Sixpoint March Release: Power Ballad and V Righteous

Holy moly! Whoever is running product for you is killing it. Turning the beer release into a real event (and not a waiting in line for hours while sharing beers, who’s got the time for that) with all the relevant info on the app. Nice.

 

Yes, the team thought that these NZ hops reached their full expression at a higher potency. Looking forward to seeing what you think of the new formulation.

Its an awesome crew of people to work with, and we were just chatting the other day on how we feel we are barely scratching the surface on the potential of what we can achieve with this to make the customer experience amazing. In a cool sort of way the product pipeline on the tech is just as robust (and complimentary) to the formulations themselves.

 

@Sixpoint , is it possible to stop by and buy a crowler or 2 without having been able to get pre-sale cans? Love Nelson, need to try the revamped Hootie.

 

When I found out about Sixpoint doing limited releases, I was immediately stoked. I've always loved Sixpoint's beers and branding. Now, they're using tech & taking the consumers requests (e.g. people sick of lines + mules, breweries not catering to customers, etc.) and are about to flip the industry on it's head. Convenience is king and this app has it all.


l'm sad I didn't bite the bullet on this Saturday's drop because I'm super interested to try these beers. Next time, I think I'll be down.


Hopefully, this version of the app has push notifications cause I think that would be helpful to know once a new release is about to drop + when it's on sale (not sure if this already exists but I never received a notification).


Another thing worth considering, and I don't know if I speak for a minority here, but other breweries in the area will drop 4 different beers at a time. This is awesome because it makes my trip to Brooklyn worth it but sometimes, I don't want a 4-pack of each (24 beers) nor do I have the fridge space or the $$$. I like how Tree House still sells per can and gives you that option. Sometimes you just would like to try and experience all of the great offerings without breaking the bank.


All in all, it sounds like Sixpoint is doing some awesome shit and I'm bummed I missed this release. Next time. Cheers!

 

I would say you should just go on the app and buy one of the $3 totes. This will generate a QR code/receipt for you and will guarantee your entry. Plus you will have a nice bag to carry your haul home with you. :-)

This version of the app does indeed have push notifications, but you must enable it just as you would with any other app. This can be done under the settings function on your phone. If that still does not work, please send us a message and we'll work through the issues with you.

Thank you for the suggestion for the individual can allotments...we are exploring this feature in a future release, but its not what you think....there will be a single-serving option, but it is going to be for ultra-rare/specialty items....stay tuned

cheers

 

@Sixpoint I have a friend in town on Saturday, is it alright to bring them to the release party?

 

Anyone looking to buy something at the release, of course buy some beer, but if there are any more of the Sixpoint Tekus on-sale at release, buy one of them, good looking glass, great shape to drink out of.

 

Yes, that won't be a problem.

 

If you are hanging out, find us, @frozyn , @EnthusedAboutBeer and others will be there, Shane can point you in our direction. We will be there probably at around 12:30 and we usually end up going the distance. Same goes for anyone else who wants to say hello and hang out.

 

@jrnyc sounds great! Ill try and find you guys.

 

Looking forward to Saturday.

See you guys there! Glad I could finally make another one of these. Beers sound excellent. I really dug what some other breweries have done with Idaho 7, so psyched to see how Power Ballad and Hootie turn out. Not to mention the return of Ryetous in it's new gussied up formulation.

Also, what are the odds two neighbor breweries drop strawberry lactose IPAs on the same day? It'll be fun to see how they compare.

 

Going to be a great time, look forward to seeing you Kris!

 

We cannot comment on the QA/QC protocols of any other brewery you are referencing, but I'm sure if they are interested in sharing with you their QA program they will do so. The size of our brewery does not impede us in this regard, as you may have suggested, but rather its the culture and the team as led by Eric that establish them as leaders. If you would like us to expound upon that with you in excruciating detail, we can do that over a few beers.

The same can go for the comment regarding the quality of the "hazy styles" for any mid or large size brewer you are referencing...we cannot comment on those beers as we don't have access to the internal data or the customer feedback that they do. And I hope we can both agree the aggregated customer feedback and data is going to be vastly superior to any one individual's outlying opinion.

But we do have access to our data. Removing your self-admitted "personal bias and hype" you could also see that Sixpoint is already considered to be amongst the best-of-breed, and with a depth that goes far beyond one style of beer. This is all backed up by actual data (steadily increasing sales, data-driven customer feedback galvanized by positive and organic customer experiences). The quality and momentum speaks for itself; whether or not any one individual wants to accept it is purely a function of their own confirmation bias. That doesn't mean that there isn't room for improvement or ways to make the experience and/or formulations even better - there clearly is. And that's a huge part of our ongoing motivation. But the point is if you look at where we already are + the existing trend, you can clearly extrapolate where this is going.

Don't forget that when we announced the app & our small batch program over half a year ago, we stated that craft beer had become a parody of itself. We said the app represented the future of craft - and "lining up" represented the past. Of course, the trolls were out in full force at the time, but only six months later, all of the trolls have vanished and/or gone into hiding.

We have a lot more predictions and proclamations for 2018 and beyond, but let's start with this simple premise: Back in 2011-2012, the internet buzzword was "YOLO." You only live once, right? This hashtag got appended on millions of posts and hit a feverish pitch of ridiculous stunts, thus ending its short-lived fame. In 2017-2018, YOLO has been replaced with FOMO. But FOMO will prove to implode just as hard as YOLO did, and its already happening before our very eyes. The real "missing out" you have in this life is watching your life slip away from you, your family, and your friends while you wait in line for things you should be able to get within seconds.

 

Another great time at the release yesterday with the usual cast of characters. Every beer I had yesterday was super solid.

The V Righteous was exceptional. In a craft beer culture where hazy IPAs and adjunct stouts dominate, this style of beer really stands out. The beer is super smooth and very well made.

Newer version of Hootie, or the artist formerly known as Hootie-Hoo was really good. Tastes and looks like a straight-up NEIPA. Hoping to see this one in cans soon. FWIW, my rating of the 4 incarnations of this beer is 1 > 4 > 3 > 2.

Power Ballad was super crisp and clean, tastes very well made to me. Lets see where this one goes.

I had the BA Righteous, that was very good too.

Also had Mad Scientist 25, that one was very solid too, started off with very funky smell, but evened out after that.

Posse was very good, I don't have many Nelson beers these days, so a Nelson beer really hit the spot, this one is tasty and dry.

Always a great time in that courtyard, when weather gets nicer that is going to be an awesome place to hang out.

 

@xmattxyzx @HeyLady @SeanEDPBK @2Xmd @kthoag

Assuming you saw this article from last week?

Actually, jrnyc tipped me off to it, and this insight:

"Some breweries, like Other Half, have made waiting in lines an intrinsic part of their experience, while others, like Sixpoint, have taken steps to try to circumvent it. Right now, lines are a big part of the brewery experience. It’s a culture, a lifestyle. Beer fans enjoy the “line life,” if you want to say it that way. Talking to Sam [Richardson, co-owner of Other Half], they have lines because their customers want that. They’re giving their fans what they want."


Big miscalculation here. Customers do not want lines; they want the beer. Lines are neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition to an awesome brewery experience. Do not confuse correlation with causation; that's junk science, and not the path of the true mad scientist.

 

Even OH is moving away from lines via the amount of beer they're putting out. More and more of their beer is lasting past the initial line and through the next day or two.

The issue is also the quality of the beer. I bought beer through the app twice now to give it a chance (though really the second was to just indulge a co worker who recently moved to nyc and is into beer. You can tell he doesn't drink much good beer yet because he still buys a lot of Sixpoint) and am skipping a release or two because the beer was underwhelming. I waited in line for an hour or so last weekend at OH and was home by 11. I also have two of the best dipas in the country in ddh mylar and double citra daydream. Brewing beer that good is hard. Look at how many brewers struggle with the style.

Everybody has to solve their own optimization problem of accessibility vs quality. If we're only comparing Sixpoint and OH, Sixpoint's beers aren't as good, are comparably as much of a pain to get given the hike out to, and therefore represent a sub-optimal solution to my optimization problem.

Kudos for trying to shift the culture away from lines. That's definitely a good thing. You're now (at least?) the third brewery in the area to consistently pre-sale beer and likely not the last. As I and others have pointed out, online pre-sales can be even more of a headache when the beer is really in demand. One would be naive to think that the ease of acquiring this beer with a reasonable window is unrelated to OH putting out 800+ cases every weekend as well as the abundance of other local options.

 

Rob,

The article/quote was about whether or not beer customers want & appreciate having to wait in line for beer vs. securing their allotment beforehand with no wait. Instead of addressing that point, you turned it into an explanation of your personal preference in taste, which also has shown to be an outlying opinion.

The argument that its more of a headache to secure your beer beforehand with a native app vs. waiting in line with no guarantee of supply has virtually no support. They're not even in the same conversation - and we have done some extensive surveys on this, and would be happy to share with you some of the results.

 

Glad you quietly accepted the issue of the quality of your beers versus your competitors.

 

No sane person would want to wait in line for beer for the sake of just waiting in line. Other Half is not just giving people a line to wait in, they are giving the #linelifers a wait in a line plus one big illegal block party. How many of those people would wait in line for hours if they couldn't illegally consume alcohol on a public street? My guess would be not many.

And Sand City in part due to people lining up for hours at the brewery and some illegal drinking has had their tap room shut down for months. #linelife has been terrible for their business, Sand City desperately needs an app like Sixpoint has to mitigate those lines.

I am a fan of all of these breweries BTW.