BCBS Sightings - Chicago

Obviously you never have read his posts before.

 

Just saw the list for the Local Option release. Damn, wish I was able to pick up a bottle of each of the 2010, 2013, and 2014 Bourbon County Regs. Oh well. I'll have to keep an eye out next year.

 

So 100 people there, that puts them at capacity already or close to it. They likely have a case or 2 max of each of these variants and vintages, so unless you were there at 10:30 or earlier, it's not likely you're going to see any bottles to go (that you actually came for).

 

There were probably 60 people in line when Noon came around. I got in line at 10:25 (14th in line, which was right at the corner where the line starts going up Seminary), and 2010 BCBS and 2013 Jones Dog were the only things gone. I got the last Rare and Regal, but they still had 2014 Vanilla Rye and 2014 Prop. Nobody around me thought it was a clusterfuck at all. Pretty smoothly done, albeit slow but I think that's because people were trying to figure out what to order. If you got there and there were 25+ people in line ahead of you and you were expecting Rare, Prop or Vanilla, I think those were some unrealistic expectations. They actually had way more than people I talked to were expecting.

 

This guy sold me some rare and Swisher's good deal

 

Just grabbed a Rare at Orland Binny's. I think they still have some left, call before you go though.

 

I must be wearing orthotics because I stand corrected :/

 

My local liquor store had 2 bottles in a glass case. Limit 1 per customer BCBCS. I had a friend with me. Safe to say I got both, and thus completed the year with the best find I've had in the last 2 months (I honestly feel like it was harder to find this than Darkness... which is absurd because I live here -___-).

 

Perspective:

Currently at a bar in Seattle that has been selling Rare to go for ten days. They are selling bottles at $85 each. They have sold a total of three bottles over that time period.

 

Further evidence that Chicago beer scene is out of control.

 

Yeah I thought about how crazy Chicago was when I went to NYC December 11-13. I'd say 9/10 bars and liquor stores I went to had bourbon county sitting on their shelf or in the cooler (you can buy beers to go in most bars there) for prices less than I was seeing in Chicago.

 

I saw some regular BCBS at Fine Food near Ashland and Addison last night. 3 cases as I walked in the door, and he said he had more in the back. I've got plenty of regular, so I wasn't buying any, but I asked him how much per bottle...$18.99. No wonder he still has 3+ cases left.

 

When I went in and asked they told me they had no Bourbon County at all. Nice to know the employees lied to me!

 

Didn't he post that Thursday? Of course its gone by now.

 

I was there on Tuesday last week

 

I think they put it out on NYE only. Perhaps it was delivered that day or perhaps it was in the manager's office. I get your point though, I've found many Binny's employees to be less that knowledgeable/helpful. I got a couple of BCBS at Binny's LP a few weeks ago and they were behind the customer service desk. I asked the guy if he had anything else interesting hiding back there and he pointed to the store shelves and said, "There are 2,800 other beers out there, go find yourself one." Nice!

 

This is fantastic...high five Binny's guy!

 

Binny's employees wouldn't have to deal with this kind of question if they'd just keep the rare stuff in plain view. I've been to Friar Tuck's further south that keep them on the customer service counter, rather than on the floor out of site or in the back. It's that simple.

 

Honestly, that was definitely rude, but I partially get where Binny's dude was coming from. Those customer service guys aren't from the beer dept. (to my knowledge), and it's probably incredibly irritating that from November until at least...April or May (KBS is April, right? ) to have people coming up all day, hoping there are rare beers behind the counter. Add to that the fact that they also have to run over to unlock the rare spirits room all the time for people to browse in, and they probably get pretty frustrated. Not defending the guy, just trying to explain where his response was coming from.

As a consumer, it really sucks that there's no real way (outside of being a regular who's recognized by the person they're talking to) to communicate that you're not just some asshole whalez-hunter when looking for the big stuff. I'm in LP Binny's almost every week, but 1) there are rarely associates in the beer aisles when I'm there and 2) I usually know what I want, so I don't need help. So far as a customer service person is concerned, I'd just be some random asshole running in, trying to get Bourbon County.

LP Binny's is actually pretty good about this, usually. The only exception I've run into has been BCBS. In general they put stuff out with a "Limit 1 Per Customer" sign on the big releases. My guess is that with Bourbon County, they couldn't trust people not to sneak out with more than they're supposed to have (the cashiers wouldn't know the difference). In general, though, I agree that beer places should put out their rare stuff; if they don't, they don't have a right to complain when everyone bugs them--who would we know, otherwise?

 

I miss the Zoidberg "Hoarding is bad and you should feel bad" sign