Maine Dinner Release

Did someone not get a ticket?

 

Tree House also sells out every beer they brew every day. It's an apples/oranges comparison. No matter what is released, it's a shitshow at Tree House, whereas MBC has specific days of the year with a specific brewery-only release that they have the luxury of planning for.

You also don't see case limits of Juice Machine, for what it's worth.

MBC has two options for Dinner releases: the overnight campout, or selling tickets online. Selling tickets seems to be the more consumer friendly option, and also allows the brewery to pace their packaging and retail activities in a predictable fashion.

Can you make a viable argument that the campout method is better?

 

For what's it's worth, I went to the February release and I still had to wait in line for 45+ min. Knowing you have a case saved is nice though.

 

Ended up getting a ticket, though it wasn't exactly smooth-sailing. Every time I selected a time-slot it immediately sold out. Luckily the 8AM pick-up time was not as popular. Likely a super early morning for me since I'm driving from Boston. I actually wasn't planning on stopping by MBC during by "NE beer-run", but the timing worked out. The benefit is that the 8AM pick-up time allows me to grab breakfast in Portland, or hit the road to Tree House or Hill Farmstead. I've been to a couple of previous Dinner releases before they applied the ticket system. I honestly didn't mind the line-up since you just arrived around 5:30AM and you were usually guaranteed a case. I used to just walk over from one of the neighboring hotels. Guess it's more of the same this time, except I'm on the road at 5:30AM. Looking forward to being able to grab a case again!

 

So just waiting in line extra longer is the smartest least hipster-hypebeast shit then? Gotcha?

Yeah, gotcha.

 

MBC really needs to get with it as far as packaging and pricing. They aren't the big dog on the porch anymore. Everyone I talk to will pass up their products on shelves simply because of the plethora of other options at a MUCH better price point, distributed in a MUCH better format, at the same, if not better in some cases, quality. Definite head shaker.

 

Hi,

Just curious about the posts regarding pricing being high. In my area the bottles are usually 4.95 ish for the regular options and 5.95 for Lunch and similar. Doesn't seem far off per ounce when compared to similar products from other brewers. They tend to be some of the higher priced drafts, but nothing too out of whack.

What are the prices like in other areas? I assume much higher than what I see at the shops I hit in VT. Could this be markup from the stores or distribution? I don't have any facts regarding that, just asking.

 

Isn't waiting in line overnight for beer THE most hipster thing there is?

The ticket option is great. Although the first ticketed event they held was a bit of a mess(We stood in line over and hour and a half for our time since they broke the tablets) It still made things easier. I hear it's gotten much better.

 

Bottles of lunch can go for over $7 a pop. That's almost $30 a four pack(the .09 ounce extra is a mute point) It can be pricey.

 

Huh. Around me, the non-marked-up-to-hell-and-back-stores (looking at you, Olde Bedford Package) have regular offerings like Mo at $8 a bottle. Lunch is a bit more, as is Another One, usually around $9.

 

Ouch.

 

Don't get me wrong, I think their pricing is a steep but people are still buying their stuff so I don't see them changing it any time soon. I treat MBC as more of a treat rather than a go-to. Substance at $3.25 a can is my favorite and I would agree it's not half as good as Lunch. You could say it's better.

That's pretty much the going rates here in Maine. You occasionally find it for less but it's not much cheaper.

Yeah the first ticketed release sucked but they have gotten better each time. Last time they had people going right in through the tasting room directly instead of through the brewery and it literally took me 5 minutes to check in, get a case and pay for it.

That's bananaland. Those are all $5 and $6 bottles direct from the brewery. Well MO might be $5.50. Not sure but it's under $6.

 

Yes, I can. Online ticketing stops local people from actually buying local beer. Oh, you live ten minutes from MBC and want to get Dinner? Too bad you don't have a fast internet connection or you weren't constantly refreshing the page when the tickets went up for sale. Charging people just for them to have the opportunity to buy your beer is ridiculous. No line might be cool, but excluding everyone that isn't free to troll for tickets as soon as they go on sale is silly. It's like charging a cover to get into a brewery just so you can buy their beer.

Yeah, and when I go to amusement parks I wait in line like a normal human being too. I could pay the extra money for the "fast pass" to skip the line, but I don't feel that the product warrants paying ahead of time to "skip the line."

Did I ever defend people that wait in line overnight or for 5+ hours just for beer? No, I will never defend those people. If a line to buy beer is gonna take me longer than 45 minutes or so I would rather go to a different brewery and be in and out. Hype creates long lines and long lines are usually not worth the hassle. I love Tree House but I haven't gone in months because the wait in line is never worth the beer.

 

And yet with the first-come-first-serve, you're excluding everyone that isn't willing to line up pre-dawn from buying beer. It's not like locals can just roll in later in the day and get a case - the last couple times they did the line, every case was accounted for by roughly 6AM.

"Oh, you live ten minutes from MBC and want to get Dinner? Too bad you can't camp out and dedicate four-plus hours to buying some beer. Shame there's not a simple way to know that you can walk in and out in half an hour at a particular time of day, so you don't completely hatefuck your weekend."

Now, I do think that the ticket price should go towards the price of the beer, but the ticketing system is a great way to do limited releases and controls the chaos.

 

So it seems that your problem is not with the way Maine Beer Co. handles their releases, but that the releases are popular and you can't just waltz in and out without a bunch of plebeians making you either wait or be proactive enough to get a ticket?

How do you propose MBC handles Dinner releases to your satisfaction if ticketed releases are a bad thing but waiting in line for hours is also a bad thing?

 

A pre-chilled case delivered to his lazyboy isn't too much to ask, is it?

 

I mean, his acceptable window for waiting in line is 45 minutes. Using a ticketing system reduces Dinner release wait times from four to eight hours down to 30-ish minutes. It seems like that's a good thing, no?

 

Seems perfect for me! I love the ticket system and don't mind the 5$ charge that goes to charity.

 

Whoops, they barely produce the beer and sell up to a case to each customer. I wonder why they sell out so quickly! It's all a marketing strategy and it's bullshit if you ask me.

 

And once again, why camp out for some overhyped beer when you can drive 15-30 minutes to the next brewery?