KBS Statement from Founders

I have another question: Does anyone who was int he first 300 realize that the rest of us in the back 300 likely didn't reserve ANY at any of our local bottle shops? Why would we do that? To screw over other people in our area and be total hoarders? We were all thinking we would be set and walk away with some KBS from the brew pub, and by now, most of the KBS being distributed is already spoken for. I don't think that is a secret. There would have been a lot of us who would've been completely boned.

Like someone already said, Founders paid it forward, and more people will end up with KBS this year because of it. At the end of the day, that's what it is all about.

 

Bingo.

 

wish my bottle shops reserved beer.

 

They did not but may be making some soon, probably after the reorder of curmudgeon goblets comes in

W

 

I was chatting with her for a while on Friday and she said they had reordered them.

 

Great news! Thanks.

 

Once upon a time, I traipsed across an insane expanse of geography last year on a pilgrimage to Jackie O's. Drove all night, stood in line in the cold, and they reduced the allotment towards the end of our wait. You know what? Everyone was fine with it, even me. Did I get fewer bottles than I anticipated? Yes. Did I get plenty of beer and meet nice people and generate a good story? Yes. Was it probably the best thing JO's could have done to ensure that they were spreading the good word to everyone who worked hard to receive it? Yes. Are the fine people who run Founder's just a wee bit behind the curve on what the latest in beer insanity has wrought? Heck yes. Are all the people who only got 12 bottles of KBS after anticipating 24 just being entitled little baby people? Not entirely, it is mildly painful when you don't get what you expect. Walk it off, guys. 12 is a big number for KBS in the brave new world of fanatics, eBay entrepreneurs and juggalo man-slaves. At least they didn't give two cases to the first 150 campers and screw the rest of you out of your weekend (looking at you, HotD)...

 

This thread has been very informative.

ISO: Pappy Eclipse, KtG 2007, 2008 FT: 2012 KBS

 

When you think about it, do you really go there just for your allotment of beer and not the even itself? Hell when you talk into the opportunity cost of driving to Grand Rapids and spending 8+ hours in line, hotel fees, etc you'd be better off buying the damn four-packs on Ebay for $50/pop and making out as it's a better decision financially. Just the 60 bucks in gas technically doubles the prices of the bottles.

I went there for the 50 pours of rare beers from all over the US and meeting fellow BAs, thats something you can't really put a price on.

 

Living 25 minutes away from Founder's, I really made a bad decision not to go up. Just chilling with fellow beer geeks and drinking good beer would of been worth it.

 

Actually I have a bigger problem. I run a pub in Columbus, The Old Bag of Nails, and we sell alot of Founders. Always have, always will. My problem is that I know that they shipped 3 times the amount of cases to Ohio than they did last year. So why didn't they just save more at the brewery for the folks that waited? We all could see the 2 full pallets of KBS in the brewhouse w/ a label that said 'do not ship till 3/15/2012'. How about you get into those to satisfy demand at the brewery? As people on here have already said, they should take care of their home state first and foremost. We have that problem here in Ohio too with Great Lakes, not enough product for the home state. But I digress. Now I have to go hang my new Founders neon that we received on Friday up in the window to let everyone know that we serve their products.

Scott

 

All I can say is that I had an amazing day. I met a ton of awesome people, saw some familiar faces, and shared a ton of great beers. I brought out a lot of beers to share with the line because I knew this crowd would appreciate them and maybe not get a chance to try them otherwise. There were tons of folks cracking bottles, cooking food, and having a very good (but very cold) time. That's what it's all about and that's what made my day. I hope that everyone around our area had as good of a time as we did and thanks to everyone for the pours, food, and overall great time.

I'm not going to comment on how much we watched the line grow in width as the day went on. Most of us were hanging out, drinking beers, trying to ignore it and really just not even talk about it too much. We started around what would probably have been the cutoff/grey area and I ended up being 411. We would not have gotten bottles if the allotment wasn't cut. To be honest, I would have been bummed out if we didn't get any but it would not have been the end of the world. I still got to meet a bunch of good people and enjoy a TON of amazing beer.

While walking the line, I heard more people in the 1-case-guaranteed range saying that they understood why Founders might need to cut the allotment than I heard saying they would feel ripped off. NO ONE there expected the line to wrap completely around the block and I genuinely believe Founders didn't either.

You have to admit that a full case is a very generous allotment. A half case is still damn good. How hard would it be to chase around 12 bottles in retail? That's really tough... even in Michigan. Allotments at releases everywhere else are typically not that large and maybe Founders should have cut it from the start, but as noted by others... cuts are happening at many other releases as they try to adapt to the size of the crowd. You had to know they were going to do something once the line was over 900-1,000 people deep and wrapped all the way around back to the start. I think there would have been a lot more sour grapes if they didn't cut the allotment.

At the end of the day, Founders made a smart decision both as a business and a dedicated and responsible advocator of the craft beer movement. They underestimated the crowd just like the crowd underestimated the crowd and tried to respond to the situation the best they could given the circumstances. If you're upset about it, I have a feeling you probably had other intentions for that beer than just drinking it yourself.

They can't make everyone happy - but let's face it. Founders makes amazing beers and if you stop drinking them because of what you did or did not get at the release you're only hurting yourself. You'll be depriving yourself of some truly world class beers.


As I told many of you out of town guys that we met, if you ever need help getting anything from up this way just let me know and I'll do what I can. Thanks for the pours and the good times... and thanks to Founders for letting all of us descend on their property for the madness that was KBS day.

 

I absolutely enjoyed my time, and it was the first time I have ever been out to grand rapids. Met a lot of great people and shared great beer.

Personally I don't think I am going to actively seek out KBS anymore. It should be easier to just buy a 4 pack in the store next year because of the expansion. I had KBS on tap and while it was really good, it didn't blow me away as much as I remember it fresh last year from a bottle. Frangelic Mountain Brown blew my mind and it definitely topped KBS last night. I had 2-3 pints of it. It was better than BA Sumatra in my opinion.

I will be attending bottle releases again, but I will not get my hopes up about bottles anymore. I loved the bottle sharing and chatting with fellow beer geeks and it was just a great experience overall. I wasn't crushed, nor am I angry with Founders. Thousands of other beers I havent had yet, and I have plenty of PT5 in my cellar so how can I be mad? I'll be going back for Black Party next month.

 

I think only someone from Founders could comment on this but I'm sure it has to do with sales, etc. A few weeks ago when I was on the east coast for work I was chatting it up with a craft beer store owner outside of Boston for a bit. He mentioned that the cases were already sitting in the Warehouse (Last week in February) and that MA's allocation this year was about 25% less than the prior year. Perhaps they are re-thinking what they sent out of state, providing more in state, who knows.

I dont think Founders could ever truly satisfy the appetite of us rabid KBS beer geeks. However there does become a point that breweries have to re-treat from markets opened up to satisfy the home crowd (Allagash as one of the many examples). The 900 cases for next year will certainly be nice and I feel llike doing another half case allotment wouldnt be a bad idea. Perhaps that would detur some people from starting camp out there on Thursday night.

Yesterday was like a Black Friday at a Best Buy where they said, "First 300 people in line receive a free plasma TV."

 

How about that Sumantra Brown that they had on tap? That stuff was fantastic.

 

Ok, lets examine the situation. Could it have been handled better? Sure. Do I think Founders made the right choice reducing the allotment? Yes. Would I have been upset if they didn't? Not at all, and yes I would have missed out at 4:40 arrival and number 409 in line.

The general sentiment around me was the amount of people was nuts that early, but if we didn't get bottles, we still had fun. We may have been the minority, but most of the folks in my general area understood that the people camping out were perfectly following the guidelines set out by Founders. However, those of you claiming Founders lost customers by reducing allotment, fail to realize they pleased twice as many people by doing so. Those of you in the line at >300 who have resentment for those behind you, I must say it is amazingly misplaced. There was nothing any of us did to get Founders to reduce the allotment. We just benefited from it. Those who drove off following getting their allotment yelling at us, "We hope you enjoy the half of our case," are morons. I am sorry you were upset, but Founders pleased more people in that act then they pissed off, and that will always be a good business decision.

 

I think a good rule of thumb should be, if you can't afford to go home without any of the bottle release, then you probably shouldn't go.

 

I agree with all of this too.....I am just too lazy to do all of that typing!! Nice book Dan

 

They ran out Friday night when we got there, heard it was tasty though.

 

Well said..I would define Super-Loyal as someone who has some beer from Founders in their fridge at all times ..not someone who just surfaces for KBS and the Backstage Series. Beyond that, please refer to my response to last years Post KBS thread. Anyone who didnt see this coming was kidding themselves. Cheers to hoping next years additional production ends up in Michigan.