Bourbon County 2017

This. I think tents caused the bigger problem. This is why the line had to condense down so much. If the line was tighter, it would have been more obvious where it went and wouldn't have went around multiple blocks. The problems came about at the points where the line crossed the roads, because the roads had to be kept open for people like dumbass Ed. Also I think no tents will deter many from coming so early that can't brave whatever elements (this year was mild....why need a damn tent) are thrown at them. Cozy tent with space heaters and air matrass almost encourages people to camp out for longer periods.

 

If you can dibbs a parking space in Chicago for a whole day, you can certainly dibbs a spot in a beer line to go talk to your buddies that got there at a different time than you did. This is a hobby for most of us, not a business. I really enjoy going to events and getting to know the people around me, if for just a few hours. When those folks are trying to sleep or not being social, you can bet I'm going to go find somebody I know as it makes the time go by a lot faster. This happened for me last Friday when a buddy was about 10 folks behind me and my brother another 10 back. I spent very little time in my spot, but my chair did the work. Thankfully, I wasn't at Binny's LP.

 

No tents, no drinking, and implementing a ticket system are great ideas.

Echoing other suggestions, I'm a believer in having a clear directive that once you're in line, you can't get out of line for any extended period of time. Read: bathroom breaks are cool; sitting in a car for 4 hours then getting back in line when tickets are being handed out is not cool. The solution here could be staffing people to watch the line through the night and being aware when people are leaving for long periods of time. Yes, it would be a crap job for those employees tasked to do this but I can't think of a better solution.

If mules know they HAVE to be standing outside in the cold for that long of time, I'd imagine many of them would not do it.

 

I'm totally against "dibbsing" parking spots, too, though. It's a stupid practice (although yes, as someone who digs out lots of parking spots in Chicago when it snows, I understand the reasoning behind it) that gets abused in unsurprising ways.

However, I'm not really against someone leaving their place in line to go to the bathroom, talk to their buddies for a few minutes, etc:

Basically, the above. We're not animals; no reason to tell a guy to fuck off if he just wants to get out of line for a few minutes. However, that's completely different than me driving to Binny's after my Thanksgiving dinner (which is within walking distance of LP), setting up a chair, sitting around for an hour or two, going home/sleeping in the car for hours, and coming back. That's totally abusive to Binny's policy allowing people to camp out.

I'd be fine with "golden" tickets that were handled out early to the first X people in line (guaranteeing a full allotment); that way, those people aren't going to get screwed when people start line-jumping when Binny's opens (I will never be one of those guys, but I don't think it's fair that a dude who got here at midnight loses out on Prop to someone who line-jumped at 8:30 am). Also, handing out tickets and saying "if you pick up your beer before 2pm, it's guaranteed" would be a nice way to cut down on line length, and allow people to relax a little about self-enforcing the line.

 

Are you there to be social or get beer? Why not just move back in line to where your friends are if being social is so important? The problem is that then all those buddies behind people in line somehow find a permanent spot when they talk to their friends towards the front later on....

The Bottles and Cans lottery where you showed up, got a ticket and then they draw numbers seems to make the most sense. You going to drive 3 hours for a random lottery shot?

 

Maybe a little of both, it's a hobby and that's part of the fun of it. Have you ever had a share? Was that not a social event centered around this hobby?

Using your argument, "it's a damn beer line", not a KOA, yet more and more tents are popping up. Hell, I even saw an ice fishing tent or whatever they're called this year. That was a first. Beer folks used to be pretty cool, but now there are more and more uptight assholes in this game. I even predicted fists flying this year at LP, but luckily that didn't seem to happen. I blame Millennials.

The answer is that the business proprietor and/or GI hands out tickets every 1/2 hour, hour, or something along those lines on events that get marketed.

So was it the two Props or the possibility of VR/Prop '14 that made it so crazy this year?

 

VR/Prop 14 had been in more abundance in years prior as vintage. It was definitely the larger allotment that gave folks from further out good enough reason to drive in and make a thing out of it. Not only 2 props, but 2 (or was it 3?) coffees, plus everything else (multi barleywine, too).

 

I would say it was driven by the Prop hype(had it at Fobab and loved it) and being able to knock out 6 different versions in one stop with multiples of prop/coffee/bw/reg. I had no interest in what vintages were there or how early it would take to get xxx vintage. I think the 6+ options of vintages made the first half of the line go so damn slow. Indecisive people himhaw'ing over their decision, mules having to confer with what vintage to get, etc. They should have just handed out vintages like they did dark lord variants this year.

 

You blame millennials for there not being a fist fight? Finally someone acknowledges my generation in a positive way.

 

You read what you wanted to read, not what was written.

 

Having someone enforce line-jumping and cutting when a line is multiple blocks long and multiple hours (days?) is simply not feasible. Unless you have an employee every 100 feet diligently looking at at a line, theres no way to tell if someone is gone for 5 min to piss or 45 to talk to friends. What if the line the bathroom is long, or hell, you have a nasty case of the shits? At point is your absence in line “not legit”?

Line jumping and cutting needs to be self enforced by the crowd. You can’t rely on staff to do that. Again, getting rid of tents would go a long way to eliminating the opportunity. It’s not Binnys job to enforce where people are at in line. It’s their job to make sure the line moves smoothly, quickly, and safely.

Drinking in line however, that’s something that needs to be enforced by some sort of staff/police.

 

I know, I was wholeheartedly joking. But seriously, the millennial's aren't the ones showing up the night of Thanksgiving with giant tents, propane heaters and portable bonfire pits.

 

still some good hunting to be had locally. Stopped by a place near O'Hare an hour ago, a place I used to go to fairy often. Had several cases of original when walking in but more importantly reserve and Northwoods, limit 1 and 2 pp respectively. BW as well but that isn't so rare from what I can tell. I left happy.

 

So whats the place?

 

How about a name of this secret place?

Sal's Beverage World in Villa Park still had some Northwoods as of last night, right before closing. It was 1 pp if anybody is hunting.

 

Any original?

 

The easy solution is Binny's employees out there handing out tickets at the ass crack of dawn. You get into line, you get a ticket. This will keep people from being able to cut the line if you can only get a ticket at the end of it. Also, this will help if you show up and aren't guaranteed an allotment. Instead of waiting until 8:45am, you can hunt elsewhere. Also I agree, no tents. Is this the perfect solution? No. Ticketed sales and pick up from the Barrel House, that's the perfect solution. But if Binny's and GI want all the media attention, they HAVE to have people outside policing the lines.

 

Yep. I was told that I could get 1 Regular + 1 Northwoods, or 1 BW + 1 Northwoods. I just went home with 1 Northwoods

 

I've hit up a lot of places locally (Chicago Lakeview), and no luck on Reserve or Prop. If anyone has a beat on some (at hopefully reasonable prices), let me know!

 

I've had all 4 myself (I think is what you maybe meant) and even though I prefer Prop 17 to 3 of the 4, with Double Rainbow being the exception, I still wouldn't trade my Cinnamon Babka bottle for Prop '17 1:1. I think they are both really good but different tasting. And I like variety,... not just one thing over and over.

With that in mind, odds of me getting Cinnamon Babka again versus Prop 17 (which I feel like I will have an opportunity another several dozen times to get on draft or trade for), why would I trade the Babka which I barely ever see (and actually haven't seen on draft at MoRE since the release)?

But that's going off topic, let's get back to trashing Binny's LP.