Pittsburgh - New Beers & Local Breweries

I'm surprised there was no limit on pours in Homestead. Very strict one Black Magick per person per transaction rule in Meadville.

 

This would be my main thing. Two per person is fine, but they should be two different beers.

 

I was under assumption it was 1 per person for bm at homestead.....you could get 1 of each pour as I did when I got in but I didn't see anyone with 2 bm's.....

 

So here is the real question for all the beer snobs out there (including myself). When you crack your manbearpig, will you be using the special honey jar like glass they released for it or something else? I'm torn... love the uniqueness of it, but I may have to use the barrel room collection snifter

 

If u have 2 use both

 

One thing I have noticed about all of Voodoos events and releases over the past 3 years is that they keep trying to fine tune and improve them to make them fair and fun and to get their beer to the people who support them on a regular basis. I do not recall a keg kicking previously before most of the people there at open had a reasonable opportunity to get a pour, so I would guess they will look into improving that process.

I don't think a ticket or even just a single line for the super limited pours would be unpopular or annoying, sounds like a good idea. Seems like it would make things fair and more importantly take some of the stress off the people serving the beer. A lot of events I have been to with a very limited draft have had most of them poured already, hand them to you as you walk in, and take your credit card to open up your tab. Something along these lines would probably be more relaxed for both sides as opposed to letting everyone in at once and having 6 people deep at the bar fighting to be the first to get the attention of a bartender.

 

Not a complaint, just what I observed. Guy in front of me at the bar(homestead) was able to purchase 3 BM at once. When I took his spot I tried to buy 2 (one for me and one for my friend who grabbed a couple seats) and was told I can only buy 1 of each. I personally heard the guys conversation in front of me explicitly asking if he can buy 3 at once and was told yes. I had a different bartender. I was very understanding and was not upset. Just grateful to get one BM as well as the other delicious offerings. I thought the event was great and we had an awesome time. Wish I could press rewind and do it all again!

 

Outside of a ticket system, I'd have done away with the seating at the bar and gone with a single file roped-off line, at least for the first hour or two. I ordered immediately after @barflybastard did and was probably a good 40-50 people behind him in line from what he described. I didn't get any BM but it would have been whack if I got some and someone 30 spots ahead of me didn't.

But yeah the event was great and I'm sure it will continue to improve each year

 

I maybe misremembering things, but I thought during the barrel aged PCBW event they let the stools fill up and them filtered everyone else through one line for ordering.

 

It's hard to make sure 300 people get pours from a 5 gallon keg, regardless of event / brewery / beer. Seems like if you were in line early, went in and ordered beer right away you were good to get bm. I really don't know? Would you really only want 4 oz? It's already an 8 oz pour. At what point does it get to be just wanting to tick the beer and not actually care about drinking the beer ?

Everyone who got allotments got 4 bottles to enjoy so in the end there is that?

No matter what someone is going to miss out on a pour no matter what you do

 

Allotment pickup could not have been easier. This coupled with the ninja release announcement on an otherwise lazy Monday afternoon makes me happy.

This^

Pre-poured BM might not have been the worst idea, but wonder about the counter space for something like this, with all the merch out and mob rushing the bar.

I cursed the bar seating myself, until a stool opened up in front of me after ordering--at that point, with the kid, there was no turning back. She already had toys splayed over the bar top when I scrawled my signature in the book. Solo, I would've gotten out of the way and sought proper seating. But, having no stools available for the first hour or two might have been a blessing. Or, as @Dogleg mentioned, have bar seating but then funnel to formal ordering station(s).

Mos def hard to ensure everyone's happy. Didn't get BM myself, but still happy. My goal was to get a shirt (and a glass for a friend); if I needed to have BM on tap, I would've planned to be there at 930. Would be against a smaller pour too--agree that it becomes ticking at such small quantities.

 

It does seem to me though like it might be a good idea to consider making it a ticketed event.

I'm sure this idea will be picked apart (and maybe rightfully so), but my thought was to do the box allotment the exact same way and, when paying for your allotment, you have the option to buy tickets to the release itself (or maybe just give them away?) My initial thought was 2 release tickets per one allotment purchased. But this is just an option, and it's not mandatory that allotment purchasers buy (or be given) tickets to the release.

From there, if all of the tickets aren't bought (or given out) to those who buy the allotments, you could then put the rest on sale to the general public on a first come, first serve basis.

Just a thought and fodder for discussion. I personally didn't have an issue with the way things went down yesterday, but I wasn't there with aim to get pours either.

 

I would not be pissed at all if it were a ticketed event.

 

Nor would I. At some point, the hype gets so big that it just becomes a hindrance to everyone. When I looked around on Saturday it just seemed to me like there were WAY more people there than could possibly even fit inside.. And it's not as though their space in Homestead is small or anything. It's a pretty big room.

 

And that's all constructive criticism and idea slinging. Considering the way they chose to handle the event on Saturday I think they did their absolute best. No matter what they do, someone will be displeased.

 

I agree that it could be hard to police. I think my real suggestion would be to have 2-3 lines (bartenders) serving the barrel release beers. One or two people just pouring. I would then tell the bar tenders to not serve anyone sitting at a bar stool (that's where people were getting second rounds where I couldn't get in). Maybe rope off a line from the door to the lines (some how).

Even though I didn't get some of the BA beers, I don't like the idea of restricting people to only two pours, total. I think a person should be able to get 1 (only 1) of each BA beer. Perhaps management could encourage people not to come back for seconds. Impossible to enforce, but a good plea to peoples' decency.

Again, none of this is complaining. I had a fun time and got two incredible beers.

 

Was far too much chat and jump in the line to appear to peoples decency, IMO. I understand where you're coming from though.

 

I like that even if you miss out on the allotment announcement, you still have a chance to come try the beers though. In the weeks between the allotment signup and the release, I heard from a lot of customers who were disappointed they missed the allotments announcement, and were at least somewhat consoled by finding out the beers would be on tap. Whether they actually showed up in time and braved the crowds in order to drink those beers is another question, but at least they had a second chance.

 

I just want to know if I'm allowed to drink beers other than Manbearpig from my mbp glassware.

 

I can understand that as well. It's tough. Like I said, there's no way to please everyone regardless of how it's done.