J Wakefield Releases

So just out of curiousity did he ever make everything up to the original members he completely screwed over? or this guy just a complete jerkoff with a lack of morals

 

Look, I wasn't there when this happened, so I'm not going to talk about something I don't know about. People have their problems with him, + that's between them + him. Not my problem, + if you weren't an OG, not yours either.

What I DO know, is the amount of bottles they were promised, they got. Whether they fit the standard they were hoping for, again, that's up to whomever received those bottles, but I also don't remember any specific list of beers OG members were going to get.

I'm sorry for those who feel slighted. You have every right to be angry about whatever on earth you ever want to be angry about, this situation included, but this thread has nothing to fucking do with it. You have a problem with Jonathan, don't buy his beers. It's that simple.

Cheers.

 

This is the general JWB thread. It's exactly the right thread.

 

No, it's not. It's the JWB Releases thread.

 

No it doesn't directly affect me but I'm not a fan of bad business and a lack of ethics. So for you to work there and say it's not your problem and have 0 sympathy for people who truly got swindled out of their hard earned money says a lot about his company. Nothing personal just an opinion, and this is a JWAKEFIELD thread how does bad business at Wakefield not have anything to do with this thread which is about..... J Wakefield again nothing personal..

 

What happened between John + the OG club, isn't my problem. I became a fan of JWB the same way most do, by drinking his beer. Became great friends with some of the employees there, + found myself hanging out at the brewery almost every single day, since my other job involves my being in Wynwood most of my time. Luckily, I was given a position at one of my favorite spots, so I took it, + am happy to be there. To this day, I've known him to be a good person. Him, + his family. From what I can tell, it's never been lost on him the issues he had with that club. Most think it doesn't bother him, + they couldn't be more wrong. He doesn't talk about it, + I'm not a gossiping bitch, so I'll never ask him about it. I go by the man + the people of that brewery that I've known for almost 2 years now, + that's it.

Like I said, if anybody has an issue with him, that's their issue, not mine. They can take it up with him anytime they want, or stay stuck behind a keyboard + work out their demons that way. Not once have I said I have no sympathy for anybody who felt he/she was wronged, but what sympathy am I going to have for something I don't have all the details to? You do know that there's a majority of OG club members that don't have this problem, right? I've met almost ALL members. At least the ones who've been to the events, + from what I can tell, the ones that have problems with John are a minority. Does that make any wrongdoing, right? No, it doesn't. But that is/isn't a wrongdoing that I don't fully know about. That's just fact as far as I'm concerned.

You keep saying its "nothing personal", yet keep bashing a man you know absolutely nothing about, based on comments others write because of an issue they've had, + by your own admission, had absolutely nothing to do with you. Let me ask you this.....if all members received the number of bottles they were promised (which all but 1, in my opinion, were fantastic), got the party they were promised where they were able to pick up even more Miami Madness, + DFPF bottles if they wanted to, + also the glassware they were promised, what else does he have to do to "make up for what he did"? That's what I don't understand.

 

Harry, I am(was) an OG and the VAST majority of the other OG's that I know still feel they were taken advantage of by your boss. I think the biggest issue with the whole thing is that JW never owned up when he had the initial issues, and didn't communicate with anyone. When people voiced their frustrations, he further buried his head in the sand by figuring out what would be the minimum requirements to satisfy his legal contractual obligation and shut it down. Pretty cowardly way of handling things to say the least.

For my part (and for those I know who were also OG members,) I wasn't looking to join OG to buy seven barrel aged beers and a tshirt for $300. Rather I was looking to support a startup brewer who I felt had great promise and to be a member for the long term. Shutting it down and turning his back on the very people who gave him the means to startup the venture was his biggest betrayal.

Harry, you seem like a really good guy and it's a shame I'll likely never meet you as my days of supporting JWB are over. Cheers brother.

 

Banking?

I guess maybe if his rent was free, his employees worked for free, and all his brewing equipment and materials were free.

Anything less and I'd hardly call running a craft brewery in Wynwood "banking", especially considering the myriad of other things one could do with the time and energy it takes to do so.

 

I hear you, man. Sorry this happened, + hopefully stuff like this won't happen again. It's all I can hope for. I'd be lying if I said Jonathan wasn't my friend, + I saw the person you're all describing, because he is, + I don't see that specific person. Not saying you're in the wrong in feeling the way you do, either. I truly got into this, because I loved the beers, + have been treated with nothing but respect, + now friendship at the brewery. Same goes with pretty much everybody I've met at JWB, + any other brewery event. In saying that, I admit that If I had a problem with somebody for something because I believe he/she did me wrong, I wouldn't support them either, especially if I didn't believe he/she rectified it. It is what it is.

Either way, here's to the future of craft beer in general, + hope you all have a great rest of your Sunday, enjoying whatever beer you choose to drink. Cheers!

 

I say its nothing personal because I didn't want you think i'm trying to come at you on that level, however if that's how you took it I apologize. I read up on the situation a while back I genuinely feel bad for people who helped fund something and not get properly taken care of that was my stance. Anway have a good sunday.. Cheers

 

"VAST majority" felt they were "taken advantage of"?

BS.

Maybe a very vocal minority -- which is how these things usually go.

Enough with the embellishment and baseless point-of-fact statements under the guise of objectivity.

Starting a new business let alone a brewery is a lofty goal. Trying to put together an amazing bottle club for it in it's first year of operation that lives up to your own standards and those set by other reputable breweries that were in business for years before their first ever bottle clubs, is another. But you aim high and do your best to hit all your marks.

So the brewery wasn't ready when it was supposed to be and the bottle club beers were not delivered when they were promised in contracts written in blood and you didn't receive weekly progress update memos -- oh, what a horrible and unforgivable tragedy to have befallen the OG Society.

I am not thrilled the OG Society wasn't continued. Being a reasonable and objective advocate of craft beer however, I understand the reasoning behind the decision and not being a petty asshole with nothing better to do who isn't actually taking things personally (unlike recent posters who say they aren't, but clearly are), I don't pollute every forum thread I can find with negative comments voicing my displeasure.

Some people apparently sold their first-born children to buy their OG memberships and are furious the brewery took longer than expected to open. They did not receive constant communication about the status of the brewery and the last straw was when a guy probably working 80+ hours a week with 3 kids happened to pick a launch date for an opening party that coincided with another major beer event (which he then actually changed). Despite getting the beers they were promised (albeit not on time), the glassware they were promised and shirts they were promised, their dissatisfaction remains boundless.

In the absence of a second year of OG, I think Wakefield will focus on ensuring a smooth year of operation and quality releases for his brewery, and I think we'll see the return of a bottle club when he has enough barrel aged beer in the queue and is able to put the time and effort into running it again (or he has Harry run it)

To a layman coming upon these recent posts, you would think that the "OG" society was really the "Original Gold" society, and it's members signed up expecting bars of pure 24 Karat gold, as opposed to 750ML bottles of beer.

And the $100,000 raised in the crowdfund campaign is probably 1/15th of what is really needed to get a brewery like Wakefield's online in one of the most in-demand commercial districts in Miami (yes beeradvocate.com business and craft brewery experts, add another zero, and then some).

 

OK, so you're a JWB fanboy and I won't be back. More for you. Cheers!

 

I wish the many people who were screwed by this who are very active on other social media could chime in here with you.

 

I've made peace with the $300 mistake that was the OG club, but it really bothered me that he seemed to rush the bottle releases for the OG club, then a month or so after the club had ended, he decided to release 3 amazing stouts that had been aging for 12+ months. He could have easily made most OG members happy if he had offered an additional bottle or something. He clearly was fine writing off the 200 or so people who were members, especially since most were out-of-towners.

He's a great brewer, that's for sure. I've loved Miami Madness, DFPF, and every stout he's bottled. He's just not a very good businessman.

 

I honestly can't tell if this post was intentionally sarcastic or just hilariously ironic. Either way, thanks!

*I was not an OG.

 

Ill never understand the mentality of those who call someone a "petty asshole with nothing better to do" while simultaneously writing a 6 paragraph internet forum rant

 

You're taking the title of the thread too seriously, rather than its content. In any case, the OG society involved a number of bottle releases, so bitching about it seems germane. Go back and read earlier posts and you'll see there are extensive discussions of it.

If you don't like the posts which complain about the OG society, you should feel free to ignore them. Last time I checked, you're not a mod on here. I personally don't see a lot of value in rehashing the whole debacle (except occasionally for comedic purposes), but I don't fault other posters who want to discuss it.

 

This place has mods??? I wouldn't be a good one, anyways. I mean, I'd personally love solving every problem with a post quoting Pearl Jam, but not sure everybody else would appreciate it as much.

You're right. I can, + should ignore any posts that might bother me, because I do believe in people expressing themselves in whatever way they choose to do so. I work here, + I love it. That's not going to change. At least I hope not. Sorry for those who had a bad experience, + like I said before, all I can do is hope nothing similar happens again, + I'll always try to be a part of the team that makes sure it doesn't. Will that bring back the people who've decided not to support JWB anymore for whatever reason they have, probably not, but I'll most definitely never be a part of the reason somebody doesn't come back again.

Cheers.

 

I wish Wakefield would have had someone like you on his team 2 years ago to shield him from the "keyboard warriors" he so loathes. Maybe someone would have cared enough to turn this whole situation around.

Cheers to different outcomes in alternate universes.