KBS Statement from Founders

Question of the day: What amount of KBS would it take to make [any of] you happy?

Also, to Tapedeck-

They announced the cutoff of tickets while handing them out and said people were welcome to stay in line if they wanted, but had no guarantee of getting any. Not sure why you keep saying they left everyone in the dark.

 

Not really. The problem is that Chicago might get it 2 cases max at about 10 places. It's sells out less than an hour after arrival or if you're really lucky they'll have a one 12oz bottle per customer limit and sell it for $8.

So if you live in Chicago, and are gainfully employed, you've got two realistic choices: going to KBS or eBay.

 

Well if you had any beer karma it will find you. I was able to purchase as much as i wanted of 2 vintages of kbs last year at cost. I only took 1 of each and went on my merry way. Sometimes you just don't need to go chasing these beers around.

 

Is it really that hard to understand why people are upset? Some people waited 12+ hours in line in the freezing cold expecting to buy a full case of KBS, not a half case.

Personally, I was fine with getting a half case because I understand Founders wanted more people to go home with something but it's understandable that people are upset.

 

rhetorical question & the selfishness is easy to understand

 

I still don't understand how the situation where some people are upset makes them selfish. People that line cut are selfish. People that steal from others are selfish. People that cheat on others are selfish. People that wait in line for something in a legit fashion with certain rules that are set forth and then have those rules changed last minute doesn't seem all that selfish to me. I think it is a legit situation to gripe a bit about. Does lack of fairness equate to selfishness?

Again, it is just beer, but my thought is that all involved wanted to have fun and spent various amounts of time/money/energy to get there. If you want to fully eliminate the problem, I think that everyone that showed up should get a KBS, so there should be a 1 bottle limit. Anything more than 1 bottle would be a bit selfish, yeah?

 

Handing tickets early isn't a great solution either because People will now wait in line even earlier because after they get their ticket at 8, they can just go back to their car or hotel and sleep. This is part of the reason why captain Lawrence releases now have people waiting in line at 1 am. Although a remedy could be to make people stay in line, but that would require someone to police the line and it seems like breweries have been very reluctant to do this to this point. Maybe they could accept volunteers, but it could get ugly.

Online ticketing kind of sucks too because then people from all over the country are stalking the tickets online and locals don't have any advantage. And some people that buy a ticket at $10, will then sell them on eBay or Craigslist to make a profit.

I think the way to go is a stagger release like RR did with the last batch of Framboisr for a cure, i.e. sell 10 cases a day (8 or 12 bittle max) for 30 days this gives locals a realistic chance at getting it. Another option would be to sell tickets for the event at the brewpub a week or so ahead of time. This give locals a first crack and keeps people from waiting 10 hours in the cold. Maybe another option to do is hand out tickets but make the lottery random. Hand out as many tickets as there are people in line but the first 300 are winners. This will disincentivize coming early to camp and maybe keep some people away, although it will profit hoarders that bring mules. There is no perfect, incorruptible system, but these kinds of releases could definitely be improved

 

I get people might be a little upset at the allotment change. You expect one thing, get another, and you have a sad. But honestly, how often do you drink this beer that you need a whole case? I'd really like an answer to that. I still have some from 2 years ago. Most people will be lucky to get a couple of bottles of this. Consider yourself fortunate to get half a case.

 

I love the responses that quote me and clearly didn't read my post. If you want to do the Internet straw man argument thing to feel good this evening, be awesome and enjoy. But if you're not going to read, you're not going to refute anything either.

 

I will buy mine from the store. The breweries should relieve themselves of this hassle and just let the distributors and retailers deal with the headaches.

 

Just sharpie people hands after you give them a ticket or sell them their beer. That will deter most of the double dipping.

A staggered release would be nice too if they wanna release more at the pub.

 

You know how easy it is to get sharpie off? I think a better solution would be to use that election ink they used in Iraq. Wont come off for a week.

 

Double dipping is not as big of an issue as the chat and cut or grabbing multiple tickets for friends. Prevention of either requires ethical behavior (not likely from a small but signifant population), self policing (could lead to altercations), or appointed staff ($).

 

I think this release shows that the "show up and wait in line format" simply no longer works with the current state of craft beer. Dark Lord Day has things right with the selling of tickets. Yes, people will get shut out when trying to buy them, but at least it saves headaches for driving and planning purposes. I expect to see Darkness day be out of hand this year and basically require that people show up the night before and camp out to get any. I think we will see more raffles and ticket sales for future releases.

 

I love that getting in line at 5 am is no longer considered dedication.

 

They sure make it sound like MI is the priority in ads however allocations prove differently. They typically ship 30 cases of limited/seasonal releases to the Tri-City area to be divided by 20 stores yet one retailer in, lets say KY, will get 10 cases. Or as far as the Backstage Series they send a total of 4 cases to the area. And to top it off they just added two more states to their distribution chain.

 

It isn't my fault that others chose to camp out, and I chose to roll out of bed and 5:30 in the morning because I live a few blocks away from the brewery. It was 2:00 pm before I had beer in hand, and 3:00 pm before I finally got to relax inside at a table. It was a long, frustrating wait for those of us who didn't camp too, but we made the best of it.

I witnessed campers and others completely disrespect Founders property, men puking all over sidewalks, litter/bottles everywhere, and people flat out being rude to the staff. I think Founders made the best decision they could. The popularity of the beer has just gotten out of hand, and we can only blame ourselves for that.

 

I personally had a good time! I got there at 4:45am....I was #391. And KBS or no KBS, I met some awesome people, sampled some kickass beers, and got to drink inside Founders off the tap with some more great people! Isn't that what it's all about???

I am a "beer advocate" just like everyone else on these forums SHOULD be! Stop complaining about the way Founders handled it! WE are the ones who created the "hype train" and the "shit storm"

 

Why not just use bracelets like CCB does at Huna Day? The bracelets could be numbered for sales order purposes and cut off at time of buying which would eliminate line cutters. I never understood why a brewery would distribute tickets/numbers/tokens and not collect them of punch them at time of purchase (y'all listening at Dark Horse...but I digress). You can't wear more than 1 bracelet and tampering with it to get a second would be very difficult so that eliminates doubling up and without a bracelet you get no beer.

Obviously, there is no perfect fix because the issue of distribution of the bracelets does not solve the problem with the initial line, the camping out, the line cutting during the wait, etc., etc., etc. I agree there still has to be some "self-policing" and let's face it, we need to respect each other's right to get the beer we seek. I know that may be asking too much for some out there...and I will now get down from my "can't we all just get along" soap box. Cheers to those that got yesterday, and cheers to those like me that did not!

 

About the overnighters, we got in line at 10pm, we all felt betrayed! Everyone around us felt the same way. We put in the time, we got our asses there early, we froze our asses off. And then at 10am, when they started passing tix out and told us that it was a 12 bottle limit, we all had to pull the knives out of our back! Total bullshit on Founders part. Being pissed isn't the only problem. Losing customers is going to be the problem.