Cantillon is raining down on Boulder right meow

Because this is SPARTA!

 

I typically drink mine alone. That being said, I give/trade bottles on occasion.

 

I don't really see how Facebook vs first come is different. Some people don't work 9-5 jobs and can hit up liquor stores in the middle of the day to help there chances. Others have a desk job and are online all the time - and that helps there chances at Mile High. At least it is an option for desk jockeys without having to take a crazy long lunch or half a day off to beer hunt. It's nice to see a store do something a little different like that.

And really - there are so many different stores that have policies all over the board when it comes to releases like these. The more variety the better I say, in hopes it helps get the beer to more people. I know personally I wouldn't touch Lukas today - but at least it's an option.

 

It’s not lame. At all. Take a step back and realize that 90% (or more) of all retailers in the Front Range are less transparent than Mile High about how they sell their special release beers, especially Cantillon. A lot of them sell it all to preferred customers, parcel it out among the employees, release it unannounced with no bottle limits, try to gouge people, outright lie about even getting any, or some combination of the above. Meanwhile, Mile High takes a different approach. If they have it, they sell it, always with strict bottle limits. All the while they are taking deliveries, answering the phone, and helping people in the store. Cantillon is the toughest get in Denver. When a shipment hits (or is even rumored) half the beer geeks in the city go on the hunt. Stores get literally dozens of calls, all day long. The amount of beer available is impossibly small. Most stores get 1-3 six bottle cases. That can sell out in minutes.

So it’s easy to see how there would be instances when there is not time to post in two separate places (a practice that already goes well above and beyond what almost everyone else does) before the very limited supply is exhausted. In fact, simply selling it to people that ask for it is more than a lot of stores do. I always consider myself lucky if I get the opportunity to buy even one Cantillon off the shelf a year, and that does not always happen. Yet we’ve got people following trucks and complaining that they only got three bottles. That’s absurd.

In the end, it’s just beer, and no one is entitled to it. Absent some giant increase in production, getting Cantillon in Denver is always going to involve a concerted effort, a lot of luck, or a combination of both. A majority of the country does not even sniff a chance at buying Cantillon on the shelf. It’s good, people want it, and there is not enough to satisfy the demand. No matter how it is handled, lots of people are going to be disappointed. The next thing you know, someone is going to complain that they should have received a personal text the second the Cantillon arrived. Or that "they shouldn't sell it while I'm at work." Or some other nonsense.

But here's what is really dumb: ragging on a store with one of the most knowledgeable beer departments, an excellent selection, and an extremely reasonable method of distributing special releases.

 

You'd have to be following said truck to know if anyone was following the truck.

 

I didn't see anyone behind me or the truck all day.

 

Or be at the store when it arrived and observe the procession.

 

Thank you for saying all this...I am incapable of a serious post so I'm glad you've mirrored my feelings exactly. I got lucky as hell this year, that's it. I hadn't gotten any the last two years and I tried just as hard. It's all luck. I can put a $50k bottle of FF on eBay if ya'll want, if that's what it takes. Do I need to rile up the blogs, the vlogs even!? Frankly, I don't see why Mile High didn't publish the winning powerball #s before the drawing...WTF is that about?

 

No one's raging, one has to at least be able to vent disappointment and frustration that it didn't happen as it usually does. I love Mile High W&S for all the reasons mentioned above, but they didn't do what they normally do, and have since promised to make it policy, end of story. Continued commitment to keep getting better and better, that's what makes them the best.

 

I'll even be nice and supply the matches and gasoline. you will be honored like a Samurai.

 

The situation was convoluted from the start of the delivery day. The 18 bottles of Cantillon was part of a much larger drop that included dozens of other new products that all needed to be added to the system for the first time or double checked to maintain proper pricing and barcode validation. In conjunction with restocking everyday offerings that were nearly depleted from the Thanksgiving holiday week, there were simply other necessary jobs that were at hand than a Facebook update first thing in the morning.

Once the calls started coming in, one after the other, we answered the requests. It was a bit fishy after the fact that one person would call and then another and then another, all to be found out that they were relatives of each other. It seems there was more than one group using this tactic.

It is a shame that good regulars didn't get the chance at a bottle, things will hopefully be better in the future.

@Prospero and @dooblibop- I feel bad about it all. I was able to grab a Gilloise at another shop and would love to talk things over and share the bottle in good company.

 

A store I go to in GA does a lottery for their regulars when they get rare bottles like KBS or CBS. If your ticket gets pulled you get to buy a bottle. I'm not suggesting you guys do this but it does sound like a fair way to spread out the bottles and then nobody feels shafted. Then again they probably are not dealing with the same level of mania we seem to have here.

 

Can you imagine people fighting over whether or not they're regulars? It would make this thread look like a joke. It's almost getting to the point for a small store like Mile High where it's just not worth the hassle for 3 cases of beer, I'd think.

"Hello, Mile High? This is Elite. We have 3 cases of Cantillon for you, when can we deliver?"

"Actually, we'll pass on the Cantillon since it's gets people more worked up than telling a far right conservative that Obama is an American citizen."

 

Yeah, with the level of craziness it's kind of lose-lose. Another idea would be to sell a single ticket (take names) to anyone who asked, pull a ticket for each bottle, donate the ticket money to charity. Or Zeke, that dog is cool.

 

Or here's another thought, open a brewery that can brew it like the Belgian's do!

We are after all the Napa Valley of Beer... If not us, then who?

 

Why are we armchair QBing this so much? The store admitted that it didn't play out how they wanted and specifically sought to rectify things with the people in this thread that were upset. Sure it didn't work out for some but give Mile High some slack. They did more in this thread than most other stores would do in similar circumstances...they addressed the situation and offered to rectify it in some way. They'll learn from this and be better off next time. What's done is done...we're just beating a dead horse at this point by suggesting changes to make for the people that do this every day. They don't come to your job and start telling you how you should do things...but with all the posts in here maybe they should.

 

Imagine if we had to compete with hot chicks for this stuff...let's just imagine hot chicks for a moment.

 

Chill out dude, no love lost for Mile High W&S and I think everybody recognizes how great they are, just people venting frustration.