Transient Artisan Ales (2019)

It was about 12:40
Members kept switching over to the To-Go line the closer it got to noon

 

That's just dumb.

 

Got extra bottles out of it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

This might have been me. I was wandering around with it and kept putting the cap back on to reduce spillage. Unfortunately, I was a jackass and tried to pour with the cap still on 3 separate times. I swear this wasn't alcohol related.

 

If you were pouring it for people in the tent towards the yumyum station between 6pm and 8pm then yeah, that was probably you who gave me some. If that was you, I thank you kindly because it was delicious and also because you approached us after I had run out of beer to give you in return.

 

If it wasn't @Zoomslowik sounds like it could have been me, regardless, agreed it is a top tier beer. Looking forward to opening this years soon. Was only able to do 1 pour at the release before I left, Reserve #2 and that was outstanding.

 

Not me then, I hit the wall long before 6.

 

Yeah, the draft only line was a bit of a slow mover. I tried to get it going faster, but apparently that only sped it up marginally. We have never had a draft only line like that before, so we thought adding a couple extra draft locations would limit congestion in the taproom and get people in-house beer easier/faster, but apparently it still needs to be tweaked and adjusted. Oh, and I guess food trucks like to just not show up on time... Who knew...

As for all those that came out and waited patiently for your beer, we thank you sincerely. Last year the entire day we had 500 people show up to purchase bottles of Buckley (not counting guests who didn't purchase bottles), and this year we had 800 in line before doors open, and got through them by roughly 4:30. That means we were doing nearly 1 person per register per minute, which is an incredible feat for our staff to enter each order card, have the guest pay and get change/receipt sent/sign and get their beer. I know many of you think the line didn't move fast, but that is absolutely not true. It may not seem like it, but when the line is 6 people wide and going around the block then bottle necking down to two single file lines entering the building, it just seems that way, but that doesn't reflect how fast they were actually moving through people, and I could not be more proud of their hard work.

In total we had nearly twice as many people, for only about 30% more product. Each year we adjust for our expectations, but this year grew beyond that. We will continue to adjust and try to make Buckley day better and better, and we already have some really special barrels filled for the future, and many for Junie day in August as well (Parker Whiskey Barrels for you whiskey nerds...).

To those that did brave the draft only line, we will also be doing a smaller release of one of the draft only beers, which we will let everyone vote on in the coming months via Facebook. Please vote! There might also be something special at that release as well, but you'll just have to wait for that...

Oh, and we raised over $10k for the SW MI Humane society, which is the only non-kill animal shelter in the area, so thank you all for being a part of our biggest single day donation yet, and anyone who donated on top of their bottle purchase donation. Hopefully some of you wind up adopting one of those awesome pups.

Again, thank you all for your support and feedback. We will continue to adjust how we hold our releases, in hopes to give you a better experience each visit.

Cheers

 

I've seen two registers at other releases also, can I ask why for big releases like this there can't be more than two? Maybe 6? With the technology of paying on Ipads, etc...mobile paying locations seems very feasible. One minute per transaction is great, the issue is the two locations. This isn't unique to you, the same things seems to happen at most other releases, is there a logical reason why, besides hassle factor? I know, I know, people will line up and pay either way....

 

Appreciate you taking the time to respond on here, its rare to get actual brewery feedback and clarification (the exception being revolution). Obviously its hard, and the turnout was crazy, but for those of us who love your beer and will continue to come back it would be awesome if there were ways to speed up the process. While in line I heard ideas like prepackaged full allotments or full barrel aged allotments which could speed things up. Also, maybe as far as clarity it would be awesome to give a heads up about the amount that will be available for sale. It was a huge disappointment showing up at 12, waiting in line for that long, only to find out most of the card we had filled out was gone including getting none of 2 BA option. Regardless I love the beer and will still come out and support from Chicago (Canuckly is the best beer ive ever had). Cheers.

 

We had 4 registers ONLY for to go bottles, with 2 on each side, and then another 4 for draft sales. Our taproom is made to hold 49 people, and our bar is only 8 feet wide, which is why we open the other side up for this event (its is usually only for barrels and fruit beer storage/aging) and we moved bottle pickup out of the taproom to spread people out. It is a question of critical mass. If we had more space we could certainly add more registers, but you get to a point at our taproom's size where more registers doesn't help, it just leads to more congestion at the POS/Bar and then more confusion. Our first year doing it out here we had 3 registers going at the same time at the front bar, and it went significantly slower than when we had 2 at the front bar the following year and this year. Each year we have had more total registers than the past, but they still need to be spaced out enough to function effectively with the guests/line, and that is space we just don't have.

It also comes down to our size as a business. We have 2 full-time employees and 4 part-time (that includes bartenders, delivery driver, everyone involved in brewing/packaging/selling the beer). We dont use this as an excuse, but when nearly twice as many people show up year over year for a release, it is hard to adjust enough to make any headway, especially within the constraints of our building's size. Again, our staff and volunteers absolutely killed it, and I will defend their effort without hesitation, so I do take exception when people insult their hard work both leading up to and executing on Sunday.

I was a beer nerd well before I was a brewer. 7 or 8 years ago I went to bba plead the fifth release and was 60th in line when I arrived at 3 in the morning. I didn't get my beer till 3pm when they opened at noon. I know this cause I almost got fired from Jolly Pumpkin as a result. I can give you similar numbers for many other releases I have been to or been a part of as an employee. A little understanding and empathy can go a long way, and know we are truly trying to get things done as efficiently as possible. Going through 800 people in 4.5 hours is fast. I know that it might not seem like it while standing in line, but they were busting their asses.

We understand that nobody necessarily wants to show up at noon(open) to wait 4 hours in line and miss out on some beers they had come there for, but if you showed up at open you were right about number 800 in line, and we got to you as fast as we could. Variants like Ruckley only had 40ish cases and we limited it to 1 per person. Reserve 1 and 2 were both around 60 cases and we limited them to 1 or 2 bottles respectively and cut to try to extend every variant to last longer. We made the order cards weeks in advance, since they need to be printed, so we only know our yield and not the turnout at that point. We could not have possibly limited some any more to account for that turnout. And if we mention the amount packaged ahead of time it might just fuel people showing up earlier and earlier, which would just be more waiting in line.

As for making prepackaged full allotments, its not really feasible with 7 different bottles available, as a full allotment would be over a single full case. That would certainly lead to people getting the wrong bottles, as you would have full cases and partial cases mixed, and adding another pallet space or two would mean less room for us to actually pick bottles. Also, it is pretty rare anyone got the full allotment. Maybe 1 in 20 of the people who had the option did so, and that is a generous estimate. I am all for feedback and discussion, and jump on here whenever I can, but regardless of my time to give a response, I do read through all feedback sent to my email and Facebook and take it into account when we do each successive release. We will always strive to do better for our guests, and work toward making a better product and better experience at our releases, or just our taproom in general. We have a lot of plans for next year and will hopefully implement some at the Junie release in August. If you had a less than stellar experience, please reach out. We were entirely funded by the local beer community with our bottle membership, and had no other investment or starting capital to speak of. We owe you all a huge debt of gratitude, and we sincerely want to adjust in a manner that we can all be happy with and proud of.

 

does waiting in line all morning after waiting in line all day at dld suck? yeah.. absolutely

but does kentuckley fuck? yeah.. abso-fuckin-lutely it does.

#wellworththewait
#onceithitsyourlips

also good call on the 500ml

 

Growing pains are painful!

It was harsh being the guy at the register when Ruckley and one of the variants went off sale. Like, if I hadn't flossed that morning I would've scored every variant!

 

If I've said it once I've said it a thousand times, don't floss.

 

My dentist says otherwise

 

Your dentist is making sure he has one less person to worry about when he lines up for whales.

 

Sorry to be the one to break it to you, but he's been lying to you all these years.
https://apnews.com/f7e66079d9ba4b4985d7af350619a9e3

 

Sorry brother. You must have been right behind me. I think I got the last one. The guy organizing my box took forever and during that they made the announcement. I thought I was out of luck.

 

I loved the idea of the 500ml bottles in hopes there’d be more available. It’s just a bummer waiting two hours after you had employees handing out allocation cards and stating bottle levels were still good. And then only being able to purchase two of your barrel aged options; Kentuckley & Canuckley. Luckily I was able to try everything on tap. Delicious!!

 

Great release, once inside, everything was perfect. I would rather have chaos prior to entering compared to little wait to get in but a shitshow once you were inside.

I was in the member line and got in right at 1155 and didn't max out my card for any of the beers(aside ruckley I guess), so to anyone who was on the bubble for the reserves or canuckley, just know I helped make the bubble last at least 1 person longer.