Le Bleu release date announced.

I understand most peoples anger, but the facts are the facts; they said 100 cases, 1 case per, and first come first served. I've been shut out of releases in the past, but wouldn't mind being shut out of this one. Yes, the 1 case per- is kinda silly, but its not right to change the bottle limits day of. People travel from all over the county for these releases and would get screwed if they changed the limits. I flew to FL, stayed overnight, and in the end spent a lot of money for 2 bottles of Hunaphu's. I was actually furious that they lowered the limit to 2 instead of three. Although I vacationed, I really went for the beer, and ended up with 2 huna's for 500$....
TLR- Full case allotments for a small releases is stupid, but changing the allotments day of is wrong.

 

I agree 100% with this.

 

When did they tell us there was going to be only 100 cases available? I didn't hear about that until I was already on line.

 

I think they could have handled it a better personally. I did not know that they cut it down to 100 cases (I do not have facebook because I am an adult) They knew when they opened that they had 400+ in line but still only had one person cashing people out. I was standing in the line unconcerned because they have always released 250 cases in the past...3.5 hours of waiting later and came up with nothing.

1. More than one cashier
2. Outside Pisser
3. When making announcements, dont just tell the people at the front of the line...walk down the line and make several announcements.

 

What if they kept it at 3 per person and you spent $500 on vacation and got no beer because the people in front of you all got their three bottles? Do you think you might have been more furious than you were getting 2 bottles? Changing the numbers, especially when you are talking about a case max, based on the people outside is a good business decision.

 

No, but it is the brewery's fault for the amateurish way it managed the process and the lack of concern for its would-be-customers. They should not have waited until they were out of Le Bleau to inform those still in line. At a recent Captain Lawrence release, upon seeing that many would go home empty-handed, Scott, with a look of genuine concern on his face, dipped in to the brewery's reserves to make sure everyone left with at least one bottle. Ithaca could stand to learn a few things about how to run such an event before it holds one again. Hopefully, yesterday will prove to be a "learnable" moment for Ithaca and a "teachable" moment for those who left who left empty handed.

 

THIS is the key here. There were several mules that got lots of beer there yesterday. At least the ones by me went home empty handed as well.

 

ThIs is from the bottle share thread in the regional forum. It mentions the lower number of cases. Also it explains that they stopped distributing because they upset more folks than they satisfied. I am pretty sure that more people left Ithaca unhappy than people who left happy yesterday.

 

I agree with this statement. But how about the people at the front of the line that got a case and then proceeded to throw loose bottles of lebleu into mixed cases. It took Ithaca a bit to do anything about it.

 

That was solely the fault of the girl at the register. That bullshit started with the group of guys after us. My buddy and I were sampling 14 at the bar and looked over to see some guy paying for his case with an additional 6 bottles of le bleu sitting on top of his case. We asked the girl serving us at the bar if people could buy singles on top of the case, and she said "absolutely not." Though, she did nothing about as it was taking place. As far as I know, that was the only thing the staff screwed up.

 

i got there about 10:15 after driving from albany and got shut out by about 5 people. oh well - i grabbed a couple bottles of 14, a few tulip glasses and stopped at finger lakes beverage for the first time and grabbed a few beers not available in my area. was I disappointed? yes, but it was my own fault for assuming I would be ok based on prior release info. The only gripe is they could have come out and told folks on the line that they were not going to get any a little sooner than they did. But I'm sure it was overwhelming for the staff there to deal with as well.

 

I will start off by saying that I am not upset that i did not get any bottles, I understand that shit happens. Ive had this beer before and thought that it was good enough to get some more, but Ive had it and hopefully some others have had that opportunity now. I also understand that I could of arrived saturday when I got into town and been first in line. I have nothing against those that went home with bottles, because honest truth if I was in the front of the line I would have still bought my full allotment. You are all right in saying that that is your reward for being more prepared or whatever.

I do have an issue with how the brewery/staff handled the release. Say what you will, but all the decisions ultimately lie with them. Its there event, their reputation, their business. They contol it all. First of all about the case limit. Who out there really needs 12 bottles of LeBleu. A case limit is very high and no one can argue that. I dont understand why anyone would be upset if the limits were lowered. Why would you care if more people got to enjoy the beer. Isnt that what this is all about anyway. I dont like the sense of entitlement that Im hearing about I got there first so I should get a case and if I get less than thats bullshit. Are you saying that if this was a 1 or 2 bottle limit you would not have gone?

As for the staff and the way things were handled, I cant wrap my head around how you can show up and see the amount of people in line and say to yourself, "there is no way all these people are going to get beer, oh well lets go on with our plans and take pictures of everyone and let them stand out there and wait to get denied". How does that happen? Either tell people that they are not getting any or do something to accomadate the crowd. If they would have taken the appropriate actions to try and take care of everyone that showed up none of these discussions would be taking place, and praise would be showered upon IBC for the way they handeled things. Ive been to releases where this happens and thats the result. Not once have I heard of someone being upset because eveyone got some beer, and they got less than expected.

Now let the bashing begin tell me where I went wrong or Im disillusioned or something.

BTW Finger Lakes beverage center was awesome and Im glad that they got my business instead of IBC.

 

The first few Avery BA series releases i went to were cluster Fs just like this. But they have really turned it around and since then everything moves very smooth. SO hopefully they can learn from this.

 

At Horseheads

 

I was around 15-20th in line and they put a stop to this right before us. The guy immediately in front of me had an additional mixed 6-8 bottles, including more Bleu, on top of the requisite case. I'm glad they caught this early, but the greedy people doing this make these releases that much more annoying.

For the record, this was the line at 9am:

(About 20 deep)

The single register issue seems to be a plague with beer releases all over, but there was no reason for limiting the transactions like Ithaca did. If 4 people want to pay on a single card, why would you force them to have 4 separate transactions? That was just stupid from an efficiency standpoint and made things take way longer than they needed to. I don't know if they did this the rest of the day, but I was with 5 other people which required 5 swipes and signatures.

If I were a betting man, I'd bet that this was the last year of a 1 case limit.

 

Indeed! That was a great consolation prize IMO. The $3 tasting glass may be my favorite new glass for beer tastings. It was great meeting you (again maybe? Since you seemed familiar) and Horseheads Brewing is a top notch little brewery.

 

I was in line at 6:30 yesterday, my buddy and I were #3 and 4. We left long island at 2 am. Why did we leave so early you ask? Well first thing on Ithaca's website http://ithacabeer.com/excelsior-lebleu-official-release-date-announced/ they clearly stated first come first serve basis only! Which to me means exactly what it says. Also in this age of smartphones and facebook and whatnot I did something crazy....I picked up the phone dialed the number listed on their website, spoke to a live person and asked her how many cases they had available. She told me about 127 cases. I then asked her if there is 300 people on line when doors open will you be cutting down the case allotment, to which she replied, Nope, its first come first served. She told me the only way to guarantee I got the beer was to get on line in the first 100 places. I then called and texted all my friends that were making the 5 hour/265 mile drive that I was, and informed them. The legwork took me all of 3 minutes on the phone. I don't understand why everyone relies on all their info from the computer, or a beer related website when you can easily call the brewery and find out legitimate info on your own. Yes, I was one of the "lucky" ones who did my legwork, left super early and was assured my full allotment. As for those who were unable to get it I think this is unfortunately a wakeup call to what this craft beer world is coming to. These releases are getting out of control, but if you really want something you will do what you have to to make it happen.

 

Mules suck...at 930 some dude pulled up, hobbled out of his car and said to the few of us at the front of the line....

"what's the deal with this beer, is this place open yet? my friend in Boston is paying me to come pick up some for him, guess I need to go get my wife and the money and get on line" He proceeded to hobble back to his car, and shoed up half hour later with his wife and a pocket full of cash. Not sure he got the beer or not, but this is part of what sucks about these brewery only releases.

 

This is also bullshit! I got the 3rd case of Lebleu, proceded to go to the tasting counter and try some 14. I looked back and this douche who had his full case also took 6 loose bottles. People like him deserve to get pink eye!

 

Agreed. I got shut out as soon as I hit the front of the line. Thanks to these people I drove home 180 miles empty handed.