Atrial

Thank you @Chadzero for your above comment.

I thought about posting a snarky comment toward @Irrenarzt but couldnt think of anything sharp and short-witted enough.

Seriously dude - the brewery said "don't get there before dawn". They're on a back-country road. Respect the local residents and don't be a beer-nerd asshat.

 

I drove 10 hours, I get to break the rules. Other people did it too! I'm not the only one, that makes it ok

 

Because Jester King gave a shit at who followed the rules right?

You can beer-justice-warrior this all you want, but behavior has to be punished and rules have to be enforced.

But screw this dude for doing what had to be done to honor his buddy. 100%. He deserves to be reprimanded on the internet.

 

So... yea, Atrial is tasting great again this year... *waits for #crickets

 

The self entitlement and behavior exhibited in this thread are the primary reason I will continue to avoid JK releases in their current form.

 

I've said it before for other JK releases and maybe this time I will be taken more seriously (never was in the past) but if you want to stop this, you need to do the sales online--possibly through a lottery. Yeah, that'll cause a mad clickfest for sure and lots of people will be disappointed. But it prevents those people without lives who can "afford" to spend all night in line waiting for a beer to be the only ones who benefit from these releases...

I'd rather try to click through and purchase for an hour and then leisurely pick up my beers than have no other choice but to line up "pre dawn" to have the only chance for these beers.

I fear, however, that their "solution" to this problem will be to double the number of magnums or something that will equally not satisfy the demand and continue to have people line up at insane hours at the brewery for a shot. That would be the wrong lesson to take from this in my opinion...

 

For the record, I live close and go to pick up most releases. Almost never a wait. Depends when you go. I walked up Sunday afternoon for Atrial and no line at all. Even Friday releases are easy if you just show up at 6 or 7pm and not at open.

Magnums were a special case and no one NEEDS to get one.

Not lottery, but I would be all for Brown Paper Tickets-type releases, just because you don't have to rush or stress out about getting there to ensure you get a bottle.

 

People just wanted the magnums. Personally I don't know why? I have never cared for the package size and the only use I see is for man cave/bar decoration, or those very few times you get a ton of people to open one. Anyway, outside of that they had just under 9000 bottles at 3pp, seemed to have lasted till Sunday from what I have read. Bottle what went into the magnums in regular sized bottles, and there is even more. Problem pretty much solved there...but then there isn't the big spectacle with a JK post to tell people not to line up, then of people lining up on the road predawn. Then nobody here and every other beer social media page talking about it...

 

Many have chosen to flip the magnums on secondary sites. There are 7 different posts on MBC with the cheapest being $450.00

 

The issue here is trade/resale value. If there wasn't a hefty secondary market, I doubt these would have been sought after at all.

 

Secondary (trading/flipping) is the most obvious and likely the main reason, but also for cellaring. Larger volumes of liquid cellar better, because they oxidize at a slower rate.

 

Most of the magnums if not all of them are probably already on their way to new owners. It would be hard to justify waiting that long to consume it yourself, but many generous trade and cash offers made it worth people's time to wait.

 

I'd never line up pre-dawn like that, nor would I pay $450 for an Atrial Magnum.

But I'd definitely be very happy and feel super important if I had one, and opened it up with a bunch of friends. I'd probably pop the cork, hit a douchey friend in the ass with it, and spill a little beer as I proceed to fill 1/4 of champagne glasses to all my non-douche friends. I'd immediately comment on how potent the raspberry aroma is. Those 30-35 seconds would rank high in my list of happy moments. I would then keep the empty bottle as a trophy in my man cave forever. I'd then remember the glorious popping sound made by the cork every lonely Saturday while I sit at my couch, and immediately feel better.

I don't understand why people pretend these aren't super fun to have.

 

The thought of some non-Jester King person taking down names and acting as the magnum police is simply idiotic. Form a line, stay in line and wait. If you're going to get their at the crack of dawn then you can simply stand/sit in line. Why does somebody feel the need to act like they are in charge and can tell people who gets what? I heard a story about a group on Saturday getting there around the same time as all the other early risers but they stood in line at the bottle tent (which makes all the sense in the world) only to be informed by said magnum police that they had formed a list of names and they were in the wrong "line". Who would have thought that being in line at the bottle tent would be the wrong line?? That whole story goes to show what is wrong with craft beer today.

 

Jester King really screwed up by asking people not to show up before sunrise. What actually ended up happening is the only people who got bottles were the people that completely ignored that request. Was all pretty poorly handled and run IMO.

For a release so small I think a lottery is the only way to go. Maybe something like for every 3 bottles of the 500ml you buy, you get a ticket in the lottery for the magnums?

 

Drove up from Houston Sunday afternoon and just missed out on 500s by an hour or so. No worries - downed two bottle's worth of AR watching the sunset. 8,800 bottles in 3 days is insane! If mags are bottled again, lottery is the way to go, double the price, and ppl can pick them up at designated times. And JK does have a say who can and cannot come on their property. They chose not to enforce and created their own problem.

 

Wasn't suggesting they couldn't... They screwed up by asking people not to, then preceding to not enforce it. Caused more problems then it solved.

 

The muling of Atrial and the craziness created by the Magnum release reminded me why I need to care less about special releases.

I snagged 3 bottles on Friday after driving down after work and planned to grab 3 more Saturday. However, I decided when I got back to the hotel I didnt want to have to deal with the mules, neckbeards and heat on Saturday and returned to Dallas Saturday AM.

Standing in line next to a group of people drinking Atrial pours on Friday, I heard 2 of them turn back to their friend and say "oh, is this what were buying?".

I love JK, but I quickly realized it was definitely not how I wanted to spend my Saturday. I was back by 930 am Saturday and had no regrets, and happy to have gotten 3 bottles.

 

I think Jeff does a great job of hearing out people's concerns and making a real effort to make it better in the future. Super admirable. I have ever heard stories that make me feel he has done more then he should, but hey it is his brewery. Still, I think JK could have done more to stop the situations that happened on Saturday. Yeah I think it sucks that the guys who followed the rules and showed up at day break missed out cause of the guys who didn't honor JKs wishes, but JK should have know it could happen. I knew it would happen and had anyone asked my opinion I would say you needed to show up before day break cause other would also. I'm willing to bet that anyone who emails Jeff however will be heard out and they will try to do what they can to make people happy.

 

So were the lines bad all day? If you just wanted some 500s, were you still stuck standing around?