2016 BCBS Chicago Release (Black Friday & Beyond)

Got in at 8:30 to St Charles and was #11 in line - couple more have fallen in behind me. Honestly still not even sure I want two.

 

Strolled up to OP about 8:30 and was 7th in line. Now about 10 here...and a semi-pro tennis player. It's great!

 

Word is that STC has 20 cases. So I can only imagine what the city stores have. Hopefully it lasts for a while, but I think the bottom just fell out of the secondary for this beer. If you're buying one, you're buying it for yourself.

 

Schaumburg had maybe 15 cases.

 

About 15 or 20 people in line at Lakeview in the city when it opened. Should be plenty left for people coming in.

The fact that every Binny's hasn't been 800 people deep for this has slightly restored my faith in humanity.

 

Actually, yours is the most ridiculous thing I've heard...No one said put employees livelihoods at risk. They are there to sell to the customers, if they are playing favorites that needs to be addressed with management. If this is condoned by management it needs to be addressed at the executive level.

Give that the majority of craft beer drinkers are historically white males and that minorities and women are dramatically underrepresented, one could make the case that Binny's policy of playing favorites is discriminatory towards those groups as the beer seems to be controlled by a couple of 20 something white males who only distribute to their friends.

As I said, I opt to support the smaller craft beer places that are good for craft.

 

The Bourbon County Series is like the Sand People from Star Wars: They will soon be back and in greater numbers....


GI is doing their best to flood the market with this stuff to combat hoarders who intend to resell on the black market, traders who stock up only hoping it will be a rare item to trade, and shady stores that offer it for 2 or 3 x retail. Look at how Jewel had to bow to almost half the price to actually move the product. GI is doing a great job.

 

Thumbs up on the reference from my favorite movie.

I've gotta be honest, this is exactly the direction I'd hoped BCS would go; I know that there's more "romance" in it as a relatively scarce craft beer, but as someone who just wants to drink it, I hope we see more of this each year with GI.

 

I doubt that's their primary objective- but it's certainly an effect

 

So I'm assuming by the numbers people are putting out there in regards to lines and allotment it'd be safe to go now and still get a bottle? Anything else popping up with the Rare?

 

Strolled in at 9:05.

There were like 3 full cases remaining that I could see.

I got my box!!!!

Then, I spent the money that would've went to a rare on a 1.75L bottle of bulleit whiskey and some other stuff.

I also chatted up the beer employees and am starting to develop a relationship

 

Mokena had a case of '16 prop for the first 12 in line.

 

Nice meeting you jed!

At 9:15ish OP had just under 2 cases sitting there still. They only had Rare, per the staff. I did grab a Hammer of the Beast, which I was happy to get since CS is no longer distributed down state. They had a shelf full of BB Dosvidanya too.

Damn! I see my window of getting a '16 Prop to share with friends closing...

 

If anybody is in the area, the Bloomingdale Binny's has a lot left. My guy there told me they have around 30 cases still in the back, and he doesn't even think they will sell all of it today. There has only been a handful of people to stop there since they opened

 

Most of the time, no, I pick out my beer without being asked if I need help. And sure, i suppose people have asked before, but the answer to that is typically "no," as I don't actually need help, and wouldn't say "yes" just to start an artificial friendship for the purposes of cultivating a relationship with the beer guy such that he would hold back rare beers for me.

Also, as far as I know, the people in "dark red shirts" aren't the "beer guys," they're all the employees there, including wine department, cigars, folks at the register, etc.

 

This was sort of my point in my earlier post. I'm not going to go to a liquor store for the explicit purpose of making myself a "regular" so that I can get on lists for whalez. I'll go to the liquor store to buy beer, and if I happen to end up in a conversation with folks there, then great. I have done 80% of my beer shopping at the same store for the last 8 years, so I am friendly with the guy that manages the place. I was more commenting that given the general setup & business of Binny's, I can't imagine the number of regular trips it would take before I would somehow become a regular there. Maybe I'm just an introvert!

Similarly, I have gone to the Revolution brewpub roughly twice a month since the night it opened. I think there's maybe one person in the whole place that even recognizes my face, and nobody knows my name. I've chalked that up to the fact that it's a big, busy establishment with a whole bunch of different employees, not unlike a Binny's.

 

Well, the Binny's I frequent have a couple beer guys that love to talk about beer and are very knowledgable as well. As such I have frequently given them hard to get sought after beer on a regular basis. I have never asked for anything in return. They are always honest about when stuff is coming in and even offered info I wasn't looking for to make sure I didn't miss out on some thing "cool"....yes that has gotten me a few special bottles set aside by them for me without me asking and I am not complaining.

 

2015 rare lost its luster for me due to the sheer quantity out there

It tastes fantastic though and I'm a little happy I'll be able to buy them for the next month possibly if I decide I want more.

 

C'mon man, that should give it MORE luster! Who cares if it's not worth $80K on the black BA beer market; if you like the beer, you have a much better chance of drinking it again.

 

Calls themselves beer advocates

Doesn't talk to anyone about beer.