Firestone Walker Barrelworks 2015 Liberations

This was the fastest sell out for sure...but I would say anything that sells out in 10min or less is sure to leave people feeling like they missed out.

A membership makes too much sense, that probably is what stopped them.

 

I think what they are doing is pretty much fine minus the DD tickets.

The way I see it, the only solution would be either jack the price up so high that there is no head room for scalpers anymore (FW, forget that part) or to make 10 fold so that it sits around for a couple weeks. They shouldn't do the first because they'd alienate their loyal fans and can't really do the second as they don't want to wind up with tons of a dud. I suspect that once a few batches of each hit and most have ticked theirs they will begin to sit around more like many of the world class Bruery beers (the fact it is not easy to get close to $4$ on a ChocRain still blows my mind).

I've gotten to the happy place where I just drink what I am lucky to bump into on tap and if I score tickets here or there that's cool too. There really is too much good beer out there now.

 

Why have parties for each release? Why have memberships? There is a middle ground. Sell the beer on brown paper tickets, and you get a month or two to pick it up, just like other popular pre-sales (Modern Times, Alesmith). Then its just another day in the tasting room. Granted, its a small space, and people will flood the room, but if pick-ups were extended for a month, then there is no DD ticket issue. And if Barrelworks keeps getting slammed on the weekends, expand into that back-bar/pseudo private dining area.

I do not see a membership plan, only since they never did one for all the normal barrel-aged stuff. I think the goal is to put these beers to market, like the upcoming 5000-case Agrestic release (I was verbally told 5000, but I could be wrong). And Bretta Weisse did not get a party.

 

While I understand why people are upset that they no longer have the ability to buy multiple allotments, there are a couple issues with it IMO.

1. People walking away with up to 20 bottles per type (believe the last release was 6/6 with 4 extra) is exactly what they want to prevent
2. It kinda sucks to see people that actually want the beer be shut out by people that are there just to keep others company

They should either go the DD ticket route or just stop having events with every release though. The events are getting a little boring to me and the food has been on the decline.

And while people might be upset with them always changing the way they handle their releases, keeping things the same isn't really a good option when the market is changing so quickly. If you're not continually re-assessing things then you're screwing up. If things dont have the desired effect his time then they'll try something else next time.

 

Sounds like they are working on it

 

Nothing is changing in the day to day. They're scaling production up, but realize that this stuff sits in barrels for 12-18 months and sometimes more than 2 years.

Why throw these parties? Well, you are aware that these aren't thrown for every Barrelworks release, right? It was in years past. But this time they skipped out at Bretta Weisse. These parties are a fun little thing they throw and having been to every one, I've really enjoyed what sort of things they lined up for them. The tap list and food pairings have always been amazing and then you have the limited barrel tappings of stuff like Hat Trick and Bzarbean. Shit that essentially spent 5-6 years in a barrel and they just can't throw it out there.

As for distribution, they're not there yet nor will they be for some time. Especially not for these lower bottle count variations that they're trying - that are often the ones that sell out within seconds/moments of getting put up. Just simply put, there's not enough beer to go around just yet.

 

I must really be in the minority, but the parties are the primary reason I like these releases. I never max out on bottles, but getting pours of super limited stuff (7-year DDBA, Sour Saucerful, etc) is an experience that literally can't be duplicated.

 

I'm in the same boat. I started coming to these for the bottles (this is the first time in awhile I'm maxing out), but now it's just as much about the event. So many amazing beers have been on tap that I'd never have been able to try otherwise. Without these events, I'd almost never make it to Barrelworks, since it isn't really (conveniently) on the way to anything from Fresno.

I'd love to see a membership, though. There's no reason that can't coexist with the parties, either. It would be interesting to know what killed it, since they seemed to be far enough into the planning that they basically announced it at the last '14 liberation. Perhaps Duvel didn't like it, and nixed it during their negotiations? I'm wary of going the BPT route, just because of how crazy those releases are getting. It could work as long as they don't allow proxies, but it could make the reselling problem they're trying to avoid worse.

 

Duvel hasn't, nor will it effect any aspect of Firestone for the foreseeable future.

I love the parties. The change in format from event to event in some having food, some being in the dinning area vs. the barrel room have been interesting. I've loved the feral food event, and over all, the price over the value of the beer to enjoy these festivities has been so worth it.

Honestly, if there was a membership program in place that gets you into these parties and even just half of the allocations - so that more could make their way into the fields of that Paso fridge room and Barrelworks fridge randomly. I'm already dropping various hundreds of dollars a year for the liberations anyway.

 

Agreed, I love walking in the door not knowing what to expect in terms of layout, food, and beer. The Feral events have been the best synthesis of all of that. It's the one I've recommended the most to people if they're undecided about making the drive.

I picked up the first few releases of last year the day or so after the events in Paso, and it would be definitely be nice to see that return as a reliable option for people who can't make the party, one way or another.

 

I feel like still having a bottle of Krieky Bones b1 should've gotten me first dibs on a ticket. I mean, c'mon!

 

i mentioned this on facebook to barrelworks as well as to jeffers in person. figured id post it up here to see what you guys think.

to cut down on muling/reselling, why dont they just number the bottles (ala smog city) and then sell them through the tasting room only. then, limit the bottles (4 pp) and then when you buy the bottles, the bartender at barrelworks takes your ID, writes your name next to corresponding numbers of your bottles (think a spreadsheet with all the numbers laid out) and then you sign it and go on your merry way. alternately, they can do BPT and then based on who buys the first gets the first numbered bottles and on and on and then when you come pick up you just sign next to your name and bottle #'s based on order? that would also cut down on people lining up and flooding the tasting room.

then, if one of those numbered bottles registered to you shows up in a shop, or resold illegally, boom, youre blacklisted from all FW events and releases.

the only extra cost on their end is re-doing the labels to include numbers (they could even hand number them to save costs or not even have to change the labels, just number it on the back by hand).

just a thought....

 

You do realize how much man power that would take. It's far more than just numbering the bottles. It requires a lot more than they're willing to do.

 

i dont. please feel free to elaborate and enlighten me. doesnt seem like it would take more than 4-5 interns a week or two to number 6000 bottles or so if youre doing a 500 case batch.

 

Not sure how much more elaboration or enlightenment is needed. They really don't have that time to police bottles, nor number and keep track of bottles like that.

It's just not something they would spend their valuable time or money on.

 

Don't get me wrong, I love the parties too. Definitely had beers I would of never had otherwise. But if they did not want to deal with the DD ticket issue, then the easier solution would be to just come to Barrelworks with your +1, have a few tasters, get your bottles and go.

I am trying to come up with a reason why they would not offer a DD ticket. Perhaps its staffing a 30-50% larger party, or an occupancy limit. Or, just a choice. I must be missing something.

 

My thoughts on this is that a 1 ticket per transaction with the ticket being for 2 people and the same amount of bottles. They just bump the cost of the ticket by about $20 to cover the second person.

 

alright, well i disagree. nobody is telling them to police or track bottles. its pretty simple. i buy the first 4 bottles, i get 1-4. someone else buys the next 4 bottles, they get 5-8. its all automated and all you have to do is show id and sign next to your name when you pick up.

its not like im saying that have to go to stores and police it. im saying if something does pop up (ie someone on a well known beer facebook group posts their local LBS and they have barrelworks bottles on the shelves) then it can be brought to their attention as to the numbers of the bottles

i dont forsee it costing that much, so again, if you want to elaborate as to how it would be spending their valuable time or money on, i would love to hear it!

 

How in the hell are they going to see the number on the bottle in a picture if it's written on the side or not blatantly posted in the picture. Shit, blur effect or a piece of tape can cover that up and Firestone will never know the bottle # being sold.

Your suggestion is just so out of the wall overkill and ineffective that it's three steps backwards in this whole situation.

How would it not be expensive? You have to spend several hours numbering 6000 bottles, then you make pick up a hassle in that you have to assign bottles to driver licenses and for what? On the off chance that 0.001% of those bottles gets posted for sale on instagram - and potentially can't see the number on the picture. Or if it shows up on a store and gets bought out. Again, who is reporting the numbers?

Firestone is better off spending that couple of thousands of dollars in man hours, headaches and monitoring cost, put it in a barrel and just age it with Sucaba and call it $ucaba.

It's not a good idea.