Monkish Brewing

Okay, I guess my thinking is the difference between what they are doing now (300+ people showing up ALL at once) versus 300+ people spread throughout the one-day pickup window. I know I would let the initial rush get out of the way before making my way to pick up my cans, which you absolutely cannot do right now. Right now, you wait in line for hours and you might get your allotment, depending on the cutters that day, how they decide to do allotments as the line progresses, etc.

I think the complaint about the product selling out within minutes will always be there with online releases. As I mentioned before, I would rather that happen and me waste a minute of my time versus what might happen now. Then again, I might be just a young-old person that hates waiting in lines. I know this is an event for a lot of people, which is fine.

Storage/space - They store them now before they sell them out their gate. Same thing with online sale, people will just have the entire day to get their cans except it won't be all at once.

Time - Just do Saturday business hours then, would be the same thing except it wouldn't be everyone trying to buy them all at once.

Employees - They do two employees right now for the entire release, they could do two at first for the initial rush and then switch to one possibly once that dies down.

As far as the e-mails, complaints, not being able to pick up etc., screw them. We're supposed to be adults picking up an adult beverage. You can't make it? Sorry, you shouldn't have bought it online either the day before or that day. One way to make it fair for everyone is a hard line rule, no exceptions. You aren't special.

 

I agree. They have been making adjustments each release. I sent them a DM on Saturday asking them to cut wrist bands this time, since last time it wasn't done soon enough. That definitely helped. Monkish shouldn't have to police people but I also shouldn't have to police them either. Online sales cuts that part out.

Props to Monkish though, I think they are improving each time and like I said, regardless of what they do, unless they jack up prices 200%, they are going to sell out.

Never mind, they would probably still sell out.

 

Didn't even touch on the bigger issue. The mobile canning unit isn't by any means invisible. Neither is the stacks of empty cans. That stuff takes space and if you're throwing a party around it, it's going to have some trouble in taking it apart and leaving/setting it up and making sure it does its job right.

Do you really want to throw in an element of unknown like a bunch of people waiting with drooling mouths for the cans to come out of the line? It's a bit of a nerve racking thing on its own.

The current method is working for them the best without dragging a pick up window out through out the day. Even places like HPB, when you buy the can and you get the ticket, Bob wants you to pick it up within a reasonable time from the pick up table cause, you know, having us wait around for when you're good and ready through out a day isn't the best use for the workers.

The first one is easier for the buyer. The second one is a lot easier for the seller. And that's why it's working this way for them. They rip off the band-aid super fast and get on with business on Saturday with all the cans out of there, no concern about product left behind or having to move - regardless if it'll sell in 0.001 seconds, it's still adding something more to do.

 

I would argue that it's not 100% easy on the seller. Henry would love to get cans into everyone's hands as quickly and easily as possible. Yes, it's easier to sell cans as fast as possible but then you have all these other issues to deal with (for someone like Henry who really cares) like line cutting, muling, people flipping cans for profit online, people missing out on cans. Let alone the headache of people drinking openly in line and leaving trash behind, etc.

 

Yes, but for someone who takes complaint seriously it turns into more work to have to deal with. Not every complaint is invalid. Sometimes a compliant can turn into valuable feedback but now you have to sift through more complaints to find valid ones.

No one likes waiting in lines.

Let me repeat. They have one walk in cooler where they are barely able to store 2-3 large pallets of cans. On Saturday around 1145am, they move the entire pallets of beer from the back area of the brewery to the front roll up gate entrance. The cooler is all the way in the back past all the tables full of people, the brewing equipment, all their barrels....It is extremely inconvenient to have to go back and forth to fulfill orders throughout the day.

 

I gotchya, I understood walk-in cooler space but didn't think about them having to store them in there the whole time to prevent them from degrading in quality. Makes more sense now.

 

If you talk to Henry, the brewer/owner and all-around nice guy, you will come away with a very different impression. There are no easy solutions, and there is no approach that will make everybody happy, but he actually does care about doing things in a way that minimizes inconvenience for customers. Whether you believe this or not is up to you, I guess, but in my experience what you say is plain wrong.

 

My guess is it's the 30-40% markup from the distributor, plus another 30-40% markup from the retailer that are the prevailing factors here....

If you can make all of that money yourself by selling directly to consumers, why the hell wouldn't you?

 

With all this intelligent discussion and these constructive ideas, it makes one wonder what other problems in the world you guys could solve. Perhaps you could have prevented that gorilla from being killed for instance

 

We can't fix stupid. =P

 

always sell direct as much as you can. That's the way to make the most money possible. Just like wineries.

 

Back to the beer:

Monkish Facebook page says Masumoto peaches & nectarines delivered today for a fruited saison. Exciting news, and looking forward to trying whatever this future brew may be.

 

Spock one still on tap. Tasting pretty good

 

Not only make the most money that way but also control how you want to distribute your product and keep the relationship closer to the consumer. On release days Henry is out there moving cases around and selling the beer directly to people that have been waiting to buy his beers. Afterwards he hangs around and talks to people. That's much different from just sending stuff to a bunch of stores. From conversations with him he wants to keep it that way - someone manageable but stay in control of his product. They've tried the "using a distibutor" route and I don't think they've been too happy with how it's worked out.

 

Are they just going to keep making up new beers and never repeat any?

 

Or are they the same or very similar just a different name...you know to keep the kids lining up for the new juice.

 

And the problem with that is?

 

I really enjoy the beers. But it's making it incredibly tough to visit on a Saturday at all, release or not.

Still, would prefer they were more successful than less, so guess better options are to go during the week if I (and maybe others) want to avoid big crowds and lines.

 

Didn't say it was problem. It's just interesting, don't see anyone else doing it.