Bottle logic's dark star November

I had it last year, it was alright

Surprising what a little vanilla can do to a decent ba imp stout tho!

 

I actually liked last years and still have a couple of bottles left (opened one a couple of weeks back). Not as good as FO by far, but still a good BA stout. I will say it's probably a LITTLE overpriced IMHO, but I'll still try for some of them this year based on the prior version.

Side note, funny how last years "languished" on the shelves while this years will probably sell out immediately due to the FO hype.

 

There are few beers that I would voluntarily put myself in the worst traffic of the year for, Darkstar November is not one of then. I don't know what people are thinking when they plan stuff like this.

 

2PM the Wednesday before Thanksgiving? No thanks.

 

Also, it's pretty obviously a cash grab but I'm tired of this whole "come to our beer dinner where you can buy two cases!" thing.

 

Hey guys,

Thanks for the direct customer feedback that this forum can provide. We really value your thoughts and opinions.
I just wanted to comment on the thoughts about our dinner. I understand where the opinion is coming from and I assure you that the dinner really isn't a cash grab. We actually lost money on the Fundamental dinner vs. just selling the beer in the tasting room as we value working with local chefs who have innovative menu ideas.

The "buy two cases" advantage to dinner is directly driven by customer demand. Last dinner, we offered unlimited case purchases, and purchases were far stronger than anticipated, so we had to drop it down to two cases this go round. Sorry if that isn't being seen as a positive aspect and we are constantly trying to work with our customers to provide them with a positive experience.

This dinner was driven by the ideas of a young experimental chef who wanted to work on a protein-forward menu that we felt would pair nicely with some of our fall seasonal beers. It sold out in about 10 minutes, and we're just working on making it a memorable experience for everyone joining us.

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

I appreciate the response. I understand wanting to reward folks who drop the money to come to the dinner. And being that it sold out in 10 minutes, you're doing something right. I just don't love the idea that someone who pays for the ticket to dinner gets automatic access to six times the amount of bottles you can get if you stand in line. I'm sure folks who bought tickets would disagree with me but just my take.

And for the record, I liked this beer a lot last year. But it sounds like I won't get my hands on any by walking into Mr. K's a month or two after the release.

 

Two cases just seems like one case too many. And what was up with the password on the BPT dinner for a while. When I tried to buy tickets at exactly 6pm and refreshed, it gave me the drop down but by the time I punched in 2 and clicked purchase they were allocated in baskets/sold out.

A nice gesture would have been to give those who supported you back at the previous dinner before FO blew up your spot and during those times when Ideation sat on the shelves by offering them first crack at doing the dinner again. Though I'm probably saying that since I was one of those at the last dinner. And honestly, at around $20 per bottle, offering 2 cases really is too much. One case limit per person at the dinner seems like it's over kill in itself.

Seems like a lot of folks are using the dinner more for the ability to buy a shit ton of trade bait and less about actually wanting to try the food that is paired with beer/experimental dishes. Sort of burying the lead in that, if you ask me.

I still have a couple of bottles of Darkstar from last year and I thought it was a tasty beer. Here's hoping I can land a couple this year, but probably going to be more trouble than it's worth given how much you guys have blown up because of FO.

 

Agreed, tried to get tickets to dinner but sold out while in cart. Assuming had to deal with the password thing. And I have to go home for thanksgiving, so slim chance for me to get any. Kind of disappointed there isn't like a bpt for like 500 bottles or something as I always want to support you guys, but sometimes you make it hard.

 

I miss being able to buy 5 five cases of FO...

 

Tickets sold out in under 30 seconds for me, I had 2 tickets and went to add then poof! Sold out. I kept my F5 steady for 10 minutes with no luck of it reappearing

I remember Mr Ks sitting on bottles of Darkstar last year.

 

Again, thanks for all the feedback. We really do take it seriously!

We plan to do BPT/online sales again when we can guarantee a good experience for our guests. As some of you mentioned, even the dinner sales had some issues, and that was only for 40 tickets. BPT could not guarantee us what we needed to hear to move forward with an online sale for this release.

One other thing to mention: Darkstar November and FO are totally different recipes, with different grain bills, and different hop additions. Darkstar November also uses rye and molasses, and FO is not Darkstar with vanilla - they are just very different stouts.

Thanks for reading!

 

Is the main issue still that they require it to be an event? Because BPT has worked perfectly for Modern Times in all their releases.

How many seats were there for the last dinner? Seemed that lasted without selling out for a couple of days. And yeah, I think FO really put the spotlight on you guys, but just seems like 40 tickets wasn't even worth putting on BPT and could have been sold through the tasting room.

Also, doing the "beer" math. 40 tickets = 80 potential cases being sold for that event. Meaning a potential 960 bottles could be sold to 40 people if they buy their max.

Where's these bottles coming out of in terms of the 4,000 produced? Just seems like giving 40 people the ability to buy 1/3rd of the production run is comical.

 

Bottle Logic is giving us three opportunities besides the dinner to purchase this delicious beer and we are still finding ways to complain. I loved this beer last year so i wait can't to purchase it next Wednesday.

 

2014 Darkstar November sat on shelves for months.......

2015 Darkstar November will be sold from the delivery truck before it has a chance to touch a shelf....

2015 Darkstar November was aged next to FO for 3 months, increasing its trade value by 300%!

 

You say complain, I say constructive criticism towards improving a system that they're clearly asking for feedback on.

But by all means, just lump us into "complainers" and lap up every ounce you can without providing feedback.

I think the issue here is that they're offering three opportunities that, while doesn't effect me, does effect a whole lot of others. First off, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and even the Friday after are pretty tough days for most. It's either a last minute purchasing of food/preparing/travel day or for that last group, they're traveling and will be away from bottle logic, so in person on one of the most busiest of traffic days is a tough sell.

Then black friday? Come on, if you're not traveling/away, then it's just a perfect storm of other stuff going on that will make getting to the brewery very difficult for the release.

Then the distribution... ha ha ha, can we get into how bad that was run for FO? Truck chasing had a new definition because of FO's distribution - and that was when it wasn't announced before hand on the locations and had a line already selling out the beer before it even got there.

I get there's still growing pains or user interface issues with BPT and them seeing eye to eye. But if there was ever a release date window to do a BPT and allow a bit of a window of pick up, it's around the time when folks are most likely going to be away with family.

And again, how is it not a little stacked against the odds when 40 can buy 1/3rd of the production of a beer. If you set the standards to even being twice the allocation folks who line up for it on that Wednesday and allow dinner patrons to buy 8 bottle limit, that would still only be 320 bottles at most that would be eaten into. Opposed to 960 bottles potentially going bye bye on that dinner.

 

Agreed. Yes people wait in line for BCBS, but typically that is by their home or even on the way back from home. The holiday is just a hard time to do a release. Beachwood for example released tovarish last year right after Christmas. It was a horrible release that was timed around a holiday. I understand the thought that in doing this, a brewery could possibly weed out the non real supporters of the brewery, however people such as myself that always go home for the holidays so during that time I cannot support my regular places.

I actually think they need to do distribution through someone else. It would cut down on truck following. Also, next release you guys do, seriously should maybe sit down with a few of us. @Earlycsquid would certainly be the one I would choose.

 

buncha bitter codger's in here.

 

Wasn't it released the week of thanksgiving last year?