Bruery 2016 RS/HS Allocations

Definitely splitting the membership this year. Not nearly enough for me to keep it by myself.

 

Full disclosure, i upgraded to hoarders today.

To me outrage is a strong word for your feelings if you haven't spent any money yet.

There look to be four HS exclusive beers: room for more, separate Wineification, and both cuvees.

If your outrage really sends you away, so be it.

I think something we probably should have an honest discussion on this board is whether it's fair to ask bruery to not maximize profit when we as society member don't buy all of out allocations. If all HS and RS don't buy out a beer, is it fair to ask bruery, as a capitalistic enterprise, to just put the rest into archives?

We do purchase some exclusivity but I'm not sure we purchase the right to deny bruery from maximizing its revenue stream.

A question I have is how much of their previously exclusive beers that made it to some sort of distro was maximally purchased by society member versus them brewing a large amount on the new brew house. Basically did they brew more than they needed for their society members or did society members not buy enough?

Looking for thoughts.

 

I like to think the folks at The Bruery were having a big meeting to discuss member gripes and at a particularly heated point Patrick said, "let's put a pin in that for now," and some intern ran with it...

 

Now that's comedy gold right there.

 

Also a happy hoarder renewer. The 24 beers on the board are beers I'd buy for sure so I have no problem fronting those $ for a few months.

I would just advocate they stop blending tournaments for Hoarder Cuvees and do a write-in for ideas, group vote for top 2 and let them perfect a beer. The times I have been to blending events there seems to be a dominance of people that want to add marshmellow and gramcracker to the sweetest beers on the table.

Other than that, they always come off as Anniversary heavy due to the melange restrictions. Given carte blanche I'd wager we'd see Conquistador (Huna-tuesday), BTRV, Cherry CR, tropical sour etc etc.

 

I think for a lot of people it is a combination of the following:

• Fatigue from being a member for many years
• A stock pile of u drunken Bruery beer
• A disappointing year in terms of exclusives, leading to feelings of decreased value
• More and more beer clubs competing for our dollar

If someone is a fan of sours I could easily see why they'd consider spending their money on an RB, Casa, Dionysus, or Libertine membership instead of Bruery, especially given the amount of beers that have hit public release. If you're big on their old ales and stouts then the decision is probabky very simple.

 

Current HS member, working on a lower income that I really should not be blowing on beer anyway so one week allocations absolutely sucks. My pay is sketchy at best and I usually do some sidework to cover my Bruery fix, so the limited timeframe and zero feedback of said beers is tough. I get it though, and I'll deal with it. The list does look great and Beauregarde alone is easily reason to kill people dead for, the other stuff is just cake icing. I'll be splitting next year with a friend who's already understood he gets second dibs, so I'm anxious to start drinking.

Pins are cool.

 

Hoarders also get bigger snifters. To compensate for their smaller ... you know.

 

OK, I can no longer resist weighing in after enjoying all the heartache for the last few days.

I think the main split I see here is along the lines of exclusive beers. I do get why others interested in this, even if it is a non-issue for me:

• Traders – no value on the secondary market
• Out of Staters – Why buy a beer that at a local bottle shop at the same price as my discount plus shipping, when I get no local benefits..
• Hoarders - I pay twice as much, up front, shouldn’t I get twice the benefits, and some beers just for us
• Bragging rights _ I can get a beer that you can’t

Other then bragging rights, I am sympathetic to these other reasons. At the top of the list, I do think the Hoarders pay for some special exclusives and think their benefits have been eroding.

On the other hand, I think there is also another group of RS/HS member, that value different things:

• Good customer service
• Avoiding all the other nonsense surrounding good beer ( Click fests, shit shows, etc )
• Convenience: pick up or ship on my schedule
• Local Benefits: society fills, growler fills, events.

I was in PS one year and RS for 2., and will renew this weekend. Why?

• The welcome package looks pretty good
• I can use my 2016 and 2015 growler·
• I’ve enjoyed the beer this year (enjoying So Happens Its Tuesday tonight - starting the holiday early J )
• I’ve been happy with the customer service.
• I enjoy society pours in the tasting room.
• I value guaranteed bottles

As for the web site changes. I think that no longer holding things in your cart is a negative. I could understand reducing the time from an hour to 30 minutes. But eliminating it introduces the click fest phenomenon. Which I compare to putting beer in my cart in a bottle shop, only to have an employee come up and remove it from my cart and give it to someone in front of me. Lucky for me, I don't buy much from Archive or second chance sales, so this shouldn't effect me to much. But I do think this will lead to negative customer experiences, which may effect The Bruery's brand.

Was losing Sour in the Rye with Pineapple and Coconut a disappointment? Yes, I think most of us were looking forward to this.

Was I glad they held it back when it was substandard? Yes, I would rather get a good bottle of Sour in the Rye with Kumquats, then a bad bottle of Sour in the Rye with Pineapple and Coconut.

Was Sour in the Rye with Pineapple and Coconut a key factor in my 2016 renewal, No.

I’m more of a big BA beer person. The Brewery’s sours, are more of a bonus for me, but not the main event.

As for service in the Fulfillment Center, I have to say I’ve been very happy with the service since it was moved out of the tasting room. But admittedly, my expectations may be different then others. I expect if I send them an email, they will have my beer ready, and it will take about five minutes to get my beer ( if there is no line ). Ask for my Id, get my beer, check it off beer by beer, sign and I’m out of there. I’m not looking for a hug and kiss, just my beer. They have to be pretty rude to me to through off my day, when I’m picking up my allocations, going to Mr. K’s then sitting down in the tasting room. That has never happened for me.

Anyway, that’s some thoughts from a satisfied, renewing, RS member.

 

So uh... im adding my renewal to my cart and its applying my discount. That can't be right, is it? Gonna hold off on checkout I guess cause I don't want to deal with paying a balance later.

 

I still like Bruery beers just fine, and I'm about as far away from new money as it is possible to get.

 

Will you be even more upset if it says "Wine + Beer"?

 

Officially upgraded to HS today.

A few thoughts:

1. Please do some small batch beers that will stay exclusive. I don't think there's too much harm in experimenting with a barrel of BT or SITR next year and giving us a shot to try it. I don't need eight bottles of it, so if it's only a 1 for RS/2 for HS kind of thing, I bet most of us can live with that.

2. The one week window is very prohibitive. I see what you're trying to to, but at least give us two.

3. Bummed about not getting another growler, but I'd love to buy one.

4. Please bottle PBJ Black Tuesday! By far the best beer I've had all year! Just access to beers like that are why I'm so stoked for HS!

You guys are still doing great! Stoked for 2017!

 

Any ideas what beers will come out this month?

 

they are going to blow the lid off of this and surprise release
Conquistador (Huna-tuesday), BTRV, Cherry CR, tropical sour.

 

I'll take a BTRV... Or twenty!

 

Hey everyone, the Ohio ABV law just changed to allow beer above 12% and the Bruery labels that were approved for sale include Choc Rain and Blue BBLs.

How many of these beers typically make it to distro? As a HS Member, I'd rather not continue to pay to ship 16 CR if I can just go pick one up at the store.

 

I would be shocked if CR went to widespread distribution. Usually it will say in the email which ones are society only.

 

Neither of those are distributed brands. We do occasionally send kegs or bottles of limited beers for special events (festivals, tap takeovers, beer dinners, etc.), which require us registering the beer with the state.

Cheers,
Patrick
The Bruery