Bruery RS/HS Allocations (2020)

Open to the public will likely make this messy, but I get it since they’re going to a larger venue.

No DD tickets will make it tough for me to make it now, since the festival is now so much further away. The $10 Lyft credit is a nice gesture, but I doubt it even covers One-way of the ride share price difference for me. & of course now the rail option that was available getting to the Phoenix Club, is now gone.

Brewery list looks insane again and the food options seem so much better than the last few years.

 

This depends on if/how they do a shuttle service. If it stops at the Anaheim Amtrak station, then the rail option is still available.

 

Black Tuesday Reserve was far and away the best one of the bunch IMO. Although I'm only an RS member, so I don't know how their beers were.

 

Looking forward to seeing this in my allocations. Being an RS member this is the first time I won’t have to trade for it!

 

Completely agree, the 2 hours is a great gesture but knowing the crowds for the past 4 years we might have issues unless the Bruery is thinking this out some more. It would be nice if they really stacked up selection in the members only area? specifically some special hoarders stand out besides some lame random slushy. Thanks.

 

I'm open to the new format for the anniversary party, but really disappointed on the price. The price has really gone rapidly up the past couple of years. For those of you who want the recent history of anniversary ticket prices...

2012: $50 (called the "Reserve Society Celebration")
2013: $50 (re-named "Initiation Celebration")
2014: $60
2015: $60
2016: $60
2017: $70
2018: $60
2019: $80
2020: $100

With the public invited this year, they're sure to bring in a ton of cash.

 

Agreed the ticket pricing hikes have been explosive and at least for last year, did not represent an increase in quality of the festival (though I am not complaining, there just wasn't a tangible benefit for the change). How this year goes remains to be seen, obviously. This will now be my 6th year in a row traveling out for the Anniversary party; with the increasing price, significant format change/invitation to the public, and remote location without certainty around reasonable transportation options (or higher rideshare $$'s at minimum -- I don't want to stay in Irvine...), this could be my last visit for this one.

 

Keep in mind that this is a 4.5hr event for us members. For $20 an extra hour compared to last years is a good price.

 

My thoughts exactly. I am grateful I can bring a lot more of my buddies. I am just not convinced that the venue and event will be able to support all levels of membership getting access with now double the ticket limit before the public gets in. I'm confident I will still end up too drunk to care after a bit and still throw up despite my annual pledge not to.

 

But how was the cinnamon in it? Anyone crack open cans yet?

 

2018 BT had a noticeable reformulation compared to prior years. Given 2020 BT Reserve uses that 2018 base, I wonder if this new BT Reserve is noticeably different from the BT Reserve released in 2018 (which used 2016's base). Anyone who's tried both notice the difference from the reformulation, or does the barrel just blow all that away?

 

I tried Grain In, Grain Out recently (Hoarders Small Batch) and it was fantastic. I don't recall reading any background on that one and wonder how it's different than BT (or if it's BT aged in different types of barrels). It was one of the better BA stouts I've had recently.

 

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Good question. In the video the brewers posted yesterday they were saying they the new recipe does come through in this beer. I’ll have to watch it again to be sure but I think they said it changes the mouthfeel the most. It’s a good video to watch if you haven’t already.

 

I believe it was an unreleased wheat heavy based stout blended from their favorite barrels, along with a few other base beers that were barrel aged.

 

wonder if they’ll can any more frucht beers. $14 for the 4 pack of cucumber was a great price.

 

If I recall correctly though, it's only been a shorter timeframe the last year or two. It was 11am to 4pm for 2-3 years before that at a $60-70 price. I thought that the amount of time last year was still very reasonable. 5 hours felt a little overlong to me and had a lot more sloppier people (I have pics of my buddy passed out on the lawn to prove it. )

 

I was curious about the length of time of the past anniversary parties, so I looked it up. 2014 was the first year of the unlimited pour format, so I didn't go further back than that. Hoarders typically got in from 30 min to 1 hour ahead of time, so the full time includes that.

2014: noon to 5pm $60
2015: noon to 5pm $60 (includes HS 1 hour early)
2016: noon to 5pm $60
2017: noon to 5pm $70 (includes HS 1 hour early)
2018: noon to 4pm $60 (includes HS 30 min early)
2019: 11am to 3pm $80 (includes HS 30 min early)
2020: 11am to 4pm $100 (includes all society members 2 hours earlier than public)

So I think I'm sticking to my original point that the price is shooting up way too much without any additional value. (I'm still gonna go though. )

 

The increased number of tickets is a double edged sword. On the one hand, its great to be able to invite more people. On the other hand, we are talking about potentially doubling the size of the crowd. So early entry means, you get to enter with double the size of last year's full festival. I'm guessing the bulk of the crowd will be members and guests verses the public, because the value of the public ticket is so much less ( 2 hour late entry after a large crowd, for $100 then $120 after March 31 )

Having said that, this feels like they are trying to replicate/be competitive with FWIBF. FWIBF is a great festival and is a good example of how to pull off a large festival. I'm wishing The Bruery the best here and I'm still pretty optimistic that this will be a good time.

 

I'm curious how many tickets they are allowing for this festival. 75 breweries isn't that many more than have been invited in the past. If I remember correctly, I remember 60 or so the last few years.

 

not sure about last year, but I attended in 2018. there were 39 booths outside of the bruery. So if you count 4 booths of bruery, 43 total.