Florida beer releases

Cycle was great yesterday, Dave! what happened at Rapp today?

 

People got shut out and got crabby...same as any other release. There was no line...and when the window to buy beers opened up...everybody rushed in. One dude, who basically told everyone that would listen, showed up at 2pm and missed out. He started crying and Rapp had to sell him a beer or two after they sold out of what they were actually selling.

 

Rapp was calm. Evident they had a crowd they werent used to though. I arrived at 2:10, knew I was going to spend the day just relaxing there, having a few over the course of the afternoon. It was 4pm and no line had formed, so I just sat inside from heat and humidity. 4:30 - got in line for a beer off the taps then at 4:50 - still no line. Went outside to the "garage" area where sales were going to happen. People were congregating so I jumped in. I had intentions on buying 4 bottles - nothing crazy - 2 for me and 2 for a buddy that couldnt make it. Got about halfway through line, watching people walk out with sometimes a case, other times with 1 bottle only. But they started counting, which I knew it was not good then. Then was handed a ticket saying limit 1 only. All while cases were walking by me. So, planning was bad regarding sales. The event itself was calm. Wish I could have had a couple more, but it is what it is. I enjoy Rapp a bunch, but this one stung a little bit. If it were Cigar City, people would be out there with pitchforks.

There was a guy that flipped out and said f*** this place, never coming to Rapp again, throwing tantrum and then saw him inside at the bar, then he eventually got a bottle (after sold out). I didnt make a stink. Yeah, I was there and counted 10 people in the small tasting room at 2:15, but never would go off the wall like that doucher did.

 

According to Rapp FB page, there's more than one angry person. Cycle went well because they didn't tell anyone that they were releasing bottles. With the current state of craft beer in our area, spontaneous and unplanned bottle releases are the way to go.

 

Yeah, people are pissed - not many. There really wasnt a big crowd compared to the others recent in the area. The snafu was having no limit. 10 people get half the available beer, and 100 people behind that - there will be a problem.

 

I was just visiting breweries in the area and there happened to be a release. I got 2 bottles. Wanted 1 to drink while I am here and one to take home to share with my friends back in MI. If someone got shut out, I'd be willing to put up one of my bottles if you care to meet up Sunday at one of the breweries I am heading out to in the Tampa area.

Shoot me a BM to work out the details. Not looking to make anything from this...maybe get the cost back in trade or something.

 

You're a good man. Hope you enjoyed your time at Rapp and throughout your vacation. Had I had more, would do the same. Cheers to you!

 

It's not just Florida beer releases. It's pretty much every beer release in every state. Craft beer sucks these days, and it's only going to get worse, sadly.

Cycle releases a Nooner at every "event" so it was pretty much common knowledge outside of newbs.

 

I think the problem is that the craft beer scene is exploding in the Tampa area and Florida in general. Breweries are running into trouble because they can't accurately predict the amount of interest in their releases and don't have a plan in place for when things end up being different then they planned.

With Rapp, I guess they didn't expect this type of crowd and hadn't planned for it. For their last release (BA Robust Porter), they only sold about 2/3 of the bottles on the night of the release (also a Saturday) and still had bottles o Sunday. That was also a no limit release and similar bottle count (240). So, based on past experience, it's not crazy for them to have expected to have enough bottles of the BA RIS. Rapp just didn't correctly predict how much more interest there would in the BA RIS due to the continued growth of the craft scene and the simple fact that they are an up and coming brewery that's been getting lots of positive press.

However, the past two cycle releases (RareR and NooNer) were incredibly well handled. Both times not only did everyone in line at the time of "release" get their bottles but times bottles ended up lasting like 5 hours. But I think that speaks more to Cycle having plenty of bottles and a really good handle on the correct bottle limit to place on each release. With RareR DOS, they didn't announce the bottle limit until right before the release, which allowed them to judge base upon how many people were in line. They obviously had significantly less bottles of NooNer, so they limited it to 4 bottles (instead of a case) and opted to not publicize it (as obviously) on social media like they did with RareR.

I think the breweries do need to have a better plan in place ahead of time and have a back-up plan of what to do when more people than expected show up. Perhaps don't set bottle limits until right before the release...that way you can judge how many people are in line and come up with a fair number. If possible, everyone in line at the time of release should get a bottle (if there are enough), because it really sucks to have gotten in line before the release time and to get shut out while some people ended up with multiple bottles. Obviously, in the cases of some of these smaller releases, there might end up with more people in line that bottles available...

 

this sounds all too familiar...

 

I wasn't there but I assume the douche bag who was crying at the release is the dude that posted on their FB page?

 

Sadly, the guy who was flipping out was an older guy (mid to late 40s) who should have been a bit more mature than that.

 

As Bartos stated, Cycle's choice to not announce bottle limits till the morning of have been very wise decisions. This right now is the key for every small to medium size brewery releasing bottles. After reading about the Rapp release and contrasting it with Cycle's recent releases I thought the same thing. By not setting expectations of bottle amounts in advance folks shouldn't feel angered by not getting what they feel was previously quoted. Moreover, if folks can only expect one bottle, and the brewery sets the limit higher folks should be way more then happy. One thing for sure, and I know this has been done with the best of intentions, never change the allotment mid release, this just pisses more people off (Swamphead BA Roosevelt release also did this). Have someone take a quick count of the folks in line before you open and make your allotment based off of that, but still set it somewhat low, just in case.

Also, start selling bottles right when you open. Don't have folks hang out in the tasting room drinking for a few hours, and then try to start forming a line. This is just a recipe for chaos. The 2011 BA Huna release taught us this, people that have been drinking for a few hours make poor lines. And then folks get angry yelling that they were here since the wee hours of the morning, etc, etc, and why didn't they get bottles.

This all really only applies to smaller breweries though, as mxracercam noted, if you're a larger brewery like CCB, for any large releases look to the help of an event coordinator, in the long run it will save you money, a lot of headaches, and much internet bitching.

 

The days of case limits should be long gone. I think everyone would be happier with two bottle limits for anything the day of, then open things up the next day if anything is left.

 

I disagree. RareR DOS was a case limit and bottles lasted into the evening time. I can understand a brewery wanting to move those bottles quickly and not have boxes hanging around for longer than necessary...especially a place like Cycle that has limited space. Just look at how much work it is for CCB with the El Catador bottles.

 

Also, for the 7venth Sun Wolf Moon release...bottles sold out much faster than 7venth Sun anticipated. There were still people in line when the bottles ran out, even with a limit of 2 per person. The guy right in front of me got the last bottles but I wasn't too upset because I got in line after the "release" time (I think I got in line around 12:30 for the 12pm release). But 7venth Sun was upset about it and handed out free beers to everyone left in the line...which was completely awesome but unnecessary of them. The two 7venth Sun releases since then have been much smaller affairs. Purple Pistil was released on a weeknight (planned before the Wolf Moon release). And their most recent release was a BA beer that they just put in the cooler and quietly leaked word of on social media.

 

CCB did great during the El Catador 2 sign ups. Even the tasting room which had a huge line out the door for rare taps was fine.

 

If by "evening time", you mean "around 4, still before most people get off work", sure, there was a huge four hour window for people to drop everything and come get bottles.