2016 BCBS Chicago Release (Black Friday & Beyond)

Seems like everywhere I want in NWI they'd received like half of their order. The only places I was able to score any were places I was on a list and even then it was limit 1. Maybe more will filter in throughout the week.

 

I stopped at the Lincoln Square Jewel about 11 and they had a few cases out on the floor - limit 6 pp and everyone in the service counter checkout lines had some so it was going fast. Got rang up by what had to be the same lady and she had already grabbed 4 and went to get 2 more while I was there and was talking about giving it to relatives for Christmas so maybe not a totally bogus story.

 

Here's the real story, kudos to you good sir!

 

After the easiest release ever at bitter pops and a $9 pint pour, headed to GI Fulton where they had 15, 16 reg. Coffee, prop and barleywine. Coffee by far was the worst of the bunch imo. BP walked in at 11:40 grabbed 2 tickets. Went to the counter at noon paid and that was that. Maybe a dozen people there tops

 

My line-up preference this year:

Regular > Coffee > BW > Prop ... That Prop was so smokey and peppery, it isn't quite something I like. I did get some chocolate fudge at the end, but not enough to cut through the smokiness. Definitely didn't get any maple. But I held on to one to see what it's going to be like down the line.

 

Anyone know (or remember from last year) - does Whole Foods (the ones that have bars, anyway) tap the lineup to coincide with their release this Friday?

I seem to remember kicking myself later for not taking that Friday off an easily getting to try all the variants, even if I couldn't get any bottles. I was laughing at the idea of being a day-drinking barfly in a well-lit, ultra-clean Whole Foods.

 

Good chance red star bar at the flagship in LP will do something.

 

They may also just do the main bar downstairs (which is the one I've had BCS at), but if they do it in the Red Star Bar in LP, that's actually the exact opposite of "well-lit." It's a pretty chill low-lit place.

 

Got there a little after 5 a.m. and was #385. Thought it was a well-run event. The breakfast burritos were top notch.

 

One thing I dislike is all the gloating you get from people about their scores. Usually it goes something like: "LOL at you morons waiting in the cold, I slept in, had a hot breakfast, had sex with my hot wife like 5 times, then causally strolled into my local spot and picked up 10 cases of regs"

Or "My local shop held one of each variant for me, and regular is so easy to find, I can stroll in to any number of places and pick up a case".

Now here's the thing. Everyone's experience and "luck" is different. And every year things change.

It used to be that South Loop and Grand Binny's had lines almost as long as Lincoln Park, but then after last year, it seemed those Binny's were screwed on allotments and with stories of people showing up at 11am and getting a full allotment and people going through line 5 times at Lincoln Park made people abandon those spots. This year Grand Binny's was a great option, with a short line and full allotment. As a result Lincoln Park was much busier, and ran out of allotment tickets just after 9am, arrive much after that and you were left with nothing. Meanwhile many suburban locations which arriving by 7am would have screwed you out of variants last year, were less busy this year and actually a good option.

In years past I have known several people who scored full cases of Prop, Backyard, Vanilla Rye, Coffee etc... from small mom & pops who didn't realize what they had and/or sold it early. Or in cases where the liquor store owner decided to keep it all for himself and just sell the full case to a buddy. Not everyone gets that lucky, and if you did great, but it isn't realistic to mock everyone else who didn't stumble upon that. It seems mom & pops got screwed out of variants more recently since too many of them broke the street date or decided to sell them for insane markup.

I have made good relationships with store owners, but that doesn't always guarantee bottles either. In 2014 I was on a list which "guaranteed" me one of every variant from a local spot I had supported for years. Then, by surprise they got screwed by the distributor and received no variants.

I recall being able to buy cases at Costco, Mariano's, Jewel, etc.. until these stores caught on and started imposing limits or doing actual release events.

Yes, there are always stores which seem to have variants late in the day, even at a fair price. Why these stores seemingly go un-noticed, I'm not sure, but it happens, and the people who score variants at 6pm after work on Friday like to act like "anyone" could have done that. When for probably 95% of people, there are no local places that have variants on the shelf at 6pm.

Yes, regular does seem easy to come by for the most part. I recall in years past just seeing stacks of regular limit 1 case per person at multiple places. But for example last year, I never once went into a place that had regular left after Black Friday... Last year I checked several places for regular and they had all sold out by 10am. This year I randomly stopped into a place at 4pm and they had stacks of regular...

My point is there is no guarantee it will be easy to find for someone in their local area. Some people's local shops get zero variants so they can't have a guy hold them. Some people's local shops sell it via lottery or to people in line instead of holding it. Every shop is different and we don't all live next door to one that operates like yours.

BCBS isn't that rare, but tons of people try to buy it. Be happy with what you got, and don't gloat over others who weren't so lucky.

 

Agreed with this post 100%. People act like everyone who lines up for BCS wants to be there first thing in the morning (or late at night, depending); they do it because they don't want to take the chance that they'll miss out on the beer. As someone who didn't stand in line last year, and as a result never got a bottle of Prop '15 or Rare (still haven't), I feel their pain.

Everybody just be happy with what you got, and drink your damn beer!

 

If anyone is still looking for regular. I was able to find a good amount at Jewel off Broadway and Addison. Just have to ask customer service for help in the beer department. They were doing a limit of 6 per person. Not sure how much is left, but worth a quick call if you want some. Cheers!

 

What it really boils down to is that some people simple don't know what anecdotal evidence means.

 

Red star bar is gone. Done. Closed up.

 

I think that is pretty recent, no?

 

No kidding? That's a shame. Best thing WF had going for it! Much cooler to drink in your own bar space than to sit in the middle of a grocery store. Oh well.

 

Stopped at my local Binny's just now to pick up some Juice Pants - my guy there stopped to tell me he's got one more of these in the back. Thank you sir!

 

If anyone is in the mood to get ***** or just really hard up for some regular, galleria market at Orleans and superior has about six cases....29.99 per bottle