KBS Bottle Release

I was there yesterday - went to The Winchester for the 5 PM tapping. Got there around 5:45 PM. They were serving like 4-5 oz KBS for $5/pour. You could get as many pours as you wanted - I got 2. They actually had a good deal - a delicious burger and 16 oz draft for $11 (you had your pick of like 8 different beers - KBS was not one you could pick). Was very disappointed I missed CBS by like 15 minutes at Founders.

 

Just be on the lookout for those Uber drivers from KZoo...

 

^This.

I had Saturday tickets last year (no such luck this year), started my day in the tap room for some KBS & CBS then snagged my bottles after I left on my way to the car. They have a separate pick-up area, Williams Street side of the brewery (at least they did last year), so you don't have to battle the taproom crowd while carrying your haul. No lines, no nonsense...This release is about as efficient as can be found nowadays.

The release webpage says you can pick-up your allotment starting at noon and as late as 9pm, but you may want to verify that day of just to be safe. Just make sure you don't drink so much you forget to pick em up as you head out.

 

It will be my first time at the KBS party on Saturday. I'm a little confused though, hoping someone can help me out!

I'm seeing a lot of people saying they're going to be in line at 7/8 am on Saturday. Is that the line to actually get in to the Founders taproom? Or is it the line to get bottles? I plan on showing up around 11am/Noon for the party, but it has me nervous now that folks are possibly showing up hours ahead.

 

In the past the bottle pickup was incredibly seamless and easy, given you have essentially all day on Saturday to pick up your bottles, which tends to spread people out throughout the day (i.e., someone sees a line, says, meh, I'll pick them up in a few hours, goes back, doesn't have to wait, etc.). There is no need to get in line for bottles early since you already have them secured - would be odd to wait an extra several hours just to pick up something you already reserved. Any talk about getting there early is likely to get inside, under the pretense that Founders may have something available in bottles or whatever, I would assume.

 

Saturday was crazy last year. Huuuge line out front at any given time (until later in the day). Heard wait was around 30-40 minutes on average to get into taproom, didn't wait in line myself though, but maybe someone else who did can chime in.

 

Last year Saturday, I got there around 1:00, I think. Had no line at all to pick up my bottles, stashed them in the trunk of the car, and got in line to get in to the taproom. Waited I think about 45 minutes to get inside, then another 15 minute or so wait at the bar to get a drink, but well worth it for a KBS in one hand and a CBS in the other! Line to get inside got shorter as the day went on, but I don't recall there ever being no line at all while I was there. Even with the large crowd, things were run incredibly smooth.

 

Yeah, I got there right around noon two years ago and I think the wait was around an hour.

 

I've never seen a reason to line up early to pick up bottles. That part of the day is ridiculously easy. Any line at the taproom is solely to get into the taproom. I don't remember last year as much as a couple of years ago. Two years ago, we had about a 40 minute wait to get in around 1:30.

 

I will say that the line last year did seem longer than usual longer into the day, however it wasn't too terrible & thinned out later in the day.

we waited about 30 min to get in around noon/ 1:00 I think and once inside, the wait for KBS (or CBS - both on all day long) was never more than 5-10min.

My advice:
get there a little later
expect to wait a little bit
enjoy some awesome beer

 

For those of you familiar with the area. Are Rishi's and Siciliano's the best bottle shops to score some beers not distributed in Ohio? Tomorrow is my first KBS release and trip to Grand Rapids.

 

I'll take your advice and not worry about getting there super early. Thanks!

 

Great advice here. The only reason I didn't wait to get inside is because I'm a local (live about 12 minutes from Founder's so any wait is usually not worth it to me as I can stroll in the next day to get whatever was on tap the night before with no wait)

 

I am going to guess this is the group of people that find it necessary to get someplace 3-4 hours early, to drink outside standing in a line, in order to get into somewhere to ... drink something.

 

I picked up my bottles at about 5:00 p.m. eastern time on Saturday last year. I waited 10 minutes to get in, and had plenty of CBS available. So if last year is any indication, later in the day is definitely better in terms of pure wait times.

 

You know, they say Caveman Lawyers cannot be trusted. I'll take what you say with a grain of salt.

 

Last year we got there at 10, an hour before they opened. We got in line where it just curled around the building, maybe 125 deep? Not sure how many people, I'm not used to waiting in lines for things....

That said, we were inside the taproom around 11:15. It was pretty awesome having KBS in one hand and CBS in the other.

Sadly I will not be making the trip this year since we're taking the kids to Disney World Sunday and I don't trust myself enough on Saturday to keep Sunday from being one of the worst days of my life

 

If you like big barley wines, try their Spike Cutlass. Had it on Tuesday there and it was great!

 

Sitting at the bar now. Pretty busy at noon, has since cleared out and there's plenty of open tables. Nothing unusual on tap right now.

 

Obviously, people do vote with their dollar..wonder if anyone paid that price?