O'so 7th Anniversary Party

I do agree with @robear. Driving conditions in the winter are not always the greatest in Wisconsin as I'm sure you guys all know. It's just asking a lot for a lot of people to try to make 3 releases in as many months when it's at least a 2 hour drive from Madison, Milwaukee, etc. where the biggest markets are. That being said, I'm sure they have some sort of plan in place, and will act accordingly as the time gets closer to these releases, whether it's condensing it into a single party before CW, or sending some of these into distribution, or selling at FF. Who knows? O'so has always given me the free spirit vibe, anyways.

 

Personally I think they should keg some/all of it and then do tap take-overs in the big markets like Madison and Milwaukee.
That would keep the brewery from being mobbed and people throughout the state can easily try them.

I wouldn't have a problem paying inflated pint prices if it meant I didn't have to drive all the way to Plover.

 

I hear Plover is lovely in February

 

i think BA's and other serious beer nerds assume these businesses owe them the right to their beer. these parties aren't convenient for people traveling from all over the midwest.. but... sorry to say, that's not the majority of their target market.

 

And the greater Plover metro area is?

 

The entitlement is strong with this thread.

I had to drive back and forth to Wausau at least every other week for like a year and a half. It's not that bad of a drive unless there's a blizzard. Plus, their events are indoors. What you are really saying is that you want the bottles, but you'd rather they inconvenience themselves instead of you.

Think about it this way, if you are going to sell all of the bottles (which they are), and you can do it by selling them all at the brewery, without having to deal with distributors (don't forget about some of their experiences with distributors in the past), wouldn't you do it? Who cares if whale hunters that don't buy your 6-packs don't get to try it. They aren't your target customer at this point anyways. People always forget that for every Hill Farmstead putting out instawhale 750's there are many New Glarus type breweries that thrive on selling six-packs. These releases are hardly the only thing going on for O'so.

To the sours being ready when they are ready, the beers being released are already past that point for the most part. Once you are fruiting, there is a much more predictable timetable. The only variable left that may hold back a release is bottle conditioning. In fact, the releases coming at this time probably have a lot to do with many of the barrels of base lambic being ready now.

The 23rd is the day before the CW party. If CW makes it the 31st, then I would assume that release gets changed to the 30th. Don't take that as a guarantee, but as an educated guess. It will also be coolship filling day.

 

BA Night Train made it into limited distribution in Central Wisconsin along with their sour Wee on the Lamb. No FF has made it into distribution as far as I know.

I went to their 5th anny party which was the first time they filled all 40 taps with their beer and had a great time. I couldn't make it last year because I was on call for work. I would regardless of a special bottle release. I like Funk Factory's sours and Levi is a great guy. If any of you decide to show up to the party and you see a bald guy with beard and glasses come over and say hi.

 

I've groaned to the point that I can't groan no more.

Joy. The most wonderful time of the year!

 

They did post a list of local hotels in the area for people traveling in. So it seems that they are expecting at least some out of towners. I'm good with just making the anniversary party this weekend, and turning it into a nice roadtrip with the gf. I don't need to make all of the releases.

 

I've never understood the "aren't your target customer" argument. If you distribute to me and I buy your beer, am I not your target customer? We're all stuck with the same three tier system. Degrading people as entitled because they are hoping that the brewery accommodates them with some of their rarer releases, as a consumer, seems silly.

 

It's not that I'm saying they don't care about people from out of town. They are putting out this stuff because they enjoy it and know their customers do too. I'm just saying to expect them to change a system of releasing stuff when they can as opposed to worrying about others travel time and work schedules seems a little nearsighted and self-serving. It just always gets me when people are trying to suggest fixes to a problem that doesn't exist just so things are more convenient to them.

In this case, I also brought up the "target customer" thing just to deliver the point that these releases are a very small portion of the O'so brand. There was talk about fiscal strategy and business models and my point is that O'so doesn't rely solely on the limited releases to fund their operation.

 

on the way up to CW in January we saw about 10 cars rolled over in the ditch spaced out along the highway because of a winter storm the night before. Even SUV and trucks so storms are bad news best to error on the safe side than risk wrecking your car or getting killed for a beer release.

Might wanna think about that @robear before you try charging through a blizzard for beer. Though if you do you will have IMO out done yourself in earning the title of "chief beer idiot"

 

Stevens Point is decent sized. college is there. it's not far from Wausau, WI Rapids, Marshfield. they don't really need to worry about drawing from a huge metro area, or around the state, to fill a stadium.

the place is not huge.

the fact is they don't need to cater to people from hundreds of miles away to have a successful event.

 

i think, in this case, primarily because you said it wasn't convenient for people who lived hours away to attend.

"I grasp the method- plenty of breweries have built a business based on serving locals. It works, but it's frustrating in this situation because O'so has clearly gone out of their way to distribute across the state- so they've built a brand of loyal followers who aren't within a short drive from the brewery. If they weren't in full-on distribution, I'd say this type of release strategy makes a lot more sense, fiscally. But most of their income comes from that state-wide (not sure if they are out of state) distribution. So, most of their customers are not actually locals but in fact are people who live hours from the brewery. And many of those folks won't have a chance to try these beers."

 

exactly

these things are, by comparison to normal sales, a pretty big money maker. my guess based on what i've heard from talking to other beer people who have held/still hold similar events.

there's just no need to make this about the tiny niche that is BA when they can do just fine with their local crowd and a sprinkling of hardcore beer people.

we all like to think that we're the norm and "non-craft" drinkers are some abhorrent freaks but it's the other way around. the old couple who has been bellying up to the bar since they opened their doors is pretty important to them.. the ticker chasing a one-off who will never buy another beer from O'so again is not.

 

you, as a regular buyer of their beer, would absolutely be their target market.

randomBA who wants to buy BAwhatever so he can trade it immediately, then never buy another O'so beer, (some) of the guy(s) on here complaining (every time) about these releases are not.