Chicago Stout Releases (2019)

You may be on to something! There really is no other justification.

Pollyanna Imperial Fun Size is today as well.

 

The Binny's by me had the BA Fun Size out on the shelf three days ago lol. Don't think they were supposed to... I had to pass. Too much beer, not enough money.

 

well, the GABF effect is in full effect for Begyle. good for them.

but i hope the people in line arent expecting a standout beer or anything...

 

A 4-day weekend is what brings us to the city since we don't get down here much... it's always nice to meet up with friends...

 

The binnys fun size is on the shelves now at all the stores I think. Stopped in at DG and it was on their special beer shelf

 

Man, Begyle was packed around 7 last night. It's great that they have the upstairs space; it'd be greater if they would put draft lines or at least a few jockey boxes up there! (The guy working the door was encouraging everyone to go upstairs to alleviate crowding...with their 5-ounce variant pours that'd send them back downstairs for more every 15 minutes. )

 

There's lots of reasons for the lines. I can't speak to Begyle, but for Revolution, their line moves slow. Love their release events from the great taps and obviously the great beers; but they just don't hammer through that line like other breweries. I went to that on Friday. We went a little after 2 PM, knowing that we're spending 2 hours before they open was worth it for 2 guys who needed to get back to the burbs by 6:30. It was either spend that time on the front end or do so at the back end.

 

I disagree about the speed of Rev's lines. They had 1500 4pks of VSOR. So at least 750 people bought some. I got in line at 5 and made my purchase at 630; I was one of the last people to get any (as in, fewer than 10 people behind me got any). So by my math they were literally making 5 sales per minute via 6 POS stations while:

• people were deciding and communicating how much of six different beers to buy
• an employee was picking the beers
• another employee was doing zero, one or two card swipes (depending on whether the purchaser had a Rev Rewards card) _or_ handling cash and making change
• the purchaser was signing a receipt

The only easy potential process improvement I see here (without a radical redo, such as online purchases) would be to add an order form. But no one ever has a pen or pencil, so....

PS -- My experience tells me that if you're just there to buy cans, lining up in advance requires a greater time investment than just showing up at or after opening.

 

Pretty smart of Rev. to have so many different BA beer styles that they create more demand for smaller supply. Rather than make enough of say 4 styles to meet demand, they have like 12 styles that always seem to sell out because the supply is smaller.

 

Pretty sure DT and SJ are always very attainable.

 

And Cafe Deth, at least the past two releases.

I wonder if VSOD will be brewery only? We'll know in a month!

 

Yeah, I think Rev's lines subjectively move slowly (in that I'm not instantly able to pay as I'd like to) , but I think that for what they're doing, they're actually damn fast, and I have very few complaints. Hell, compared to Half Acre's lines, it feels like I'm running through at full-speed.

 

My first time visiting Chicago this weekend and we stopped at Begyle for the on Saturday for the party and I thought it was awesome. Definitely was packed, but we got a spot to sit upstairs and the lines weren't too bad for pours. Really liked the Bear Claw variant, that one was really cool.

Revolution was great as well. Didn't stand in line for any 4-packs but I thought the way they handled the bar was fantastic and all the variants they had on tap were great as well.

Definitely a good day to visit

 

Sadly, VSOD will not see distro...
"There will be wide distribution of Deth’s Tar, Café Deth, and Straight Jacket cans to select retail accounts, along with limited distribution of Deth by Plums, Ten Year Beer, and Ryeway to Heaven."
https://revbrew.com/deeper-into-the-wood

 

Well, wide distro is different than distro. Deth by plums made it downstate, which has not happened in the past. VSOD previously did also, but it was listed. I am not sure that it was listed if select accounts in Chicagoland saw distro of something though.

 

I believe in the past - the only beers they've distributed were the ones they listed as either "wide distro" or "limited distro". Would assume that's the case here.

 

Ah, my mistake

 

Nobody ever saw BA Ten Fidy hit Chicago stores huh?

 

Not this year's, yet.

 

Argh... TOO MANY GREAT BEERS COMING OUT!!
‘Ten Fidy’ is all I’ll have left in my wallet.
Fit me for a 'Straight Jacket' trying to keep track of these.
Say ‘Dosvidanya’ to all my cash!
Must hide my ‘Dark Secret’ from my wife.
I'm gonna need some 'Big Hugs' to help cope.