Jester King Snörkel

Just wondering why the brewery would allow unlabeled bottles to make their way out into the world if this is the case? Can't build a hype train and then hate the fact that you built a hype train. I tried Rose a few weeks before it's release (I suppose it might have been deemed 'ready to drink' but still awaiting label approval). If I get a similar opportunity in the future am I supposed to just not comment on it?

Frustrating is the correct word for this...but it has to do with the responsible party. The brewery. Don't release bottles if you don't want the info out or have volunteers sign non disclosure agreements for pre release bottles. Basically controls to prevent this from happening in the future are in one parties hands, and it isn't Matt's.

 

L

Troof

 

Maybe I came off as one sided in my above post. Not the case. As someone who lives and breathes beer, to varying degree we all do on this site, I spend a great deal of my free time traveling to and from Austin expressly for Jester King (and Styles Switch, and Pieious, and Pinthouse, and the cool ass people everyone, and et al) and it feels good to support Jk and all those other spots. Those trips do Jester King's mantra of sorts for me, they instill a sense of place and time, and like suggested at the brewery.. When I pop one of those beers I come home with I remember the trip where my car broke down, I remember the OTHER trip where my car broke down, the insane lines at Funk N Sour, running into a half dozen people from Fort Worth doing the same thing as me. The list goes on and on. Now that JK's opinions have been made, I wouldn't publicly comment on or review a pre release beer I had a chance to try but I think, as my previous post suggests, that it's improper to blame Matt for something where reasonable controls from the brewery itself could have prevented it.

Sorry to ramble but I hope no-one has taken offense to anything I've said....ever

"what do you mean Mom, life doesn't have a rewind button?????"

 

I could very well be wrong about this, but I don't think JK's opinions on posting/commenting on pre-release stuff came as a surprise to anyone, especially not to those on this forum. This isn't the first time something like this has happened.

I think the biggest takeaway from @ElkSherpa's post should be that those bottles in the wild may change drastically from when you have it to when it's released; don't write off a beer based on what is most likely not the beer the brewery actually intends to release.

 

Fair point, I think it's important to have these discussions as digital media expands and can play a role in the success or failure of a release or a brewery. I think it's important to have that conversation publicly with a brewery so active in our community. Without checking I forget if you can even formally rate a beer on BA that hasn't been released yet? Why hadn't the original post just been taken down if it was a copyright issue? Ahhhhh...see... I don't want to be forced to have an addendum to my posts that says "my views and opinions I express are solely my own, and not a reflection on anyone else" but I guess it's probably come to that point now

Slippery slopes

 

Snorkelgate '14

 

which is pretty much a no brainer to 90% of the posters on this forum.

JK is frustrated because Matt beat them to the punch on announcing their latest beer before they did. We all know how JK LOVES to write about their releases in such great detail and which angels tears were sacrificed during this batch. I can understand that.

I blame Phil.

 

You would think so. But Phil will do as Phil does

So there are two completely different issues at play here. One is "scooping" the brewery on a new beer and posting about it. The other is speaking to the specific qualities of the beer while having it before the brewery releases it. @ElkSherpa's post was about the latter (and Matt should already know better by now for the former).

I completely understand JK's frustration on both counts, but just going off of this thread, the latter issue seems to be the more frustrating one.

And you can add & rate a beer before it's been released. There seems to be nothing stopping you on BA and there's definitely not on Untappd.

I think NDAs and the like will be bad for everyone, and punish the many for the actions of a few, but it wouldn't surprise me if at least some volunteers lose their access to pre-release beers if stuff like this keeps happening.

 

I just think it's better to take advantage of this "hype train" ride, instead of expressing frustrations. own up to the mishap and keep the train chugging along.

JK is passionate about their work and we are too. when a person is singled out in such a manner, you may lose their support and others as well....

 

It would have nothing to do with label approvals. They do not need label approval for to sell bottles from the brewery.

 

You guys are going to force the Jester King brewers that interact so much with the community to less inclined to do so often, if at all. Just saying.

 

I think everyone that generally reads these forums understand that JK beers will change with time. If someone writes a review tomorrow, it will be different than a review a month from now.

Going after people for reviewing a beer a month early is the same concept.

Not everyone will like every beer. I am fine with that. Seeing someone review it in not so great of a way will impact me 0% because I am still going to try it and make my own opinion...because that is all that matters to me.

It also seems that people are upset about reviewing the beer in a negative light...yet if it is a positive light, no one cares. I have seen a lot of reviews of JK beers before they were released in other threads and they were mostly positive...yet no one blinks an eye.

Just my 2 cents.

 

This is still beer we're talking about right? Almost, these are wild ales that change over time. That's the point.

And leaks happen all the time, in all industries and nations. It happens.

Also I doubt JK's interactions with us will decline @Daemose . We're beer nerds and most of us on BA are antsy as hell to learn about the new ales their putting out. I know I am. And about Matt releasing Snorkel details before JK's release, yeah he should have waited, but I remember zooming in and in, over and over, on that poor pixeled label image to read what the next JK beer will be like. Still upset I won't be able to make it out their for a couple month. Work calls! wah

 

I didn't want to say anything because I didn't want to draw ire but since others have spoken up I feel I should join in.

What Jester King does is awesome. Volunteers have been instrumental in their success and it's super cool that they reward these volunteers in many ways. Seriously, when I look at the way Jester King treats volunteers, I'm amazed.

The way Jester King interacts with community is also awesome. The fact that multiple interested parties from JK are on these forums, answer emails, etc., is an awesome fact indeed. It's wonderful and should serve as a great example for the many breweries that ignore communities like these.

The fact that someone got a bottle and publicly commented on it is to be expected, and is okay. We live in a tickers culture, and I'm not high and mighty enough to claim I'm not part of that. There's constantly a need for whalezbrah, tickers gotta tick, and any other variation of beer chasing that happens here and elsewhere. This is not unique to beer and it's certainly not unique to the Southwest forum.

But it's OKAY. Breweries, for the most part, make core beers that contribute to the majority of their revenue (whether this is true for JK anymore is no longer relevant). They appeal to a larger audience and this is how they make their money. But they also make beers for the nerds and tickers among us. And we chase them. And we get excited over them. And for a business that does not focus on money as the only goal (and breweries are absolutely in this category or Atrial would cost $50/bottle), this excitement is a good thing.

And so that leads me to my conclusion: The way Jester King handled this situation in particular, irrespective of how they handle other situations, was wrong. It was wrong for multiple reasons:

• They control who gets the beer before the release, as originally pointed out above by @H0rnedFr0gs.
• Even if some initial reviews were negative, there's no question that Jester King will sell every single bottle of Snorkel and quickly. Even if some initial reviews were negative, there's no question that the majority will be positive (simply because this is delicious, but also because of the hype that the past has created for anything JK.)
• People don't like to be told what to say or when to say it, even if there is a justification for that.
• A brewery, or any business for that matter, cannot always be in front of every discussion about their business, and trying to do so distracts from the real core goals.
• If a beer is not ready to be drank, don't let anyone drink it. If you let someone, anyone not involved in the production process, drink it, you tacitly imply that it's ready for consumption.
• This would have been a total non-issue if ignored from the beginning.

Unfortunately, that's not a great conclusion, and it's not one that will make the guys at Jester King feel warm fuzzies toward me or this post. But what it comes down to is this: Jester King can choose to do one of the following, IMO:

• "Punish" volunteers in some way due to the backlash created by this unfortunate situation (such as no more pre-release bottles, or on-site consumption only, or whatever).
  
• "Punish" the community by interacting less (as @Daemose suggested above).
• Realize that this isn't actually a bad situation at all, "shrug it off," in effect, and ignore similar situations in the future.

Now, personally, I obviously think that the third is the best situation, simply because it's best for everyone involved. No one here is going to stop buying Jester King beer if the first two happen, and no one here is going to stop buying JK beer based on a negative review before an official release. But we all suffer if interactions decrease and volunteers (and by proxy, JK) suffer if volunteers are punished.

So to try to regain a few warm fuzzies: I love y'all and I love what y'all are doing. Don't let a few reviews of a pre-release beer sour the beautiful things you are doing. Except for your sour beers. In which case, please let it sour.

 

every release thread here turns into some damn rant

 

You people are spending way to much time on this.

 

I think that could be said about most topics on this forum.

 

I take exception to your comment that we "releas(ed)" the beer. We reward our volunteers with bottles on bottling day for their hard work. The bottles aren't designed to build hype. To the contrary, we ask our volunteers to keep the bottles to themselves and not to say anything about the beer they helped bottle. We also aren't going to have our volunteers sign legal documents. That would be lame. - Jeff

 

#befriendly

 

Can't we all get a long.