Hunapocolypse 2014

Wasn't there just a post in the general forum about lower limits?

 

As an El cat member I completely agree. I have no hard feeling towards CCB for selling those beers, should it have been limit 1, yes. For those that didn't get their Huna with a legitimate ticket, I am sure this event was horrible! And I hope CCB can make it better.

But why is no one talking about the scalpers selling fake tickets and those responsible for those ticket sales! Yes what CCB should have done was tell everyone whose ticket didn't scan "Sorry you can not come in, please go back to the person you bought it from an get a refund" If you are at a concert with a fake ticket they do not let you in, but I don't think CCB new what was happening until it was too late. CCB should have also realized that taking an event from 9000 attendees last year to 3500 was going to cause some concern over scalping/fake tickets. Hopefully they will follow DLD and only allow the attendee & 1 guest in(and your ID must match the name on the ticket)

I'm sorry to hear about all the problems that happened, and yes CCB is somewhat responsible, but so are many others.

 

CCB created all of these problems, by having a shit ticketing system. They had it right to begin with, when they were going to tie the tickets to your ID, but then people whined about not being able to give their El Catador ticket to their buddy/trustee/mistress. So then CCB changed so the ticket didn't have to match the ID. The "don't buy a ticket, if you aren't going to attend" method has worked out well for quite a few events (KBS, Alesmith, DL Day).

I can't imagine the duplicate/fake tickets were more than a few hundred. Where did the other couple thousand people come from? Did CCB way oversell the event? more than the city mandated 3500?

 

it's mind boggling the ticketing system that was used. christ my fraternity figured out a $15 method to prevent people from photocopying invites to our keg parties, it's laughable that this went down at a large business who has run this event for years now

 

Sounds like a good day! Sorry I missed it

 

LOL, on Cigar City Facebook

he might want to sit this one out and stick to the strip clubs

 

I don't think CCB sold 2000+ extra tickets and didn't tell anyone, so it must have been fake tickets. People said that there were more people then last year at the event(not sure that is true, it might have just felt like it), and last year there were around 9000, so somehow a crap ton of tickets got sold to people without CCB knowing. Obviously CCB thought they had enough Huna for 3500 to get 3 bottles each plus enough to sell lots of extras at a case limit, but something went terribly wrong. That probably was extra people attending, and not just a few hundred to cause them to sell out that fast.

They never should have changed the ID matching requirement, but they were listening to the El cat members that were complaining. Again this was a pour decision but it CCB didn't do it in hopes of the shitshow that happened. Yes someone should have thought this through better, but mistakes happen. And those mistakes will cost CCB in several different ways.

 

Tickets tied to IDs wouldve solved the problem even if they didnt do a great job at checking them at the gate. It wouldve detered asshats and scalpers from the get go. Or CCB shouldve mailed silver wristbands to those who purchased tickets or allowed people to claim their tickets or bottles the week of the event or day of the event

 

All this.

 

They had SOOOO much proof that this would be a very in demand event:

They had last year be a mess which is proof #1

The MZ release people were walking out with CASES each and it was gone by 9pm that night IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK #2

All of their tap takeovers this year have basically been a mess of people barely even able to get 1 beer in an hour in the tasting room #3

How much more proof do you need that you are not able to hand this amount of demand on your own or that your tasting room is not big enough to have these types of events anymore?

 

The posts on the CCB facebook page are just wow. Lots of people complaining about long lines. Line cutting is one thing, but when theres 3500 people, do you just expect there to never be a line? Have you never been to a craft centric festival? lines are long as hell at an event with 500 people, now multiply that by 7, and long lines are unavoidable. Theres just no way around it (like rush hour traffic).

best response Ive seen yet.
some of you are acting like this is the worst thing that's ever happened to you.. it went bad, they apologized and said they will correct it. get over it. or get some bigger problems to worry about..

 

Wow... That blew up fast.. I didn't go, wanted to, but I'm not down for huge shit show lines for beer, so I usually avoid any fests and bottle releases from bigger places.

But.. man.. wow... fuckin huge black eye on this one.

 

I would have been fine with the waits if it weren't for them cutting the amount of pours from many down to 1,and only 3 ozs of it at that.

 

Just a few thoughts:

I know a lot of people are piling on the entitlement of Cat Club members (and deservedly so in some instances). However I feel like they could have released the bottle limit to ticket holding members when they released the rest of the club bottles. That would have removed around a thousand people from yesterday's line.

Or perhaps have one day a week for a month when those bottles can be picked up. I totally understand the logistical difficulty of having to serve patrons AND do bookkeeping for the bottle club from the bartender's perspective though.

I definitely agree about divorcing the festival from the bottle release. The event and the clout surrounding the beer have grown so large as to make holding both concurrently impossible.

Lastly it's a bad look when a CCB staff member is riding his bike while towing a case of beer and giving The Rock treatment to salty festival goers. I know things got rowdy but you can't feed the trolls.

J

 

Not that it means much, but IMO....
This why beer douches and limited releases are sucking the life out of Brewers and retailers. No matter how you do it, people scream it's not fair. CCB may not have done a good job with this, but blame should be shared by the same type of people who are complaining. Getting off the single bottle line and on to the case line is a dick move. Greedy traders caused this problem as much as CCB poor handling. Breweries and retailers spend a ton of time trying to figure out how to avoid a mess and make everyone happy. It's just not possible. If people would behave and be happy with one or two bottles like they used to, no one would have to come up with ideas on how to handle this. Before trading got big, this nonsense didn't exist. If I had a brewery I would just make a sign up sheet two months ahead of time, and as you paid your tab at the end of the visit to the tasting room, or exited the tour you would be offered to sign up and reserve a bottle. This way it would go to supporters of the brewery, and not a bunch of people who couldn't care less about my brewery other than on big release days. It would also assure that the beer went to locals in my area who support the brewery, and their friends. As a brewery, some guy in some state that doesn't have my beers is not going to support my brewery, nor will he easily have access to getting it again if he liked it. Advocate beer. Drink beer. Share it with friends... in person. It's beer, not a trophy. Brewers want to see their beer enjoyed by friends and beer geeks, especially the loyal fans. No brewer I have ever met has been happy when told his beer is going for $50-$150 bucks on ebay.....

 

I really don't think the "scalpers sold fake tickets" was the problem some people want you to think it was. *IF* fake tickets were made and sold, please explain why people coming into the gates 3 hours after they opened still got a silver "Hunahpu 2014" bracelet when well over 3,500 people were already inside the event. When I left a little after 3pm, they were still allowing people in and handing out silver armbands.

If you sell 3,500 tickets to an event, you DONT print 7,000 wristbands with a specific name and date on the off chance that an extra 3-4000 people will show up.

Bottom line, multiple mistakes were made, and various factors had negative impacts on the event, and the result was a shit show. I am sure CCB feels bad about it, and I am sure they will try to make amends, they've already shown that they are trying to do so.

I am disapointed in the event, but as someone that has attended every Hunahpu Day since 2011, I've seen the event get more and more out of control every year. The sense of "beer folk coming together to enjoy and share great beers together" lessens every year and the "self entitled asshat douchebags with greed issues" factor increases every year. No amount of checking IDs is gonna fix THAT problem.

 

But what if it's a tinfoil hat made of tears and discarded silver armbands? Huh? That would be one snazzy hat!

More details from CCB would be nice.

 

Oh sweetie. You're giving CCB a ton of credit if you think there were separate lines for individual bottles and cases. That would have been a good start. But nope.

 

Individuals still need to police themselves. Leave some for other people. Whether it was separate times or separate lines, there were plenty of people who picked up the 3, and went to grab a case. Either way, greedy. Go to 0:33 of the video. You can make rules Next year they will try something new, it will be circumvented, and they will get the blame. Or maybe they will just skip the brewery release, ship it around the country and avoid the nonsense. I for one would love to get a case next year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=TUIS4-58o4U#t=33