Bravo Town Hall

BA Week is one of the best and well run MN events! What could be better than to be able to pick from 9 B'aged beers and multiples of your favorite? Plus the 750 ml size and only $15-17 per growler?! Better than $30-40 for 64 oz from the previous years

 

Wow, I had a bit of a different experience. I'm guessing you were one of the first 50 people? I was near the end of the 100 people given tickets and things turned into a bit of a mess when we got into the building. Seemed like quite a few people forgot which line they were supposed to be in after standing outside for a while, with most people just going left into the 'even' line. I know they explained this to everyone before it started and it was written on the several pieces of paper they handed out, but a sign or a person helping direct the lines would made it much smoother. The lady in front of me went into the 'odd' line and bought her allotment and came back over to see her friends ahead of me 40 min before I got to buy my allotment. She was able to get one of each beer she wanted, but there were only 4 options left when I got up there. I understand completely that I was near the end of the 100 tickets and nothing was guaranteed, but there was quite a difference between the 2 lines. I'm not one to typically complain and I'm pretty patient, but this wasn't the most enjoyable experience.

I absolutely love Town Hall and appreciate all of the hard work that went into BA week and planning the pre-release, but I hope they have the organization a bit better in the later stages of the process next year.

 

I was one of the top 50 and couldn't have been happier.That sucks you had a bad time knowing what a great guy you are.

 

@knapers03 Agreed! We were not there for any announcements, and didn't see any papers noting the line you were supposed to be in (got there at 1010). The line we were in was shut down with ~25 people still in it and put behind the other line. After 25 minutes only 2 people from the initial line had purchased their tickets, with about 40 people left. We were 15 people back so just bailed.

My wife didn't come so we could buy double allotment - we only wanted 3 mini growlers between both of us. Im having a procedure done during BA week so wont be able to physically visit the brewery for at least that week. Now I'm SOL on some damn good beer for a year! Not very smooth for the "late-commers." There were folks ahead of us in the "extra" line that had been there since before 10, and were put in a worse spot than us. Yikes.

 

It's obviously not the end of the world. It is, after all, just beer and there's far worse things in the world. I knew I should have gotten there earlier so I would have gotten what I'd hoped to get.

I completely understand that the staff was primarily concerned serving customers once they'd gotten through the line. I hope next year they have a few more staff to help keep it organized throughout the process. Haha, I mostly felt bad for the 1 guy processing all payments, handing out tickets and keeping stuff organized.

 

Man,I'd offer one of my Czar Jack's but I was shopping that for another guy. I think next year I'm gonna get there super early again then come on here and just help everyone that missed out,true beer advocate style!

 

Solid event, numbered tickets were pretty helpful, not sure about the whole Odd/Even thing but it seemed like they could have had both Guys at a banquet style table using the same POS in the back where the odd line was serving, and just serve it in order 1,2,3,4 etc. Im pretty sure the "odd" line might have been moving faster.
I like they went to 750's to spread the wealth, but then they had a limit of 8, I suppose they were allowing that to obtain 1 of each, but 8 seems high especially since they didn't set limits on 5 of the 8 beers, someone could have bought 8 of the same beer which would be 8% of the inventory of that single beer.

Again, Those are obviously all small things, looking forward to a week of drinking BA goodness !

 

Thanks for the thought, Jesse! You're one of the good ones man. I'm not too disappointed, I still got some solid BA beers! Can't complain about that. There's always next yr

 

I can't complain.
Got there at 9:00 am, and was #50.
Had a great time, and got what I wanted.
Thanks for all the great beers everyone shared.
Highlights were Coffee Abraxas, Earl and Lunker!

Food for thought...get there earlier next year.
Cheers!

Edit: Mango Habanero @ TH was very good (thanks Kevin) & Size 11 on tap @ Republic across the street was ridiculously good.

 

Mango Habenero Citra Mania was insanely good. That alone was worth making the trip to TH today.

 

Will trade you, I was smart enough to get there early. Message me and let me know which one you want and what you got and we can do a swappie swappie.

 

I love Town Hall and I'm happy I was able to get most of what I wanted being in the mid 60s in line. I'm not one to complain at all. Don't feel like it does much good. I did however miss out on a few I wanted due to the odd numbered ticket line going much faster than the even numbers (bad luck on my end). Saw a few people that were in line behind me sitting down for food after purchasing their tickets while I was still waiting in line. That wasn't fun to see, especially when I was only four or five spots back of getting what I was hoping for. Seems like they realized that was happening at a certain point and started calling out ticket numbers more strictly. That's on me though, I should I have arrived earlier. Like others said earlier in this thread, get there earlier next time. That's the main point of my post, so others are aware of this and can prepare for next year. Very much looking forward to the growlers I was able to get my hands on in a few weeks!

 

So how many did you end up with?

I'll have to admit that I was a little jealous of the stack of growler tickets you had at the bar, when I passed by you.
It looked like you won big at blackjack or something....damn.

 

12, I just asked two people if they were buying their allotment and they said no.

 

I thought the event went very smoothly, although I was first 50 in line. Excited to try the new beers.

Mango Habanero was excellent (you're welcome Jim).

 

Cool.
Good luck on your swappie swappies!

 

Town Hall is my favorite brewery in Minnesota, but I'm not waiting outside in Feb for beer. I showed up at ten and got shutout on Project #3106 and Czar Jack, so I bailed out of line. Mango Habanero was worth the trip and it was great to meet some new people and see old contacts. Thanks @lonewolfcry for the Pappy 10 year sample.

 

Haha...better thank @Mplsmetro57 for that.
He killed the bottle and got a nice pour; I just handed it to you...lol
Good shit mon!

 

If anyone has an extra twisted trace they would be willing to part with, I would be grateful. Had to work this morning and by the time I got there all that was left were 11 buffalo bocks.