Night Shift Barrel Society 2015

Worked for me. Thanks for the quick fix @masterob8

 

Just a friendly reminder to current 2015 members, sign ups for 2016 have started today. Current members have 2 weeks to renew. Then on October 1 we open up NSBS sales to the general public. Don't procrastinate! Thanks all for the continual support and allowing us to create some tasty barrel aged treats for you. Cheers!

 

Any idea on how many NSBS memberships could be open to the general public this year? Thanks @masterob8

 

Tough to predict as it depends on what membership level people select and how many current members renew. We have 2,000 bottles available (per release). Last year that worked out to 1,200 members but if everyone gets the Cellar Master level then we will only have 500 members. To add more to the challenges of predicting, last year about 50% of members renewed. So if that holds true and the distribution of membership level stays the same for this year we will have around 600 memberships for sale to the general public.

 

@masterob8 has there been any discussion about having an option for current members that is beer only? I like the swag and all, but after a few years not as interested in getting more shirts and glassware. Any talks about offering a membership at a slight discount that excludes the swag?

 

Looks like there is a price increase this year (about 7-15% depending on the level you purchase). I didn't expect that

 

This would make my renewal a much easier decision as well...

 

Totally understand. We view the swag as part of what makes the society a society. It's completes the package and is a source of pride for many members. We keep the swag different every year so that you aren't stuck with the same shirt and glassware. We also try to keep the cost low for the swag ($35) and let the beer be the star. Logistically it also makes things complicated to manage on the backend if we remove the swag option for some people. Hopefully, the swag is not a deterrent for you.

Yes, a slight increase in price. We have changed the price of the bottles from $15 to $17. After 3 years of keeping the price the same we needed to raise the price a bit to cover the escalating cost of producing barrel aged beers. The price of oak barrels and the cost to ship them has nearly tripled since we started the barrel society. We also "lose" more beer in process (transferring, angel share, blending, lost to trub/fruit, packaging loss, etc) and never really accounted for that in our costs. So the small price change is to account for the increase in costs. More info can be found at the bottom of our Barrel Society FAQ Page.

 

when and how does one put in for a membership request?

 

I don't know if you feel like elaborating on this, but I fail to see how it'd be more complicated to have a list of folks who want beer only vs. folks who just want the "whole package." I use my glasses quite often and I wear my t-shirt, but I don't need/want more of those.

You mark off when people pick up their glasses/t-shirts, I assume, so you're not giving out duplicates of the stuff. You couldn't just cross off the members at the beginning who don't want swag as if they'd already picked it up? I assume there's probably a good markup on this stuff that helps offset rising costs as well, but I don't know anything about your supplier in those areas, obviously.

If there was a "no swag" option, I'd renew in a heartbeat. As it is, I still might, but it's a tougher decision for me when the beer is valued at $119 and I'm shelling out $160.

 

We will have them for sale on our web stores starting October 1st. Until then check out our FAQ : http://night-shift-brewing.myshopify.com/pages/2016-barrel-society-faq]

Sure, in its basic sense its a list which check marks. But in actuality its a lot more to manage than that. We have a full time staff member whose primary role is managing the barrel society. Dozens of emails a day of people asking to adjust and change their memberships, people breaking, losing, or needing to exchange swag. For example, we offered the option last year for people to get Barrel Society hoodies. We didn't do that this year because it was more trouble than it was worth. The last variations in memberships the better. Trust me its easier said than done.

 

Couldn't this be resolved with a policy that states "Try on your shirt before leaving NSB, no exchanges." And if people lose or break their glass wear, how is that the breweries problem? Seems like people need to be more accountable and not look to NSB with every single issue they encounter. Can you even change your membership after initial purchase???

I have no idea as to how the logistics go into all of the work you guys must have at the brewery, but like the above post states, it doesn't seem like that much extra to have 1 list of members who want swag and 1 list of members who don't. Just my .2

 

I decided not to renew mine. This was my first and only year as an NSB barrel society member and so far I've been very underwhelmed. I thought the beers so far have been very average and the only real beer I've liked from NSB was the BA El Lechedor and that wasn't a barrel society beer

 

I'm not going to renew either but it's not at all a comment on the quality of the barrel society for me. It's just that for my palate the only style of barrel aged beer I really get excited about is bourboned stouts, and NS (admirably) doesn't just focus on those. As alluded to above, if there was society aimed at something along the lines of barrels of Lechedor I'd be all over that every year.

Night Shift will still be getting my $170 (and more), I'll just be spending it on things other than the barrel society

For whatever its worth, I agree with those who've stated a preference for a returning-member-non-swag-version of things. If I was going to sign back up I'd find the swag redundant since, as much as I love my NS tulip glasses, I really already have too much beer related paraphernalia in the house as it is.

 

I'd be fine if that was the response -- it's part of the package, take it or leave it, it helps with the cost of stuff at the brewery because of the markup on glassware/t-shirts, etc.

But I just disagreed with the complicated to manage on the backend statement. Obviously, it's just checkmarks on whether the person has picked up swag or a beer. So now you immediately have fewer people picking the swag up, which someone has to manage. You have fewer people breaking their glasses and asking for new ones; getting the wrong size t-shirt, gumming up the works in other ways. It seems like it'd make it *easier* to manage, like it was when they got rid of the hoodies. I know nothing about how it truly works and Rob is the master (as evidenced by his screenname!), but it was just difficult for me to figure out.

My thing is just I already have five Night Shift glasses and two t-shirts, and I literally don't have room for more swag. I'd give it away to friends, which inherently raises the cost of beers for me to about $23/each. It just simply factors into my decision making. If I don't renew and spend $160 on BS beers, I'll spend it on some Santilli, Whirlpool, Morph, Single Hop Series stuff and hopefully the Presidential DIPAs. It's all good.

 

I'm not renewing because I am in PA and both proxies and travelling a few times per year can get expensive. The price increase doesn't help that either. I understand why it was done though. It would have been nice to see a price increase for new people and the same for returning members.

 

@masterob8 Any ETA or details on the 2 remaining releases for 2015?

 

Sure thing!

Release #6 is getting packaged tomorrow with a release in early December. The beer is a Belgian Dark Strong ale aged in both bourbon and red wine barrels. The beer was conditioned on sour cherries, cocoa nibs and coffee beans, 8%.

Release #7 is a wine barrel aged saisons of sorts fermented with multiple strains of Brett and aged on Blackberries. Hoping to have this out by mid December.

Cheers!

 

New Night Shift Barrel Society e-mail out today: Rubens -- a Belgian-style dark ale -- will be ready for pickup at noon on Monday, Dec. 7, and it will go on the Barrel Society draft line at the same time.

Extra bottles also go on sale at 2 p.m. today. Can't remember the last time extra bottles were sold before people actually had a chance to try the beer, but maybe it's something new they're trying...?