Hardywood's colossal screw up today

I've been to plenty of horrible releases....and this wasn't one of them. The line was organized and the checkout process was super smooth with someone to guide you to one of the 6 stations checking people out. They wanted to clear out their inventory....plain and simple. They gave plenty of notice of the bottle limit increase. It's not Hardywoods fault that people don't know how to set an alarm clock for an event like this. Knowing that these beers were going to be something special I got there at 8:00 a.m. I got there early because I was driving all the way from Tennessee and didn't want to risk a shut out. Just because I got my allotment doesn't change my view on the release. If I didn't get my allotment I would have learned from my mistake and showed up earlier the next time.

 

Not a know it all by any means. Just a guy who got shut out at the same brewery last year. And I did the mature thing and blamed myself. That's when the wisdom kicked in. Now do you feel enlightened?

 

And I'm sure you were so mature that you created a thread about blaming yourself for the failure, while eagerly looking forward to reading others discuss how they got their full allotments because of high-value mental notes like "get there earlier next time." Great stuff, consider me enlightened!

 

Man I'm really overjoyed that you enjoyed my high value mental note. It overwhelms my heart with joy that I could be helpful to you. Cheers!!

 

Can we change the name of the thread, the release was yesterday.

 

Agreed, I'm surprised that don't state this.

In general I'm a fan of how Beverage Warehouse does their heady releases. First couple people get a case, next couple get half a case, then two 4 packs, then single 4 packs. Spread the wealth while rewarding those that come early. Once everyone in line has gotten beer people are free to buy more. Not sure why breweries don't adopt this model.

 

This is not a valid argument against the brewery increasing the bottle allotment.

The line is going to be X amount of people long regardless of what time people show up. If every single person that shows up decides to come 5 hours earlier next time there will still be the same problem.

The OP was lamenting the fact that the brewery tripled the bottle allotment per person. He is not lamenting the fact that the brewery ran out of beer.

 

an (un)educated guess:
based on the releases over the past couple months, upping the limits to 6/per would put number of allocations roughly in line with the number of people who showed up for the other releases. most of those prior went well into the evening, if not still available the next day, or longer.
based on history maybe, just maybe, they thought X people will show up and we have Y bottles available... Z allocations to get them out in one swoop?

 

The bottle limits will effect attendance. If the bottle limit is 1 per person for KCM, I am much less inclined to go than if it were 6. I am not making the drive just to get 1 bottle of each. But 6 of each? Now it is more worth it to me. There is a balance you need to reach. Upping the bottle limit attracted higher attendance. The same crowds of 600 would not have come had the limit been 2.

The bottle limits will also influence what time people show. The higher the bottle limit, the more people will attend, the faster they will run out and the earlier I will need to show up to assure I get my allotments. The amount of supply, which is unknown to us consumers, is also a factor. Since we don't know supply, we have to assume the worst, hope for the best.

 

I'm sure you're correct that that is why they did it.

I am also sure that they were very wrong to do that.

 

It seems pretty simple- they had 6k bottles of AB GBS and only 2.5k of KYX. The limits should have been 6 ABs and 2 KYX's per person. 1,000 people show up and almost all get their allotment. 500-600 people show up and you lift the limits once the line goes away (hoarders can line up twice). All beer gets sold and most, if not all, go home happy.

...and if you don't show up before 999 other folks, well you ain't a craft beer geek and don't necessarily get any bottles at all.

 

And what about the person who's number 1001 and he's mad that he didn't get any beer? Are you going to tell him tough luck get there earlier next time? Or get mad and post about it online and hate the brewery?

Point is that you can't make everyone happy and someone isn't going to get beer. Whether that number is 400 or 1000, so stop complaining.

 

yeah, it seems like the limit was sufficient for the apple brandy. the limit doesn't have to be the same for each.

 

NoDa pulled this exact same thing last year with their Monstro release. Initially said that it was a 6pp limit then when the line started they were allowing people to grab whole cases. Really pissed off a lot of their customers. Didn't help that the beer that was bottled was nowhere near as good as what they had on draft that day.

 

Except that is a hypothetical and isn't even close to what happened. Regardless, I think that one person (#1001) getting shut out is much better than hundreds. In reality, about 400-500 people got shut out after standing in the cold for several hours, and this could have easily been avoided.

Ultimately, there were some poor decisions made by the brewery, likely due to risk aversion and severely under-estimating demand. It would be great if they owned up to this, but I am sure they are happy to just have sold out. I think this is a myopic short-term view though, as there were plenty of people upset who are probably reconsidering whether this type of experience is worth it (which may not be a problem for a huge release but could keep numbers down at smaller releases). Personally, I do not think I will be going back down for a release any time soon and will likely think twice before buying their products.

 

good point op, but maybe just arrive earlier next time?

 

Agreed that they shouldn't have changed the limit on KCM to 6 from the initial 2.

 

Meh. Having been to most of the Hardywood releases and see the crowds or lack of crowds, it seems simple, HW had tons of remaining GBS, BAGBS, and Christmas morning still, even with the limits on each.

I am sure to make the books look great wanted to clear as much inventory before the end of the year plain and simple, and increasing to 6pp did just that.

Stop bitching and get in line earlier. If you are that upset about how Hardywood handles releases then just stop supporting them. God knows there are plenty of other craft breweries making excellent product.

Maybe you should edit your title and call it "My Colossal Screw-Up".

 

It's beer, people.

 

Looks like hardywood just posted to their FB apologizing for F -ing it all up