J Wakefield Releases

Thought it was just the credit thing that was slowing the line myself, but with all the options to buy (cans, multiple bottles @ 3 bottles per) I think that might have only been a minor part of it.

On a related note, did anyone scope out the Wakefield tap takeover at Tap 42 in Coral Gables going on tonight?

Looks like he's literally got every tap covered.

 

The line speed (or lack thereof) is one of the reasons why i don't mind waking & showing up extra early for these releases. I was in my car and on my way home by 12:10.

I'm also really glad that Jonathon brings out the bottles that are being released so everyone can sample them...I ended up altering what I was getting based on those samples (decided against red label bottles, got an extra blue, Dreamsicle, & forbidden forest).

This, for sure. I've never had so much fun at one of these shares as I did on Saturday.

 

What time did you get there to be able to leave by 12:10pm? I got off my uber at 11:45am, saw the line stretch past 200 people and figured I was outta luck so just went into the taproom and had as much as I could on tap. Walked around Wynwood for an hour after and came back hoping the line would die down and I could get some leftovers but I used the guy with the white dog as a benchmark and saw he barely moved. For an hour! Gave up and went to Kush for lunch. I was too optimistic on the line speeds given how they move up here in NY.

 

My guess is if someone was out by 12:10, they arrived at the brewery before 7:30AM.

The options for buying that day were:

Bottles:
Orange Dreamsicle - 3 per person
Forbidden Forest - 3 per person
Aye Que Rico blue - 3 per person
Aye Que Rico red - 3 per person

Cans:
That’s my Jam 4 pack (no limit)
Rock Box 4 pack (no limit)

Fair bit of $$ if you wanted to get everything, so I think a fair bit of time was spent at the purchase counter by folks deciding exactly what they wanted to buy.

Not sure what else they could have done to speed things up, other than figuring out a way to work through the line and letting people buy tickets for the beer they wanted, effectively splitting up the lengthy purchase process and the actual beer pickup. This would also allow them to inform multiple groups of people what the allotments were at the same time, as opposed to the one-on-one discussions they otherwise have at purchase time.

I'm sure that would have it's own pitfalls as well -- 'derp i lost my tickets' or 'I will just go home so can I just come get all my beer tomorrow' which aren't fun for the brewery to deal with.

Killer event last night at Tap 42. For those who didn't make it, I don't think they kicked all 42 kegs in one night, and should have JW taps rotating for a week or two

 

i got there at 12:15ish on Saturday. while it wasn't my first time visiting the brewery, it was my first time witnessing a release at JWB and two things stood out to me. first was the size of the line. i know it wasn't as large at for the DFPF release, but still impressive for what is a small brewery operation releasing beers no one has ever tried before (besides Orange Dreamsicle). the other thing that stood out to me was how empty the taproom was. we strolled in and grabbed the empty table by the ATM. at one point when some more friends showed up we even took over the sole large table in the taproom. made the experience easy and enjoyable, and was able to try a bunch of the beers released that day.

 

Wait... beer is for drinking? I thought it was just to be traded for whalez?!

 

I agree with the above. I thought it was a very healthy line for the beers released. I showed up earlier than I did for DFPF and Madness, and still was not close enough to the door for my liking. Although waiting sucks period , the sooner u show the sooner u go home.

The beer share was ridiculous this time. Had Cantillon Kriek, two Casey sours, All of the lights, treehouse, hill farmstead, etc

 

lol you must've just taken over my table because I left the taproom around 12:15

 

My take on why the tap room wasn't very populated is that folks are pretty spent after getting up as early as 4AM and then sharing bottles for 4-5 hours with the Florida sun beating down the majority of the time.

I personally bought pours of the three new beers they had on draft to share with friends when we were in line, and couldn't resist getting a pour of One Trick after I got my bottles

 

Anyone know if there are cans available at the brewery still? I saw bottles sold out but didn't see anything about cans. Wanted to grab a 4 pack or 2 before I fly out of town.

 

Yeah you have to be really early.

Basically 730 and after is when the line blows up

 

Dunno if we shared. But if we did... Cheers

 

Short answer: way too goddamned early for any sane, rational person to be lining up for beer. Or, to put it another way, when i got to the brewery, the Ultra partiers were licking the last bit of freeze out their baggies and heading home.

Pre-printed slips with each beer name, max allotments, and a blank space for each person to write in how many of each they wanted, ala 100 Montaditos? That might alleviate some of that wait time. Also, they ought to announce a set time that they pass out the baseball cards just so no one misses out of there taking a leak or talking with friends in another part of the line.

We did, but I didn't realize until i got home and my gf told me who you were (she follows you on insta). I'm the dude who was wearing the flamingo print Vans

 

What pack/bottles does Wakefield normally have for sale at the brewery?

 

I believe what's in the cooler depends on what they have recently brewed for release, don't think they have anything on a year round release to sell at the brewery. Maybe the Hefeweizen?

 

Does anyone know what's currently in the cooler?

 

look them up on untappd, they're really good about keeping that updated

 

I was in the taproom yesterday, they had Rock Box & That's My Jam 4 packs in the cooler

 

OH snap

you guys saved me with the tasting cup way back at my first JWB release

 

their IG updated the other day what was left