KBS Statement from Founders

Couldn't have said this any better!!

 

Thanks Mike for cracking some awesome beer. I was bummed that they ran out of Justin Bieber tix before my number was called but was happy they had some KBS as a consolation.

 

The Bieber tickets line was priceless.

Dude rolls up in a van and says "What are ya'll waiting for?"
With a calm and straight face the guy close to me says "Bieber tickets."
I nearly crapped my pants I was laughing so hard. Beer may have made it seem funnier at the time too.

 

Well this thread was fun.

I had a great time, tried some great brews, met some awesome people, and somehow managed to not get drunk (yay!). The Frangelic Mountain Brown on tap was simply amazing. I'm an idiot for not walking away with at least one growler. Didn't get to see this supposed donut incident, but I did get to see the leftovers when I rolled through that part of the line around noon. We tried to convince some guys around us to eat one but no one would go for it. Should have offered my half case of KBS, I guess

My only gripe is that I think the earliness of this event was ridiculous. I couldn't believe the number of people who showed up for a beer that gets distributed (albeit fairly limited). If this is the way it's going to be from here on out, you can keep your Founders release parties, and I'll just keep heading down to Jackie O's

 

I know this will be an unwelcome comment but I wish they would raise the price of KBS. This is a perfect example of what happens when you keep a price extremely lower than what the market will bear. If KBS was $15 a bottle, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Would all these people be showing up for $360 cases? Plus people wouldn't buy as much and there would be more to go around. Plus it would probably kill the aftermarket sales of KBS where people are charging double what they paid. I'm not saying KBS should be $15, I'm pulling that number out of my butt but most people can probably agree that it should be more than $4.75/bottle. Maybe with the extra profit, they could buy some more mines to expand production more.

 

KBS is good, but is it $5.00+ good?

 

Yep, Michigan is just booming with abandoned mines to store beer.

 

Or warehouse like every other brewery in America. It was a joke. The price needs to rise though. If they really want more people to be able to try it, that is the only way. And that is always the reasoning I hear that justifies them switching to half cases last second. I've gone two years in a row and haven't been able to buy a single bottle to bring home and I disagree with cutting the allotment. The people that got there early enough put in the extra effort. Demand greatly exceeds supply. Charge more and they will drop demand to more closely match supply and they'll make more to reinvest back into the company to expand supply and possibly drop prices in the future.

 

Wow after reading all these pages I am so glad my little girl had a divisional band competition this weekend preventing me from going (probably wouldn't have gone anyways since I am not a die hard KBS fan). Really cannot say I am surprised it went this badly considering what a piss poor job Founders does just dealing with distribution to the east side of their own home state on special releases I can't imagine something like this being handled any better. Glad to see all the comments on how much fun most had with the parking lot party though, that was for me one of the best times I have had since I started drinking craft while waiting on CBS this year. It is truly getting to the point for me, at least, where it is becoming more about meeting and sharing with the people then it is about the beer anymore. From all the pages I read I would have to say the allotment should not have been cut and definitely the people should have been informed that there was going to be a shortage because anything less definitely sounds like greed on the breweries part. They were almost certainly banking on the fact that those who were left in line that long even though they weren't getting any beer would at least come in and order from the taps. Tell the crowd too early and of course people are going home and they lose tap sales. Oh well we all vote with our pocketbooks and I for one never have a problem picking up other local breweries beer styles before I grab a Founders anymore (thank goodness for Short's, Dark Horse and Bell's who receive the majority of my $$). Kinda of a bummer seeing everyone bashing each other over this because it is truly all of us that make this experience great not a place like Founder's who just provides the beer.

 

Where's the pic of your haul? I want to see people get half as outraged as they would have gotten!

 

Charge more and demand will drop? Have you met many BAs? The price the market will bare is currently higher than what they charge, on that point we agree. However, they could bump the price per case by 50$ and still have the same exact shit show as Saturday.

 

Bumping up the price per case by $50 is only a bit over $2/beer. I bet if you charged $10/bottle so that case was $240 a significant number of people would drop out. I mean, I really want Beatification, but given the opportunity to get more than my allotment I'm not even sure I would. An allotment is already $90!

 

ISO: Extra allotments of Beatification FT: Straight cash homie.

 

Exactly. I love the fact that JOs dropped bottle limits. It has helped ensure that more people get bottles, and has cut down on the number of mules, from what I have seen.

Founders made a mistake by changing the rules at the last minute, but made that call with the best of intentions.


Seems like from here on out, the two sanest "systems" for hyped beer releases would be

A) online reservations, where the person who reserved the bottles must pick them up in person, and/or
B) Don't announce allocations until the actual release, when the number of bottles available can be divided by the number of folks showing up.

As long as lines & douchey behavior are rewarded, they will continue.

 

I was at the KBS release on Saturday. My wife and I ended up being the last few to get some, maybe like 5 more people behind us. When I got there I for sure thought I was on the outside looking in, and I was. Even after they handed out the tickets and they ended at 625, which was about 10 people in front of me. I stuck it out and was rewarded.

I am not going to pull the blinds over my eyes and pretend that the people in the first 300 did not have right to be upset. Sure they do. But I think after some time has passed I hope they realize it was the right thing to do. For them to claim more loyalty than someone else is absurd. This coming from the same people who it is probably their first KBS Day. I was there last year, got there at 7:30am, and was number 79. So I thought, sure more people this year, let's get there an hour early. Never did I think I would be number 630+ in line. And the line just kept growing.

All and all I had a great time. Tried some great beers, met a bunch of cool people that traveled from all over, etc. I stayed and got a couple of beers in the tap room as well, and just enjoyed myself.

The people in front doing all the complaining are the same ones that are trading it away and bringing "mules" with them that probably could care less about KBS and what it is all about. If I was one of those people I would argue that if they get beer it is their right to do what they want with it. I would agree. I would also argue that if I can convince someone else to stay outside with me for 10 hours, then that is also their right. I would agree. However, what they are missing is that this is Founder's release, their product, their day, so they also have the right to do whatever they want. And they choose to spread their insanely popular beer out to more people. For that I tip my hat to them. We are all supposed to be beer lovers and advocates, so it does surprise me that there is so much hate for them getting it into more people’s hands.

I would like to thank the people that walked by us and laughed at us for staying in line. As well as the people in front of us that left because they felt like they had no chance. No love for the people that cut and screwed some people behind us that were honest.

Also, I do not think a ticket system is the way to go. One of the things that keeps me from making more of an effort for DLD is I just can't get over that they are making me pay for the right to buy their beer. I did it for the XV Anniversary party, and just felt like I got ripped off. I really think they should say everyone line up between 9:30 and 10:30, at that time they will hand out tickets, based on how many tickets they hand out they will divide the amount of beer they have for sale by that and everyone with a ticket has the right to buy their allotment. No one would know beforehand, you take that risk. So for this year, say there were 1,000 people in line and 314 cases or 7,536 bottles, everyone would have the option to buy 7 bottles. This way there is no advantage to getting there early or waiting in line (other than sharing awesome beer with awesome

 

Don't forget most people only post about the negatives. I would say more people than not had a great time all around and enjoyed other people's company. Most places I went in line everyone was smiling and making the best of the cold weather. I'm definitely glad I went.

With how busy it was, we just hit up Hop Cat for a bit and went around GR before heading back to Founders. I didn't wanna get stabbed for allotment, so I quietly put my 9 cases in the car. More pics to come

 

Wait until I post the two cases I got coming without attending the event.

 

My son and I were no. 48 & 49, and in line at around 9:30 pm Friday. We went 2 days early to celebrate his birthday and enjoy our first ever beer release. When we arrived at founders on Thursday, we asked what to expect as far as when the line might start, and what might we do to ensure we get our two cases. We were told it was a 300 case release, 1 case per person and that the line started last year around midnight. We were told that if we were not one of the 300 on line, we had little chance of getting any, although if some people did not buy their whole case a few people farther down the line may get some. In the morning at around 10:00 am as they handed us our tickets we were told the allotment was now 12 instead of a case. Bottom line is never ever take founders at their word, or what they put on their web site. They mislead 300 people, most who love Founders beer. They tarnished their good name and that sucks!

 

How did they tarnish their good name? The line DID start about midnight last year. Things changed when over 1000 people showed up so they had to cut allotment. Everyone around us (101-109) expected the allotment to be cut. Breweries have been known to do it in the past so this isn't a new thing at all. I'm still not sure why people think this is such a big deal.

 

Because 2 people NEED 48 bottles of KBS...geesh!