Bourbon County 2017

LP was a nightmare. Never again. Then once we got in there only 4 POS? They were occasionally shagging people to the registers. I'll write this up more in full when home and not feeling like a crazy person for having just done that.

 

ISO: bcs tumbleweed
Ft: 14 vanilla

 

They seriously fucked this up bad today. I asked the guy checking IDs at the front what was taking so long and he said the large allotment is slowing everything down.

That's basically true, I waited at least 10 minutes in the line to checkout.

Fairly sure this will be my last Black Friday Chicago venture.

 

Too much negativity here. Let's talk about good things. What are peoples favorite so far?

 

I live in the sticks, my local bottle shop saved me a case of original and 6 bottles of Northwoods. No wait and I was able to hit 2 or 3 stores to pick up a few more on the way home. Come to the country!

 

No hunting. Straight to the Fulton taproom. Split bottles of prop (great nose but too sweet for my liking) and reserve (super oaky and tannic) with a friend. Great price and no line waiting. Cheers. I’m too old for this shit

 

Been drinking variants on tap all day and got a full allotment with ease.

When y’all gonna learn? LP is bullshit.

 

Prop > Reserve > Regular > Northwoods > Coffee > Barleywine

I'll add the caveat that I'm a fan of sweet stouts, Prop is banana bread in a bottle in all the right ways

 

Excellent placement of Dante's Inferno reference.

 

Reserve > Prop > Barleywine > Coffee > Northwoods > Regular

2nd use vs 3rd use barrels for the barleywine really make it stand out.

Regular is very dark fruit forward this year. Much prefer the years where it’s boozy chocolate.

 

Im not saying this at you directly, just quoting the issue you brought up.....

Why would anyone let someone cut in front of them in line just because their POS friends are standing in line ? Instantly I would tell them to go fuck themselfs and hit the back of the line. Seems like people puss out and dont stand up for themselfs. I have never seen this phenomenon excepted before in any circumstance. The first 100 people behind you SHOULD back you up in telling cutters to fuck off.

Just something I dont understand, it was never excepted when waiting in line for concert tickets or in line at amusement parks... why is it excepted in beer lines ??

 

TBH, today it wasn't as much an issue of one off cutting, it was that when the tents got taken down and space condensed, huge gaps opened up when people weren't ready to move immediately. Lines got lost, no one knew where to go and people took advantage and jumped ahead in the line. Went from around 900 to just outside of 1000...c'est la vie

 

Yeah, it does seem like it was quite disorganized, which is why I put that caveat in my statement.

 

Sounds like total chaos. I was just shocked by all the postings about it. As much as I wanted to try the variants I rolled the dice on my local Jewel... woke up at 645, out the door at 655 and walked in at 700. Two people standing in front of about 100 cases, no limit. The downside, the variety was barleywine limit 1, and they only had 1 case.

 

Literal shit>>Mango Fruit Bar>Pineapple Fruit Bar>Banana Fruit Bar

The LP release was garbage and it could have been easily fixed with a moderate effort from GI and Binny’s to communicate with customers. I was hoping to at least get to try what I missed at Fulton and Wood (was stuck with just regular and BW), but that isn’t even an option anymore. Everyone insisted the LP release was the way to do it, but I guess I got unlucky with my first Chicago Black Friday.

 

Anyone currently at the Fulton tap room? Am I correct in assuming they've got everything available all day as opposed to Clybourn's timed releases?

 

Thanks to the BA community who helped provide info today for your fellow beer lovers! Your reports from Binny’s LP saved me a lot of lost time and significant disappointment. I’ve done this differently each year for the past several and have a few takeaways that may help others in your future Black Friday Goose hunting...

• Binny’s LP is worth it if getting each variant and vintage bottles is your priority. BUT, you have to go stupid early, as this year proved, and you will be dealing with a shit show. It will also consume way more of your day than other options.
• Plenty of regular and BW to be had at non-LP Binny’s and Jewel without much wait or hassle, but variants are always scarce.
• Store hopping is the way to go if you value quantity over the ability to secure scarce variants. This year I hit up Jewel on Des Plaines, Binny’s on Grand, and Logan Square Binny’s. Got plenty of BCBS, including several variants, but struck out on Reserve and Northwoods

I’ll add that I was impressed by how GI made improvements to Prop Day this year, fixing all the issues we complained about from 2016. Hopefully they do the same with the LP release for next year.

 

Hop King is there

 

Left about an hour ago. They had coffee, northwoods, and barley all on tap. Prop and Reserve in bottles at actual retail cost.

 

What? Why? That makes no sense. Reserve isn't even very good, unless you only like a splash of stout in your straight whiskey.

Probably great for trading though.