Monkish Brewing (October 2016)

Yep. I think only 1-2 releases sold out to people who weren't waiting at least 2 hours ahead, the others you could show up a hour before and get cans.

Hm.. wait 12 hours for 16 cans or wait 1 hour for 10 cans.. hmmm... decisions decisions.

 

in other news, Staves & Stones was fucking delicious. They need to bottle it. I was looking forward to Foggier Windows but was rather let down by it. It was still good, but nothing amazing

 

Totally agree with how awesome Staves & Stones is. I thought it was a notch above Same Tree in my opinion, which is amazing in it's own right. I wish people would understand how great their mix fermentation beers are.

 

Tried all 3 IPA's and while they were all pretty good, my favorite beer from my visit today was Staves And Stones.

Also if anyone is curious, they stopped growlers for Holla at Your Homeboy when I was there around 1pm today.

 

Since it seems that lining up is now effectively pointless since you're still getting the beer as late as 11 or so, wonder if Monkish gets rid of the lines altogether by making a rule against them at all. Could that be feasible? Just say no lining up, sales start at X time? Would obviously still sell out. But I could be missing a problematic side effect here (feel free to point it out).

 

Doesn't seem realistic. To enforce "no lining up before opening" they would have to not allow anyone onto the property before 12 (including parking lot). In effect people would just start a line on the street sidewalk, which Monkish could not control because it's public property.

 

This assumes any of them are in the sort of shape to run anywhere, but point taken.

 

i don't know, maybe Monkish should make it a competition. the bro makes it to the door first without throwing up a BT/burrito melange gets an extra 4-pack.

 

All they need to do is just announce it right when they're ready to sell. No advance notice. They did this with My First Canning Line DIPA where they announced sales about 15 minutes prior and there wasn't a line all evening. Show up, pick up 4 packs, chill after with a glass or two of what's on tap. No lines, no stress, and still sell out at the end of the night. Seemed like a win-win for everyone. They can even do this for weekend releases also.

As far as lines go, not sure how having more lines is generating more or maintaining hype at this point. The hype is already there regardless.

For full disclosure, I was one of the ones in line overnight for this most recent release (and yes I question my sanity but it was Foggier Window and it just tugged hard enough on the FOMO strings for me to decide to do it). No I don't partake in the bottle shares nor do I condone some of the behavior that occurs while in line - seeing one of the babies appear cold/pale during the night made me quite sad. I also don't bring mules nor do I ship any of my cans out.

 

If they don't do the whole surprise hour before opening thing, I think what they did was pretty solid in adjusting allotments based on around 9:30-10 line status. So get there at 2am or get there at 9:30, it's all the same allotment.

Will encourage people to just show up in the morning instead.

 

I don't think people are getting the hint.

 

First, we need to address the topic of lines overall. There haven't been any arguments, thus far, about their positive effects on culture/society. What do lines promote? They promote a culture which celebrates the consumption of alcohol on property beyond the boundary of the brewery and possibly into public zones, street littering, disregard for others (line-cutting, unpleasant behavior related to intoxication), and ignoring the welfare of children through exposure to this behavior. I realize this is probably a minority of the people who wait in line, so it's unfair to the majority who are probably just interested in getting beer without inconveniencing others, but you have to admit this is not a positive direction for the "culture."

Continuation of the advanced-notice approach does two things. It sends the message that the brewery is tolerant of the above behavior which only contributes to its proliferation. These lines, along with the associated culture, generate buzz which increases the mindshare of their brand, thereby maintaining a constant level of hype.

 

You assume people are reasonable creatures. Folks just want to get fucked up camping in the parking lot of an industrial park.

 

I'm not one to judge people on how they spend their free time, but this is really messed up. People are actually bringing babies and sleeping out overnight for beer releases??? People done lost their minds.

 

Man, my baby has enough trouble sleeping in her crib in her own room, let alone outside at 1am in the morning so I can get some beer.

I'm pretty disturbed with that type of behavior. I know HAZEISLYFE but there's gotta be a limit to your selfishness that doesn't disrupt the well being of a baby.

 

Not sure if anyone noticed, but Foggier Window and Sip the Juice have canning dates of 10/21 and 10/15. Cold storage not an issue anymore?

 

I think the problem with this is there is no consistency or transparency. How allotments were decided this time was based partly on how many wristbands were handed out and how many were in line at 9:30. Henry got there at 5AM and handed out wristbands to everyone in line at that time - 260 something. That number determined the allocations for Sip since there were only 70 cases. The 9:30 line status was to determine allocations for Foggier as he wants to make sure everyone in line gets beer - since there were less than 320, limits remained at the upper end of 3 4-packs per person. The 1.5 4 pack limit for Sip meant everyone with wristbands can get full amount and the 50 some people thereafter without wristbands. This method obviously has variability and if you really wanted Sip but didn't get a wristband, would've been shut out if say 210 wristbands were handed out at 5AM and limits were kept at 2 4 pack per person.

The allocation determinations have varied though. With JFK2LAX he wanted to make sure everyone in line got not only JFK2LAX but Water Balloon Fighters also so he gave the first 100 or so full allocations and the rest 1 4 pack of each.

In prior releases, max allotments were set and those with wristbands got them while everyone after got reduced allocations.

 

The day LA Hats came out, saw them canning Sip the Juice

 

I was about 30 or so after wristbands and got a full allotment of both. I also saw folks a solid 20-30 past me get a full allotment of both as well.

I think determining the allotments based on a set time "Get here by XX:XX" is a solid way to discourage the inching and inching closer to insanity that the line has grown in to over the night time.

It was beyond odd since the wrist bands were handed and distributed to the last of the line by 6:30. Between that time and when I showed up around 8:50, only 30 people showed up? That's telling that folks waking up at a decent time in the morning were discouraged from going down because they felt it was far too late to make it.

Having the set time means there's a rush at that time, but you know what, that's cool. It does the key thing in make it a moot point to wait overnight other than you and your boys want to throw back some beers on private property in a lawn chair.

More telling was that once the chairs and make shift tables were removed and the line condensed down, it really didn't stretch that far back. Meaning that in the early hours, when even the 3am folks were at the second trash can closest to the tasting room, that the amount of actual people there wasn't that much compared to how intimidating the line looked like due to everyone's REI gear.

I'm all for last minute release announcements and equal distribution of allotment size.

 

So much for the "Monkish doesn't have the cold storage" argument against online sales...

I like Monkish, I like their beers, I don't like this whole disaster of getting a can of IPA. It's becoming harder and harder to convince myself they don't want the lines/hype.