Hardywood's colossal screw up today

I'm arriving late to this party, but that seems like awfully short notice. Once the guidelines are in place, breweries need to adhere to them. Otherwise, the consumer gets screwed. Especially folks who have driven great distances to pick up some beer. Well - I guess even locals got screwed too, which is just as bad - if not worse. My two cents.

I've only done a handful of big releases at Olde Hickory & Foothills - they set up the rules & kept to them.

 

OHB and Foothills are probably bad examples though... Foothills has been running SC/BASC releases for so long they have them down to a science, plus sitting around and waiting from the night before is half the fun. And at OHB Steven is a freak about wanting to make sure everything is -perfect- (plus they've only recently started doing brewery releases). If those are your two to base off of, you've set yourself a high bar!

 

While I realize that the post was unhelpful/slightly dickish, in my defense, you chose to post your question in a thread dedicated to bitching about difficulty obtaining these beers. Also, I posted during mild intoxication, so I suppose I could have been more helpful. BBGBS and Xmas Morning you may have some luck in Northern Virginia. KY Xmas, I'd look to trade. Someone should have a bottle to spare.

 

That's shitty OP, sorry about your luck. I firmly believe that breweries should go to pre-event ticketed sales for all their major limited releases. Obviously there is no perfect way to do it, but that seems to cause the least heartache.

 

I had a two hour drive from Northern Virginia and wanted to make sure I didn't waste the day. So I got up early and was in line before 8am. I hung out with friends, took care of some trades and dressed for a 40 degree windy day. I opened my case and verified 6 KCM and 6 ABGBS and was on the road by 2:15. Got home as the sell out announcement was made.

People joked all week about picking up their bottles on Sunday and that showing up early was dumb.

Double variant release for one of the most popular beers in the state at one of the most popular breweries.

Arrive early, bring a lawn chair, be social.

 

But it will get to the point where people will get there 12 hours early and still get shut out. If breweries insist on not doing online sales they should at least hand out tickets so people know much more quickly whether they're getting shutout or not. Having people wait 3 hours to find out they ain't getting anything is inexcusable.

 

It was a sad day for some. I did not get KYxmas, only ABGBS. I still managed to have a great time drinking fresh pours and socializing with strangers...all with my girlfriend chirping a flow of non-stop complaints in my ear all day. Was it HW's fault for not properly selecting allotment? Was it my fault for not getting in line until 12? Probably a combination, but there is nothing to be done about it now. Ill look forward to seeing the adjustments we BOTH make next year!

 

Me and my family set up our mobile home outside the brewery a week before the release to make sure we all got some. If you're not willing to camp out for multiple days in order to get the beer then frankly you don't deserve it.

 

Not that dumb, they were not totally off base.
I showed up well after 4, waited for maybe 30 mins, and got the same 6 ABGBS that some people who got there at 12:30 & missed KYM did. Which is obviously the central issue here.

 

Yep, every other HW release over the last couple months you were able to show up late afternoon/evening and not wait in line. When they raised the limits to 6 I think most people assumed that they had more then enough to go around. If they would of announced the bottle count for KCM ahead of time people who really wanted it would of gotten there earlier.

 

I'm totally in agreement that I do not want waiting in line all morning and day for a special release to become the norm. I've got a wife and 2 young kids, and it is not at all easy for me to break away and devote hours to waiting in line. I hate the fact that most of Hardywood's releases start at 2pm. I'm majorly in favor of doing pre-event online ticket sales, and then showing up to claim your beers and stick around for pours, if you choose. Hopefully Hardywood and other breweries will adopt that method.

The point I was trying to make is that all the vicious backlash and whining after the release was a bit unnecessary and overboard. It seemed likely to me, and a lot of others, that these beers were going to be in very high demand. It was not clear at all how much there would be to go around, and, yes, the brewery should have put out there how much was available. If you showed up before noon (at least 2 hours before sales), you got a full allotment of both Kentucky and AB. Getting shutout is always a possibility if releases are run this way, and if you are so distraught about not getting a beer that you would threaten to boycott the brewery and blast them on here and social media, then maybe part of the blame is on you for not wanting to get there at least 2 hours before sales start. That's not THAT ridiculous. Word seemed to spread fast through the line about what the bottle count was, and that if you weren't within the first 400-450 people, it was very likely you would be shut out on Kentucky. At least everyone there on Saturday (and Sunday) who missed Kentucky were still able to get AB, as well as plenty of BGBS, Christmas Morning and GBS (all of the previous special releases in December). I think we can just rack this one up as a learning lesson for both sides, and hopefully Hardywood will put a better system in place moving forward... Let's move on....

 

Don't let this deter you, I saw plenty of people who dragged their kids out to wait in the cold for 5 hours or more that day.

 

How much does it cost to rent a mobile home for a week+1 day? I'm not going to miss out next time.

 

We didn't rent, we bought it just so we could travel the country, waiting in line for beer.

 

This is fantastic.

 

Bring that beast down to FL! We love to wait in line for beer here! Florida's motto is "If there's not a line for it, we don't want it!"

 

You win, I literally spit coffee all over my screen.

 

So a full day and about $200 gets you 2 distinct beers to drink. Sounds like you know what you're doing.

 

Looks like someone make a resolution to be more judgmental in the new year.

 

No sir, same honest asshole here. My res is to see the dentist this year, it's been awhile.