Prairie Dawgs - Members Only Club

Seems like the thoughts on the Oklahoma beer groups I am part of on Facebook have been mostly negative. Personally, I was excited to hear about the opportunity until I saw the price.

 

I thought the same. It was tempting for the stouts I'd love to try, but your math is actually realistically a little off. The reason I say this is not only do you only get those bottles, but you have absolutely no idea what styles of beer they are going to throw out. Almost everyone has a favorite style and, while they might not hate it, have some styles they just wouldn't pay top dollar for. I would pay $20 for a stout, but I don't want to pay $20 a bottle for a sour as I can take or leave them. What happens when they throw out a coconut or apricot beer and you don't like it? Money down the drain. That's why other mug clubs are not that expensive and you can just buy the bottles you want: it's a much better model for the customer.

In the end I think it could work if you and a buddy split it to mitigate some of the risk, but I'd be surprised if someone paid $500 and felt they really got that much value for it.

 

Being the Prairie fanboy I am, and having attended their 3 brewery only releases, I pulled the trigger, but agree that this seems steep based on the math for th 16 bottles.

Either way, really excited to see what they put out this year!

 

As always, everyone has a price, this one is not for me. I'm interested to see what they release, but not THAT interested.

 

This Prairie Sheep club looks really cool

 

500? Must be a peach of hand - Doc Holliday

 

Fuck Prairie

 

Who makes new Prairie beers in general and in this set up specifically? They sold to Krebs at some point, if I am not mistaken, but they keep coming out with "new" beers and I am curious if that is all the new ownership or if there is still a relationship with the original guys

 

Wonder when Prairie's AbInBev announcement will come? This year or next?

 

Not going to lie, the BA stouts aspect is really cool. I am going to stick with my American Solera membership for now. If the beers being released are insane, I might go for the next round of memberships.

 

I honestly think they make great beer. Their stouts are maybe the best off-the-shelf you can buy. Just their damn prices... and this club is an obvious rip.

 

I went this route. Hoping for high caliber stouts and they ability to get unclaimed bottles if something is good.

 

I still don't get how that makes any sense. $30 per 12oz/500ml bottle and the opportunity to purchase remaining bottles? It better be a ton of super awesome merch that comes with it. How do you split merch with a friend?

 

You take turns with your friend wearing the different t-shirts and merch items while Prairie counts your money.

 

I dont really give two shits about the merch. I figure I'll give it a shot this year and if it sucks, I'll walk away. Im hoping for good trade bait as well, something thst oklahoma lacks in.

I also agree that it seems way too expensive.

 

I was only mentioning the merch since they have admitted they will sell unclaimed member bottles for $12. That makes the 16 promised member bottles worth around $200. I figured that's a lot of shirts, hats, and glasses to make up the difference. I guess I could subtract the value of being allowed to spend even more money on those unclaimed member bottles.

Basically pointing out there is no way this shakes out to be a good deal. Then again, pricing has never really been PAA's strong suit.

 

I would love to hear back from anyone who participates in this after it's all over. Let us know if you thought it was worth it.

 

This! ^^^

I bought the membership and agree it's very steep relative to the bottles count included. However, its more than just merch as they've already hinted at a tasting event in Krebs.

From the trading aspect, there is very little in the way of 'trade bait' in our market that commands a premium and is well known/respected as Prairie (other than say JK). Prairie is one of those exceptions. Whether it's their shelf beer, or their brewery only stuff, I can only imagine this prairie dawg stuff will command a greater premium when considering the raririty/exclusivity factor.

While I'm not going into the membership planning to trade everything off, it will allow me to ship a few bottles for some big wants.

To each his own.

Cheers

 

New update:

UPDATE

August/September

· 8/1 – Membership closes.
· Member Only Launch – First exclusive access to the new OKC taproom prior to the grand opening. Date TBD.
· First Release
§ Double Barrel Noir
§ Double Barrel Stout – Name TBD (This will be a new stout)

October

· 10/21 – Member Only Barrel Experience
§ This event will take place at the production facility in Krebs, OK.

November/December

· Second Release

Spring 2018

· Third Release
· Member Only Experience

Member Only Merch

· Two Dawgs glasses
· Original, signed and numbered, Colin Healey work of art made exclusively for Prairie Dawg members.


Ø Each release is currently planned to feature at least two beers.
Ø Dawgs are allowed a +1 to each Member Only Experience.
Ø All additional Prairie Dawg beers will be available for purchase by members at $12 each.
Ø Any PD beers not purchased will strictly only be used for on sight purchase and consumption or special events.
Ø Brewery only released beers will be available for purchase at the initial set bottle limits per release. They will be $12 each.
Ø Distributed beers will be available for purchase at up to 6 bottles per beer brand. They will be $10 each.
Ø All beers must be pre-purchased through the webstore at the time of release.
Ø We will house all purchased beer for 1 year per member.

 

Double Barrel Noir

 

Since they came out with the initial membership info, they (prairie) definitely took notice and revamped the details and listened to those making suggestions, i.e. buying and holding normal distro options + brewery only releases,

$500 is a lot of money, but I'm stoked to take this for a test run in year 1!

 

In. I'm so excited, I'm so scared...

Holding bottles for the full year was big for me. Even if I don't need that long a runway, I like having that safety net...and I'm sure it is a lot more to manage for Prairie.

 

I'm with everyone else here that says this is way too expensive, BUT I will say that for an out-of-towner like myself, the fact that they'll do the following does make it more palatable:

1. Hold the bottles for a full year

2. Give access to brewery-only releases (which I wouldn't be able to land without membership)

3. Give access to public releases (which are difficult to land locally and would be limited to one or two probably vs. the limit of 6 they're offering with membership.)

So yes, we are paying $200 for the included bottles and $300 for merchandise (don't care) and access to every beer Prairie produced for a full year (do care, and this is huge).

Still overpriced, but if you split it with a friend like I did, it's $150 for access to everything. Not terrible.

 

I still don't see the upside here, even with the updated info. Different strokes...

Do you live in TX? Your avatar says so. As far as trade bait, even if you were just concerned about that... JK is a better option imo. Far cheaper/easier (and more enjoyable environment?) than this and stuff like Spon and its variants can land top 10-20 BA beers, even if it takes multiple bottles.

 

Notice my initial post said ...'other than say JK'. Having traded both, I've gotten some big wants with both Prairie and JK stuff so it's hard to say, but they're in the same category and totally agree with you that the JK environment is better.

 

Ah sorry missed that. The new perks are cool I admit, but the trek + price just seem so crazy to me considerring most of the buyers I'm betting are TX.

 

I disagree with the part about JK being cheaper OR easier to get. Maybe that's true if you live in Austin but that's about it. The Prairie releases in Krebs have all been smooth and easy and the beer has been plentiful. $12-13 per bottle for brewery only BA releases is a good price to me. Not having to drive to Austin is worth it even if the price was double. Don't get me wrong, Austin is awesome and the scenery is great but the traffic makes me want to self harm. I think Prairie is more valued in the trade market too. I know I've been able to trade non-brewery only BA stuff for out of market, hard to get BA stouts rather easily. Hopefully that continues.

 

Where in TX do you live? For the majority of the population: Houston, Dallas, Austin, JK is easier than driving to Oklahoma for brewery only releases is all I meant.

 

I'm in Dallas. It's a little over 2 hours to Krebs, OK. There is never an issue with traffic and there aren't idiots all over the road (I know....that's hard to believe considering it's OK).

 

Ok guys guess I'm wrong. Pay that $500 per year!

 

If you feel you are missing out on idiots driving in Oklahoma, feel free to visit up in OKC anytime.

 

Idiots are everywhere, drivers and otherwise. So are opinions.

Idiotic to join a $500 beer club membership like me, or idiotic NOT to. I tend to fall in the middle of all this crap. In the end, we're all probably right to a degree.