Jackie O's (2018)

The cans should be fairly easy to find anywhere. The 375 bottles are a little harder to come by, but far from impossible.

 

I have been to every release JOs have done with the exception of 2 (8/12 and 12/14).

For newer folk, your best bet is to relax and have fun. Brad and Art do their best to make sure A) that everyone has a good time, and B) that everyone gets a bottle.

No need to get in line super early (for calender pages or to get inside on Saturday). In fact, you're making it harder on everyone if you do either. Key word is: LAID BACK. Ok, that is really two words, for a double dose of this laying back.

Baymont & Super 8 are the best places to stay. Exact same floor plans. Super 8 rooms have a fridge but is further away, but is cheaper. Super 8 is fine and the owner is great (he is grumpy like me and hates when you bring additional guests into your room or ask for extra pillows or silverware or anything, really...like I said, awesome guy and I love giving him my money).

I stopped worrying about bottles shares years ago - just go and support Jackie Os buy spending money there and drinking the stuff Brad & Co worked so hard on. There are going to be approx 78,000 taps on for crying out loud, so waiting to pop that bottle of Pumpkin Peach Ale some other time is always an option. Although you leaving to bottle share leaves more empty space for me to drink in peace...

Watch your parking and take a cab. There's an awesome garage a few blocks away, and you need the exercise anyway. If you're drinking, don't drive at all. Jail sucks, even Athens jail. Parking tickets suck. Car impound sucks. Killing people sucks. Listen to Athens' own Skeletonwitch for brutal carnage and take a cab instead.

Expect 1 bottle limits. This is a good thing. Lots of people here hated me for saying this years ago, but I stand by it. Do I want 6 bottles of Funky South Paw? Yes. I will buy every bottle because I am a greedy capitalist scumbag. But, I honestly would rather the limit be 1 and everyone get a bottle. The low bottle limits also discourage rampant muling. Again, a good thing.

Expect Saturday to take a long time. You are just going to be at Jackie Os for hours and hours on Saturday. This is either because Art is a damn capitalistic genius waving end-cap T-shirts and biscuits and gravy at you in an attempt to make *even more* money, or because organizing an event where people aren't quite treated like cattle, where the atmosphere is more of a party or friendly get together than a release, takes awhile. Plan accordingly - by bringing more money.

(You will appreciate this human touch once you go to another release party and spend the same amount of time standing in a line to go stand in another line just to use the bathroom, all the while listening to indecipherable death-metal music...like this Summer when you come back to Athens for Dark Apparition Day.)

Don't mule, don't hoard, don't be a jackass. This is one of the few events left where the people in charge care about beer, want people to actually have a good time, and just plain ol' being decent human beings. Don't ruin it.

If you see me, be sure to not come by and say hi!

 

I love this post until you told people to come say hi. You lying scumbag!!

Edit: I see it says not to come say hi. That's more like it!!

 

Might want to re-read it.

 

Beer demeanor: I learned it by watching you!

 

You're doing a good job, grasshopper.

I would say, 'see you there', but my anti-social tendencies are revved up even thinking about a bottle release, even one at Jackie O's.

 

I actually thought for a moment that @miketd created a separate account just to post that awesome monologue from @stfun37. It seriously wouldn't have surprised me had that been you!

 

Josh and I are eerily alike.

 

Hoarding/muling is always going to be a part. Has been as long as I've been going to the Jackie O's releases, and probably always will be. You're always going to see those few guys who show up super early with a bunch of friends in tow, paying for all of their tabs and their allotments just so they can get a couple more bottles of whatever beer they are just dying to have multiples of, in this case, most likely it'd be the Dynamo Fuzz or one of the Cuvee's.

Just saying. I've always had a great time at the releases regardless.

 

I will never forget my first Jackie O's release. I saw a guy get his allotment, change his clothes, put on a hat, and come back in and buy another allotment. This was when allotments were rather big (8-12 bombers). What is funny is I have gotten to know the guy pretty well over the years (he doesn't make it to Jackie O's releases much anymore) and I have not had the heart to ask him about it. Maybe one day when I am a few beers deep.

 

No doubt. But my point has always been that with bottle limits of say, 6, that guy and his 2 buddies get 18 bottles. With a bottle limit of 1, they get 3. The response has always been "Well now they'll just bring more mules." But I've always said that likely won't happen. How many people of those people are now really going to bring 17 additional people? Even if 1 or 2 do (and that's unlikely), the rest will not, and by them *not* doing that, more bottles now become available for everyone else. Additionally, I have noticed some of the mulers no longer show up as much, and I have to wonder if it might be in some small part because they know they have to work harder to get 6 bottles instead of working less to get 24. Maybe...maybe not. But that it what I was guessing would happen a few years back.

There's no way of knowing for sure, but my guess is that less people are getting shut out of the releases now than they were before bottle limits were dropped. There's a lot of other factors coming into play, and there is no real perfect system, but I still think more people getting bottles is better overall. And unlike most other places, Brad & Art have worked hard to limit the negatives and get more bottles in the hands of more people, and I think that is a really good (and increasingly rare) thing in today's "Craft Beer (non-)Community"

 

Just keep giving them money so we can have canned Jackie O's Berliner. I can see those yellow cans now.

 

Echoing some of the recent posts... Our releases are set up to be a relaxed and enjoyable time for all that partake. Bottle limits are set at 10:30am Saturday(30 min before the sale), this insures a fare spread of bottles and discourages some of the negative practices observed at other events. 38 plus taps is the part we focus the most on, that is the event! Bottles are great to get out there and an added bonus to the event. With the tap room and the additional barrel aged bottles for sale, the events have changed a bit in attendance I think. Thanks for the kind words and enthusiasm, Art and I will strive to give everyone a great experience this weekend. Cant wait!

 

What if you go to the release and don't buy any bottles? Is that anti-muling or am I a scumbag for only supporting Jackie O's by buying beer on tap?

That's a trick question - I'm a scumbag through and through.

 

When you say it's probably a bottle limit of 1, does that mean 1 of each, or 1 total? If it's 1 total, that will be a damn hard decision to make.

 

In the past, about how long do the drafts that are tapped on Friday last? I'm thinking about making the trip down just to enjoy the taps, but won't be able to make it until around noon on Saturday. Do they typically last throughout Saturday or blow Friday?

 

Chill out guys, even if you are very late getting your page you will likely get 1 bottle of the 4 being released.

There will definitely be beer left on Saturday, usually almost every keg lasts till the next morning, and there are some Saturday only drafts. There WILL be a lot of amazing beer left on Saturday.

 

1 of each.

 

1 of each being released is what I meant.