Toppling Goliath Releases and Updates

Maybe not, but I bet there are a lot of people like myself who lost out on the lottery and didn't want to make the trip to a smaller sized town and fight with 2000+ beer people for 5 ounce pours of Mornin' delight, and drive back same day without the chance of any bottles to go. If they had announced it in advance I'd have made the trip up to get bottles. I'd argue giving the announcement same day probably just got more bottles in to the hands of the people who already won the lottery, and less in the hands of those who wanted to but didn't. I mean, TG is going to TG but it's frustrating

 

Probably helped get bottles in the hands of local folks that lost out on the lottery.

 

I think you're both correct. They intentionally waited to announce the first come first serve sale to avoid having more people descend on the town. I get it but still kinda bummed. I'm sure it did allow some locals, and folks that made the trip without winning, to get an allotment but I would guess that at least half the people that were able to buy a box already had one from the lotto, maybe that's too pessimistic. Releasing the remainder silently in the next week or two would have made sure they almost exclusively went to locals. But then they're just sitting on a few pallets of ready to go packages. Probably better in their mind to get rid of them right then and there.

 

Possibly both true. I know I recognized plenty of people who already had bottles in pictures I saw of the line, so I'm certain it helped those who already had bottles purchase more.

 

Seems to me If they wanted locals to have it they'd do no notice (or short notice) first come first serve release, not bring in 1600 winners from all over the world to town for a day of drinking and then do first come first serve with the left overs. I'm sure locals who went up for the party got some, but I'd still guess that the lottery winners outnumbered the non-winners there to drink taps only in Decorah, and got the lions share of the left overs.

 

Nope. Releasing silently a few days after MD day like last year accomplished that goal. This decision wasn't that.

 

They could have just said lottery winners cannot purchase again and check ID's. Doesn't take that long to search a name on a spreadsheet.

 

I guess part of my frustration as a "local" is how hard TG makes it to try their rare beer. They'll let us have $12 IPA bombers all day long (which often have weeks of age on them by the time they hit the shelves), but for the rare stuff you need to win a lottery, where you have the same chance of winning as someone from TX, CA, Belgium etc, or you need to go to town on the same day these 1600 winners are there and fight the crowds for five ounce pours, or you need to buy festival tickets to some out of state event for $80+ and stand in line for a few ounce sample, that is if the decided to bring the rare stuff to that festival. Why not just put MD or Coffee assassin on tap at the brewery a few random days with a day or two notice so the people who actually buy your non-rare product have a chance to try your rare beer too? Or have bottles available on site for non-secondary prices?

 

That would have been nice to have spread around a bit more. I think logistically though, it would have added a descent amount more of time for everyone in the line.

 

Because that is how Clark likes doing it. I think he likes the "big party" amopshere and until that changes, he will probably continue doing that. Also thinking about the about the ecomical affect for Decorah, doing this a couple times a year probably is a huge boon for a lot of businesses in town as well.

Maybe it has changed recently, but I do believe they still do small quiet releases for the locals and he still brings these beers to the taproom to share. If they do, there is something at least.

 

TG could use another round of no-growler Term Oil kegs that last for months.

 

Yes agree with you. I was one of those who won lottery and stood a public line. Was probably >150 back and it took over an hour to get through the line, so yes I think it would of just added time.

Also, those gift sets seem like they took up an incredible amount of space. Maybe 50/pallet So I suspect TG just need to clear inventory. I'm sure they still have plenty left for silent releases for the local crowd.

 

Lot of butt hurt going around. I went to the Rubaiyat Friday, had a great time, decided to stick around to see what happened Saturday, and saw the tweet. Got in line, waited 3 hours in the blazing sun and myself and my wife got a set. Show up and take your chances is all I'm saying. Had coffee assassin and MD Friday night, so I would have went home happy either way. You can't give yourself a chance if you don't show up, and if they would have announced a public release at 4:30 days in advance it would have been a complete shit show, which wouldn't have been good for anyone. I thought it was all very well executed and appreciated the opportunity to get a set bc I showed up.

 

Of course you did. The point you're missing is that these other folks have likely been to TG many, many, many more times than you. They've "showed up" plenty and not just for hype days. Might have even planned on showing up for the extras this week. You hunted whales and scored. You're not the first person to leave Iowa with TG whales and think TG nailed it.

The one thing I like about how they released extras is that Pulpit fans (more regional and local) got a chance. Sure the out of state whale hunters doubled up, but at least the fans willing to attend the Anniversary party that TG scheduled over (to the tune of 2,000 beer nerds) got a bonus.

 

Actually I'm at TG probably once a month avg for the last 2-3 years, and I live 4 hours away. I've spent thousands of dollars there. So whale hunting was not the case for me. I went for the Rubaiyat event and did not expect any MD.

 

Question...why is it always "butt hurt" when people are just trying to voice an honest opinion!? No one here today is complaining or coming across with some sort of unwarranted sense of entitlement. It's a message board and people have their humble opinions and want to discuss. Sorry to pick one string of words from your otherwise genuniely-opinionated post but I just don't get it when we break out the choice terms about other people's issues/ideas/opinions.

 

I guess a more blunt term would be bitterness, whining, etc. Were all adults, it's just beer. These breweries are doing their best to accommodate the masses. Try again next year, or show up to releases when you don't win lottery's and hope for the best.

 

The opinion being voiced is:

"why didn't TG announce that extras would be sold first-come-first-serve in advance so I could have planned to drive to Decorah and gotten some MD"

Because every other beer geek between Chicago and Minneapolis would have been thinking the same thing. There's no way they were giving advance notice, and it's hard to take the above opinion/complaint as anything other than sour grapes.

Also - I wonder if they had a lot fewer people show up than they expected. So it may have been something they were considering but hadn't decided until day-of.

 

But wait for people to complain next year when they showed up without winning lottery and then TG doesn't sell leftovers to public......