Introducing Jester King 2016 SPON — Méthode Gueuze

Anyone in line yet?

 

About 350 now.

 

Way more than that - I'm in the Ceres parking lot

 

Yea it grew pretty quickly.

 

Not sure what's worse - waiting in line with a crying/screaming kid or listening to an old guy pontificate about everything he knows about beer just to hear himself talk. I need a beer!

 

Definitely missing the beer wheelbarrow this time around

 

This line really is not moving fast. The guy said it would be 30 to 45 minutes and we are already over 90. I've got to pee and need a beer.

 

I hear ya bro - what makes it worse is that I can see the pisser from here. Almost there, almost there...

 

I'm like 15 people from the bottle tent. Just need to hold on...

 

I think it would have gone a bit quicker if they hadn't bothered separating out the different batches. I can't really tell any difference.

 

I tasted 1/2/4.

I though 1 & 2 were similar. 4 was fairly different. Might change over time.

In varying lines I waited in, I heard 4 was favorite, and I heard it was least favorite. Small sample size, I know.

I think utiluzing the cash line better would have helped (me at least, I always bring cash)

 

I thought JK had mastered releases with the last few fruited sour release, but this was a huge step backwards. I've seen them push thru a 500 person line at opening in less than an hour.

For whatever reason, the line was moving much slower today. A friend of mine counted 105 people in front of him and set a timer, took him 30 minutes to get thru line. That's 200 ppl an hour.

 

I didn't think the wait for SPON bottles was too bad. Thoroughly enjoyed the release today with one exception: The wait for other bottles was horrendous. No more than 25-30 people in that line, and it easily took 45 min.

 

I got in line at 3:15. I went straight from Spon line to the bottle line, and was walking the bottles to my car at 6:45.

Bit rough, but enjoyed the pours and the new peeps I met, and looking forward to Sunday.

 

I think a second tent for big releases like this is in order, but I had a great experience yesterday (as always). And as far as the beer goes...out of the park. I tasted nuances between the blends, and none were necessarily better than the other, but definitely different. All were amazing.

See y'all tomorrow and Sunday.

 

@GreatStoutman I hear you, but most people come with a friend or significant other and that person is fetching pours from the tasting room or outdoor station and bringing them back to the line.

Btw, at this point we have to meet up at JK some time, seems were there at the same time a lot, but then again I'm always there lol

Also, just have to add, the most important thing here... the beer is excellent. I tried all 4 blends and #2 really stood out to me. I did a little of my own blending in line too, which was fun

 

I'd argue, the "for some reason the lines were slower last night", is due to people having to choose two bottles between the four blends when there wasn't really a distinction going into that decision. I think most people don't struggle with a decision, when they show up to buy Atrial, MvB, etc. In this case, if they were choosing between "regular" Spon or the various fruit editions, people would be able to make that decision quicker.

 

I just posted this on our social media:

2016 SPON — Méthode Gueuze Update

Going to Saturday, we have the following bottle count:

750ml = 3,800 bottles (limit 1)
375ml = 3,800 bottles (limit 1)

We will have SPON — Méthode Gueuze available by the glass all weekend. We're excited to have The Brewer's Table at Jester King today serving free pig tongue barbacoa tacos with wort pickles, persimmon hot sauce, and avocado hop cream!

 

I agree. The slowdown was primarily due to people being allowed to choose, plus staff then having to go and find the bottles the customer requested. For a release like Atrial, there's one product. For this release , customers are allowed to choose 2 out of 8. That's alot of different conbinations. There's gotta be a way to speed the line up. They've served more than 1000 people on a Friday night with no line before. Kinda sad that there was still a 45 minute line at 8pm last night.

 

Free pig tongue tacos from the Brewers Table make everything good. Outstanding offering and will definitely visit their brick and mortar when they open. Thanks, JK and Brewers Table.