Phase Three Brewing (2020)

Good.

Pretty sure Side Project has done that with LC member before. At the very least, they've refunded someone's purchase when they were caught selling online before they even picked up their beer. Definitely happened with BBT b4 recently.

 

Likely - Ambassador price will be going down as will the number of bottles guaranteed. Half the cost and half the bottles so more of the public has a shot at them.

 

Hill Farmstead is pretty aggressive about it, I believe.

 

LATE AGAIN FLATLANDER

 

Fuckin’ Darth Cory!

 

That would cause a lot of butthurt and I'd be surprised at this. More likely they will keep scaling up the bottle count, as there are well over 100 barrels aging there now.

 

Is this based on some insider info? Im not saying that won’t happen, because I have no clue what their plan is, but it’s worth noting that “more public would have a shot at them” doesn’t make a ton of sense since all included bottles were members only and the public never had access. Unless you’re saying that they’ll just make smaller member batches to leave more barrels for public accessible beer?

 

LOL. Pretty much defines the last month or two for me! I'll break outta this slump one way or another.

 

Trading is fine/encouraged. Selling violates the membership. Shaun is in some of the trade groups so I sure hope these sellers are using proxies...that’s a lie. I want them to get caught haha

 

If I heard some of the La Coterie stories correctly, Cory would (still does?) go on the selling sites and "buys" the bottles himself to get the person's info and then boot them from the membership.

I'm using air quotes since I don't think he physically gives them money...just completes the purchase step to get their info.

 

I would be interested in the wait list for the Ambassador Program. I am thinking it is like the Cubs Season Tickets wait list. You are on a list and you have that slot on the list, then during the season (In this case December) they open the list and add People to the back of the list. Then it closes for a while and at the end of the season they see who is going to re-purchase and who is going to not Re-Purchanse. Then they go with #1 on the wait list and then #2, etc.

But I'm thinking they really don't have the list from last year, so it's just another lotto for whatever slots are open and they pick from everyone who enters.

I wish it was the "Cubs" version, because I am on that list from last year. If not, I'll keep entering yearly for a lotto that keeps getting less slots and more entries.

Or Phase 3 could go with the list from last year until they get down to a "Low" number, then open it up again. But to have 2500 entries and only 1000 slots, then open it up again only a year later, seems like My odds will keep going down, instead of up.

It would be nice to know what to expect from the "Wait List". Am I on it or do I have to enter again?

 

That I can’t answer. I think the current membership count is in the 500 member range

 

For what it is worth, I do not think they kept the list because their email saying they cutoff invites before they got to my slot says only that my email will be kept for the general marketing blasts and nothing about next year or a wait list.

Maybe someone has heard different, which I would be all about, but I am under the assumption I will be in no different position than anyone that just learned about Phase Three yesterday and wants to sign up for next year.

 

Was gonna make a Cubs/waitlist joke but Theo left already.

 

I believe this is correct, according to the ambassador FB group. I would guess the renewal rate will be pretty high. Really good feedback from most of the ambassadors. Presale rights, excellent communication and a quality product. Even if the membership goes up in price, just like with season tickets I’m sure a lot of people split the cost with friends/family. I could see an increase next year between 100-200 accounts but that might even be a stretch.

Membership seems to be the way of the future with a lot of these breweries- Barclay, Whiskey Hill Viking and some of the meaderies have gone this route and I’m sure more to follow locally.

 

It can help build a taproom as essentially an interest free loan (I understand the beer, barrels, space, bottles, opportunity cost, etc) and it can be helpful for a brewery during COVID times for those who can do it.

 

It also builds in hype through exclusivity in an industry that just lost its major hype currency of long lines due to COVID.

Win win for the breweries that can pull it off and keep ultra high retention of members either through perks, quality of beer, or both.

 

Good call. Speaking of retention, it generally keeps your members buying your merch, regular beer releases, etc

 

Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of. Again, I understand the wait list could be years long for doing it the "Cubs" way, but I also think the wait could be infinite doing it the 100-200 lotto picks each year, as I could possibly NEVER hit that lotto.

Oh, well, I'll survive.

 

Want to increase sales? Take a Rev approach and go to a points based rewards system. I'm sure the almighty Oznr could even figure it out. It would likely have more impact to their bottom line than memberships.