Bourbon County 2018

Having never done Black Friday at LP this seems like the genuinely took people's feedback seriously but not allowing tents seems like that could go poorly if the weather is cold, rain/snow or a combo. I think I'll be skipping this and just getting up early to go to other locations especially my parents in town.

 

In fairness, them opening at 7 am is a pretty good concession. If you need a tent at that point, chances are you're getting there way earlier than Binny's "intends" you to.

 

I think the cat is already out of the bag with this "event" though due to how it's been in the past. How are they planning to enforce all this stuff? People are still gonna line up for 12+ hours.

 

Oh, I know they are; it'll always happen. I'm just saying that it's harder and harder to justify.

"Why can't I bring my tent?"

"Because you're not supposed to be here 24 hours before we open."

 

Yeah, I also found it funny seeing people complain on Facebook that bottle sharing isn't allowed and that Binny's is ruining the event. Newsflash people, bottle sharing was never allowed! It is illegal, but people do it anyway.

And while no-one will make a big deal out of discreetly and respectfully cracking bottle or two and pickup up after yourself, that isn't what happens. The streets are covered in fast food garbage and empties.

Really no-one should show up more than 3 hours before it goes on sale. IMO they should make the vintage bottles part of the allotment and you get one at random ala Dark Lord Day variants. That way you don't need to be first in line to score VR or 14 Prop or whatever beer you think is worth 24 hours in line.

 

I haven't been to the last couple DLDs (haven't had time), but I have to say that I was delighted by that change. I got screwed out of the variants I wanted thanks to a line issue a couple years back, so I'm 100% on board for random variants.

It sounds like Binny's is slowly moving in the right direction with this event, but there's probably a ways to go before they make everyone happy.

 

That train left the station a long time ago and ain't coming back. These changes are just about trying to reign back in what was considered before as common sense.

 

People will still line up way early for sure - it seems like in the past that was mainly for bragging rights, but I believe as recently as 2016 you could still show up at 8am or even later. I think there were a number of factors contributing to last year’s turnout that may or may not repeat themselves:

- Hope for vintage Prop and VR, although there turned out to be an almost negligible amount unless you were right at the front.
- 2 Prop 17s, which combined with early hype contributed a lot to people choosing LP over other Binny’s locations or Jewel
- Greater number of variants overall compared to recent prior years
- Word of mouth reports of the fast growing line. I know this caused me to bump my planned arrival by 3 hours.
- Relatively mild weather

Personally, while this year’s allocation is really tempting, I do value my time and I’m still considering going to a smaller Binny’s or Jewel instead. In years I did that I was able to show up later and be near enough to the front of the line that I could be checked out 10-15 minutes after opening. Checkout last year at LP was agonizingly slowwww and I was somewhere around 250 I believe.

 

Oh man random varients would be amazing. Would 100% eliminate the folks that show up for that reason. Your always going to have a few dumb asses that get in line 48 hours before and binnys will never get rid of them because its free marketing. However I think if varients were random less people would show up stupid early IMO.

 

Agreed. Last year the wait was awful after 7am when people broke down tents and closed ranks. Had to wait until 9 just to open. Then, didn't get in the front door until damn near 11. Truly painful.

 

I'm #1, not a #2. I share beer but do not scalp beer. Love trying the different variants, but never buy beer on secondary market (I do share / trade with people I know).

 

For me the only draw to LP would be the ability to secure a bottle of reserve. Outside of that bottle, you can probably secure an allocation of everything else at most other spots. I don’t think The bottle of reserve would be worth the potential headaches of Black Friday at LP.

 

Reserve is probably my favorite variant I've tried from this years lineup. Shame that it'll be so limited this year. LP is where I'll be for that reason.

 

I was very surprised by my experience at Perennial this weekend. The people that followed the rules and showed up when the brewery asked were rewarded. The first ~50 people in line at the designated time the brewery asked people to line up were entered into a raffle for an extra bottle of Maman and were poured, Vintage Maman and BAA.

Huge shout out to Katie for taking care of beer geeks that respect breweries requests.

It’s a stand that other breweries need to take imho. Reward those that follow the rules and don’t camp 72 hours in advance. Maybe the Black Friday experience would be different if GI/Binnys took a stand on people following the rules.

FWIW I didn’t score an extra bottle but it’s refreshing that the brewery cared.

 

Random variants would be the best thing. Mobile POS going thru the line to ring up everyone before opening would be awesome but very unlikely. 7 am open, all paid, no decision to be made on which variant to pick. Hand me a box with my 12 and the variant that goes with my bracelet/ticket number. Everyone out of Binny's LP by 8am!

 

Make this a drive-thru option to save me an additional $20-$40 on parking costs and I'm on board! Otherwise, with this many bottles I'm banking on seeing a broken 16.9 oz bottle or two somewhere within a half-mile of the store with everyone having to carry that many bottles without parking right out front.

 

Coincidentally (or not), the alottment is for 12 bottles. My guess is they reuse the GI boxes and hand you one.

 

I'm confused on this point--Wouldn't being able to get variants elsewhere soften the blow if you didn't get the (random) variant you wanted?

 

The original suggestion I believe was random vintages. Everyone at Binny's LP gets one (or more) of all the current year variants, so random variants just doesn't make sense unless people are suggesting you might get 2 reserve and no prop?