Jackie O's (2018)

Anyone know if wood ya honey is gonna be brewery only?

 

The bartender we were talking to said there was ~500 cases, so I'm guessing it will see some distro.

 

Cellar Cuvée 10 was a show-stealer for me. Truly a beautiful beer. Weird word to use, but that's how I can best describe it. As always, yet another amazing release.

 

The Cellar Cuvee 10 was a massive dessert beer for me. Dynamo Fuzz was just fantastic, it popped so quickly both days, glad it was the first beer I ordered Friday. It was gone when I went to order a glass this morning. Anyway, that was my third visit to JO's and it was as fantastic as I've come to expect. Strangely, maybe, my favorite times of the last couple days were spent at the Tasting Room, wasn't busy at all the two times we dropped by, super laid back time. We got the last two BB Black Maples just by chance today, didn't even know it was there but we were hipped by an employee in the parking lot. So yeah. The weekend worked out pretty wonderfully. Amazing taps, good folks, relaxed pace...no complaints here.

 

2015 BA Brick Kiln has made it up to Toledo FYI

 

Had a great time and can't wait until the next one. The nutted Brick Kiln was out of this world and the Mandala Citramosa might have been my favorite beer of the weekend. I was so glad I was able to get another pour yesterday morning.

 

Heard a bunch of people started waiting in line at like 2 o'clock. People who showed up the morning of the event got pages as well. Told y'all to relax.

Holy crap those bagels were awesome. I drank so much it was ridiculous. Almond Apparition, Fuzz, Oro. Chugged Rickiritas at some point in the afternoon.

Radler forever.

 

Mentioned this to a few people, but Oro was way better this time. December was good, but too much heat for me. This batch was perfectly balanced and awesome.

Great time and got to meet a couple of you solid dudes. Wish I was able to drink more on Saturday, but I had to drive us back to Cleveland, plus the shots of bourbon we started slamming after the Cavs lost sorta ruined my morning appetite for alcohol. Still put a few tasters down and loved them.

Well done to the whole crew!

 

Lesson learned for me. I didn't realize how long each month would take, so I got there way too early. It seemed like every person ordering their allotment would talk with the guy handing out receipts for 5 minutes each. The entire year could have been handed out in 2 hours tops if people would've moved faster. Most of the time the cashier had nobody and the guy giving out the allotments was piling up 4 packs because people kept gabbing with that guy.

I did have Oro Negro for the first time and it was awesome. Next time I'll get there mid afternoon if I have a late calendar page.

 

Hahaha, dammit @beace ...how dare you enjoy the party and fraternizing with the people that drove from all over to enjoy your beers and take a few home?!

 

He is way too nice dammit. He needs to take more tips from the Super 8 guy on how to interact with customers.

 

Never said he wasn't a nice a guy. He's a super nice guy. It just extremely slowed the line down for people who didn't have plans to be there half the day. Like I said I didn't know, and I'll adjust accordingly next time.

 

B-RAD (@beace) has achieved rock star status and should start treating the riff raff in attendance like the peasants they are. Full disclosure, I too would like the line to move faster but I'll take what I can get.

 

Ha. More or less what I meant, while being facetious, was that Brad and Art work hard to make a great experience for everyone that comes to these parties. Brad's an amazing brewer and of course those in line are going to want to say hello, ask questions, gush effusive about the beers, whatever...and it's a laid back scene. I've been to three releases and feel like a relative JO's novice compared to many of the people that have been going to these since '09 or '10. So a lot of these folks likely consider Brad a friend (or at least acquaintance) and may not get much of another chance to say hey and catch up real quick other than the line (plus everyone is drinking, so...). It's definitely a different environment than most "bottle releases" but that's probably also what I enjoy most about it. Being from 4 hours away, we block out a couple days and just go and relax and have fun. I understand those from nearer locales may not want or need to block off time like that, but for us it's a nice weekend trip and I hope that even as they grow, it doesn't change too much. I love Indy but there's nothing like that here.

 

I'm just an anti social scrub from Cleveland, but Brad always treats me like gold when I get down to JO's. He is a big part of why I keep going back, even if you set aside the beer.

 

I think it would make sense then for them to pay someone $50 to hand out those sheets all day, and then Brad can mingle around the entire place without worry the entire day. That would make everybody happy I would think.

Just some constructive criticism.

It makes business sense though, as the longer they drag it out, the more beer they probably sell at the bar.

 

I can see the frustration if you aren't prepared for how it works, but just keep it in mind for the future. They want you to relax and enjoy yourself. Sure, they want you to buy more beer, but is that really a bad thing? If people really don't want to hang there that long, plan on around 3-3.5 months per hour and plan accordingly. We didn't show up until around noonish and it worked perfectly, as we got to enjoy a couple more hours drinking and eating.

 

Yep, I certainly will for next time. You never know how something new to you is until you experience it for the first time.

 

First release for me and I have to say it was one of the smoothest releases I've been to. Some may complain about how long it took to get to your month but I like the way they run things. Instead of waiting all day for your allocation you can hang out with your friends and drink some awesome beer on tap. Brad, Clark, and Liam were awesome to talk to and were so happy to talk about beer with me. My stand out beers for the weekend were the Brick Kiln Nuts and Dry Hopped Berliner but I definitely did not have a beer that I didn't enjoy. I can't wait to go to the next one. Also big shout out to @radio2525 for helping me out this weekend! I was told that this would be one of the better bottle releases and I was not disappointed! I never thought I would find a brewery that would challenge The Bruery for my favorite but Jackie O's has definitely hit that status for me. You guys are awesome! I can't wait to introduce my friends from back home to the great beers you brewed for this release.

 

Brad also intentionally holds up the line so people aren't bunched up by the register as space is a little tighter over there. Like he said before the bottle sales started, it's about the taps and the party, the bottles are just a bonus. Don't change a thing BC. Couldn't have imagined a better time than this weekend! And good luck to Clarke in whatever the future brings. That man will be a welcomed addition anywhere.