KBS Statement from Founders

What else you gonna do?...buy bigger caves

 

I like it and good for them

 

My point exactly. They might have to store the barrels somewhere else.

 

I didn't know it was stored in caves. That's pretty badass.

 

I like it. I had an amazing time this morning even with the cold. I think it was a very nice thing they took care of as many people as possible and everyone working was so nice and helpful even with the insanity of everything.

 

So it didn't go well huh?

 

Smart to nip this in the bud right away (looks at FFF... I kid!)

 

Is that a pic of me laying the smack down on FFF because if my original witty comment?

 

"There is no way for us to predict what the response will be to releases like this."
Mike Stevens and Dave Engbers

Are you guys fucking kidding me! This is Dark Horse 4Elf 2010 redux...
Seriously, don't these guys pay a lick of attention to their own industry?

On a positive note: the BA Sumatra Mountain Brown and Frangelic Mountain Brown were freakin' ridiculously good.

 

I blame myself for not getting KBS, as I got there at 6:30. I assumed that would be early enough (4.5 hours early)
I was right. It would have been, we're I one of the other 6:30 groups... We were at the doors when they ran out. We were in the first 10 to fail.
Lot's of line jumping.
That's life. That's a bummer.

However,

I am totally done with Founders. That will save me hundreds.
They wait until 15 minutes before open, to hand out tickets.
This is intentional. They had guys coming and checking out the line.

They could have saved a few hundred people a whole day of standing out in freezing weather and whipping wind by handing out the tickets once the line reached an obvious capacity.
At 6:30, we were in front of the brewery, and the line wrapped all the way around. By 7 it had overlapped.
We could see this. They could see this. We waited 4 hours because we road tripped 4 hours to get there. When they passed out tickets (over 600) we were about 20 behind the last ticket.

Again, missing out is our fault, not theirs.
But they knew they couldn't support the demand, and they let people stand out there without a heads up for at least 5 hours before giving out any word.

By that time, we decided we were pot committed, and waited it out.

We wouldn't have made the road trip for 3 4 packs.
We wouldn't wait outside overnight for this beer (it's great. But there are plenty of great bbl options right now, and a few I like more.)
It's not laziness to try to make a considered decision on when to arrive for a beer. And again, not Founders fault that we missed it.

But for cutting the allotment (more or less invalidating the purpose of the trip... If I want to add $100 in gas to the cost of the beer, I know I can get 3 4 packs) and for watching from the rooftop (literally) and walking the grounds, knowing that most of these folks are screwed... And saying NOTHING...

THAT makes it one less craft brew for me. Yay, more for you guys. Enjoy the hype train.

 

Posts like this reaffirm my belief that announcing the lower allotments ahead of time would have alleviated so many issues,starting with people deciding their road trip probably wasn't worth it.

 

Very quick response to the fans. Classy, and they are even asking for feedback and comments. Good for them.

 

Just glad my friend counldnt get off work and i decided not to go solo. I might have been a little pissy if i had shown up early just to be told after a 5 hour drive the bottle limit was halved.

I understand why they did what they did, but still feel like they screwed the pooch by poor planning and have a feeling theres a lot of pissy Founders fans out there today.

Sell tickets to solve the problem - seems like a logical move going forward.

 

So next year they'll have three times as much....that's pretty awesome.

 

Might be a stupid question.....why aren't numbers passed out as people show up to wait in line? When number 300 or whatever gets their number, 301+ have nothing to bitch about.

 

I sympathize with what a wretched experience it must have been.

 

Halving the bottle limit was a complete fail. Just like other posters stated above, I wouldn't have driven 3 hours each way and waited in line for 14 hours for 12 beers. They should have stuck with the original committed allotment and informed everyone in excess of the ticket count that they were out of luck and free to wait in line to try it on draft in the taproom.

 

Agreed.
"you snooze, you lose" is ENTIRELY fair, in my opinion.
But changing allotment is bad form, and allowing people to just sit out there is, at least for me, unforgivable. Consider we were on 2 hours of sleep... PLENTY of respect for the cats that got there earlier. PLENTY of respect for folks who believe that this is a beer worth black-Friday-ing ... BUT doyou think there is a CHANCE IN HELL that we would have stood from 6:30 to 2 pm if we were told "sorry guys, you missed the cutoff?"

We are courteous people, who shared our beer with anyone and everyone. We joked with everyone and tried to help folks have a good time... We would NOT have complained if Founders had said "you snooze, you lose." But on the contrary, by saying nothing, they just lost a customer (probably several) permanently.

The only REMOTELY PLAUSIBLE reasons for not telling the line about the problem start with an absolutely unacceptable lack of consideration, and go much shadier from there. I run a service heavy business. If I had a problem like this at one of my events, I would be MORTIFIED, and I would make sure to rectify the situation. Not by summoning more beer, before anyone decides to be a smartass, but by sharing information, and being USEFUL to my clients, because I care about their business.

I do believe they wanted the line. I mean, they had one cashier by the time we got to the doors. Was there more than one earlier? You know it will take forever without a cash only line... They wanted people to ring their building, because they think it's good publicity. I believe they didn't hip people earlier, because they didn't want to see business leave, when it could end up in the tap room. It's my opinion that this was a measured decision, to not warn the line. I could be wrong, it could just be a fucking grossly inconsiderate group of people making that call. Either way, same result.

Anyway, I vote with my dollar... Founders doesn't need the few hundred I spend on their beer annually. And now they simply won't have it.