Transient Reserve Society

Yep

 

Disappointing how the limits go from a case per person of Obligatory to a single 4 pack the next day. That was a long drive to get a single 4 pk. It's not like they are surprised that people are showing up for these beers.

To make matters worse, they would not sell a growler to go of Obligatory until all the cans sold. So I can only get 4 cans, and no growler because of the limits??? What gives???

 

Yah, that fucking sucks. Sorry to hear that dude

 

Well, maybe they shouldn't have imposed limits at all so you could have driven there to get growler fills? Were they out of Exsqueeze Me? Did they have any other bottles for sale? Did they have beer for sale for on-site consumption. Were they open on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday?

 

Multiple Exsqueeze Me? cases remained when I left mid-afternoon today but no Obligatory. Both on tap though.

 

Or maybe setting the limits to 3 4pks of obligatory from the start would allow for more people to get a decent amount. I'm Not asking for a ton, just would have been nice to get my hands on a little more.

 

Was Exsqueeze Me still for sale when you went there? If so you didn't really drive there for just one 4pk, did you?

These beers have a limited shelf life. Should the owner risk not selling it out in a few days so you can get more than a 4pk? Complaining about only getting a 4pk on Sunday, the 4th day it was on sale is petty and reeks of entitlement.

 

We've moved from people complaining the first day limits of a case were to low to justify Chicagoans from going up to get them before they sold out which has the effect of actually keeping them in stock for people the next day to complain that the limits again are too low for Chicagoans to go up and get...

 

Not looking to get into a pissing match regarding limits & "Chicago entitlement" but I think Ditkastache can legitimately be disappointed in getting 1 four pack. Just look to Transients Facebook page

Wednesday - announce release with limits tbd
Thursday- announce 1 case limit on both releases & will adjust accordingly
Friday & Saturday - no posts
Sunday - announce only a few cases of Mikerphone collab left.

if I drove up today I may not expect a full case of Obligatory, but I wouldn't expect 1 four pack when no limit change was announced. and yes I would be very happy with many of the other to go bottle options to go with my 1 four pack

 

Not sure if Transient was at the Winter Beer Fest or not but if they were perhaps that would have explained any lapse in communication.

As I said, it's not like there aren't other terrific beers to purchase to go at Transient. The "I drove there for only a 4pk" sounds a bit like an exaggeration.

I think we'll just agree to disagree on this on anyway.

 

For sure & FTR Chris is usually very good about Facebook limit updates in his releases. I think communication with your customers is very important in any business. For Transient they have customers who WANT to drive 3 hours+ round-trip to support them & buy their beers. That is a smaller percentage than their MI target customers but it's still part of their audience.

on a Transient beer note, I had my last bottle of Ever Expanding Universe #2 over the weekend. Nearly 12 months aged, delicious with great Brett flavor

 

Clearly its an impossible task to please everyone, but its hard to demand things like low limits when you only have 2 kiosks running(only 1 when they had no limits) and relatively limited hours. You don't want to have the counter cluttered with people buying a couple 4 packs and bailing from open to close for the entire 4 days they are open each week, you want to sell the cans as quick as possible and get back to serving the people that want to drink in the taproom.

 

You never are going to please everyone & I don't think anyone is "demanding" anything. Honestly, my comments are meant as food for thought/constructive criticism. As Chris' popularity continues to grow there are going to be more people wanting his beer & coming to the taproom - a great problem to have. If the discussions on here help him think about the future & how he can structure his business to meet demands of his customers & himself that's great. Maybe a 3rd kiosk for to go only when he's releasing a hoppy beer in cans?

Not trying to tell him how to run his business, just give my perspective.

 

Chris was absolutely at WBF. He looked frozen when I stopped by around 230 on Saturday. At that point they were out of everything but Buckley and Obligatory, and when I walked by later, well before the event ended, their table was empty, I assume because they (deservedly) had run out of product.

 

We always appreciate feedback, and use our experiences from releases to adjust. When we started with no limits the beer always lasted 2 days (up to several weeks). When demand increased we went to a 2 case limit and down to 1 after 40 mins. Both those beers lasted 2 days. This time we started at 1 case each and by the end of the day went down to 3-4 4 packs total per person and obligatory lasted 2 days and we still have about 10 cases of exsqueeze me at the end of the week, which we thought would have been the faster of the two. We try hard to make these things fair, and to give you all the best experience at our taproom, but everyone has different availability with when they come in (and we have released cans on every day we re open so far except Sunday, which is a result of us using a mobile canner) and each has unique demands of us. We do what we can to walk a line between all that. And yes, we do want this to move fast, but do make an effort to stretch it out to two days, where you can come in at any time on the first day and are assured cans. And to answer the other question, yes, I was at winter beer fest, so our updates were less timely.

 

Thanks Chris, appreciate it. I know you have to be busting your tail & juggling 16 balls in the air.

Any updates you can share on the IL reserve society - potential timelines for a release, etc? Not sure if the issues at Aquanuat & their license impacted you & the beers you were planning for the IL release but it would be great to know where things stand. Appreciate you keeping the IL group going & looking forward to some new releases!

 

So I see an announcement for Transient's first ever BBA Stout, and it is being released Thursday. Price and limits tbd. How can price be tbd 2 days before release?

 

Avoiding a firestorm of people complaining about price. Expect to pay between $10 and $50 per bottle.

 

Its not their first BA stout.