Holy Mountain Midnight Still

I get it... Some people may have been shocked at the line when they showed up. I knew what I was getting into and it was a bit more than I expected. Empathy isn't a bad thing folks...

 

I have empathy for people experiencing true misfortunate. The present situation far from qualifies.

 

The line doesn't look that long.

 

Holy Mountain...where people will wait in line for three hours surrounded by dumpsters to buy our beer.

 

Could be worse, like people who drive 2 hours to wait 3 hours in line to buy 'their' beer. Like my friend in NE, getting beer is literally an event for him. It's not "I'm going down to the corner store/bottle shop/beer bar," it's "gotta get up early to go wait in line to buy beer for the next two weeks+."

I hope this never becomes a thing in the PNW; I'm too young to be labeled as crotchety, but I refuse to play this game. The day I have to work to get new beer is the day I stop drinking beer. If I ever start chasing trucks or lining up I hope my friends just put me down without question.

 

I was at a bar in Spokane an hour ago and saw a group of people who had two bottles of it on the bar top. They drove 4 hours to get it and said the line wasn't that bad. Not sure what their expectation was, but take that for what it's worth. Can we all agree that Holy Mountain is amazing and making some of the best beer we have ever seen in this area?

 

Yeah there are plenty of things to have empathy for in Seattle, but neckbeards in a voluntary line is definitely not one of them.

 

"What line?" -Chicago.

 

Fuck this.

Dear breweries, just put the damn beer up for sale with no advance notice, at a random time. You'll still sell all your beer.

 

This is one the most sensible replies I've seen in a while.

Obviously, HM wants to create and sustain a demand for their products. Alcohol, being addictive and all, pretty much creates its own demand.

 

But then how would we be able to judge the worth of a beer by how long people were willing to stand in line to get a taste?

 

I disagree. The folks at Holy Mountain are great people. I don't see it as them trying to foment some sort of artificial hysteria for their beers. While I like @beertunes suggestion of just releasing the beer with no announcement, I don't think any of us would argue that people would still complain about that.

Honestly, they made the date known and all of us had an equal chance to get some. It just boiled down to priorities; some of us were willing to get up and get in line and some weren't. I don't begrudge Holy Mountain one bit. I made the decision that I didn't want to wait in line and it was my choice. I could have easily chosen to go get in line with that horde of people but I chose not to do so. But having a set date for release that everyone knew about gives everybody an equal chance.

Also, I can imagine as a brewer it must be terribly gratifying to see people willing to line up hours before you open to buy your beer.

 

It was really great to chat and joke around with everyone who came in yesterday. The tap room was full, everyone had a beer and was smiling, laughing and having a great time. Yesterday was a great day, especially after getting to see our friends at Brouwers for Hard Liver after a few much needed strong beers.

I'm beyond proud of our staff who came in on their days off to wax the bottles and hang out. I'm touched my mom came up from Florida and was up until 1AM baking cookies with my wife to put out for people who came through the line. I'm stoked beyond belief that my partner Mike and I got to work side by side with our wives selling and stocking bottles. One of my best friends came in and ran the door for us when it got too crowded. We cut limits about half way through from 4 to 3, and as we closed the door as the last person came in, we had two bottles left after they bought their stout. Everyone who waited in line got beer. Everyone. 1:52. Beer was gone.

Making fun of people who chose to wait for those bottles? Not cool in my book. Making fun of us for trying to get everyone a beer and running things smoothly? Ok with me! Our customers made a choice, just like some of you made a choice not to come by. Either way, it's perfectly fine. So what? We're not going to up production on these beers, so they can sit on a grocery store shelf and be ready to grab whenever someone feels like they should have access to them. As some of you know who come down to the tap room, we release stuff silently all the time, and will continue to do so. Have a good weekend everyone, whatever you decide to do!

 

What? Do we now need to treat our NW BA forum as a "safe space"? Does this forum need a "trigger warning"? Sorry if my comments regarding people waiting hours in a line to buy a fucking beer might hurt their fragile millennial self-esteems.

Frankly, what occurred yesterday at your brewery is an exhibition of the worst aspect of the craft beer scene. And some of us old folks don't want our excellent PNW beer scene to turn into a replica of those Chicago and East Coast shitshows. So, I'm gonna continue to call out that BS.

 

This is all great to hear. A hearty and sincere congratulations!

My only issue is this straw man:

Not everyone opposed to "event" releases of highly limited beers is opposed to them because they expect to be able to get the beer whenever they wish. They're opposed to them because they're sort of elitist, and they tend to amplify behavior (hoarding, muling, acquiring only to trade, etc..) which no one would cite as their favorite in the craft beer scene.

 

I think that Fremont's BA program is second to none, the beers phenomenal and highly sought after. CC BBomb and Brew 1000 would have drawn lines such as the one above. Was there an "event"? No. Lines? No. Did they make so much it sits on the shelves at the grocery store year round for our convenience? No. Although a little hard to track down I bought those beers in Tacoma and Olympia at my leisure. Although they'd never openly admit it, there absolutely are motives behind releases such as this, IMO, which sucks for many of us. I think there's enough proof that it's not necessary. Businesses can conduct business however they want, though, which is fine, I just won't support them. Just my two cents.

 

To be fair, Fremont is capable of making significantly more beer than HM can. I don't remember anyone accusing Adam and company at Reubens of having ulterior unspoken motives with their BA stout releases which have drawn lines that we've complained about here in the past.

And CCBBomb is still plentiful on store shelves in Seattle, which I like.

 

One of my favorite musicians, Hammel on Trial, has a song ripping Ann Coulter. There's a line in the song; "you take the low road, I'll take the lower road". Fuck it, I'll play along with this shit. I will roll into the next HM release with a vanload of mules. If this is how we want things to go, so be it. I've never been afraid to get dirty.

 

Hey, I really like HM beers, too. They are very well-crafted, and I haven't had a stinker yet, unlike a few other small breweries in town. Of course they want people to line up to buy their beer. Who wouldn't? There's no artificial hysteria here. It's the real thing: Supply and demand at work.

 

Do they really want people to line up, or do they just want people to buy it?