Black Friday stories

I edited your above post to highlight my question, I am curious why you passed on picking up BCBS at your first location if it is the beer you wanted to get? I know you said there were a lot of people there and you wanted to spread the love but it seems you are a bit upset you may miss out now? Given the chatter in this thread about buying behavior I thought I would ask. Best of luck in your search.

 

Awesome bottle share in line at City Beer Store from 10pm to 9am, got my allotment and coffee+vanilla on tap, planned to hit up all the local Bevmos and WholeFoods for more Vanilla but was too drunk and passed out at my hotel until dinner time.

 

I like a beer. I do what I need to (without breaking a stores rules of line cutting, changing clothes for a second go around, etc) to get enough of said beer to enjoy it for as long as I want. Sometimes a friend says they would like a beer, so I do my best to get some for them too. End of story.

 

Apparently the real story of Black Friday is tons of people posting FTs of Prop and Vanilla and not bothering to respond to offers of exactly what they asked for...

Seriously people, if you don't want to trade your beers don't throw out FT posts hoping someone will just offer you Lente+KBBS in addition to what you asked for for your shelf turds...

 

I figured (wrongly) that I wouldn't have any trouble getting some at the second store I was going to, and I didn't want to deal with the crowd anymore, even though I was near the front of it. I may still get a bottle...but I may have shot myself in the foot trying to be nice. Everyone else I've dealt with has been selfish; maybe that's the only way to get anything.

 

I hear ya and thanks for the reply. I do think you can be nice and still get what you want, doesn't have to be one or the other. Though it does seem to be harder to do these days, especially with more and more people looking for these releases. Again best of luck.

 

It's been a couple days now since the Black Friday release of Bourbon County here in the twin cities. If I stumble across more of it in the upcoming weeks and I can afford it, I'm buying it. Call me selfish, but the stuff is delicious and I will gladly take more of it.

 

There's too many trade shoppers out there any more waiting for the highest possible return on beers. One of the reasons why I'm taking a break. I'm sure things will simmer down soon. GL!

 

If you stand in line for hours waiting to buy a beer you've successfully jumped the beer shark. Congrats!

 

Damn. Makes me want to move back to GR!

 

Yeah I don't know what Farral is really complaining about, but I'd say this year sucks so far, haven't gotten any but one bottle of the original, and every good store from last year has only gotten one case of the original and nothing else, and they were of course all sold out, this year's release bites the big one, seriously what the hell happened?

 

I went to my local store at about 2:00 pm when my son was napping. I walked in, looked around, and didn't see anything. I asked the beer manager if he knew if they were getting any BCBS this year. He said he should be getting it soon, but thought he might have some 2013's in the basement. I asked for those. He then came up with a 4-pack of the 2014 Stout and Barleywine and told me that it had just come in that morning. I asked if I could have two bottles of each, and he said sure. $28 for the four bottles. My story seems like an odd contrast to many others in this thread.

 

I get pretty bent at the stories of people outright gaming a system that was put in place to try and distribute rare beers in something of a fair fashion (changing clothes in the parking lot, apparently going back in naked according to one poster, getting mules to pick up beer, etc.,) - witnessed the mule game Friday morning myself when I went in to purchase my one 4 pack allotment.

Free market? Sure, I get it as well as anyone on here as I usually get lambasted for my "invisible hand" economic views. But this release plus a few more this past year (Hopslam is just a friggin' party......) has frustrated me enough (in both availability and growing tired of dicks) to finally leading me to a true free market alternative. Homebrewing WILL be a reality for me going forward. I already eliminated several restaurant dishes by learning to cook them myself, so beer will become my next area to master ( at least to my satisfaction).

With any luck and a little ingenuity, by the time Hopslam mania comes back around I'll already have a pretty decent palate slayer of my own sitting in my fridge. Then I can just sit back and enjoy the hype instead of diving in and hoping for my pittance.

 

To be clear, I do not advocate going into the store naked. It is far more effective to go in clothed, then disrobe while fixing the store employees with a steely glare.

I'm actually on the fence about some stuff. I do think rules should be followed. So something like changing clothes and going back in to trick them into selling to you twice does seem like very bad behavior. But, honestly, using mules really doesn't bother me. Those are people in line the same as anyone else. If I don't want a beer but agree to go in line and buy it because you want it (maybe you cannot make it, maybe we have a trade set-up, maybe you've promised me sexual favors from farm animals, who knows?), is it really the case the store should determine if I intend to drink the beer myself before selling it to me? I could construct the argument for a yes answer, but I don't personally agree with it.

 

just to contrast all the negativity...

got in line at 6:45 for an 8:00 opening. drank coffee and shot the shit with friends and strangers for an hour or so. everyone was super nice, and everything was orderly. got our allotment and moved on to other stores in the area. after hitting a total of three stores, we went to a WoB and tried them all on tap. had a great day.

 

I should have made myself a bit more clear on the mule thing - I was picking on the practice of sending others right back in once you've made your allotted purchase, which was what I witnessed Friday morning. I completely agree that if you are not able to make it but instead send someone else to make your purchase within the constraints of the store's rules, than no problem.

Your disrobing strategy on the other hand, that could grow legs......

 

On Black Friday, I picked up a 4-pack of regular BCBS at the only store in town that carries it. Without me knowing, my cousin (who knows I'm I big beer drinker/collector) went to the store the next day and got me another 4-pack. She even stopped by my house to drop it off. Score! As I was storing the bottles in my cellar, I noticed that the 4-pack she brought over was actually 2013 BCBS. Double Score! Not sure how or why, but I'm not complaining.

 

Two bottle limit here....not really worth the effort.

 

I brought my kiddo Bourbon County Hunting with me (after watching the local Christmas Parade). She had a blast! 2 stores, no lines, 4 - 4 packs of BCBS. No variants for us this year but still happy as it was a pretty effortless day! She tells me that when she gets older, shes going to be a beer hunter too.

 

We need more stories like this!