Why does Jester King not have Reserve Society?

Yeah there's been back and forth here on BA on the idea...Not sure if it will come to fruition anytime soon. I do know though that JK has a serious cult following that would make sense for a RS.

 

Drive almost every other weekend? More like every weekend.

And it sounds like you want it so you can get the releases since you do not live in Austin (I am guessing).

 

They do have an unofficial reserve society. It's called "living in Austin".

I have no real opinion on if this is a thing that should happen or not, but I could see issues preventing it. I'm guessing one issue would be storage space for bottles that are reserved. It's not that big of a building.

 

i'd imagine once JK opens the doors for a reserve society, the response would be overwhelming...possibly in a good way.

 

And where would JK store three months worth of beer, waiting for your quarterly visit?

 

If there was a reserve society, it would probably definitely limit the numbers of each beer people get. Instead of being able to get 2 or 3 (or if you take your wife, 4-6), you would likely only be able to get 1 bottle since most would be reserved by people in every other city. People would sign up that rarely go out there already and now only need to make the trip once a quarter even further diluting the amount available.

But, I am in Austin, and am selfish. I think Karbach should save me their bottles as well. Same with Lakewood's Temptress. And Freetail.

There is always an advantage of having a brewery local, reserve societies take that away.

 

And along with that, why would JK want a reserve society? Having one makes it so people do not need to go to the brewery nearly as much. Right now, people have to go out there almost weekly to get beer and they always buy stuff on tap as well. Make a reserve society, a lot of people would show only ever so often.

 

I've done a complete 180 on this issue. Originally, I was thinking only of myself and how great a reserve society would be for me since I live near Fort Worth. But it really makes no sense for Jester King. They have no trouble selling their beer the way they are doing things now. And the storage issues that would come into play with a reserve society would definitely pose a problem.

Also, it's not that important to get every single bottle. I was going to drive down there two weekends ago to get Lemon-Lime and Biere de Miel, but that fell through. I then went the next weekend and got some Detritivore and was still able to drink Miel and Lemon-Lime, which were on tap (as well as more Funk Metal once the Miel was gone).

They are releasing so much so often that any weekend you are able to go, you'll be rewarded with great beer to taste and to buy. Just don't get hung up on having to have everything. They'll make it again.

 

I only wish this would happen now that I've moved out of state. Buying beer is way easier than trading it and I can't find anyone to go buy bottles and hold them for me.

 

So that would mean pretty much all of their 200 case releases are reserved before it is even released. Why limit it just to TX? Because you live in TX? I say you limit it just to Travis counties and the counties around Travis county.

Again, it makes no sense for them to have one as it limits the number of times people go out there. A lot of people go out there for every release and now if they know the have it reserved, the likely will just start skipping weekends. And then charging 300 bucks for what?

 

I'm seeing this same sort of trend in general with regard to super small batch one offs. Quick examples in mind are De Garde and Tired Hands where taps/bottles rotate real often and even some of the locals tell me that eventually the novelty wears off knowing that another release is inevitable. I suppose you can also throw in the homer factor, and you get that vague cloud that fires up trading debates, but that's another discussion.

Consistency on these one off type releases are what drives my purchasing decisions for the breweries who have this model; they've clearly moved away from a standard/"regular" offering format. For instance I've had enough Side Project to know not to chase them too seriously, but Block 15, SARA, and de Garde? Please send more.

 

That is the issue. JK has no incentive to do it. You just would like most releases but you cannot get them.

I would like releases from other breweries that I cannot easily get as well.

There are randomly bottles that I do want from up there, but I do not follow them nearly as much to know which ones.

 

The biggest advantage to a reserve society from the breweries perspective is a guaranteed source of income up front. It's great if you're looking to raise money to expand a tasting room, add storage, or some other capital intensive project. You get profit from a whole year's worth of releases right up front. It seems that Jester King is either comfortable growing at a slower pace, or they have all the funding they need for whatever expansion plans they have in the near future.

 

Another reason against one: having it may not even be legal in Texas (hell this certainly wouldn't surprise me).

 

I can't imagine why JK would need a reserve society. They seem to be making some great profits with their current model. It looks like they're actively expanding and improving the brewery with the money they're making (PLEASE improve the road some day). I could understand the need for a reserve society if they weren't receiving much traffic, but that's simply not the case. They don't seem to be having any inventory issues with their beers.

If a reserve society did exist, I'm sure some people would pay $X amount for the membership and ultimately spend less money overall at Jester King. I also don't think there is a really fair way to establish a society without upsetting or alienating some of their customer base. There are certainly a lot of people that spend lots of money at JK without such a society in place.