2016 BCBS Chicago Release (Black Friday & Beyond)

I strongly encourage everyone camping in line to drink, have open containers and get black out drunk. It is really the only way to enjoy the line and if it leads to arrests and people passing out you increase my chances of scoring bottles!

 

FTFY

 

Or, if a business owner asks you not to do something, everyone could just abide by that request...

 

No, stick it to The Man!

 

I can see many people are very passionate about following rules. I apologize for asking the question.

 

I don't think this is targeting you; there's no harm asking that sort of thing. The issue is with people who know exactly what the rules are, and then flaunt them, potentially to the detriment of everyone else (detriment meaning that, for example, Binny's can't let people line up next year if the cops get fed up with the drinking this year). To be honest, I would think that at least the people in tents will be drinking all night, for sure. So make friends with those guys, if you're not one of 'em.

I think the basic point, as it usually is with drinking alcohol in public, is: Don't do it, but if you do it, to quote Gandalf: "Keep it secret, keep it safe."

 

It would be cool if Binny's could open the tap room until 2am for people in line to have a beer...

 

Them shutting down the line would only make Black Friday better. Love the Gandalf though.

 

Honestly, I'd like to agree, but I was at a Goose Island (Clybourn) bottle event where they asked people not to line up until...I dunno, 4pm.

Basically what happened was, everyone got there at 2 or 3, lined up, got told to disperse, and then milled around all over that area (both parking lots, the sidewalk, etc.) in groups of 4-10 until like 3:55, at which point people rushed the wall to line up again. I don't honestly know how Binny's can do a bottle release without the crazies swarming (and they have to do a big release, both for their own publicity and for Goose Island's).

 

Now I'm really liking that taproom idea!


FYI, the taproom cannot legally open the doors facing the parking lot (they've got that little fenced in drinking area with a couple tables, but that's all), due to the law I mentioned about alcohol near a school. So basically even if they opened the taproom, people would have to file back out all the way through Binny's to the line, and that's not even acknowledging the fact that as far as I know, they're still using the taproom for the actual distribution of BCS. I like the idea though.

 

More that people don't want to dick over a store that's been a craft beer proponent since... well, pretty much since the first wave.

Basically, drinking on-premise like that directly threatens Binny's liquor license. Given the state of Chicago finances, it'd likely just end up in lots of fines. Worst case scenario, though, is they pull the license.

Most beer releases are in industrial or semi-rural areas where the city/police politely look the other way. Chicago is just too big to do that =/

1. Would need to check their license. They may only be allowed to serve during regular business hours.
2. That entire area is blocked off to stage the release. There basically isn't a tap room at that point.

 

Yeah, I called it a daycare the first time and a school the second, because I couldn't remember if there was a legal distinction. Either way, I was told by one (or more) of the Binny's bartenders that they are unable to open those doors because...you can't have open drinking within 100ft. of a school/daycare? Something to that effect. I assume that's also the reason the little outdoor drinking area is gated. The B-Dubs is on Clybourn, so the actual entry point is much more than 100ft. from the daycare, which all the law cares about, I believe.

 

Survivors get first crack at the vintage bottles. I would rather do that than show up on Wednesday.

 

C'mon guys....this is Chicago. Goose Island could probably open up a bar in the lobby of the daycare/school/whatever if the bribe was big enough.

 

If they did this, I'd definitely work at that daycare.