Ram Brewery Side Note Releases

Another online mule lottery would be great

 

One bottle limit, silent release...it's really not that hard.

 

Tree house does this for growler fills and it's So helpful for situations like this. Hands out growler cards so you establish your spot in line. The main thing it does is that the people who don't get a growler card, know they arent getting beer and don't end up waiting in line for nothing. The second thing it does is it significantly lessens the cutting in line. Treehouse doesn't tell everybody when they're handing out growler cards, so you would have to cut at the optimal time. You'd have to guess. That is so much better than what it sounds like this release had.

Most people understand that this is a game. And they're ok playing the game. What's not cool is when people cheat the game, and people will, so it would be nice if this brewery did something that kept that from happening.

I personally wasn't there so I'm just giving my feedback. Glad there is a site like beer Advocate where I can check and see if it's worth my time to drive

 

The black lady with the blonde hair? yeah saw that too, they were directly in front of us. And then took their chairs and moved right to the front after bitching about the line.

Scumbags.

 

From my IG, since it addresses the same concerns I've seen in here. I really do appreciate the support within the community, its incredible. Cheers, Guys.

 

I find it to be pretty shortsighted to have not seen this. His response pasted above is admirable, but this is two releases in a row he's had to put out a message like that. Based on how the last couple of releases have gone from looking at this thread and how the craft beer world works, it was easy to see this coming.

Full disclosure, I was not there today.

 

A 40% increase is kind of crazy, particularly because we are into the season for big stouts. I can tell you I was there 30 minutes earlier than the last release and that put me about 200 people further down the line. It really is crazy. For Ram, I think folks need to understand that this is not their gig. Their gig is selling restaurant services. As far as adjusting bottle limits, I fully expected that to happen and I was disappointed about that. In the end, I was pleasantly surprised that it did not go that way. I've been on the short end of that stick before and it stinks. Deep down, I don't think these breweries should guarantee anything. I remember GI Clybourn guaranteeing everybody would get a bottle of Cthulhu earlier this year and that whole thing turned into a shit show. That's the lesson to be learned from this release.

YMMV, but that's how I see it from my house.

 

I hope RAM lets @shaun_the_brewer brew more beer more often. Some of these issues would be taken care of if there was a release once per week (or more often). Clearly Shaun knows how to brew the hyped beers that people want (adjunct stouts, hop bombs), but he's probably spending a lot of his brewing time working on buttface amber ale or other commercial recipes set by RAM.

 

I agree. He needs to show that he and the staff can make the appropriate adjustments. The bar has been set high for these special releases at RAM. Like it or not, brewing with Shaun is a "big gig" @Bryan71 and they have to adjust accordingly.

 

Even though it said 2 per person on Shaun's instagram a week in advance and on site, it would have been more fair had they handed out half a bottle per person so 1800 people and their mules could have gotten some. It's only fair. /s

 

Half bottle allotment?! That's completely unfair and unreasonable ! What about all the people that showed up later at 11:30AM? They deserve the beer just as much as people that showed up at 6AM! Should have been a quarter of a bottle/ person allotment.

 

They cash grabbed $13,500 today with no CC fees plus the extra business brought into the restaurant. I doubt Ram or Shaun will lose any sleep over this one. Shaun is a good dude, so don't get me wrong, but as I said before, Ram is in the Restaurant business and not the brewery/tap room business. For those of you saying they should have adjusted, remember, every release so far has had a bottle increase. I'd say they are adjusting to meet demand, just the extra demand today was very much unexpected. I'd also guess that whomever Shaun answers to does not want Ram sitting on a bunch of bottles as again, that's not their business model. Whatever though, you can't please everybody.

I blame the Cubs, after 3 days of everybody partying, their personal inventory was low and they needed a quick fix.

 

They can't adjust down to 1 bottle after saying it will be 2. I completely agree there. Sorry 9:30 person - 6 am person wins there and always will.
What they can do is help limit line cutting and MOST importantly let people who get there at 9:30 know if they will or won't get beer. It's really not that hard. Yes they maybe didn't know it would increase this much but they knew it would be big.

It's one thing to drive there and be told "go home you got here too late". It's a whole other thing to drive there, wait in line for 2 hours and then learn it's too late

 

Yep! All in all I love these releases. I had a really good time and met some great people in line! As somebody who got there at 8:20 am, I was about to leave once I saw the line wrapped around the building but took a chance and stayed. Got my 2 bottle allotment, but would have been happy if it was cut to only one bottle. The way that peeps trash the sidewalks with empty bottles probably do not deserve 2 bottles. Regardless of the allotment of the next release, I will be going back for sure if I have an opportunity.

Does anybody ever get called out for "cutting in line" ever? Or is that frowned upon?

Had a bottle last night and was worth the wait!

 

I actually was told about a group that was trying to double dip, was able to catch one of them taking off their button up shirt as if we wouldnt recognize his face and I did kick him out.

 

@shaun_the_brewer, thank you for your hard work and great beer. I think the release was great and I had a fun time. My friend and I showed up at ~7:30 A.M. (~200th in line), fully expecting the demand and the line to be longer than the previous release so we decided to come a bit earlier than initially planned (and I'm glad we did). We met some cool people who shared some awesome beers and we had a great time hanging out with them, chatting about beer all morning until the release.

I thought the way the beer release was handled was about as well as it could've been handled considering the circumstances (and big thanks for opening up the bathrooms so that people didn't have to go at random/inappropriate places). When the bottle sales started, everyone around us cleaned up their area (we were on the opposite side of the entrance to the building) and the line moved quickly. I'm sure you will continue to improve the process for sales and bottle allotments, and I look forward to your next release.

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Thanks man, that really means a lot. I promise we'"" continue to try and make it a better experience for everyone. Cheers!

 

I was disappointed with the trash left up front, we cleaned up our bottles on the Hyatt side of the building.

 

I couldn't say it any better. Thank you @shaun_the_brewer.

 

All of the hype with Shaun makes me wish for a Shaun-Mike (from TG) collaboration stout. I can't even imagine...