J Wakefield Releases

Outside of trolling/laughing that people will wait 10 hours and sweat butts off in the bad heat for his beers, is there any other reason why the line moves slow?

 

What happened? They issued an apology on Instagram, got a few comments then shut them off.

 

Sounds like early sell out combined with line cutters.

 

So a normal release then

 

So we arrived 4am, no chance at Dragons lol...buddy of mine arrived at midnite, still missed out on the set because of line cutters. No official numbers/cards/wristbands handed out. Two ambulances called for heat exhaustion patients. Highlight of the 12 hour day release was them slowing the line down even more at 130p so the DJ could "raffle" of a chance to sell more bottles.

His worst release to date...not sure he cares to fix it...it's quite easy JW...hand out wristbands with numbers starting at 7a, 8a, 9a and then sell the bottles in sequence it's not that hard. Also maybe instead of having 5-6 bartenders why not close the tap room till the line is done and use the extra staff to hand out bottles and take payment? Oh right cause you will lose money in sales.

 

Reading some of the posts from Wakefield....apparently, wristbands are the move for next release.

Will it be done as you outlined? Who really knows. Feel like if people are lining up overnight then last workers to close up shop should hand out bands at that point when they leave....then in staggered times as you mentioned

From comments here and there on social media seems line cutting was even worse than previous releases. And it seems...some of the cutters were locals as well as randoms.

Also seems that they handed out numbered cards but didn't seem to check them as people were walking up to get bottles. Obv that didn't help the situation.

 

Or, just go to your local brewery and enjoy your local offerings. By now just about every place in America has a plethora of homegrown breweries, some horrible, some ok, and some just damn amazing, yet unsung and unhyped. It’s not too terribly difficult to find your local great place. Go there, meet some new people, and support your local economy. Or line up overnight and spend the day in extreme heat. For beer. That you can drink elsewhere. Maybe not chock full of fruit juice. But still good, if not great.

 

Wow, hot take. Clearly everyone in this thread appreciates how amazing J Wakefield is and doesn't mind the line hype so I doubt your snark is going to change anyone's mind.

Or, y'know maybe like most people they do BOTH. Line up for J Wake one day and support other local breweries elsewhere on other days. It's not that hard.

 

For many in this thread...it is their local brewery. Haha

 

I got in line at 4:30am. Got chance to buy bottles at 2:40pm. 3 of 7 bottles were still available. A lot of people behind us (arrived before 6am), waiting until 3pm to buy and NOTHING was left. JW didn't drop the 3pp limit on the 3 bottles remaining to guarantee everyone in line would at least get a couple bottles.

Sad

 

We arrived at 9:30pm and were 44-46 in line. We had no issues at all and didn't even notice people line cutting but that doesn't mean it didn't occur. I just couldn't believe they didn't have boxes already made up with the full allotment, that is just piss poor planning. I also got 6 bottles of madness and no cuvee, so I lost $15 on that but IMO Madness >>>>> Cuvee, so i'm cool with it.

 

My god that is crazy.

Get any Zzzzs? I can't imagine.

I slept in for a couple of the AC releases during TBBW and was surprised to not miss out on any bottles all week. No re-lines, but no care.

 

I closed my eyes for probably 1 hour, maybe a little more. Would have probably slept more if there wasn't a guy sleeping in his vehicle with the exhaust pointed directly at us. I couldn't take it anymore so I started to rock his car (gently) until he took a hint and turn off his engine, lol.

 

So 9:30pm and bottles in hand when? Was there at least a good share going on?

 

They started selling a little before 11, maybe 10:40 and we were out of there by 11:30. I expected the share to me a little more epic but I'm not complaining. I loved that Wakefield had Southern Grist on tap Friday night, had some great pours

 

So what you are telling me is that after waiting over 12 hours before open they still took over an hour to move the line through the first 50 or so people? Were you given a number card like they claimed or anything to expedite the process?

 

One cashier + 7 different bottle release (with different limits) = 1-2 mins/ per transaction.

I was around #200 in line and it took 4 hours (240 mins) to get through line once it started.

 

Yea, it took forever for that line to move, just poor planning by not having full allotments already prepared.
There was a girl, not associated with Wakefiled, who wrote #'s on peoples hands as they arrived in the line Friday night and Saturday morning.

Wakefiled passed out baseball cards securing your spot in line sometime Saturday morning. Our #'s matched exactly the #'s that the girl wrote on our hands. I'm not even sure they looked at the cards once we arrived at the table to purchase bottles though

 

Cool thanks for the info, I know i"m just a rando from Philly haha but work might have me heading down to Miami every now and then so just trying to get an up to date look on the scene.

 

I'm a rando from northern Cali but I used to get the occasional J wake beer up in NYC back when I lived there. I'm hoping to get VIP for Wakefest next year and flying out with some buddies so i'm keeping an eye on this thread