Other Half Brewing December 2016

Having three cans and three bottles available at once was a recipe for god damned disaster. It slowed everything down, thus increasing the amount of time people were on line which led to people on the line doing things that they obviously shouldn't, be it of the bodily function type or otherwise.
Just the simple fact that there were 6 options led to it taking longer to tell them what you wanted when you finally got to the front (and the fact that two of the bottles had practically the same name didn't help things either). Add that to the extra time it took everyone to pack up all the stuff they bought (harder to carry cans and bottles then just cans).
If they do another large release like this (though I doubt they will).I wouldn't mind OH using a similar setup to Tree House where they hand out order slips where you write down what you want. That way you can just hand it in when you reach the front of the line. It is obviously pretty loud and chaotic when you get into the garage, and the order slip might speed up the process of having to verbally place your order, oftentimes having to repeat it.

 

I couldn't make this release due to a wedding I had to go to, but seeing what was going to be released I knew it was going to be a shitshow. Especially if people weren't prepared to haul their allotments out of the garage. And one complaint I have about their releases, which isn't a fault of OH, is when people STILL don't know what they want when they get to the counter. Like, really? You had all this time on line and you couldn't decide how much of each beer or even just what beer you want?

So, I agree with the order slips as a possibility. Not to say the crew isn't capable of fulfilling an order verbally but it has happened often where I've had to repeat myself (not really complaining about that), but it only gets annoying because I feel as though me ordering is taking time away from the people behind me. And it has happened on occasion where I've asked for say (example) 1 of X and 2 of XX and they do it the other way around because of the noise, and then having to say "No thats not what I wanted".

It hasn't happened to me but I've heard of people ordering 1 case of X and 1 case of XX and ending up with 2 cases of the same beer and not realizing it until they got home. But, that's also your responsibility as well to make sure you get what you ordered.

I think OH does a great job and since I wasn't there on saturday so I can't really comment about what happened. I just think there is always room for improvement, hopefully their expansion helps with this.

 

Is there anywhere in Manhattan that a friend of mine would be able to visit in order to get their hands on some cans to bring home for me?

I'm not picky on WHAT they bring back, I'd just like to have the opportunity to try SOMETHING from Other Half. I don't dare ask them to make the trek out of their way to the brewery, but I'm not sure how common distribution is in Manhattan.

As a secondary question, if the answer to my first one is yes then what are they likely to find on shelves?

 

distribution is verging on zero. a couple of stores get cans from time to time. And there's a couple of bars that sell to go. Most of the places I can think of are in Brooklyn, although I feel like somewhere in Manhattan may do it, although I forget name or where I read it - perhaps someone else can chime in

I'd say your friend's best bet is to go to brewery if their visit here coincides with a release (or they live here) - they'll ultimately probably spend less time and effort. They're (the releases) not typically as much of a shitshow as last weekend. Plus if you're not picky they can just roll by later in the day and there's a 99.99% chance they'll get something

 

Haymaker Bar on 29th Street will sell cans to-go. Starting at about $9 a pop and of course subject to availability.

 

Court Street Grocers in Greenwich Village might have some cans left over. It'll be cans from the past two releases but at this point most likely just Forever Ever.

 

Worst case if they can't get cans is to maybe find a spot on beermenus that has growler fills of OH? I don't know anything about growlers crossing borders or on flights, but I tried

 

I can't remember, when is the next release planned?

I like the idea of mixing online pre-sale with in person. I think there's a split in the beer scene right now between people who don't mind the lines and/or like to buy large quantities for their trouble, and people who don't want to deal with the chaos but are still super psyched about trying a couple 4 packs. I fall into the latter category for various reasons, but also understand that plenty of people enjoy the line scene and might want to take home 50 beers from a release.

I think there's a mentality sometimes that people who don't want to wait more than 30 minutes to an hour, and only want a few 4 packs or so, "don't want it enough" and hence don't deserve the beer. I've never felt like that was fair. I know people are always going to line up -- I've been there too, and NYC loves its line culture (if people aren't waiting in line, it can't be any good, right?) -- but maybe OH could adopt a system where you could buy 1-2 four packs of a given beer pre-sale, and if you wanted more you would have to line up?

Basically, I wish they would lower their limits to make it less necessary to deal with the lines -- it could end up more like Tree House, where you're guaranteed a wait but it's usually well under an hour and you can get beer most of the day. I know that creates other problems for them in terms of not being able to sell out as fast, and that many people come from far away to buy cases of beer, but right now it feels like they're catering only to those customers, and locals who want to try their beer without spending their whole morning in line get shut out. Maybe cut the limits after a certain time, or after X customers?

 

I have always thought this in general as far as lines go, but never articulated it. Well said.

 

Should also clarify that OH obviously owes me nothing and will continue to sell out of their delicious beer regardless of how to they do it, but that's my two cents!

 

The problem with this is that I imagine Other Half likes (and maybe even encourages) these huge lines -- the line insanity and trade hype is what puts them "above" all of the other very similar NYC breweries, at least in the minds and eyes of beer nerds. Other Half really did a fantastic job of marketing and relationship-building as the business grew, and as a result we've got release lines around the block and hundreds of comments per Instagram post. I think it's much less about the beer itself than people think. (This is not meant by me to disparage the owners/employees or the beer they make.)

Without all of these crazy releases and collabs, though, how are they any different from breweries like Singlecut, Finback, etc.?

 

Yeah that's a fair point. Although I guess part of what I'm suggesting is a way to shift the line from being so front loaded -- is there a way to make it so a line forms just 2 hours before release, and then they're dealing with a moderate line all day rather than line-apocalypse until everyone disappears at 1-2 pm? If more people were confident they could get beer at 1-2 pm, or even later, with only a 30 minute wait, I think more customers like myself would come to releases more often. And they would still get the hype boost of a line all day long.

 

x

This....exactly.
The reality is that they could change the process anytime they wish. Since they choose not to that leaves me with the opinion that OH owners like the hype train, while not publicly communicating it.

 

Would definitely fix things for the less committed connoisseur I agree, but would still be a pain for the local residents. Possibly less so though.

And as far as residents go this would definitely not have a positive effect. Last weekend was bad. Imagine if the max-allotment guys not only had to get in line early, but early enough to be in first X number of spots. People are already lining up soon after midnight for the purpose of getting "in and out" - would be even worse if their full allotment was at stake,

 

I witnessed the utter disaster that online tickets were for ANTEAD last year and in no way ever want OH to move to that type of system. It only works if the beer wasn't going to sell out. So ticket Forever Ever and Hop Showers if you want, but the hyped collabs are better served by silent releases on weeknights if people truly want the lines to be minimal to nonexistant.

 

I guess I under estimate the number of people that would do this -- I see how that would create a mess. My thoughts were mostly towards local buyers, not the neighbors, but I always feel for those people around these breweries. It's a miracle no one living near Tree House has been run over yet. Frankly it's hard to see how to make things better for those nearby without going to an almost purely online system or decreasing limits from the get go. These releases just get such high turnout. Even the Alchemist in Stowe has to ask people not to line up before 10am or whatever.

 

I would definitely love to see some more silent and/or weekday releases.

 

Unfortunately Other Half has almost zero incentive to change what, for them, has been a winning formula. The only thing I can see changing the situation is if there was some legal or regulatory issue (which, if things continue on their current pace, may become the case)

 

Exactly. Let's not forget that OH is selling out at full margin every release. Why would they give a cut to an online ticket company - or pass on a cost to consumers that raises the end price - if it doesn't help them sell more? They already have more demand than they can meet. This is also why they let cash people cut, even if there is a risk of selling out. Cash negates the 2-3% credit card charge. As someone else stated here, until they stop selling out every release, there is zero incentive to change behavior.

 

Not to keep citing Tree House as the model for all craft breweries (there are a thousand reasons why they're different, and being in the middle of nowhere is definitely one of them) but they cap limits at 6 cans for each beer and continue to have steady crowds all day long and always sell out. Their goal for doing that is to get their beer into the hands of as many people as possible, not just to make money hand over fist (in fact, they usually manage to do both of those things).

I'm bringing that up only to suggest that there are examples of breweries changing their policy to try to balance things out, regardless of the lack of direct financial incentive. If they wanted, OH could get rid of limits completely and sell out even faster -- they already set the 1 case limit to try to ensure that more people who want the beer can try it, maybe it would help to experiment with lowering limits now that they've gotten even more popular.

I see how the BPT fees would be a barrier, fair enough. And I can also imagine a scenario where OH didn't care if the same group of people bought cases of their beer every other week just in the interest of keeping inventory clear and moving the beer quickly. But I'd like to think that OH (like most craft breweries) is also motivated to make an excellent product that they can get into the hands of as many people as possible with as painless an experience as possible.

I don't know, maybe I'm just reacting to living in this city for too long, and how it feels like everything becomes a scene, swarmed with hordes of look-a-likes vying for a spot in the line.