Black Friday stories

I can't tell if you are unable to sense sarcasm, are lacking a sense of humor, or are offended by his post, but I thought it was pretty clever.

 

Can't tell if serious or joking

 

@mxracercam's post is a quote from Billy Madison so pretty sure it was in jest as well. Of course maybe you knew that and your post is also sarcastic in which case there is too much sarcasm for me to handle in this thread.

In any event I think it is time for beer, cheers.

 

time for this character to do a BCBS BIF for some good karma points. I got 0, so ill just go F myself.

 

Three friends and myself left Iowa at 12:00 to get in line at Binny's by Goose Island by 3:30. We were not lucky enough to be part of first 200 in line. Didn't get much. 12 bottles of regular, 4 bottles of barley wine, and a bottle of prop. Had a great time, never done anything like that for beer before. Will probably do it again next year. Cheers!

 

Elective socialism? Communism? Legislated sharing? Haha, okay.

I'm not talking about any of that, nor am I suggesting that we need to maximize the number of people who experience a given beer. I'm talking about a simple concept: people considering how their behavior might impact other people who share their love for a given beer.

Try to stay on topic. Lording beer knowledge and ticking--both potentially unsavory behaviors in and of themselves--are complete non sequiturs to the conversation of purchasing behavior. Similarly, there has been no expectation of having a singular opinion here. To the contrary, I've made it quite clear that different people will have different standards and opinions on the matter.

However, you are correct on one thing--selfish behavior will always bother me, whether or not it affects me personally. In this case, as it happens, I'm not impacted, as I didn't have any problem getting my hands on Bourbon County. I still wouldn't consider myself upset, but I don't need to be upset to share my opinion about selfish behavior in hopes that maybe one person will think about it a little harder next time. Of course, I'm under no illusions that people who have no qualms about changing clothes to circumvent a shop's desired limits probably aren't going to think twice about what some dude on an internet forum has to say.

The guy who changed clothes in the parking lot technically "earned" his beer too. Again, you seem to be confusing things here--just because someone "earned" or "worked for" something doesn't mean it wasn't selfish of them to do it. And for the record, I don't see getting up early or developing a relationship at your local shop as selfish. But how you use those things to your advantage could end up being selfish.

Your example of the guy who "shambles" down to Total Wine would be well and good if it didn't gloss over the countless examples of people who miss out, not because they chose to sleep in and goof off doing other leisure activities, but because they had obligations and couldn't rearrange life to buy a beer on a single day.

It's interesting you use the term lazy. Because I see "the market allows it, so there is no problem" as a lazy argument. It supplants critical/introspective thinking with simply following the published "rules", and that anything not specifically prohibited isn't problematic. It's that kind of thinking that leads to the conditions detailed in Sinclair's The Jungle. (admittedly an extreme example--as noted before, we're talking about beer, not inhumane working conditions)

 

Your entire post was very good, but I cut it down to this snippet because it gets to the heart of the matter to which @MrExit23 (I believe) is being obtuse.

No one is suggesting some sort of Beer U.S.S.R., but some basic consideration for others in purchase behavior would be nice. Not consideration for poor Mr. Plays With His Kids or Mrs. Hangs Out On The Couch On Black Friday, but consideration for the people who have legitimate roadblocks to accessing the beer at 6am on release day.

 

Completely agree. I think there were some extreme points a view/examples on either end of the argument and like most things there is a balance somewhere in the middle.

 

Stood in line for about 20 min with my father-in-law. Scored one 4 pack of BCBS along with one Coffee and one Barleywine. I am hoping to trade a BCBS for a Heady Topper. Didn't get a Vanilla, but the Barleywine is my favorite of the three.

 

Ah, yes, a very simple concept. Do unto others... it's positively Christian.

I disagree. As you note above, it's a simple concept of doing unto others. And yet many of these same people - perhaps you, based on the tone of your response - are the sort of uppity beer snobs who lord their superiority. That you don't see hypocrisy in being that sort of person and then spouting "share freely" in shaming posts, then I'm not sure how to draw that connection in a more direct and straight-forward way.

I'm really glad you're here to point out when I am confused. Thank you for that. So, it's selfish to spend all day tracking down a coveted beverage, putting time and energy into a pursuit, because it takes away from those without the interest in doing the same. And you believe this is not rooted in a socialist philosophy?

I'm not defending anyone who changes clothes or games the system. But the people who are critical of the original poster in this thread have no idea if he did that, or busted his hump, or really any of those circumstances. They see volume and make assumptions in the negative. My responses in this thread are really in reaction to that "shaming from on high/"

And that's a tough one. You're right - the guy who had to work the day after Thanksgiving is tough out of luck. If that guy is complaining because he expected the beer to be waiting for him after his shift, then I would engage that guy in discussion. But he isn't. Instead you're here, with your allotment, arguing that point for him. If you were that guy, instead of the guy that you are, I'd probably feel some sad feels for him. But in the end, it's unfortunate, but that's life. That guy shouldn't expect the world to adjust to his life circumstances.

It seems almost silly that your argument seems to boil down to that exact point.

Meh, what do you want. It's Thanksgiving weekend. I'm feeling lazy.

 

To be fair, The Golden Rule pre-date Christianity.

 

Beer store opened at 10:30, I was there around 11 and got two bottles of BCBS, which was the limit since they only got a case. Then went about my day. Let the amateurs run around town hunting an ABInBev beer, I'm too old (32) for that shit.

 

Waited on line from about 9 am till 2pm when the bud truck pulled up to some cheers. I was set , local distributor that not a lot of people knew was going to get the vanilla and I was one of the first on line. Got a tip from a good man, thanks Joe! I was told we could buy 2 bottles of vanilla and a 4 pak of coffee and barley. I watched them unload the coffe and barley and about 10 cases of bcbs and a 6 cases of lolita . You had to buy a BOTTLE of lolita for every vanilla you wanted. As we waited I noticed they were not unloading the vanilla. Then I saw the owner and driver argueing and that continued for another 30 min.Long story short they werent allocated any vanilla and the 2 cases on the truck were for another smaller store. I asked the driver where he was heading ( 4 blocks away) grabbed my coffee s and headed to the other store where I saw them unload a case of the vanilla. I Walked in , no line, and saw the case sitting there . asked them how long I had to wait till them scanned it in and they said there were not selling that day. So close but so far and such a waste of time! ended up finding some backyard rye and some coffee so it ended up being an over all success!

 

Not sure what to think of this.. We had a rep (apparently a GI/ABinbev products rep) tell us in line that unfortunately sales are way down on regular GI year rounders, and all our state got was regular BCBS. So if you want the "good" stuff, buy the year rounders, and you may be rewarded next year with variants etc... ( By all accounts from other stores, and the apparent 4-8 bottle limit, it wasn't as bad as other regions).

I personally felt offended.. I'm about to spend $25 on a 1 four pack limit of your product, and you're talking this crap?

In short, the first shop has done it right for years now. I love these guys... A couple miles up the road is a Total Wine.. I actually saw the rep there getting his allotment.. I shoulda said something.. I will be regretful for the next 362 days. (at any other store, he may be known as a normal consumer. More power to him to pick up the $44 dollars wortk of BCBS. I do appreciate that part. At the same time, I don't see him buying the regulars lol)

Dude was buying up his allotment of BCBS at TW.. God forbid he buys from the shop he was talking crap at. But I guess either way, limitations exist and he did leave some 4 packs for someone else.

I'm kinda over it. But then again, That is the WRONG thing to say to someone who is about to drop $80-$100 in overall beer sales to that shop (they released some other goodies). That rep needs to be shown his place ASAP imho. He thinks he's coming off as informative. But it comes off as condescending. I may skip some releases from this place for awhile.

 

Yes, the topics are connected by a very basic concept of treating others decently. But you're the one drawing uninformed associations between "uppity beer snobs" (I guess I'm uppity for the same reason I'm a "whiner"--for having an opinion) who, I guess, lord their beer knowledge over people and someone having an unfavorable opinion of some of the behavior that surrounds these limited release beers.

I suppose it would be hypocritical to suggest that people be considerate of others in purchasing habits while treating people poorly in other ways. But you've yet to demonstrate any actual relationship between people who are critical of those purchase habits and these other unsavory behaviors. It's just a way of deflecting--you question the argument without actually offering a response to the basis for it.

You've mentioned the effort required a couple times now. The effort an action requires is irrelevant to whether or not it is selfish. Selfish action often times require a great deal of effort.

To answer your question simply: yes. Doing something you want to do with the knowledge that the more you do it, the fewer other people can do it might as well be a textbook definition of selfish. Everyone is selfish to some degree. I've not argued that people should be completely altruistic at all times or anything close to it. I'm suggesting that people could stand to be *less* selfish.

You're right. We don't know for sure how the OP came into the number of bottles he did. But I still think it's reasonable to want people to self limit. If the only people who struck out were people who goofed off or had to work that would be one thing. However, it's common for people who do just as much work hunting around town driving from store to store waiting in lines to strike out as well. You assume there is a 1:1 relationship between working to find a beer and finding it. If that were the case then I would agree--get what you "earn" and don't give it a second thought. But given that even people who work hard miss out I don't think it's unreasonable to expect people to self limit to some degree.

For starters, see my above point about your narrow assumptions with regards to people who miss out. But more to the point, I'm not expecting you to feel any sads for anyone. I'm just making an argument for why it might be a good idea for people to behave differently than they do when it comes to purchasing these limited release beers. I don't need to have been one of the people who missed out have an opinion on the matter.

It's just incredibly amusing that you're the dude sharing his opinion about why it's so annoying for all these people have these whiny opinions about things. There's a difference between expecting the world to adjust to one's circumstances and arguing that, as a general rule, people could be more considerate when it comes to these types of things.

 

As the original person @MrExit23 quoted, I figured I should say something. Not only did you assume a lot from what I said, but you then set up a straw man that @LambicPentameter has graciously clarified and defended.

The point quoted above reveals the heart of what I meant. In no way did I imply that this was what OP did. In fact, in my mind I was responding to many of the other people that mentioned changing clothes and the ones who knew the right people and got more allotment. Though I am not a fan of what OP did no matter how he got them, I am not going to argue with you. It's beer for God's sake.

And now *hopefully* back to more cool stories about people who got some awesome beer.

 

I'm struggling to figure out what he said that you found offensive. It seems pretty straight forward and informative to me. They allocate their beers according to the strength of the customer base. If you want better distribution, especially of their more precious brews, buy more of their beer.

Say they had one bottle of Ambrosia BCBS (ambrosia being hard to come by they could only afford to make one). They plan to direct mail it to one person. Should they choose me who never buys their beer or should they look at their best customers and choose one?

 

I got three 4 packs of regular.. No variants but VA didnt get much if any of those anyway. Sending one of the 4 packs to my buddy in Ohio since they get royally screwed by ABV. Had the regular and barleywine on tap to close the night out so I feel fortunate.

 

Went to store #1 that opened at 9, got there at 8:30 and was 5th in line.
Their specials were BCBS, a handful of KBS from this year, and 4 bottles of Thomas Hardy Ale '94. I passed over the KBS because I already have a bottle I've been aging since it came out, and it was incredibly underwhelming when I had it fresh for the first time. I also passed over the BCBS because they only got a case, there were a ton of people, and I figured I could get it somewhere else. I did get one of the Thomas Hardy Ales though which I'm really happy about. Not sure if I'll age it to 25 years or save it for a special occasion or just drink it.
Then went to store #2 which opened at 11 (one hour 15min away from store #1), got in line at 10:15 and there were 15 people ahead of me. This store had one single case of BCBS and a single case of the barleywine (which I've never even seen before), but they had a 2 each per person limit, and every single one of the first 12 people in line took both bottles, so no one else got any. I was really disappointed, especially about the barleywine, because my area gets scant amounts of the stout itself, so even seeing any of the variants is incredible. They also had some bottles of BA Narwhal but I already picked one up from another store so I just shopped around for some consolation prizes (even the stuff they had last time I was there that I wanted to get was gone...Triple Bock and North Coast Old Stock '11) and left.
I have a line out to get one bottle of BCBS...hopefully it works because otherwise it'll be yet another year I miss it completely.
I envy those in big cities who can walk into their local bottleshop and carry out armloads of all the rare variants...out here in the boondocks we have to fight over the single-case allotment of the stout that the store might get.

 

Heh, little bit.