Transient not following through with promises...

I was wondering if this would ever come back up on here...

 

I heard Chris was under house arrest after the shooting, so the Brewery was legally the only other place he could go. Would make sense quality going up if he spends all of his time there.

I find the stouts and wilds to be as great as ever. I don’t really drink enough of their IPA’s to notice any trend one way or another.

 

I was disappointed in the Blantons Neckbeard, anyone else? Last years was soooo good with the coconut and the coffee this year just seems like an average BA coffee stout, nothing overly impressive.

 

Some people were disappointed that he moved the brewery to Michigan, but he still retained the IL club for a year or so after opening in MI and I think gave IL members first shot at MI memberships IIRC. I think you could have both an IL and MI membership for a bit there.

I was a member for a few years in IL and I think I did one year as MI member. I first joined when he was still brewing at One Trick Pony and pretty much only made saisons & sours which is what I joined for. The last time I picked up my member beers in Michigan I noticed that pretty much all of them were just available to-go to the general public there... so I decided to drop the membership and just by the beers directly from then on.

 

I'm right there with you - but the member party in December of 2018 was the nail in the coffin for me to end my membership after a few years.

I did not attend, because I thought the day of it was super lame - December 16th, a Sunday. It should have been in the summer. 9 days before Christmas? And a Sunday? Lame. But that's not the worst part. To me - this was (this is directly from the email invitation):

Start time: Member appreciation is all day in our taproom, meaning you can get free drafts all day (though, of course, we will not over serve you if you become visibly intoxicated). Then from 2pm till 6pm we will open the barrel side of our taproom to members for some cellared bottle pours, special tappings, some secret vintage bottle sales, and maybe some other things, so get hyped!

Guests: You may bring guests, as we are open to the public just like any other standard day, though the member area will only be serving members beer, so they will still need to purchase their draft/to go beer from the taproom. Additionally, they will not be allowed to purchase any of the special bottles we are bringing out just for you. ***Please do not try to give these special pours for your friends, as this is a benefit for our members, and we would like to keep it that way.***

So - we can bring a guest, which of course most people would do - but, hey, Guest of mine - you have to stand over there and watch me drink the extra special beers that are only for me. And don't you dare even ask me for a sip, or I might get in trouble.

To me that is just awful - and unlike the member parties the years prior. Who wants to bring a guest to a party and then they can't have access to what you do? Was the last straw for me.

 

We’d like to celebrate and show our appreciation to our members...but you know, not too much appreciation.

 

I guess I'm not understanding the beef on this one. I've never been a member so have no skin in this. But are you saying that if I were I should be allowed to bring my 5 regular (non-member) drinking buddies so they can enjoy member benefits? Members potentially miss out on something because of non-members pounding them away. Then I'd be pissed in that case. If they want the benefits, then they should pony up and be a member as well. Just my .02 from the outside looking in.

 

If I got a rude ass invite like that I would have gone to that Transient party guest in toe and been passing free pours around the room and out the window to pedestrians walking by until they asked me to leave......and then not renew my membership.

 

of course you would.

 

Why would we assume that a home-brewer would have any understanding of customer service, public relations, hospitality, or business acumen?

The bar/restaurant/event space us incredibly demanding and most don’t succeed. We all heard the statistics of failure. Very tough business. Craft brewers can be successful by delivering beer and kegs but when they venture into the above it often doesn’t go well

 

And you keep feeding your grandma pastry stouts, you sick puppy.

 

You make a good point, but none of it is really relevant to THIS case. If I remember correctly, a lot of the “special pours” were brews regularly on tap on the taproom side (stuff from the previous 3 months) that they just moved to the members party side. And realistically there was nothing stopping you from sharing with a guest, hence the stern warning. But there was some other weird s**t they had going on for the member party (a lottery number drawn THAT DAY for a spot in line to buy from the “special bottle sale”, etc.).
Another thing to keep in mind is that Bridgman residents don’t seem to want these weirdo beer nerds clogging up their neighborhood, so Transient also has to balance that out as well.
and I don’t necessarily regret having a membership for a year, but it could definitely use a little tweaking, keeping in mind that the members are likely your die-hards that you might want to listen to for advice.

 

Yes I would. And then everyone would clap.

Seriously that is some shit IMO For all the reasons kort27 laid out in his post. I can see defending the exclusive benefits of a membership but then why give the option of inviting guests to watch you drink fancy beer they can't have from across the room? Did they lose a bunch of barrels and this was the cover? Why not just make it members only?

 

I guess I was assuming 1 guest but maybe you're right - and no I wouldn't bring 5 people to something like that and expect them to be able to pound special beers.

If I'm not mistaken, prior year's member parties were 1 guest only.

 

Anyone else getting weird red riding hood vibes here?

 

Why not give a punch card to each member at the party so they can purchase up to 6 member pours or something like that. If you want to bring 5 guest and use your 6 pours for one for each of you do it. If you want to bring one friend and have 3 pours each go for it. Or do the hardcore move and go solo and have all 6 member pours yourself. That would solve the concern of guests blowing through the pours.

 

if your member party allows a guest, you need to allow the guest the same access to beer as the member. Special pours for members but not guests is just a stupid decision

 

Yeah I get that and good points were made, especially the punch card idea. But they used the word "guests" plural so I figured it could mean more. I just know that if I had paid to be a member and non-members were getting for free what I had paid for, I wouldn't want to be a member anymore. I know a lot of other places are losing membership because they don't provide any exclusive benefits. This was their way to preserve that I guess, whether executed well or not.

 

They give no shits about who you share your beer with. It's not like they are policing the place asking who is a member or not.

And @BrandonK is kinda correct. They did pass out numbers based on folks who lined up first to get into the party. If you were numbers 1-20 you got first access to the "cellar sale" which was just releases over the last year that they held back (or didn't sell)...for you to have the option of purchasing. I think I was in the 40s last year and I don't think I even ended up buying any additional bottles (most if it was stuff I already had in my fridge still!)