Le Bleu release date announced.

What difference does it make?

 

I don't recall seeing an official announcement of there being a significantly lower case count than previous releases. Luckily, my buddy decided to call the Brewery Friday afternoon and asked how many cases were for sale; he was informed that the magic number was 127. This was the factor the changed our plans from leaving at 4am to leaving at 2 am. If we would have left at 4, we would have been shut out for sure. Also, Friday evening they posted a picture of the pyramid of boxes stacked and I instantly thought to myself "I hope thats not all they have."

As far as the assumptions regarding next years bottle/case allotment go, do you really want them to lower the count? I drove 262 miles for my case. I would not have even considered driving that for 4 bottles; thats what trading is for.

I hope all of this bickering does not mess up the next Brute release. Speaking of Brute, did any of you guys inquire about that release?

 

haven't gotten through all the posts in this thread yet (so not sure if this has already been pointed out), but to those who complained about people getting their allocation and greed and non-advocacy...blah, blah, blah...

question for you - have you ever gone to multiple stores to acquire something limited? then you are part of the problem.

everyone talks about how limited stuff is and hard to get, then you look at the trading forum and tons of people are offering up multiples. how can this be? simple...traders do what they need to do to get that trade ammo (i'd be surprised if most people drink 10% of what they buy). if they don't get the ammo, they bitch and moan about everyone else who did. it is pretty clear how each brewery handles releases these days, do your homework and be prepared.

i had a few pre-trades set up and none got the beer...oh well. hopefully i'll get to try it, if not, there's always next year and festivals...or i can try to trade for it if i REALLY want it.

i'm DEFINITELY no fan of ebay, but ebay'ers are not the problem for lack of availability...traders are. ebayers don't hoard up beer, traders do. i don't like ebayers since i think they leech off the community (i feel the same way about (ph)/fans that are actuall ticket scalpers)...but there are just as many traders that leech of the community and profiteer, although not in cash.

my overall thoughts about all of this is welcome to the beer scene. if you are gonna get your panty's in a bunch over missing a beer, then perhaps you need a more under the radar and relaxing hobby. if you are gung ho on going to releases or tracking down limited releases then be prepared...there is someone who will get there before you, there is someone who already has their name down on a list in your local store for a beer you don't even know is coming out.

we're never gonna survive unless we get a little crazy!

 

Love this post - Yup, I get it - its the other guys who are the problem...

 

This is what I saw ahead of time: http://beeradvocate.com/community/posts/120401/

I am assuming it also went out in the newsletter. The only time I heard the number 100 was from an employee when they first opened the doors.

 

in case i wasn't clear, when i say i had a few pre-trades set up, i meant pre-trades coming my way since i couldn't make it to the brewery on saturday and kind of figured it wouldn't last until sunday as everyone said it would.

also, in case you missed it...i am not bitching about missing the release. these things happen. as a trader, i know that i am part of the problem for the limited numbers. i have gone to multiple stores to acquire more than one bottle of a beer that i either like to drink or want to trade for something that i either missed or can't get locally. my point was more aimed at people who blame ebayers. ebayers are a small portion of the problem, but it is really traders to blame for limited numbers. as a result, if you are into tracking down every limited release and you miss one, they you need to get more of the next one to have the trade bait since beer is held for hostage on the open trade market.

most of us (myself included) are getting tired of it all...so i've started to evolve/mature and realize all the great beer that i already have and/or can just stroll into a store to buy. i've also met a bunch of amazing local beer geeks and have a great time opening bottles with others...not only do we have an amazing time hanging and trying beers, but it is great when you miss out on a release and someone in your tasting group was there and brings a bottle to share. everyone wins when you share. not to mention, locally...we are all competing for the same limited stuff so it makes sense to form tasting groups so no one has to miss out on anything.

 

I drank a bottle when i got home from the release. this was the "freshest" i was ever able to try this beer and was hoping to find a bit more berry flavor. it is there in the nose but not so much in the flavor. instead it is quite yeasty with a mild yogurt flavor. thin and spritzy with carb but overall its lacking complexity. maybe with some age it will develope a bit but as-is im not a fan like i have been in the past.

 

I called the brewery the night before and theu told me 127 cases. I didn't need twitter or facebook or their website. Not meant to sound like a jerk, just saying there is other ways to find out besides the internet.

 

Guess they held back a bunch of cases then?

 

i've been to festivals where ithaca was pouring LeBleu (although i believe they were pouring from kegs).

 

EBF was via bottles

 

Its a tough judgment call. I was shut out, and I thought it would have been nice if they had cut the limit to 6 instead of 12. But had I been there in time I'm sure I wouldn't be complaining about having 12. I think either decision has pros and cons and I dont really fault Ithaca too much, it was a tough situation. I just wish I saw this coming so I couldve left earlier.

 

I'm counting my lucky stars. I drove 6 1/2 hours staying over night at a hotel without quite realizing the extent of the demand. I arrived at 10:15 and the cases ran out 6 people behind me. I feel bad for everyone who missed out.

 

Same with GABF.

 

Folks,

I have to tell you (to get to the point), we got totally blindsided on Saturday. We have NEVER seen this kind of turnout for a release. We did talk, a few days before in fact, about changing the allocation. But, in a manner of 'having a spine' decided to stick to our guns on the 1 case as we wanted to be sensitive to the fact that a lot of people were traveling very far and spending a lot of money to come to our tiny ass little brewery for a pretty special beer. Not knowing that THIS many people would show up. With out spending too much time on the matter, changing the allocation was lose-lose.

It was documented on another thread that there were only 110 cases for the release. We were keeping the other 10 packaged for our 'library'. We did put another 5 cases out on Friday night (band aid on a head wound, I know).

Last year Le Bleu took almost a week to sell out (only 70 cases sold on the first day). We assumed it'd be business as usual (and understanding 'weather' may have played into this weekend, remember we normally release Brute in July around BCTC weekend and it was still very quiet releases).

We don't 'lack management' and feel we did a pretty damned good job under the circumstances (knowing full well many of you will disagree with that) but the day proved to be too overwhelming. Bottom line, we learned a lot and will discuss changes for future releases (reducing allocations per person, clearly announcing total # of bottles/cases available on all feeds (BA, twitter, facebook, smoke signals, pony express (no mule express), and sign language for babies), monitoring case sales to 'groups', more registers, et al).

In short, we feel terrible that many of you got shut out of securing some Le Bleu. At the same time, with a truckload of humility, we are pretty psyched so many people showed up for one of our beers.

If you still don't like what you're hearing on this post, send me a private message. Still think we're total dicks and don't know what we're doing? That's cool, lines will be shorter next time (sorry, I'm a glass half full kind of guy).

Thanks for the support, thanks for the feedback and thanks for staying cool.

Cheers!
Schulzy
Parentheses Happy Sales Manager
Ithaca Beer Co.

 

https://www.facebook.com/?sk=lf#!/profile.php?id=100001378854411


Thread explosion in 3....2...1...

 

You guys did great! No tickets to buy way ahead of time, no pricey lottery tix to buy for a %15.2 chance at being able to buy beer, no easy to abuse methods of handing out line numbers, and no last minute changes to advertised methods.

Don't be moved by people who routinely blame everyone else for things that happen. Some among us are so used to feeling and being entitled in other facets of their lives that they carry it into every facet of their lives. If they were to clumsily drop a glass and it smashed they would blame the person ten feet from them for being too close, and the glass manufacturer for not making it strong enough.

You guys did great, you are great, and I personally can't wait for you to move to your new facility and to have more of your stupidly delicious beer. Cheers to all of you!

 

agreed with cavedave...although i didn't trek out to the release, this is the trend these days. in fact, kind of shocking what people said lines were like at the time of opening. every brewery release will have people pissed off unless there is more to go around than people waiting in line and that is becoming less and less of a reality.

perhaps next release, your official announcement should include total number and the disclaimer that allocations will not be cut and that people should be prepared for potential selling out, but that all goes without saying. everyone who wines about allocations not getting cut are the same that would wine if they were at the front of the line and allocations did get cut.

let's not forget that we live in a world where people sleep out on the street for a week to get the newest apple gizmo and those don't have finite availability. you can't please everyone, but definitely learn from the mistakes...but if you want to make your beer available by the case, then more power to you. if you want to do single bottles, then more power to you. i'm still pissed the LeBleu doesn't get distribution anymore... the times they are a changin...

 

YUP

 

I am not sure exactly where the attack on others is coming from in the second paragraph but it seems out of character for you.

However, your first paragraph has made me realize something for me personally. I will no longer attempt to attend a release that does not have a "ticket" system in place. I would much rather try to "buy tickets way ahead of time" than make a long drive to be shutout. For the people that tried to get DLD tickets but didn't it only took about 10mins of time before they realized it wasn't going to happen. Saturday took me a 3.5 hour drive as well as a 2 hour wait in line to find out the disappointing news. I will take 10 mins over 5.5 hours (as well as a 3.5 hour drive home) to be disappointed every time. For people that get to a release like CL and their "easy to abuse line numbers" you still know when you get there if there is a chance of getting the beer or not and many people, myself included, are usually there just as much for the bottle share as they are for the beer. This release was also much different than expected from everyone's perspective and at no point did people think it was going to be as crazy as recent CL releases where if you don't get to the brewery by 7am you aren't going to get any bottles. As the Ithaca Sales Manager above mentioned, previous releases of this beer have lasted over a week in the brewery. Saturday lasted 2 hours. If I knew it was going to be that crazy I would not have made the drive because I knew I could not be there that early.