Bullfrog Grrrz Release

I had a great time at the bottle share and met a lot of swell individuals, though apparently some of them put their chairs out before going to the bottle share, which is not cool. It was really awesome of Steve to let us do it in the brewery. I got in line at 5:45, and got my bottles at around 12:15. Didn't see any line cutting back at the beginning of the 300s which is where I think I was, but one guy definitely left the line for at least two hours. They ran out of Crime of Passion about 5 or 10 people before me which was disappointing. Asides from the long waiting time after 9 which needs no more discussion, stellar experience!

 

it is very ignorant to assume it was "phillys finest" doing this. if you notice, there are people from all over the mid-atlantic region and further posting in this forum, not to mention mules, etc.

 

Totally saw a guy paying off a group of shady looking people who were obviously not beer nerds in front of the brewery. I even heard one of them mention Craigslist.

It's no wonder my older beer nerd friends aren't bothering with releases anymore.

 

I have just a couple thoughts about the release.
I'm guessing 95% of people who showed up (even as late as 9) got a full or close to full allotment.
which is great estimating by bullfrog and the only perk to getting there early was getting through the line sooner.

The in line bottle shares and drunkenness was inevitably what lead to line cutting and excess litter.
I made a new friend named Michael and got to try convivial suerez which was totally unexpected but greatly appreciated.

I was around 150th in line and i got my bottles at 11.
That was the hardest part but the weather was perfect and I was just enjoying myself regardless of the wait.

The Apricot keg floating after an hour was a shame but I have a whole bottle so I have nothing to complain about.
the Nats were everywhere but it was kind of funny more than anything.

I'm glad I got to go and experience a release like this in person and I look forward to bringing the grrrz back to alabama for my friends to enjoy with me.
I'll still never be okay with spending $205 per allotment but that's just something I'll have to live with.

Just know that for every line cutting, littering, drunken entitled fool there is a overly generous awesome dude who just likes to drink, share, and talk beer.

 

You know, I've heard of similar things happening at Tired Hands releases, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if it was a certain guy named Mike who's in a Facebook beer group called Bru Tang Clan. Shit like that is why I'm pretty much saying fuck it to insanely hyped releases now... What's the point anymore when there's gonna be a bunch of dudes actually HIRING a team of mules just so they can pull the latest whatever the hell flavor of the week brew in a trade? Parageusia 3 was the beginning of the end for me. Once you have to start showing up 5 hours early to get bottles from a 500 bottle release, count me out. The vultures have taken over.

 

I think we were close in line, I ended up sharing with a group probably from the NE area by the back of the lot..

 

Overall, I think it was a nice event. I don't think they anticipated the turn out. I certainly didn't expect to be where I was in line at 630. I think everyone got some bottles. Talked to a guy afterwords who got there at 8 and got 3. Hopefully in the future they can figure out how to process the line more efficiently or better yet switch to brown paper bag tickets like alesmith does their releases.

 

I think you were right next to us. We're you guys sitting next to the alley/right near where that guy who painted the murals came out and told us the whole story while crushing yeunglings?

 

Yup, he was awesome. pants covered in paint, a real genuine soul you could tell. (And we'll spoken for being drunk)
I had a grey shirt on then a red alabama hoodie and my wife was with me sitting in the chair snoozing on and off.
it was a long wait but a morning I'll remember for a long time.
this whole weekend in lewistown has been a blur.
got a nice 12 hour car drive back tonight.

Going to pop open a kriek and share it on the front porch with my pappy later this evening.
I'm fairly certain that moment will last a lifetime.
I love it up here in Mifflin county, it's like time stands still.

 

Considering the amount of time we all were waiting in line, it was easy to get familiar with the faces around you. Add to that, the continual looking ahead to see if the line was moving. One of said individuals was wandering back through the line and stopped with us. One in our group asked him "so how is it inside?" And he just shrugged his shoulders. 20 minutes later he was still standing with us and we asked him what he was doing since he was one of the first couple people in line. He said something to the effect of "im here with him" and pointed to a random person infront of him. It wasnt until we finally got into the door that we realized he was buying an allotment again.

Just from talking to folks I ran into, I was shocked to hear the accounts/stories from the night before.

People actually met/approached random people on the street and bought them memberships so they could get a second allotment on friday... Let me say that again. Someone paid a total stranger 150 to join the pub club, an additional 205 for the bottles then gave them more money and/or bottles as a thank you. Then, same person arrives early in line, gets a 3rd allotment and then considers going to the end of the line to purchase a 4th but decides not too because "its too long of a wait." Let me be the first to kindly say fuck you on behalf of every honest person who waited patiently in line to buy their only allotment.

What a fucking astonishing display of greed. I dont understand how people can essentially shit in the faces of 300+ people behind them in line and be perfectly ok with that. Im dumbfounded by this. I love these grrrz bottles that Bullfrog is pumping out but if this is the way future releases are, im done. Something has gotta change.

 

I got into line 1am and easily got all my allocation and then was lucky enough to try Apricot and Melange on draft I hope everyone was fortunate enough too.

 

I usually don't do this but, with all the hoarding now a days, bringing 7 family members who don't drink beer, and hiring prostitutes at releases. It nice to see BA's who just like to share good beer especially when I didn't plan on staying at Bullfrog for the bottle share and therefore didn't have any bottles to share. @jaken0ss and @jimmieall (the rest of their group too) who I had only met once at bottle share in August offered Art, Life is Like, and a Dark Lord variant among other beers of that caliber just because I happened to run into them.
Also, the two guys from Scranton that were in front of me in line that offered their Forest & Main and other beers to me and my gf. It's nice to see that with all the craziness that there are still people who know what beer advocate is truly about.

 

I agree...we actually had a really nice time. We were generously given some really cool stuff from lots of different people. The bottle share the night before in the brewery was such a great experience. Generously sharing beers with staff and other beer lovers. I can't speak for others but aside from the line cutting (you have to expect that to some degree) I think it was a really special release in a lot of different ways.

 

Probably gonna trade away a berry or a kriek, looking to grab a fou. Will it be a 1.1 or do u think I could land 2?

 

This was definitely not the worst release I've been to, far from the best also. I said it multiple times throughout the day yesterday, I will be shocked if Bullfrog doesn't rethink the way they do these releases going forward. The turnout was pretty incredible. I got in line around 6:30am. That was my plan all along but didn't expect that to put me in the 325 range. Kudos to those that camped out all night on the sidewalks/parking lot. I have moved past that point in my life for the mostpart. It was oobviously not necessary since it appears everyone who showed up left with some bottles. I got everything besides the crime of passion, not sure how that particular bottle count was that far off. Nice gesture on Bullfrog's part to offer an additional kriek or berry. The line cutters and mules will always exist. I find it funny that people have no problem calling others out on here, but no one does it while it's actually happening. We all saw the people who were"hired". I talked about it at length with the people around me. They were dubbed the mule family. I personally could care less as long as it doesn't affect me personally. If that's the way you want to spend your money go ahead. Obviously these beers mean an awful lot to you. I do not condone this type of behavior either, but like I said it will always exist. As for the pace of the line moving, correct me if I'm wrong, but all the past releases wasn't there only one register for those as well? Bullfrog's lines have always moved slow IMHO. For the turnout they had I was wondering how they planned to accommodate everyone. I was totally unaware about the drafts kicking until somone walked by and mentioned it. That was poorly handled. This is also the first time I did not purchase anything additional at Bullfrog. Once I had my bottles there was no place to sit to grab food or drink. I waited 6 hrs for bottles, wasn't waiting longer for a table. Not really much they could do to fix this yesterday, but moving forward if you're expecting 400 people try not to cram them all into your 100 person capacity building. Still enjoyed myself. Got to catch up with a few people I haven't seen in a while. Got to meet some great new people as I always do at these things.

 

I tried to buy an allocation off the hookers/pimp, just to see what the original guy was paying, but they insisted they were avid craft beer fans... lol... and for everyone who gets mad at legit mules, what about guys who bring their girlfriends and wives?

 

@markgugs , hey, thanks for the invite for the bottle release. That Vanilla DL was the shit.

haha, yeah shhh...

 

I really don't see why people care so much about people bringing mules. It's almost guaranteed that everyone has brought a Mule to a bottle release at some point. Who the mule is doesn't matter. I wouldn't care if it was a pimp, hooker, or someone's grandmother. As long as they waited in line for their bottles so what. It is in bad taste to post a picture of someone and refer to them as a Hoe! What if someone posted a picture of your mom, sister or girlfriend and said same thing?

 

@basickness did you get shut out of any of the beers?

 

I just missed crime by about 10 people, (the pimps and hookers were about 20 in front of me) But bullfrog let me get an xtra berry so it was a win for me.