Jester King Craft Brewery

For some reason I had in my head for a while that brewpubs could not sell any beer to-go, and only for on-premise consumption.

 

Ah, that makes sense.

Jeff, would the taproom be open more often if those laws pass? I'd imagine y'all wouldn't do food, since Stanley's is right there.

 

I'm in!

 

I've never been a big fan of Reserve Society Memberships. I just don't like the idea of paying X amount of dollars so I can be guaranteed to be able to purchase bottles. To me those memberships have never really been about rewarding "loyal" customers, but rather rewarding more wealthy customers. In my opinion the loyal customer is the one that is going to show up at the brewery early in the morning to wait for a release.

 

But not every loyal fan can show up at the brewery early in the morning/run the rat race to every store for a limited release, reserve societies can give those folks a chance to get the brews they could not otherwise. It's not really rewarding wealthy folks as long as prices are reasonable, it's just giving more money upfront rather than spreading it out for every release over 12 months. I'm moving to NY for an 12-month internship and would have loved to have a RS so I could have a way of getting the releases I will miss this year.

 

I know quite a few of us in Houston would be down for that.

 

Agreed

 

Same goes for Dallas. The beer's hard enough to get around here and knowing we could pick it up without having to scramble around town would be nice.

 

Houstonian here. Would love this!

 

The problem is that most of the reserve societies prices are not reasonable per bottle that are included. I don't know, the way I see it is if you can't make it to a release, you trade for something you want. I guess it really comes down to rewarding "locals" who can attend a release over those that can not. I feel like I see a reserve society as squeezing out the local supporters.

This is just hypothetical, but what if the majority of the members are from outside of TX. This would thus lower the allocation available to those of us who are in TX.I don't like having to run around and hunt down beers but I just don't like the idea of paying the brewery to put some aside for me either.

I know all of this would be in the future and would require laws to change and if it happened and if JK decided to do a reserve society there would be support for it. I'd still buy their beers but I guess I would feel slighted if there was a special release that I wasn't able to try with out having to pay to have bottles reserved.

 

I would probably partake in a Reserve type society. With that being said, I don't like them very much. And thinking that the limited releases would be reserve society only makes me cringe. Advocacy is the name of the game right. I don't know if you'd be rewarding your loyal customers, but more of the people who have the means to do so. I love The Bruery, but there is no way I'm gonna shell out $400 a year. You're basically keeping the best and most innovative beers that you produce to hardcore beer geeks, and cutting out the casual drinker. I love Jester King and I love the brewery. Thinking of the down to earthness of the brewery and the brewers, I just don't see it. Again, would I partake, yes. But I wouldn't like it very much.

 

Don't lose sight of the target audience though; the point of having the reserve society is for the hardcore people.

 

Seriously. I'm in Houston and I'd put down $$$ for the chance to try all JK's rares and experiments...

 

Why not just make experimental and rare small batch beers that are sold at the brewery only. Reward the locals!

 

Maybe. I just always thought their target audience as beer drinkers (hardcore or not). To me having a society is a step toward turning into something that I don't want them to turn into (granted it's not what I want, it's what they want). I'm pretty sure I sent Jeff a message after going to their brewery for the first time, and wishing them all the success, but hoped they kept it small. I just hope they don't do it.
And if you're an out of towner, and you can't find one of the limited releases, start networking. We should be here to help each other out.

 

Reserve Societies just force people to buy stuff they could care less about to have a chance to get a few releases. It holds the consumer hostage. You want Chocolate Rain? Then you have to buy 28 beers you don't want, many of which nobody wants.

 

BTW, make moar RU-55, Jeff. I've convinced myself that that is now my favorite JK release.

Gonna need to find more in San Antonio when I'm there for Ananke Day.

 

Agreed that RU-55 is awesome. But I need Ol' Oi bottles to hit the ATX streets soon. Priorities, brah.

 

I still can't believe that one isn't out yet... I believe I had that one way back in October on tap along with RU-55.