More Brewing Co. (StB) - (2018)

It was extremely disappointing to see some drunk moron swerving down the road away from More around 1pm yesterday. Really hope that was no one here.

In other news, Swirl was tasty. I won’t be chasing down any bottles of it though.

 

That sucks...

 

These bottles will never hit distro. Maybe eventually their canned offerings will, but nothing Henna or BA.

 

So...you're a line cutter, eh?

Color-coding in groups of every several hundred wristbands could help with this without introducing massive delays (e.g., the first 200 are one color, the next 200 are another). Because it is complete and total assholery, the line-cutting is. I mean, I shouldn't just feel satisfied that I'm an ethical human being when those lacking in basic ethics profit through their actions.

 

I’m sure they will eventually distro all their beer when they get bigger...until then , no Henna for me.

 

At least you acknowledge that you are looking at it selfishly. I have multiple friends who are unable to guarantee they can be at a computer at noon (or whatever time they decided to do an on-line sale) to try and buy a ticket on-line, so this kind of release works better for them.

It all comes down to personal preference and there is no definitive "BEST" way to handle this.

 

Maybe if you wait about 5-10 years they might be big enough to distro all these beers...and maybe not even then. Many of these breweries want to keep these sorts of offerings just in house, so they can control it (and I presume get a bigger share of the $$$).

 

Ratwheels and the Luddites would be a phenomenal name for a band.

 

Ultimately they're a restaurant, so I doubt they want to open and not offer food. They could just do pours and maybe even just do pours of that day's release, but I think they'd rather get people in to eat their food and drink their other beers.

Certain days or times won't work for people under either method. But the main pro (from a consumer standpoint) for an online system is that it takes less waiting time overall. You find out really fast if you got it or not. The benefit of having a big line is that it's better for those who "want to work for our damn beer". I fall in favor of the former, just because it seems like taking up less of people's time just seems better to me.

Edit: I don't like lotteries unless they do something to incentivize commitment - need to keep people from signing up on the "off change that they might go".

 

Me? God no lol. Those who got to where they are in line got there on their own. I was speaking more from a personal perspective. Shit, when the line started moving the first time there were people passing me. To the same token, there were a group of guys who walked further back in line to stand with a friend who got there late. There's a plus & a negative side to every scenario. That's why I said we should be grateful for what we have.

 

And I can acknowledge the time argument. But the flip side of that is that the main pro of a line, from a consumer standpoint, is that you actually have control over whether or not you get bottles.

Not that this is news, but both have pros and cons.

 

amidst a sea of delusion, this might be the ultimate topper

 

Color coding would be good too. I overheard guys say that they were able to get tickets online that morning and still get a wristband to help their buddy out with another bottle. I'm sure these people all went in at the same time and were part of the herds we saw going back to get the wristbands, and then back up to the front.
It would have also been good if the ticket distribution stopped days before or at least a day before the event.

 

The way they did tickets before is an invalid argument to me. Those tickets were not a lottery and they were gone in less than a minute. I'm not a techy kind of guy, but it shouldn't come down to who has the fastest internet, newest and greatest computer, is closet to Eventbrite's server, or happens to just hit the button at the right time. Now, if they are doing a true lottery (like TG), that's great. That does seem to be fair to everybody involved, but I kind of think that they should only open that window for a very short period of time (the same thing they shouldd have done with this release) to help stop people from registering all of their relatives and neighbors. The other problem with both of those systems is that things come up in people's lives and they end up not being able to make it that day. With the line up and wait method, More knows they are selling all of those bottles in about an hour. Sure they could have been pre-paid bottles, but then More is paying CC charges to the tune of about 3% (1,200 bottles X $25= $30,000....that's $900 is CC fees) and we are paying Evenbrite fees. On top of that, they get the foot traffic to sell pours. At $6 for 3 ounces, that's around a $1,300 keg. I'm guessing based on turn out that they had at least 4 kegs each day.

At the end of the day, More is running a business and the line-up and wait is probably better for them from a business standpoint. Having helicopters flying over and getting good PR that helps bring people in on the other 360 days a year that they don't do a stout release, well that's pretty priceless from a business standpoint.

I'll say what I said 3 or 4 pages ago, line up and wait during good weather months, lottery when it's cold and dark. On top of that, you can never please everybody, so there's no need to try.

 

Just to play devil's advocate...the porta-crappers, wrist-bands, and employee time to service 1,000+ people didn't just magically appear free of charge.

Though, like you said, in the twisted FOMO obsessed world of craft beer the line makes good sense for building hype and publicity.

 

True, but some of those costs would be incurred regardless of the type of release. I'd also imagine they had to pay the village for their support of the local PD. Again, would probably have happened under any release. Heck, there apparently were a ton of cops there on Thursday night before any line formed.

 

I’m sure the village is happy to support a local business that brings in people from all over the state/country/Midwest. Sure, it’s alcohol, so I’m sure there’s some extra precautions, but look at 3 Floyd’s.

Munster, Indiana is on the map for many people solely because of the brewery, and the village is happy to help them change laws and ordinances because of the amount of notoriety it’s brought to the area.

Sure, More is nowhere close to that, but this is year 1.

 

Again, I disagree and I'm not alone. Definitely understand the other side, but to me the sign up method is perfectly fair. I'd rather have the randomness of eventbrite and save all of us a bunch of time, then the "work for your beer" mentality. That's my general perspective.

Toppling Goliath had something like 100+ of unclaimed winners in their MD lottery because if you thought there was even a tiny chance you might want to go, there was no reason not to sign up.

 

Both the on-line sales and line up method are "perfectly fair".

It all comes down to preference. There isn't one right answer that is more fair than others. For every person that prefers on-line sales, there is someone who prefers the line up.

 

Maybe in the days of dial-up that stuff would have mattered? 95+% of people buying beer tickets have the same set-up more or less these days. Yes, it comes down to luck but that's the point of online sales. Everyone has the same chance.

Some folks seen to have the 'you gotta earn it & be worthy of it' approach so they'll want the lines for all releases. What better way to show that than lining up in the winter? And loopers can stay warm by, well, looping.