Hardywood's colossal screw up today

What about the people who did get there early specifically because the limit was 6 and not 2? I'm willing to drive farther for 6 beers than 2 beers. And if I'm coming from far away, I'm definitely going to make sure I get there early enough to get said beers.

 

Might not be, but could be. If people like the OP missed out and as a result stop an existing habit of buying the brewery's core lineup due to the bad "customer service". If all the people only buy the special releases or chalk it up to a bad day, you are certainly right. Probably a little in between, tending towards your point.

 

I agree it sucks, but the decision came a couple days earlier, perhaps with logical reasoning that ended up being wrong. Hopefully they learn and adjust, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

 

I talked to out of towners that arrived at 11am or before to wait in line and did not get the KY Christmas. This isn't so much about getting there early as it is increasing their bottle limit. Believe me, I have been to many Hardywood releases and arriving 2-3 hours prior to the drop always equates to leaving with your desired beers. This is about #'s and they were off, BIG TIME. I arrived at 2 pm for the Trickery and walked away with the full limit.

 

Well. All I can really summarize from this is in a Yogi Berra quote. "The future ain't what it used to be."

 

Similar thing happened at Dark Horse for the 2014 4 elf with the BourbRum Plead the 5th. Limit was doubled at the last minute leaving a couple hundred people who waited outside all night without the beer that the early-birds were there to get. Some people went berserk. Shitty thing to happen, but it's up to the brewery how they want to run it.... Despite the anger last year, there were no shortage of people in attendance for this years 4elf party at Dark Horse.... Folks will be showing up at Hardywood extra early next year.

 

At the end of the day yes it's only beer. If you want to pursue your hobby get there early. I got there right at 11 am got the full allotment. There was still plenty left. For the people saying they were there at 11 and got shut out I think they are exaggerating the time they said they got there. I did say to my wife when we walked out "those people at the end of the line will get shut out".

 

I was driving through Richmond today to visit family, and I figured I would just stop by the brewery since it's right off the highway. Showed up around 4:45 to find 200 people in line and KCM sold out. I wasn't that bummed since I was driving through anyway. Plus, Hardywood never leaves their BA beers in the barrel long enough, so this isn't one I'd be willing to wait several hours for on a cold day.

Grabbed a glass of ABGBS and got in line. Took a sip, got out of line, finished the beer, and left. Also not worth waiting for.

Although I don't feel burned like others, I agree with the original poster--this was a colossal screw up. They set a ridiculous bottle limit, and they didn't reverse that decision when they saw the line at opening, even though they had to know they were going to shut out a lot of people who had been waiting a long time. The lines also appeared to be moving slower than molasses. I've been to a number of brewery releases, but I've never seen such poor line management. Based on the other Hardywood releases thread in this sub-forum, it sounds like poor line management is a staple of their events.

I'm not going to stop buying some of their beers that see NoVA distribution, but I don't plan to visit their brewery ever again.

 

I'm of the thinking that on any limited release like this one, the brewery should state that they plan to have a limit of x bottles per person but reserve the right to amend the limit based on turnout. Best & most fair way to handle it imo. Then again not all breweries care about being fair and have other priorities (not implying anything specifically here but in general).

Regarding whether people were maxing out the limits, I'd be shocked if anyone didn't purchase the limit. With trading such a prevalent part of craft beer, limits are minimums as well as maximums these days.

 

Obviously, they screwed up by increasing the bottle limits on KY Christmas Morning as much as they did.

But honestly, while the beer on tap was good, it wasn't so good that I left the release distraught that I didn't get bottles. I would rate it in the 4.25 range.

 

Agree with most of the comments regarding the release structure. It would have behooved HW to keep it at a lower limit. I do think going to a ticket/lottery would be better. You would know beforehand if making the trip was worth it. All that being said, I think when the goochland facility is done this process will become alot smoother.

*edit
it was a mixed bag on the limits. Just as many people walking out with a mixed case were walking out with 4 packs of presumably gbs.

 

nah, that's bullshit. they just shouldn't have increased their limits. plain and simple.

 

There will be many who are upset as well and many who are happy. Obviously those upset will be the one who got shut out while the happy ones are those who showed up early and got theirs. I had been saying for weeks that showing up around 4/5 would be the way to go and that was way off. We could not have known it would be this crazy just as HW could not have known. They (HW) probably increased limits because the previous 3 weekend's releases fell under their projections leaving quite a lot left. Their fiscal year ends on Dec 31st most likely so they wanted to sell as much as they could in the final release of the year. I didn't even leave to head out that way after seeing the post of being sold out. The people who drive the farthest have a reason to be the most upset. It's over an hour for me so saved me 2 hours plus waiting. Again, it sucks I did not get either today but that's fine. Would have been great to try them. I have been lucky to get some great beers at releases this year just as I have been shut out of others. Lesson learned for future releases.

 

Says the guy who registered for and regularly posts on a message board exclusively about beer.

 

Some people were complaining that they got home and opened their case to see they had 12 apple brandy gbs bottles.

See the event facebook comments.

 

It happens from time to time. I feel as though you go to a release knowing full well you may not get anything. It is always shitty but it happens. It seemed about 400 people got through the line before the Kentucky Christmas sold out. From what I was told today their releases are never that crazy so 400 people may have been a good guess for them. I missed the Kentucky as well but so it goes

 

From what I was able to tell, if you arrived before noon you were able to get Kentucky Xmas. I lined up around 11:30 (was probably about 300-350 in line), and I know that there were a good number of people behind me who still got bottles of Kentucky Xmas. There was about twice as much AB GBS, so that lasted much longer too. Knowing how beer releases go these days it shouldn't any huge surprise that you'll get shut out if you don't show up at least 2-3 hours ahead of when they start selling bottles

I do understand things have been different at Hardywood in the past, and I also get the gripes with changing the limit. I definitely think a better system could have been put in place, but this had to be by far and away the biggest crowd Hardywood has ever had. By my estimates, there had to be at least 900 people there. People were saying it was way bigger than the Trickery release. No one is really talking about the fact that you could also buy cases of Bourbon GBS, Christmas Morning and regular GBS. So if you didn't show up early enough, at least you could purchase some of their other specialty releases.

Sucks to get shut out, but if you really want the beer you have to be prepared to get there early and wait it out.

 

I still think Side Project deals with releases the best considering the demand for their product. They don't announce a limit beforehand but rather evaluate the line at the time that the bottles go on sale in order to get the beer to as many people as possible. If you weren't in line before that limit was set, that's on you. I really find it hard to believe all of these breweries not understanding demand. Do none of the people frequent any of these messageboards? A year can make a huuuuuge difference. Especially if the beer is good. Sorry to all that showed up today and left empty handed. This was a really poor decision on their part.

 

This is the current state of beer. If you don't get in line at least 4-6 hours before the release you wont be guaranteed the beer. Showing up an hour early for a beer release these days? Come on, that doesn't cut it. I know people that were there at 8am. And they aren't complaining because they got their allotments.

For this release, if you didn't get it, tough luck. It happens. You always don't get what you want in life or beer. Don't blame it on the brewery.