Modem Times

Just want to add to the league reboot discussion:

I would love to see that happen and would love a chance to join. I've been hesitant to join brewery clubs since all of them are over an hour from where I live and work. In addition, as much as I want to support craft beer In California and everywhere, San Diego is my hometown and the scene that I really want to be a part of. I've basically been waiting for a brewery I love like MT to do exactly this. I am extremely excited at the prospect.

My hopes for a reboot would be plenty (at least quarterly) of in person events for those who live close enough to consistently visit the brewery. I love me some whales to take home, but I do most of my beer drinking at bars and breweries, and love beer events more so than bottle shares. I love the idea that Jacob mentioned of it being more of a social club for people who love MT beer rather than just a way for people to obtain exclusive beer. I think discounts on festivals and beer (even a small percentage) would be huge. Lastly, and to me most importantly, as often as possible I'd love the ability to bring a guest to events. I rarely go out for beer without my wife but we wouldn't drink enough bottles at home to justify 2 memberships so it would be a bummer and a deterrent if I couldn't bring her along to most of the events. Even if there was some sort of companion pass to purchase that allowed her to come to events but didn't include bottles that would be great.

My worry is that there will be so many people interested that those of us who would (and do) come the brewery on a regular basis will get shut out by the as Jacob said "Make with the Whales" types. I shouldn't complain as the whale hunters have as much a right to membership as I do, I've just come to love MT to the point that not getting a membership would be a tough pill to swallow. Regardless, I think it's a great idea.

Also, I need Modem Tones, that is all.

 

on a buzzkill note: opened a MP Tennessee Whiskey. sadly it was a drain pour. and i'm not a quick-to-drainpour type

despite the carb issue i was able to enjoy the rye. this was undrinkable

 

I opened all 13 BA Monsters Park variants with friends over a five day span in early September (before the new Rye variant) and Tennessee Whiskey was in last place by a long shot. Not terrible but most of the other treatments are so fantastic that it lacks in comparison. Disappointing, but they've more than redeemed themselves with every BA MP release since then.

 

What a coinkydink - I got to bottle taste a TW MP at Ale Arsenal last Friday. Carbonated or not, I didn't think it was that good. I think it was the whiskey barrel itself. Tad bit of smoothness added, but that was it.

 

I'm getting ready to do a massive line up of Monsters Parks as well with all that have been released. I guess I should just expect that one to be the dud of the bunch.

 

I just got a Fruitlands on draft in SF. What a tasty beer.

 

would be willing to contribute to this share if youre interested.

 

Count me in on that MP share.

 

Yeah, I snagged one down at Pizza Port Ocean Beach a couple weekends ago. Really bummed I never got a bottle. They ran out SO quickly around here -- but at least got to check it out anyway. Would drink that all summer long.

 

If I could offer a couple of small suggestions here, for a bit of a different perspective...

I think what any League member would want (in addition to EB1's excellent list, of course) is to be treated the same as any other League member, and to know that you're looking out for us in that way. For example, it would suck to have super-limited beers with one bottle or less per member, and then, as a member, to go through a whole year and completely miss out on ALL of those ultra-limited ones, like because of random luck of the draw or a too-slow "F5 trigger finger". So if you had something extremely, extremely limited like that, or even/especially *multiple* super-limited things like that, you might somehow track them or otherwise implement protocols that assure they get spread out to as many different people as possible (like EB1's later suggestion-- two available at the same time, you can only purchase one out of the two).

I would also say one way to think about some of this stuff is that a good club includes benefits that mix between those for super-local patrons (e.g. Members Only Events, Discounts at MT) and those for far-away admirers (e.g. long pickup time windows). So I think this is why I *don't* necessarily agree with EB1's suggestion that super-limited beers would do well to be served at Members Only events-- to me, that clearly skews strongly towards super-local patrons to receive the most benefit. I absolutely concede that there are great business reasons to give super-local patrons the most benefits in your club. I'd just warn that you should try to consider also making things that are geared specifically towards your "far-away admirers" so that they don't get the feeling they are missing out too much on the experience of being a member.

And let me also just add that, for my money, some of the coolest things you could offer to League members are not even offered (or seldom offered) by other clubs... and I'd put them in sort of general categories of "Access" and "Interactivity." There are a whole bunch of beer events you've seen (and even held) over the last several years along these lines-- events that sort of take attendees out of the element of a normal "beer festival" format, and instead allow a unique experience and even some more direct connection to the product. I'm talking about things like The Bruery's Black Tuesday Tournament(s) or Melange Blending Sessions, Lost Abbey's Barrel Night, and even the Mike Tonsmeire's Sour Beer Tasting that you guys held during the last NHC (or think of similar, interactive events that Firestone Walker, New Belgium, and even Bockor have done in the past). Modern Times is a unique brewery to offer a multitude of options along these lines (and in what I could envision as both large-scale and small-scale events) in that you have a wide range of beers, barrel-aged and non-barreled (and sour BA or non-sour BA), plus you have house-roasted coffee. I've been to a number of events like these over the years, and they remain some of the biggest "beer nerd highlights" of my time as a craft beer drinker.
I'd be happy to talk more at some point about some of those event possibilities or other member benefits ideas, Jacob, if you're interested. Hit me up.

 

uh-oh, get the spread sheet started.

 

I'll be the guy who asks if I can join a day before the event with my 2014 Black House.

 

As long as I can get in with my MEGA black house instead of froggys lame REGULAR black house....

 

i agree

 

That's the nice thing, i have every one, so no need to have folks chip in. Though once I figure out a date, I'll hit folks up who expressed that interest because... fuck trying to do this sort of tasting without a posse behind it.

 

Cracked a City of the Dead tonight that I was sitting on to see what happened. The astringency I got when fresh is gone. Still some coffee in the body. Finish has a roasty vanilla/caramel/banana bread flavor as opposed to more of the spirit and fruit I got when fresh. Very different beer but still enjoying it quite a bit.

 

id be interested in coming as well

 

ohhhhh you guys are going to get drunk Wish I lived closer to SD, so that I could survive such event and drive back home.

 

SD is a short 4 hour drive... Might be worth it for this crazy MT share.

 

Do you guys know if it's possible to get a trustee to pick up the bottles for you on a release? I want to buy the next beer on brown paper tickets, but live too far to pick it up.