(12/4/2014) Eclipse Release Party and Bottleshare Info

If that's true about the Masterpiece Eclipse selling out so quickly that's disappointing - I remember before last years party they said the PVW Eclipse was going to be no limit but got so many complaints they changed it to a 12-bottle limit - and rightly so in my opinion. Who wants to go to this awesome party and have to start lining up to order bottlers as soon as you get in? and then have to worry about getting beers you likely travelled a long way for the opportunity to get? By having limits , the party was way more fun - I could take my time over a couple hours drinking and settling on what I wanted to buy without having any anxiety about things selling out. (Admittedly the PVW Jeroboams were sold out by the time I made my order, but that was probably for the best.)

And the risk-reward makes no sense - why even risk this in the first place? They wouldn't get a single complaint if they limited it to, say, 12 bottles - hell they could even impose limits for the first few hours of the party and make it no-limit for the last hour. Anyway, that's what I have to say about that.

 

Masterpiece was 400 bottles. 120+ attendees, people confirmed bought ,30+ bottles at a time. Masterpiece sold out after like 20 people.

 

Several people got 30+ bottles while 70% of the party got shut out.

 

I talked to Todd for 10 minutes and his verbatim response was that they didn't think people would be buying 30 bottles. The very first guy in line bought 30 bottles. He was muling for a few people. They understand that people have credit cards right.... Basically what was said is that in the past they had complaints because of limits. So they went no limit. It's pretty ridiculous if you ask me, that a brewery of this caliber would make such a mistake. He also said they only were able to bottle 4 barrels. Which also means they held some back.

 

Now I have spent a lot of money on beer, but it seems weird to me to drop over $1300 at a time on a single release and basically be that asshole.

Beer is meant to be shared and enjoyed.

 

Overall, very disappointing how bottle sales were handled tonight. This seems like a rookie mistake that could have been easily avoided.

 

So people can post trades like this
http://www.beeradvocate.com/communi...sterpiece-pappy-iso-kbbs.234334/#post-3026354

And also say it's amazing!

 

Curious as to why 50/50 doesn't just cancel/refund the people who bought 70 and set a limit of 5/pp or something more reasonable so more party-goers can buy some. They still do pick-ups the next day, right? So, technically, no one actually has the beer in their hands yet and they *could* still make this right. Bummed I missed this year's party, but sounds like it took a turn for the worse - last year's was SO laid-back and fun w/o any of this drama.

 

I still had a lot of fun, but yes, it would be the right thing to do is to cancel/refund orders of anyone who bought more then 4. Then set a 4 bottle limit. If there is leftovers, then sell more, or sell them at the pub.

 

As many of you have already said, eclipse really dropped the ball on this one. I was probably 25 back and was unable to get any bottles, but witnessed multiple people with receipts showing 30 bottles purchased. At what point do you call over Alicia and ask if we are going to limit the number to a case because this person wants to buy 72 goddamn bottles. I hope the moron gets rear-ended going home and breaks every damn bottle in the trunk. If you attended the event, you should be able to go home with at least 1 bottle or if you have low quantity then make it known ahead of time that you may sell out. Yes, I am butthurt., but as someone reminded me last night: in the end, it's just beer.

 

I thought the masterpiece was the best of the night along with the coconut. I was sad and upset over people buying so many so most people at the party were shut out. The people in line near me felt the same. Imo if the first person in line wants 30 or 70 of something that only has 400 that should be a huge red flag.

 

Well, if history is any indication, there's going to be a good sized line out there this morning for folks to pick up what they ordered last night....I know I wouldn't want to be the guy picking up my 70 bottles of Masterpiece while there are 30+ angry folks in line behind me who got none of it. May he be publicly shamed and heckled!

 

Agreed, I ended up getting some of last year's pappy which I think is an awesome beer. So it is what it is, I just won't be going back. Also, the lack of organization last night and this morning is unreal. Picking up bottles didn't take long, but it was a cluster in there. It just seems like they weren't prepared, and like several people I talked to stated it's always something every year. But yes it's only beer, but it was handled as poorly as I think I've ever seen and won't be going back. Compared to the firestone events I've been to this may as well have been run by school kids.

 

That would be the best thing to do at this point.

I remember after De gardes anniversary party there was a bottle release with no limit. After the first person ordered several cases, the no limit went away.

 

The weird thing about coconut was the nose was absolutely amazing but the taste for me at least was a big let down. Masterpiece wasn't the best beer of the night for me, but it was very good.

 

I emailed Alicia this morning about refunding bottles etc, she didn't respond, brought it up to them when I picked up my bottles and they didn't want any part of that. I got the feeling they wanted the whole thing to just be done with. And really I don't think they care, they sold the bottles and got their money. It's not like the party won't sell out next year as well.

 

That's too bad, but no surprise.

 

There's always a handful of people that drop $2k+ every year at this party, I've seen it firsthand.

At the end of the day if you have a no limit bottle release, especially in this hype-driven craft bubble we're in, you can't be surprised when the first guy in line wants to buy every bottle.

 

Cinderbike, totally not surprised by people buying that much. Surprised there was a limit

 

It's pretty easy to see who are the 20 or so people who bought all bottles. Just go to the FT:ISO forum. You can't trade it if you don't have any.