Block 15 Brunch February 7 - Open Seat?

Celler release seems to be a different beast since there is a beer lottery in play. At this brunch as well as the last one, everyone is guaranteed a full allocation. I could be overstating the importance, but bottle count has to play some sort of role here since they need to manage allocations and have some left over for the line.

While I agree the Block 15 side is usually pretty packed (downstairs more than up) Les Caves has had more capacity at every event I've been too. And one of the questions asked in the post I replied to was "why not add more times" which they could do at Les Caves ... but it comes back to bottles (and, of course, the difficulty of booting people to make room for the next wave of reservations).

 

Yep, that's us. If me and my better half are rushing around to get out of the house at that hour on a weekend, we will want to relax with coffee, brunch, and beers once we get down there. Also, it's really nice to be able to leisurely sample the offerings on tap before committing to bottles. (Look at the last release. If I only had a description to go on, I probably wouldn't have bought any Giving Thanks. Since I got to try a sample, I had the opportunity to re-figure my bottle budget right there at the table.)

 

Yeah I suspect that's what they did, but my issue was the double name entering. Either way blk 15 does a great job at the releases, just this will be my first time in line.

 

Yeah. I wonder how it works.
Blatant ballot stuffing.... Multiple entries same email vs. subtle ballot stuffing, different emails. Do they do any ip comparing... Do they do anything at all? I think it's a valid question.

 

Man...it's hard for me to believe that anybody who's been to a Block 15 brunch release is complaining about this. The brewery has gone above and beyond to host incredibly smooth, drama-free releases. The only thing they did different this time around was to use a system to promote the chances of (more) unique visitors scoring reservations, and I think it's fucking awesome. IP comparing, really? They're a brewery. They brew and release beer. Their beer is in high demand, and they're being creative and thoughtful about how they release said in-demand beers.

I did not get a spot this time. I also had the luck/privilege/whatever of getting reservations for the past 3 releases. Between this and the De Garde thread on TB, I'm more empathetic than ever to the brewers out there...because it truly does not matter what lengths you go to, people are going to piss & moan regardless when they perceive they're being 'shut out.'


TL;DR rant = Block 15 is awesome, fuck the rest of the noise.

 

I don't think Kevin or anyone else in this thread is complaining directly about Block 15. It's more about, what seems to be, other 'forces' at play who are starting to dip their foot more and more in the pool of popular beer releases in OR.

 

'Forces,' meaning FCBs?

I see what you're saying, but...this is happening everywhere. Demand for breweries like Block 15, De Garde, etc. are skyrocketing, and rightfully so! Block 15 has remained relatively off the radar in relation to how fucking great they are, and perhaps those days are now coming to an end. Which sucks for a lot of us, myself included! But it's great for the brewery, a point that often gets lost.

My point is, folks complaining about unfair practices in relation to these releases is just silly. At the Super Neb release last year several people - PDX folks - talked openly about making reservations for 6 when they only had 1 or 2 in their party, and boasted about basically having the release on 'lockdown.' People getting multiple allotments, etc. (which is, again, happening at releases all over). Well, it seems to me the folks at Block 15 noticed...hence the changes to a maximum of 2 per reservation, etc.

Complaints made in this thread strike me as massively hypocritical, as well as entirely unfair to the brewery. So that sort behavior is OK as long as it's Oregon folks doing it...but when somebody else does it, it's the brewery that needs to take more steps to prevent this outrage from happening in the future? Got it.

TL;DR once again - if this craft beer thing is indeed a community, then we should fuckin-A hold ourselves accountable as such.


@TaborTime , none of this is directed at you personally (nor to anyone else)...I replied to your post and got on a roll.

 

Well said. I didn't get tickets this time and have never got tickets for any of the releases. It's a lottery, not everyone can win. That doesn't stop me from lining up outside, rain or shine, to get some amazing bottles.

 

Pissing and moaning isn't good; nor are cynicism and entitlement.

But there's room for constructive criticism / feedback. Listening to the constructive stuff is most likely part of what has guided Block 15 and De Garde in refining how their events operate. The same can be said about critiquing the beers they brew; some are incredible but some fall short, with an occasional beer being bad. You can express that constructively or negatively as well, but I don't think you'd say "the brewery has gone above and beyond to brew incredible beers" and dismiss valid input.

I'm very thankful for how great De Garde and Block 15 events are, how great their beers are, AND how they constantly strive to make both better. Most if not all of us here are. None of that is diminshed by contructive feedback.

Cheers!

 

They shouldn't have to. Outside of placing a large burden on the brewery, there is really no way to completely prevent people from signing up family/friends/etc. Even if they checked IPs there are easy workarounds. Honestly, the people who wait in line are probably gonna come away with more bottles since they can bring an army of mules. Those of us with reservations can bring one max and most of us will instead be bringing someone who missed out.

B15 has a great system and I appreciate that they have adjusted it based on the constructive criticism they've received. They have one of the best ways of handling releases and do their best to give as many people a shot as possible, I don't think we should ask/expect even more of them.

 

Yeah I get that, lottery is a lottery. But putting people in twice because they didn't get tickets before isn't really a lottery now is it? That is the only thing that I had an issue with.

 

It's still a lottery, just a weighted one ;-)

 

The brewery clearly stated the system they were using...anyone who went ahead and submitted a request for reservations thereby agreed to those terms, yes? I understand being disappointed about not getting reservations. What I don't understand is asking/expecting the brewery to do something differently just because you didn't get reservations this time around. All Block 15 did differently this time around was try to get folks in that have ben shut out for the last couple releases...and I can't think of a single thing wrong with that.

And also, this.

 

... so let me try and understand this... even though it's a lottery, it's okay to stack the lottery by adding "certain" people twice? okay, sure I get that. I'm not upset I didn't get into the brunch, and I don't think I ever said that. I just said that it was BS they added certain people twice when it is already suppose to be a random lottery system anyway. Not to mention they did it on the biggest release.

Just because they stated that certain people would get submitted twice doesn't mean I agreed with that. I thought it was dumb. I know at least a dozen people who have never been selected that got shut out again. I don't understand why there are always people who say, "oh well because"... . I still think blk 15 does the best releases so that most people can get the beers. I just think that adding people in the lotto twice was crap.

 

Ok? Yes...since it's their beer and their event they can run it however they please. They wanted to give people who haven't attended brunch before the chance to attend. It's not like you're SOL if you didn't win the lottery, you just have to stand in line. Honestly, I can see why brewers just bail on being part of the boards here or at the other place. People will complain no matter what.

 

It's a horrible thing to to bring something other than praise, and drink the cool aide. I suppose what one person sees as bringing something up, another person sees as complaining.

 

Maybe I'm reading your comments wrong but they come off less as constructive criticism ("I understand what b15 was trying to do but think it was poorly executed by giving people two entries") and more as entitlement ("I didn't like what they did, therefore it's dumb and they should really change it"). Again, perhaps I'm reading it wrong.

 

will eventually score Hypnosis someday.....