Modem Times first anniversary party

Oh, and that Fantomaland was everything you'd want and more. Tip of the hat to the kind bartender who made it happen late in the session.

 

Anyone know if they have their coffee for sale today? Looking for bourbon or regular. Tried calling but no answer.

 

i'm jelly

 

Perhaps this would have been better to go to than the Ballast Point one.

Much like the guy in Indiana Jones that grabbed the gaudy looking cup, I chose wrong.

 

That was the best beer event I attended this year, or at least ex aequo with the Bruery anniversary party. Awesome beer - that sour was mind blowing, that's Russian River territory...easily. The Monster's Park variants were all stunning. The "proprietors-style" cask was super delicious. The other ones were outstanding too. The non-alcoholic options, coffee were both delicious, the coffee on nitro was spectacular - first time I ever had coffee on nitro. I want more! Please please start bottling the higher abv stuff soon! and the sours!

 

So bummed I missed this... guess I'm gonna have to French press some Black House with toasted coconut and cacao this week.

 

I love Black House (and it seems all my trading partners who received it as extras do love it too) and I'm sure that will taste great too, but maaaaan that Monster's Park....soooo good

 

I've already said this on another thread, but Jacob & Co. this event was amazing; it was among the best brewery anniversary parties I've ever been to. Everything was so, so delicious, especially the Oud Bruin and the Monsters' Park with rye barrel-aged coffee. Nice laid-back feel to the event, with minimal wait times. It was the perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

 

I'm going to +1 all the positive notices on here. After going to so many beer events with long waits, it was a relief to go to such a laid back event with great beer. I never waited more than a minute or two and I enjoyed all the beers (the Oud Bruin and the Black House in Red Wine barrels being particular standouts for me). Great job!

 

I wonder if they're going to have anything left over today.

 

Thanks so much to everyone saying such positive things on this thread. It's really, really satisfying to put so much work into something like this and have people come away happy. Our entire crew worked very hard to get everything together, and we're all super thrilled with how it went. Couldn't ask for a better way to celebrate our first year.

I'm going order another small run of the 13.5oz anniversary glasses; enough people asked about it that I feel like it's the right thing to do. We'll be getting more of the tulips at some point, but it's hard to say exactly when or how many. We sold WAY more coffee bags than we anticipated, so we're going to take stock of things this week and figure out how to get tasting room/online sales up and running quickly. Kegs of the leftovers will go on at both tasting rooms in ones and twos until they run out, starting later this week (although the cask is still on at the Flavordome).

I'll have an announcement on future bottles releases (including Monsters' Park and variations) soon. Sours should start to be released in September/October, with several follow-up releases as the fruited versions are ready. Phalanx draft is going up to our distributor tomorrow, and bottles will hit shelves the first week of August.

Thanks again to everyone who came and made this event such a deeply fulfilling success!

Cheers & thanks,
Jacob McKean
Modern Times Beer

 

Awesome followup! Answered all my questions and doubts! (Maybe except on how many bottles of the sour I will be able to buy

 

Are league members still getting first crack at the sours?
Are you guys filling growlers at the NP location yet?

I need that tulip, for real though.

 

I can say that the growler fill stations are currently set up at NP. I haven't seen anyone use them yet though, so I can't say if they're operational at this point. But I'm assuming they'll be up soon if they aren't already.

And I'm curious: what's the plan going forward for the league? It's supposed to be a yearly thing, right? Isn't that first year almost over?

 

I hope to have the growler fillers up and running tomorrow or Wednesday, depending on how much there is to do when I get to work. So very soon!

Jacob can answer the League question.

 

I haven't really decided what to do about the League going forward. It was originally designed to be a 1 year thing, but I didn't feel that we'd delivered enough in the first 12 months to make it a good value for the people who signed up. So I decided to extend it at least through all the initial sour releases (see the League email I sent on June 11th cc: @tyrsis)

Capacity issues have severely constrained our ability to do the kind of fun stuff that would allow the League to function as originally intended. And I'm not sure how much that'll improve going forward. So I hesitate to renew the League until I can be sure we can do a good job of living up to our end of the bargain. I should have a better feel for things in October/November, though, which is about when I expect we'll have released all our sours.

I'm totally open to suggestions and feedback, though, on what would make this appealing for folks.

Cheers & thanks,
Jacob McKean
Modern Times Beer

 

I'm a league member, but from afar, which biases my responses. I like the opportunity to buy special things, whether that's league growler fills, merch, or limited bottles. The growler fills are a bit tough, as it's difficult to know what's on unless you actually make it into the locations. And this week, all the special stuff seems to have been pulled, which is a bummer as I'd love to share the deliciousness I got to try on Saturday with the rest of my tasting group. Growlers of stuff I can buy in cans really isn't interesting or exciting.

I like the models like Sante Adarius and Rare barrel - where certain beers are only allocated to the societies. It makes you feel like you're part of the club, and worth putting the investment in. I understand that you want to build the brand as much as possible, and you've been very successful doing that, but there's also value to building intrigue and some exclusivity - which are the clubs. Not to mention they can be used as a nice cash-infusion if done right.

I don't think so far that I've gotten my money's worth - but that was a gamble that I took buying when I didn't live in the area, so I'm not sure how representative that response is.

 

The League-only bottles approach was the original concept, and that will still happen. But, as I mentioned above, I never expected that we'd struggle so much to keep up with demand for our core beers. The tank space I thought we'd have for special one-offs just has not been available.

That said, League members are still going to get first crack at 6-7 sours, some of which will be extremely limited, if not League-only, and hopefully a few other fun one-offs. So I totally agree, as of right now, League members have not gotten their money's worth, although I do think locals--which is who the League is geared towards--have gotten a bit more value than you have.

We will take stock of the anniversary party leftovers this week, and they will go back on-tap in ones and twos in the weeks to come. Some of them will be available for League growler fills; any requests (not the sours, sorry)?

Cheers & thanks,
Jacob McKean
Modern Times Beer

 

I'm in town till Friday. I was at the Saturday session and if you could throw any of the stouts w/adjuncts back on, I would definitely get fills of those. Wasn't expecting the sours, but seemed like you had a few kegs of the stout blends and they were delicious.

 

I think I'm missing something here. What the hell is THE LEAGUE? and how do I join?