Half Acre (2019)

Sooooo.... what they're saying is Benthic is going to be terrible to try and acquire this year due to the awfulness of online lotteries?

 

It wasn't really clear to me that it was going to be an online lottery. Seems like an in-person lottery for 100 packages and then online they still just open the purchasing at a given time.

 

I'll just go into MS Word and pull up my Prop Day letter to GI and replace "John" with "Half Acre" and "BCBS" with "Benthic" and submit that.

 

That's true. I just mean the idea of the online purchasing is always terrible with very hyped releases. It's next to impossible to get through on those things before everything ends up sold out. I'm hoping it's different, but they weren't super clear about how it will work, so I won't hold my breath. I fully expect to try and click in once they offer purchasing, only for the site to crash and it to refresh with everything sold out.

It would be nice if it were like Solemn Oath and BA Goldmund. You just go on their site after they open it, you click into the purchasing page in their store, and then pick how much of what you want, and pay. Easy peasy. Somehow I think Benthic isn't going to go that way, though.

 

I don't know, I've had success before and I've been shut out before. The reality is there is almost no good way to run a hyped release because demand will exceed supply and people will be unhappy regardless.

I didn't get any Benthic bottles last year but was able to try all of the variants on tap. If you want to try these beers there will almost certainly be an opportunity to.

 

I want bottles(cans this year). We like to do shares and whatnot. I usually go to the Benthic release in person. I haven't had success, really, with any hyped online release. I've been shut out every time. So... I hope this is more simple, and it's just a matter of clicking in and picking what you want, and paying for it. As opposed to being slotted in an online queue, mashing f5, pages crashing multiple times, etc.

 

While I generally get shutout of the big online releases, I also waited in line at the last Benthic release only to get shutout of variants because some people in front of me took more variants than allowed, so...

I'd rather not wait in line for a couple hours in 35 degree weather to find out I didn't make the cut.

 

For as nice and laid back as Half Acre is, that whole fishbowl lottery seems ripe for shit lord abuse.

 

Yep. Also several people also getting the full allotment, taking it back to their cars and then cutting back in line with friends so they can get more. I fully welcome this going online.

 

That's kind of always been the MO for their releases. They're too pure for this world of whalez.

 

Yeah, I was in the top 10-15 in line for last year's Benthic release, so I got mine, but I had a pair of these shit lords behind me. Boyfriend/girlfriend scumbags. I remember after I got my allotment, I overheard them talking about how the wax was so similar on the one variant that they took no regular, and all variants. Made me want to smash a bottle over their heads.

 

Really hoping they'll wax the cans this year or I'm out.

 

Yeah, the dude literally in front of me got the last variant. I wasn't that pissed (a little disappointed) until I later heard about the double-dipping, which meant I would've otherwise had a variant or two. Regular Benthic is good enough for me, it's just a shame that despite all the "good" releases in Chicago, HA still runs into issues with these assholes.

 

People just suck. Especially when you get into large metropolitan areas.

 

It isn't. The fish bowl is actually full of piranhas to discourage tampering.

 

Doesn't Bottle Logic do online sales for their barrel aged stuff? I assume they make enough so that they don't run into quantity issues, so maybe this will be similar.

 

I remember there being really not that much Benthic at all last year, maybe they made more this year though.

 

Half Acre and the Fishbowl of Piranhas. Working title for the next Harry Potter book.

 

Benthic 2018 is in the cooler at the Ovie Market beneath the tracks at Ogilvie for anyone in the Loop looking. $35 a bottle.

 

There was quite a bit of regular. Even after the release, multiple Binny's received distro of it. I picked up a couple regulars at a couple different stores a week or two after the release.