Bearded Iris

THE FRUITED MILKSHAKE IPAs HAVE ARRIVED!!!!!

 

I'll be there for sure. I missed out on the V. Fudge since I was out of town and it went so quickly, so I am determined to try that new stout on Saturday.

 

Swish in Nashville. Never would have guessed that.

 

That was a shit show and very poorly executed.

 

I left after waiting about 45 minutes in line and advancing about 50 people since 12 o clock. They were nice enough to correspond by text message on FB with case availability and I decided that it wasn’t worth waiting in line any longer. I’ve never left a beer release before.

 

Welcome to the big show, Nashville. It wasn't that bad...

 

Can line was ran terribly with only one person checking people out. It shouldn't take almost three hours to get cans. You can have a hyped release, but still have it planned better

Still had a good time yesterday, and was cool to get some Bissell on draft.

 

Yesterday was the 2nd (and 3rd) time they sold out of a release on the same day. They made several adjustments after V. Fudge, all of which made sense and sounded like a good idea.

The big issue was the bottleneck of people sticking around the bar after getting cans. Not much they can do besides move the can line outside when you're at capacity inside. And yes, another POS system needs to happen. And a cash line.

They will make more adjustments. I imagine they won't announce allotments pre-release anymore. Props to them for making the change so the entire line could have a shot at cans. Probably 300ish deep by 11:30.

 

It was a shit show but I believe they had no expectation that would be the turnout. Who knows...I waited a year for the drafts while my wife stayed in the can line. Was glad I did, both releases were very good, but not three hours in line worthy. Finished our drinks and walked home with $100 still in my pocket.

Another POS (1 more at minimum) and leveraging the garage door as a much betters means for entry are necessary at minimum. The nature of the release in and of itself was rather pointless. Either do a can release or draft party only, but not both. The elimination of one or the other would have solved a lot of the issues.

 

I kept waiting for this to happen. They really need to look into doing a ticketing system with time slots if they are going to run a bare bones staff. I realize its hard to scale for a one off event, but that was executed with all the pageantry of a high school graduation party.

People cutting the line at a beer release/anniversary party, and then the staff handing them bracelets afterwards. Sure, i should have came earlier, but thats just uncalled for.

 

They had all bar and production staff on deck. And family members handing out wrist bands.

Had they known it was going to be a "shit show" they would have adjusted accordingly.

My thoughts are this. It's just beer. Try waiting in 100 degree dry heat for 3 hours for 1 375ml bottle. It could have been much worse.

These guys make the most consistent New England IPAs in the with, but their release are incredibly bipolar with the crowd/hype that shows up.. They thought there was a small chance that v fudge might hit distro and it sold out in under 3 hours.

And you always call out a line cutter.

 

The same could be said with “Its just time” or “Its just money” or “Its just my Saturday”

They do make good beer, but not gonna lie, it’s getting exhausting going to these beer releases and walking out empty handed.

 

Get there early. Get out early.

You aren't entitled to beer.

 

It was your decision to arrive and leave when you did. This is the 2nd time this has happened in two years of them being open. They could have stuck to their guns and not changed the allotment, and even more people would have left empty handed and not had to wait 3 hours in line.

People are gonna whine when they don't announce allotments ahead of time. People are going to whine when they go to a ticketed or wristband system. People are going to whine when the barrels are emptied in 12oz or 375ml bottles and it's 1 per person. And they will survive and life will go on.

 

Got there at 945 as i knew from being 2nd in line for Vfudge it was way easier to wait on the front end of the release then the back end. They def need to work on more then one pos on can line like that, but it was ten times better then Vfudge was.

 

You are absolutely right about leaving, and I’m giving them props for letting me know. There’s a difference between whining and critiquing having 1 person get cans for 400+ people. Got a few bottles of Sump instead. No worries here.

 

I think they expected a turn out similar to V Fudge and got something much, much bigger, not taking into account it was Saturday; their first Saturday release. I was in the first ~20 and there were a ton of out of towners. A group from Atlanta, a guy from Montgomery, AL; a couple from Louisville, and a guy from St. Louis, all in the first ~25 that came just for the release/party. The siren call of pastry stouts and fruited milkshake IPAs is strong....

They don't use Square, and I don't know if the system they use allows those headphone jack plug ins to an iphone, but that would allow for more POS and would get things moving a lot faster. It is really only their second release where they had an overwhelming volume, they learned from the V Fudge release, and I think they'll learn from this one as well.

 

I was with this group. They brought some great stuff to share.

 

They absolutely did, I was a little farther back so only got to try some of it. Great people, hope to see them at a BI release in the future!

 

I think i was next to you in line as well ....