Plan Bee - Boston Hive

Finally got to pick up my allotments today. Karnal exceeded my expectations. Wow. Happy I joined.

 

Spring 2017 Memberships open.

 

Last day for November bottle pick up. Also, quite a few Plan Bee brews on the shelf at Crafted for those non members of the Hive.

 

how much are the bottles for non members?

 

$20

 

Boston Hive has been cancelled for 2017. What a bummer.I guess people signed up and didn't follow through, pick up numbers led to the cancelation.

There will be 375ml bistro of Barn Beer hopefully beginning in Feb.

 

The Boston Hive has been cancelled for 2017, what a bummer. I guess people signed up and didn't follow through, low pick up numbers led to the cancelation.

There will be 375ml bistro of Barn Beer hopefully beginning in Feb.

 

This cancellation is a real bummer - I just read through this whole thread and had heard great things about Plan Bee - why wouldn't they just have left unsold bottles at the store - I would have thought given their burgeoning reputation, they would have been gladly snapped up?

 

Thats what they did, unsold bottles went on the shelves, it probably got to the point where they werent selling so a lot of money was floating out there despite people signing up for the bottles. Wonder if they could've structured it differently to get more people to pick up the bottles, not sure how though.

 

Yeah, but I'd bet even with the positive "buzz" (sorry, just had to...!) - I would imagine they might have a hard time with some kind of a pre paid subscription model at $15 - $20 a bottle / $600 commitment over 6 months until they really get more of a word out. I think it's really telling based on some of the comments from some of the guys I've seen here whose pictures I recognize as pretty avid New England BA guys who are interested in splitting a membership...but might not want to commit...I would be of the same mind but given cellar size...maybe a reworked membership structure might work better for Plan Bee for out of market hives?

 

I wonder why they couldn't do the prepaid idea like the POK, my guess because of the retail involvement.
I do wish they did a one bottle membership, evan is very productive.
If anyone does join the pok hive last summer they did a bbq event for people to meet and relax while picking up bottles. it was a very nice day.

 

I split the membership with a few friends, but otherwise the 6 bottles would be a bit much I think (for drinking and space concerns).

I just emailed to switch my membership over to the POK hive...guess it'll be a road trip to grab them all at once! If anyone is looking to continue their membership but wouldn't want to make the drive send me a PM as I'll be going there at least once.

 

My guess is that it has much more to do with the outdated liquor laws in MA than Crafted's preference. From a store's perspective, they would want something like this to be prepaid as it would significantly increase the number of pick ups and would thus reduce the issue of storage for bottles picked up. Creating a pay upon pick up scenario caused lots of people to only pick up a few months worth of their share without penalty (other than the initial $50 fee to join). This then turns into a situation akin to a distributor dropping of loads of bottles that you didn't order at a $20 price point without being a big name to drive demand for this brewery.

Part of it could also be that Plan B wanted someone to be more of a partner and do some marketing for them in MA to drive demand.

 

I mean Holliston might not have been the best choice for the location of the "Boston" Hive...

 

They specifically picked somewhere outside of Boston in an attempt to pick up members from Boston, the Burbs and Worcester. People had 45 days to pick up and if you timed it right, you only have to go every 2 months (5 days into a current month pickup window and 35 days into the prior month's window and if you split a share with someone you can go once every 4 months). With very few actual breweries in Boston, beer lovers in the city are going out of the city for a beer haul anyway, so I'd expect that the distance was a minor factor if any.

 

I mean, I am in Medford and thats like a 50 minute drive for me, if it was 20 minutes, I would be much more likely to participate. I suspect there are probably others in densely populated (in therms of both people and beer snobs) areas like Cambridge and Somerville who feel the same (plus anyone without access to a car).

 

So would you pass up on going to Treehouse, which would probably be a 90 minute drive, or is it the distance and repetition of having to go there frequently to pick up? Just curious about your reasons since I'm equating the drive to pick up a share with driving to a brewery for a nice haul. I live about an hour away from TH, but have found myself going there often and leaving with only a six pack, but I still keep going.

Also, its my personal belief that anyone from Cambridge or Somerville shouldn't be allowed to leave their respective cities.

 

I think, despite the fact that you may be able to plan otherwise, the monthly commitment is what makes it a pain. If you could get everything once a quarter or 2x a year the location wouldnt be as big of an issue.

I only go to Treehouse a few times a year, and that is when I am out at my in-laws, only go to Hill Farmstead a few times a year, and thats when I am staying up in VT, so perhaps I am in the minority.

 

I don't think you're in the minority, I rarely make it out to TH because Trillium is so much closer. I considered joining the Boston Hive, but the inconvenient location was one of the reasons I decided not to. It would make much more sense to have it somewhere actually in the city of Boston, since more people are likely to have some reason to go into the city once a month than out to Holliston.

 

Interestingly Plan Bee seems to be showing up at retail all over the place. Fort Point Market had a decent number of bottles today. Just the unclaimed stuff from Crafted getting spread around?