Bourbon County 2017

You'll have to add

 

If you're by oak forest I have one I was about to throw away. It's a regular box.

 

I have one if your close to Lemont

 

2 years ago you could roll up at 11am and go through line multiple times, while many other Binny's you needed to camp out overnight to get a full allotment (including Rare). So that year LP was the best choice.

Last year you could roll up at 8 am and get a full allotment while other. Binnys you needed to be there at 5-6 am for a full allotment.

Jewels and Costco's are a crapshoot with some getting all variants and others only getting Barleywine. Some with small lines some with big lines.

You can't really predict it.

Finding regular by the case is easy, no one should be lining up for that, but if your goal was to get every single variant then historically LP has been the best choice. This year of course it was the worst choice.

 

We called out two people that blatantly cut the line a few spots ahead of us near the entrance to the Binny’s tap room. They claimed they were there at 5:30 like all of us but they “went to the Goose taproom for a couple hours.” We were giving them shit about it and people behind us were completely backing us up. When they were checking our ID’s, we reported them to the staff out of principle, even though all the variants were already out. They told us there was “nothing they could do about it.” Clearly this explains why problems were able to escalate at this event. The two of them flew through the line and were checked out before we and the rest of our line neighbors were through to the registers, so they were obviously trying to avoid any confrontation after the fact.

 

They really should've kept the allotments at Binnys LP the same as previous years. Although I was able to score the full allotment today, I do agree it's bullshit that so many people were shut out. Hoping the guys over at Binny's straighten this stuff out for next year. Especially the checkout process.. what a shit show.

Aside from the mess today, hope you all had a good thanksgiving! Happy hunting, BA's!

 

I can’t believe Binnys price gouged. My local liquor store charged less than Binnys. I will make sure I avoid Binnys in the future. One of the main reasons I used to like Binnys is because they never price gouged .

 

Heads up to those who purchased Northwoods in the Lincoln Park Tasting Room (not the front registers at LP). Seems the tax may have been incorrectly charged. Their blog has more details here.

 

I get why everyone is pissed at the disorganization and line-cutting...Binny's screwed the pooch big time in that regard handling the release this year.

But are people actually pissed that Binny's told everyone exactly what the allotment at LP would be, and exactly how many allocations there would be at LP - and then stuck to it?

Past years excess allotments were never promised or promoted, and no reflection of what would happen this year.

 

I’m amazed they got anything right at this point. The guy falling in the port-a-potty is a great example of how this release seemed to go.

 

You make a good point, they said 1,000 allotments guaranteed. The issue was a few things:

1. Last year you had people around 1,200 still getting full allotments, so people believed that they actually had enough for more than the 1,000.

2. After handing out tickets, the employees did not communicate to anyone farther back in the line that the tickets were handed out already, or that they don't have enough allotments for everyone. Tickets were handed out and many people were still under the impression we were around 990 in line, when in reality it was more like 1,200. It wasn't until people walked the line and found out for themselves that tickets were in fact handed out and we were well behind them.

If they didn't have enough allotments for more than 1,000 they should have walked the line and told people that Reserve, Prop, Coffee, and Northwoods will be out shortly after 1,000. This was around 8:30 they handed out tickets, so people could have gone home then, instead of keeping up hope and waiting in line for 4.5-5 more hours before finding out that they did in fact run out of variants shortly after 1,000.

edit:
I mean, if you see literally 700 people waiting outside with no chance at variants, don't you think it would be decent to tell them.. "hey you are well behind 1000 and probably will only get regular, so wait at your own risk". Instead I never saw a single Binnys employee outside the entire morning.

Also, after so many years, don't you think they would come up with a line system instead of just letting the people who get there decide. Every year the direction and loops change, why not have a predetermined route, at least when it comes to their own property. That would reduce confusion.

 

1000% they should have done this - no excuse to string people along. They know that people that lined up aren't the type that pass on the full allotment.

 

Every single variant, as well as 2015 prop on draft at whirlyball in Bucktown right now.

 

Slept in and headed out around 10:30 to check out two small shops I frequent. Came home in 40 minutes with 6 reg, 2 BW, 2 coffee, northwoods, and a reserve without any lines. For the past several years I've skipped the crap and went to local mom&pop shops. Been the right choice every time.

 

I like to get bottles to share with family/friends but as long as I continue to live in Chicago, I will no longer line up for variants. I'll make it more of a priority to get out to tappings.

 

I slept in this morning, so this is a nice consolation.

 

I'm not going to defend Binny's but if I'm running a business and have an opportunity to run an extra couple hundred people through my business do you think I want to say anything to dissuade them from coming through my doors?

 

Rather have this than BCS Wheatwine or Northwoods tbh

 

Actual beer question/thought: if I had to guess which BCS variant I would want freshest, I would say coffee...I love coffee, I love stouts, and I want a ton of coffee flavor in a coffee stout. However, the bottling date on the BCS Coffee I just popped is 7/26/17; any home-brewers have insight on why you'd let it sit in a bottle that long? Is it possible it was TOO coffee-forward?

Because I want a beer that is TOO coffee forward.