BO & Luke 2015 variants?

The point of me showing up early was because there was to be a staggered release, 4pm for ticketed bottles and 5pm for non-ticketed bottles, for which I anticipated there would be two separate lines. My plan was to get in line, get my bottles before the 5pm non-ticketed line opened up - hopefully avoiding any potential mess, have a couple of beers and get back home at a decent hour. Apparently I made the right choice.

 

The day 2 release is about two hours away, with less than 10 people in line

 

I thought about trying to shoot down there this afternoon, but I'm on the fence. This is the only variant that doesn't sound appealing at all to me.

 

Congrats. I'm glad things worked out for you. i was under the impression (and correct me if im wrong) that if you had a presale ticket that you could come pick up your bottle anytime after 4pm on Saturday. So technically you could have walked up at 8pm, completely avoided a line, and had your 4pack 5 min later. Me personally, if I would have gotten a presale ticket you can bet i would have avoided standing in line in the rain. Especially if I didnt have to. But thats just me. I understand people were coming in from out of town/had other plans/time constraints, etc. Even though things worked out great for you and I'm sure they did for others as well, overall you'd have to be crazy to think that the planning and execution of yesterdays release was anything but TERRIBLE.

Anyway heres some excerpts from the comments section on ATG's Bo and Luke event page on facebook:

"Gave up waiting with a presale ticket. By no means affects my future business, but boy was this a failure."

"ATG - Love you guys. Love B&L. This year's release and bottle pickup was totally horked. One register for two lines was nuts. Then telling both lines to merge after folks waited for hours was also nuts. People off the street started bum rushing the line."

"Why is the prepaid ticket line barely moving? This is not very well organized. Should be pretty straight forward- you have a ticket, you pay, you get your beer. But this line is not moving! Very disappointed"

"Poor, poor execution. One cashier for prepaid and extra. I've been inn line for one hour for my prepaid, starting at 5:30. Booooooo."

"Loved Bo and Luke since you guys released it, but 1 register?"

"Absolute worst bottle release I've ever been too"

And here is a link to a video of Sam with his great customer service I referred to in my earlier post:
https://www.facebook.com/clayton.akers/videos/o.525135877636223/10153312348728224/?type=2&theater

 

How's the line now, still worth it to try and come?

 

It's fine. You can probably come now. Around 100 people total, maybe a little less. Line is moving and half done

 

People that bought pre-sale are still allowed to buy 'first come first serve' 4pks. Also, 'first come first serve 4pks' didn't even sell out yesterday. They had ~30 at the release today. I didn't get through on the presale, but I know people who did. I was able to buy a 4pk both yesterday and today. Today's release went much better. Cash only, pretty quick line, and they said next year, the release will be at the production facility instead of the brewpub.

 

Just went by and grabbed a few of the sassafras Bo & Luke bottles. No line, in and out in 5 minutes. Sounds like exact opposite of yesterday. Wonder if last night left a bad taste in enough people's mouths that they opted to skip on this release.

 

There was a lil over 100 people there. Anyone try the sassafras/radish yet?

 

It's allowed by AtG. Even said so on some of the event posts. I've done it the last two years myself. Last year, I got it for a buddy who couldn't make it. This year I traded it. So fellow craft fans are getting them.

 

It sounds like the release was pretty much a disaster. And those variants...yikes.

Sadly, this is what I expect from AtG nowadays.

 

I know of one group that opened all three in the box, their least favorite was the fenugreek, cumin and black pepper, but they said it was still good.

Another guy opened the pepper blend and said he really enjoyed it.

 

I love how you are shitting on the variants w/out trying a single one.

 

What was the limit on the Sunday release (Sassafras, Radish)? 1 per person?

 

2 per person. Not sure if people were able to go through the line multiple times? There weren't that many people there.

On the 4-pack release, I came with my presale at 4:30, saw that the line was crazy. So, I hung out around town and had a blast, came back at 9:30, and nobody was in line. I know not everyone could have done that, but some of the people in line surely could have.

 

Big hugs to all those involved in both parties, as stressful as it was for you guys/girls, it was stressful for the employees as well. I know, I volunteered 2+ hours of my time from 6-8pm to help beer get out faster. Should more than one P.O.S. been used, Yep, but they've only used one in there past. Was the merging and re-merging of the line more confusing than a Survivor episode, yep. Did people still get there beer, even if it meant waiting longer, yep. The variants weren't released, even to employees and staff, until the night before. Personally, I assumed they would be on tap so I skipped the line and just sat at the bar. They weren't on tap, instead 14 and 15 Bo and Luke and 70K were on. I think that's a fair trade. I've been on both sides of the fence, but I always fall back on the fact it's just beer. For every person that swears off of ATG because of the line faults, think about how many times you've made a mistake in life and people forgave you. Just my .02, but the responses, whether positive or negative in any context are helpful. I've read through them all think they are well thought out and said, so Kudos for not thread-sh*tting.

 

Initially I was down on the variants and was planning on trading them all. The more I think about it, I'm getting stoked. The peppers could be excellent. I hope they went light on the black pepper and cumin. And who the hell knows what fenugreek is.

 

My issue is that drunk fat piece of shit owner coming out to the crowd and yelling at us about not being in line and if we knew what a line was. Fuck that guy and fuck his shitty beer. Maybe if that asshole would stop drinking his shitty beer and think about how to run a fucking business the event would have ran smoother.