my beer, and on to the next! That is what kills me: I am one of the laziest, and definitely not even CLOSE to smartest person I know. Landing beers like Naughty Temple is not rocket science, it is BEERS science! This science being much less hard than most other kinds of science. All right, that may not even be a thing, but I like to pretend it is, because Beer.

EVERYONE in this board, on this site, is capable of getting the beer they REALLY want. It may not be easy, and the lengths that may have to be lengthed to get it may be ridiculous, but I truly believe that. And if I ever miss out on a release, well, I sure as shoot will not be getting on here and complaining to all of you about it, or BLAMING a brewery for it! I'll drown my tears in a frosty mug of Schlitz and pull up BA, looking for the next GREAT HYPE. Keep on drinkin' on. Let the Pintofbrown hating commence!

P.S. Hawkeyenation is a SAINT! And if he thinks his ONLY bottle of Naughty Temple is best used to land some damn good Jester King beer, who the heck are you to say otherwise???

 

From your post this is all that was important

[QUOTE="Pintofbrown, post: 2455334, member: 606330"

That is what kills me: I am one of the laziest, and definitely not even CLOSE to smartest person I know.

 

I can see both sides, I imagine it is a pain in the ass to deal with people running in and out and might have been easy just to sell it. We created the demand. I do know a few who felt mislead and planned their weekends around getting some of the new bottles that were being promoted by the brewery. I was going to make the trip Saturday with a buddy who really wanted me to go with him until we saw that David sold out. I have to admit that I was kind of happy it sold out. Turned out to be a great day, went to Casanova and got some Sue, had some wings and a juicy at The Nook, and still got home in time to sit outside and enjoy the weather- even cleaned my gutters.

Just about every guy I know in the hobby has cut down on their spending or is trying to. A lot of the guys who dropped $$ at TG Friday will get to the same spot. I'm convinced there will be a new obsession soon as well, A cop I know predicts weed will be legal within 5-10 years. If that happens, a lot of pressure will be taken off craft beer and maybe I'll be able to buy BCBS in January and drive town to Decorah three days after a release and get my bottles.

 

Why was that the only important part? I have to ask, again, I have my moments...

 

I think it might have been a dig alluding to why you had the time to get to both releases.

 

The amount of butthurt over a couple of 95 rated beers is pretty unbelievable. I wonder why they are sending Assasin to distribution?

 

This is pretty much how I sum it up as well. I had plans that were spoiled, which left me a bit miffed, but it turned out to be a great day regardless and am actually sort of glad, as is my wallet. Met up with some buddies at 515 Brewing instead, drank their outstanding beers and shared some top notch bottles (one of which was my only bottle of David, which I secured from a BA who just happened to have made it up to TG on Friday and was in Des Moines on Saturday and did an IP trade). Cheers to @B-Nut-GoBlue for the trade and to @CLaBarre and @JediMatt for the share and the good company on Sunday!

 

A

Ace post. Was nice to meet you and your friend Thursday night and offer you some David. I couldn't make it on Friday or Saturday so knew my only opportunity would be Thursday eve. I left right from work and got to TG @ 7 pm. As Pint said there weren't that many people there and I enjoyed hanging out with some Rochester BAs and TG Mike. Another unforgettable TG experience.

 

I don't know if I would say mislead, but TG certainly didn't play it right IMO. 2 cases is a pretty big limit for any beer, let alone special release beers. I would be interested to hear what they have to say about their reasoning behind the limits. The obviously knew that Assassin was going to bring a great deal of people, what makes them think David or NT wouldn't do the same? I'm not mad or bitter, it is just frustrating. Obviously, there is no way that everyone will be happy, but I think there are plenty of ways to make the most people happy. Hopefully TG finds a method that works.

 

I talked to the owner, Clark, about why they put such a high limit on each of the bottles. He said people won't travel here for a low bottle limit. If he put a 1 bottle limit he wouldnt have had people coming from MN, SD, IL, etc.

I agree with most people here that they should've had a lower bottle limit. I thought the price point alone would've done that but someone behind me in line tried to buy 2 cases ($600!!!) and apparently he wasnt the only one.

 

Right...like MD and KBBS. Shoot, even a 6 bottle limit would have had people coming all weekend long. He's right though, low bottle limits won't bring people from all over, it will, however, bring people who have supported you in the past and who are within reasonable traveling distances to your business to continue to support you.

 

I think they are underestimating the power of limited beer. From the sounds of it, the traffic there would have been pretty good this weekend had it stuck around.

Maybe a low limit to start for the weekend and then raise it after that. If it goes right away, it goes. If not, the larger limit would help if their reasoning holds true.

 

They've been to enough festivals/other beer releases to understand the power of limited beer...even their own limited beer.

 

If they think only high limits would get the draw they felt they needed, I am not sure they do. If they were looking to sell it in a day or so, fair enough, but I dont think they were because they made references of it lasting the weekend. With all the people here looking to make the trip to buy some, I don't doubt they would have gone through their supply with a lower limit.

It is what it is. Ultimately they can do whatever they want. I just would think they would want to find a balance that sells their limited releases, while getting it in the hands of more people (especially their supporters) and more foot traffic to the taproom that could mean even more sales of other beer and merch.

I don't envy anyone running a successful and sought after brewery right now. We are a very fierce crowd that don't seem to be easy to please.

 

Truth

 

Sounds like they had a lot of people traveling from MN (with no intention of buying 2 cases)...

I'm still for letting the market work itself out! I hands down agree wight he comment regarding not owning a small successful brewery - the beer fans are brutal (Although advocacy is good for the consumer!)

 

I have to preface this by saying that a great guy was in town on Thursday and got me bottles so I really didn't have to go out my way to get either beer..... It was delivered to me for which I was grateful

It is what it is but I think most people who want the beer can trade for it fairly easily so it should get distributed either way. I would hope the people who bought tons of cases were buying them for their friends who would then distribute it more. David was great and I'm sure NT is too although I haven't popped a bottle yet and only had it a couple years ago. I'm giving plenty of David away as extras as I know I'm not going to drink my case soon enough. I'm just glad people aren't trying to trade it for DBHuna or something crazy like that and realize that while it is a great brewery only beer, it still should trade around $4$ for other bottles of equal rarity. The things I saw people trying to get for growlers of King Sue sort of rubbed me wrong not because I wanted some, although I should have and was just dumb, but I just thought people were getting a little crazy for some of the things they were asking for it and it became I beer I wasn't going to try to get seeing what people were giving up to get it. It was great for the people who got to try it and I'm sure I would have as well but it just was one of the last things I was thinking about at the time.

 

Don't think I'll make it this Friday but..........
The last Friday of every month is FIRKIN FRIDAY!

 

Well....you still have a chance, as the last Friday in August is not this Friday. It is next Friday, the 29th.