Darkness 14' Chicago Distribution

Not every seller has the option to easily play a recording. It would require a phone system that supports it and also someone that knows how to set it up. Something that most stores probably don't have (or want to pay for) unless they are apart of a bigger chain.

It is a great idea, but I just don't think it is realistic. I think an updated webpage/blog/twitter/public Facebook (I stress public because not everyone is willing to sign up for Facebook) would be the easiest. Sure it won't prevent calls, but if you are known for being up to date with that, it could help.

 

I think it's an overall tough situation made worse by customers and employees as was said above.

I'll admit, when I heard Darkness was coming out I did call my local store, but when he told me he'd gotten a ton of calls already and that he expected people to come in early and basically mill around the store until delivery, it was an easy pass for me.

I never realized how intense this hobby is for some people. I love beer and I definitely enjoy trying the "best" (Read: highly rated), however I'm not camping at stores or calling every 10 minutes to find it. Zombie Dust is a great beer, but not THAT great, and neither is any other beer.

I'd imagine much of the supply is corrupt, meaning it's basically sold before it even arrives, so what's the point?

I saw a place kinda near me had Victory at Sea tonight and it's one I've really wanted to try, so I drove out there and saw they had 2 6-packs, I picked them both up planning on getting them, but then I thought about it and put one back because it would suck if someone before me walked in and bought the rest of what they had.

For how cool some of the people in the craft beer hobby are, there are also so many that ruin it.

That's okay though, they can call and call and drive hundreds of miles following delivery trucks to find their whale beers, I enjoy what I have, which is a fridge with some 2X Stout, Victory at Sea and and some assorted Sierra Nevada Snow Pack beers!

 

It's always kinda boggled my mind that when someone asks for something limited and i say "Well, no, i'm sold out, but i've got 2,658* others on the shelf, can i help you find something similar?" it's taken at best as a joke, at worst insulting. That shit stings.

*last count was a few months ago, number subject to change.

 

It's simple. The store by me makes you buy other shit if you want a whale.. Such as if you want your 4 pack of kbs you have to buy 2 6packs of Founders products.. It sucks but people who really want it buy it

 

This is why events like FOBAB and Zwanze Day (which I'll hopefully make some time) rock and why bottle shares can be awesome: You get to try stuff without the stupid race to catch 'em all.

Because, seriously, who really drinks full bombers of whalez by themselves?

 

I've been known to do that. noragrets.jpg

 

To those who missed out (including me), I just want to say:

RELAX it's just beer!

Anyways, the beer hunting (aka delivery truck chasing) season is about to start and if you desperately want a Darkness, you can trade for one. Good luck this season.

 

To be fair, so have I. I just really like FOBAB.

 

I can drink one myself but I rather share it so that more people can try it

 

I can drink one myself AND would not rather share it....LOL jk

 

Sooooo, how bout that Darkness this year? Tasting mighty fine ain't it...







(just trying to keep things on track)

 

Wouldn't know.. Never had it and didn't get this year either

 

Im super bummed I didn't go to south loop Binny's this morning, guess they were handing out tickets to get them later in the day. Dang

 

Supposedly the barrel is a very nice addition to an already outstanding stout. Will try this weekend and likely 5 cap it on untappd.

I wish FFF would take cue of what Surly's doing here and just BA all the DL. If Surly can do it why can't FFF? They could even charge $30 (yeah I know it's $50 now) x4 at DLD and people would buy it all. They could still charge $50 for the variants and keep the scratch offs but let's just have BADL as the base and drop the regular!

 

I went to 6 stores the past couple days trying to snag it (first time I've truck chased in a long time) and I struck out. Oh well. My Upland allotment this week soothed that sting. For those like me that didn't get it, we most likely have a friend that did or there will be places that have it on draft.

As @Vav said, Chicago has gotten so many phenomenal regular beers over the past couple years that there's no point in chasing anymore. That or I'm getting too old for it.

 

This year was only/mostly barrel aged because they didn't have tank space with trying to keep up for the staples to the Minnesota and Chicago markets. That is also the reason there was no Wet this year.

I will be interested to see what they do next year, if it will go back to non-BA, all be BA or if they will start doing a mix like FFF.

 

I'm really hoping FoBAB has some sort of Darkness, since I'm already pretty sad at having missed out on what is one of my favorites of the year.

Do they normally have bottle sharing at FoBAB? This'll be my first year.

As to your question, I try to share my "whalez" with my girlfriend, who usually takes one sip, and leaves me to get wasted on my own...

 

They will likely have Darkness at FOBAB since Surly is usually in attendance.

No bottle sharing, anyone who does will likely end up not living any longer.

Do you need a second girlfriend?

 

Here's the problem with the whole "regular" situation. Who constitutes a regular? What gives them priority? I do 90% of my shopping at my local Binny's in terms of off-the-shelf beer. Here's the issue though: I'm in Bruery Reserve Society, Transient Reserve Society, and I travel a bit for work which allows me to stop directly at a brewery every month or two. How much more beer do I need? I also have a local brewery that I head to and great local beer bars that I try to get to as much as I can. What does that leave me? Maybe a trip a month to the liquor store at most. Do I need to go bother the beer guy to let him know, "Hey look at me, I'm here buying stuff. Remember me on Black Friday!" So obviously I'm a loyal customer, but since I don't drop $100/week I'm not a "regular." I'm not going to become an alcoholic to become a "regular." I enjoy drinking great beer 2-3 times a week. I'm not that big so 1-3 beers depending on ounces and ABV is all I can handle. That means I don't need cases and cases of beer every week. I don't see why that should prohibit me from any beer release.

Anyhow, I just needed to speak up about this whole "regular" thing that comes up all the time with these releases.

St. Charles Binny's got Darkness in today. I was lucky enough to get a bottle. I'll likely share it with folks that didn't get a bottle because I don't need to drink the whole thing myself. For the record, there were four other people there picking it up. No crazy line. No problems. It's probably gone by now, but that's the story from out west.

 

I completely agree with you, which is why I like how the Beer Temple typically handles things. While I understand the idea of "saving whalez" for your regulars, it's also a good way to tell non-regulars that they shouldn't stop at your store. I don't have the option to go to every place enough to be a "regular" (nor would my girlfriend let me spend that much of my money...which is a good thing), so when I find out that a place hides the good stuff and/or lies to people who call, I know that that's one less place I should really worry about.