KBS Statement from Founders

The problem is when one guy gets in line at 4am and then the rest of his crew shows up at 9:30am. That was were I saw the most line jumping. Even at the front of the line, I saw about 5 people in the Bears tarp fort, then the next morning there were suddenly a dozen. Leaves a bad taste in one's mouth.

 

For all of those that want to hate on the campers: Most of us towards the front of the line (first 50 or so) asked permission of Founders staff to set up tents and they had no issue with it. Nor did GR police when they stopped in around 11:30 or so. Take your Haterade and sour grapes someplace else.

 

My grapes weren't sour until you just made them that way, but I guess I could see how you could take that post the wrong way. I was incenuating that the public drinking and intoxication was illegal, not the camping out. I just wanted to point out that of all the bitching and complaining, people don't realize that Founders has the ability the take the fun out of it at any point.

 

I agree man, especially about the people smoking the hippie lettuce and generally embarrassing themselves in line late into the night (especially that guy that vomited all over the urinal). It just seems like lots of people on here have been consistently hating on the campers when the message from Founders staff was that it was acceptable.

 

On a lighter note, I took a duece in the port-a-potty and there will never be enough showers in the world to get me to forget about that splashback....

 

Based on that logic Founders should just inflate the price of KBS since the market can support it. They're NOT trying to make as much money as they can as soon as possible. They want to provide different opportunities for different people to enjoy their beer. Whether you agree with the allotment change or not, going to a bottle release doesn't make you a "real fan". I am sure some portion of that 1000 person line are more fans of eBay and trade bait than they are a "fan" of Founders.

 

So long as the machine keeps being fed, the machine will grind on.

 

That's real handy, assuming that. If it helps you sleep at night, so be it. I doubt that any significant portion of the people who drive hundreds of miles to be there on release day are eBaying it.

As for Founders making money, this isn't an all-or-nothing proposition. Founders can supply the demand, at a price they're comfortable with, AND make more money in the process. That's called a win-win.

 

My friends and I drove nine hours and were in line by 3:45AM that morning. The lowest number in my group was 331. Prior to the numbers be given out, we felt that it was highly possible that we may not get any KBS. We had heard that there was only 300-330 cases. I hate that this has created bad feelings among people, but I'm just happy that we didnt drive nine hours ,spend all that money, and end up empty handed.

 

Founders won't have a problem selling any of their KBS at whatever price they want, and just because people are lining up outside the brewery doesn't mean that those are the people a company wants to sell to.

The issue that these beer companies run into, as I mentioned earlier, is keeping real fans happy. There are real fans in Michigan, but living in Michigan or being able to drive to the brewery doesn't make you a real fan. I know people that practically live next to a brewery and don't care at all about the brewery unless someone is giving them a way to get something (beer trade value, eBay) or someone is passing out a free beer. I also know people who live far away from a brewery and still spend a ton of money on a specific company's beers. Guess who is more valuable to Founders? It doesn't matter if you live in Grand Rapids and only get KBS/CBS/Better Half or live in Boston and only buy KBS/CBS/Better Half, it doesn't matter if you camp ten hours to spend less than $100 or know the local beer guy and spend $20, Founders suffers when people take away the inventory of their hard-to-get-beers from their top customers, especially if these releases are viewed as a large enough incentive. Someone is going to buy KBS. The difficulty is figuring out how to get those customers the beer.

Eventually, beer companies are going to have to figure a way their best customers and give them first opportunity to get limited releases. Visit the brewery for three events and get a pass to the KBS release, maybe hide Golden Tickets in Dirty Bastard to get a ticket to the KBS release, maybe figure something else out. At the end of the day, give that guy who spends $1000+ on Founders a year first chance to get something rather than the person who spends $50-$100. That is good business.

 

Just curious, but how much does an 18-hour round trip cost? The government's reimbursement rate is $0.51 per mile, which is supposed to cover gas and maintenance/depreciation. If 9 hours is like 400 miles (could easily be more) then that's over $400 for the trip. If there were four of you (you didn't say) and you got 12 bottles each, then that's over $8.00 onto each bottle...

I know you go for the experience, to some extent, but for this release it just seems extreme to me...

 

Guy from Illinois puking out of side of car for 2+ hours at 8am. That is all.

 

My wonderful girlfriend and some of my friends got to Founder's at 6am. She got ticket #625 (which was pretty much the last) and I couldn't be happier that they decided to allow only a half case. While this went against the original plan, I think the fact that an extra 300+ people ended up with some KBS was great. For those that showed up and camped out 12 or so hours for some beer..this shows dedication, but not everyone can do that. Sharing is caring, and like Founder's says, "Brewed by us, enjoyed by EVERYONE."

 

Why so defensive? To quote exactly, I said, "SOME portion" but you're responding like I made an irrational assumption or generalization about everyone there. I'm only responding to your implication that selling as much as possible at the brewhouse equates to getting the beer into the hands of "real fans".

We just have to agree to disagree with what makes more business sense. In my book, whatever revenue Founders can make by selling a majority if not all at the taproom is eclipsed by value they gain by distributing the beer and growing the brand.

 

For what it's worth....I counted roughly 70 bottles of KBS for sale/ completed sales on ebay, as of this morning. I believe this is 1% of total allotment available @ at the brewery?

 

This thread makes my Peruvian Morning's taste that much better! Cheers! Thanks Allen.

 

I think there is a bit of a flaw in the brewery only sales logic. Yes, Founders can probably squeeze out every penny by selling at the taproom only, but I have to believe that the inclusion of KBS, seasonals (IS, BS, Harvest Ale, etc.), and the Backstage series is probably getting them into or at least favor with a lot of distributors and accounts. I work for a large food and beverage company. We run many products that make little or no profit and don't discontinue them because many are tied to distribution of the profitable materials.

I believe the reason they don't sell all the limited beers at the brewery is the same as the reason that it costs the same at the brewery as it does at the store down the street; they don't want to undercut or destroy relationships with their distributors that put their product on the shelves for them every other day of the year.

(Full disclosure - living near the brewery, I would easily benefit if they went taproom only or only distributed to MI as has been discussed.)

 

That is definitely the only way we can measure this sort of thing, but I imagine that number will increase significantly seeing as how it's only been three days, plus the bottom feeders know that flooding the market will net them less. This same phenomenon happens in the print buying community. Also there isn't a great way to quantify those who are overwhelmingly purchasing for trade bait.

 

I was thinking EXACTLY the same....and you can buy (2) 4 pks for $20!!!

 

I take it you didn't go to the Better Half release? Quite possibly the best and easiest release I have ever been to.

And it still isn't as good as KBS, you get what you pay for.