Jester King Sour values

Nope, you absolutely had to camp out to get your wristband this year. We got there at 10pm on Friday night for the Saturday release and we were 800 or so back in line.

In 2012 maybe you could just stroll in and get bottles, but this year the weather was actually mild and the beer was barrel aged for the first time so demand was nuts.

I was referring to the recent small batches when I talked about decreased output. In the past batches had higher limits and more bottles, the past two have been tiny and 1 bottle per person which has been artificially driving up value by limiting supply.

 

They pass out something like 1500 wristbands early in the morning that allows you to purchase up to 6 bottles. If you didn't get a wristband there's a 3'oclock line where you could purchase extra's if any available. You are time slotted for your pick up. If you didn't get a wristband or from the 3'oclock line it's distribution time! I believe someone will correct me if i'm off!

 

In past years yes, not this year. The wristbands sold out early, there were no extras. There were people standing outside of the tent where you pick up your bottles offering $30/bottle to the people who just purchased their allotment at $20/bottle. '

Like I mentioned above, distro was sold out same day in most places with a 1 bottle per person limit everywhere.

 

I have news for you: camping out and temperature don't mean shit. We all go through "hardships" of varying degrees to get beers, so please stop bringing this up like you survived scaling Mount Everest without oxygen.

 

This is the thing that ticks me off the most..the sob stories to add value "but i drove 18 hours each way, and stood in the cold rain for 9 hours"..well good for you, but that $15 bottle is still a $15 bottle...

 

I need to start adding my gas into my 13-hr r/t drives to Hill Farmstead

 

Prop trades way over $4$ because people are putting up FTs trying to outbid each other to get one or multiples....it's because the demand is high not because they waited in line to get it...look at the number of ISOs for prop vs darkness...I would guess it's 15 or 20 prop posts to every ISO darkness post...the camping out, temp, weather or bottle count are all irrelevant if everyone or nobody wants the beer....all about post release/market demand

 

Right, and demand is how many people want a particular beer. If 2,000+ show up at release day to get a beer obviously it has high demand.

 

The demand to buy them at the time was high but that doesn't always translate into the trade market...Jester King sold out of Blanc du Bois very quickly and there's relatively little interest on the trade boards. Demand at time of release and on the trade boards are two very different things...Black Tuesday sells out pretty quick online and has a lottery I think, but you practically have to give it away under value in a lot of cases to trade it

 

That's fair. Just saying if something is brewery only and sells out instantly that's one way to quantify demand. Wasn't posting because I wanted a shoulder to cry on.

 

Just catching up on this thread and I think you have made some really solid points. Honestly I don't think many Texas traders hold JK hostage but the reality of the matter is most of us who have been around already have established trade partners and if I get more than 1 of any release I owe so many local friends and RTP's that I never have enough to feed the masses.

To answer your original question about trade values I've at times gone $4$ with Side Project, Rare Barrel, De Garde, and Jackie O's stuff (cus damn that BB Black Maple is amazing shit). I almost never trade JK stuff for anything not sour though...if I was pressed to trade for a '14 Darkness I think a Fruited Sour and a limited 750 would work (AR+Rosearkness perhaps).

I never add in the roughly 500 miles into valuing a trip the JK since Austin has so much cool stuff and the pizza place down the street from JK (Pieous) is worth the drive alone.

 

That's because they have mostly been brand new beers except for O&P which stayed around for a bit and there was more of it. FenTao, C5 and BdBdb have been new. You made it sound as if they were ramping things down when its actually the opposite. I for one am ok with the smaller batches and having more options of fruited sours to choose from. I do hate that limit 1 though.

 

I couldn't agree more with RTP's! I thank you @PatrickInAustinTx

 

Always my pleasure!

 

One reason I heard that they are limiting release counts is to help deter muling groups and hoarders from wiping out their entire stash in one day and in effect, prevent the nine-to-five locals from getting a bottle. Good on them, IMO. Multiple bottle stashing tickers are the worst.

 

This is awesome. F the mules and especially F the muling groups out there (oh sorry, "100 of my closest friends that I met through Facebook and want to buy beer for").

 

You've managed to capture my sentiment exactly, despite the snark.

 

Despite the snark?!?! Snark is what makes it fun

 

I'm trying to track down a few of these for an upcoming tasting. My ? is how do these stack up aginst DDG batch 2, or FF. Specifically looking for Aurelian Lure, Fen Tao, and maybe one more. I won't be posting a FT until after the New Years, but I'm trying to get an idea of what it will take. Thanks in advance. Cheers.

 

I'm sure you Minnesotans have it all figured out on how to deal with the cold, I mean Texans only have to worry about dry Texas heat, blazing hot sun and skin cancer. Also, to compare Darkness Day, a widely known held festival/release specifically designed to attract thousands of beer geeks with bottle limits at 6 per person PLUS distribution, to some bottle release from a bite-sized brewery that periodically releases sours in the hundreds, at 1 per person, is no comparison.

Just be happy you made off with a great deal. It happens to all of us from time to time. Just don't expect it to become the exception to the rule.