The Veil Brewing - Richmond

Completetly understand all the points you made, makes sense to me. I agree with 100% its better to have the issues I mentioned above versus quality issues, but that being said, don't you think those issues with demand could be avoided with lower limits or break can yield up over 2 different days throughout the week or crowlers fills on days when no cans are around? I feel like that might be a better model to "get beer to as many people as possible" versus selling out in a matter of hours each week (usually) and then offer no take home alternative for the other 6 days of the week.

But again, at the end of the day, it's just beer and there is certainly no perfect system to satisfy everyone and I get that, just a bit bitter I will be in town at the source and have no way to bring home any of their beer with me is all. But over time, as they grow/expand/increase beer produced all of these issues will be figured out. Then my buddies and I will just have to plan another road trip back down 95.

 

I think about this each week when I see the limits along with them continuing to say the goal is to get their beers out to as many as they can. On one side they want the cans to be consumed as fresh as possible but on the other it's wanting to get product to as many people as possible. They also contradict themselves a little bit by wanting to get as much of their product to as many people as possible yet have the 3pp,4pp, 1-case limits. The first few months are all about experimentation to analyze the "perfect recipe" for release. It almost comes off each week like they just want to see how quickly they can sell through product and not so much see. I personally would love to see them test out the 1 or 2 4-pack limit on an upcoming week just to see how long it will last. People will still come and Veil would still probably sell out within 48-hours. Just give it a shot, guys. What's the worst that can happen? They have cans that don't sell until they are 3 or 4 days old?

 

Fully agree with you

 

Yeah, everyone in the thread has made.good points. I'm sure there considered alternative methods of distribution and it's likely we'll see changes as they enjoy steady crowds. Either way, it's obviously a balance... Their current method and limits wok alright for me, so I'm probably biased.

In other news, I had some family and friends over last weekend and broke open some Tree House and Veil... Everyone was just as excited for the latter as the former and had a hard time choosing. I'm just happy to have a brewery nearby that can be mentioned in the same sentence as the best of them.

 

Damn it looks like all the beer got drank last night!

 

Saw that. Looks like their first real snag since opening. High class problems though. I wonder how that will affect today's turnout or even how much in available next week since they are legging some from what was to be Tuesday's batch.

 

What they are doing is not working out where I get all of their beer so therefore they should do something different, and by different I mean I get all the fucking beer and drink it with a diaper on.

 

I see the issue here as by increasing the pp limit, they increase the incentive for someone to make the trip they wouldn't have otherwise. There are folks who wouldn't drive 2 hours for 2 four packs but would for a case. That's a tough one to figure out. See also: The Great Hardywood Kentucky Christmas Travesty of 2015.

 

Increasing the limits so it entices someone to drive 2 hours contradicts what Veil has said all along. The reason they do releases on Tuesday is so their locals can get cans and not have to deal with the chaos that would surely occur if they did weekend releases and the non-locals would swarm in. They made several comments on social media as recently as last Friday stating this. And they have also said their goal is to get their products into as many hands as possible. Lower limits will prevent as many non-locals to make the trip to RVA plus spread the reach of how many hands can get their cans. They have been doing the limited Crowlers the past 3 Saturdays primarily for those unable to make Tuesdays. I'm not saying it's the perfect solution for all but if Veil does read through the post on BA I'm just asking the to give it a shot of 1-2 4pk pp. It's not like they are not going to sell it. It may just take a couple days longer to do so. Once their production increases and they are able to release (a lot) more each week then they currently are that's when the 3, 4, 5 or 6 4pks pp may be warranted. Just my $.02

 

Yup, I agree 100%. I wasn't really trying to do anything in terms of judgement but that was just my outsider's diagnosis. I saw someone on FB post something like "just tried my first one - worth the drive from Virginia Beach!". Anyway, if they do the huge pp I bet it continues that way.

 

Glad to see they dropped limits for this week's release. I fully agree with the TWO 4pk/pp limit on each of the 3 beers they are releasing. That being said, they will probably still sell out today! HA. (at least of the 2 new cans I bet they sell out)

"~INFO FOR TODAY, TUESDAY MAY 24TH CAN RELEASE~

Today we canned three fresh batches of hoppy beer(finished less than an hour ago!). Beginning today at 4PM we will be selling the following:

-Lord Shredder-6.1%-IPA with Blood Oranges. This is the Master Shredder recipe with a touch more hops and organic blood orange juice/purée. An even more citrus forward version of our beloved flagship IPA. All hail Lord Shredder! $14+tax per 4-pack; 2 4-packs per person.

-Crucial Taunt-8%-our beloved flagship Double IPA. Fresh batch of this hazy, dank, citrusy goodness. A staff favorite for sure! $14+tax per 4-pack; 2 4-packs per person.

-Cheryl from Accounting-6.4%-Sour IPA. We intentionally brewed this batch to have a higher level of acidity. Still not overbearingly sour, but an extremely refreshing, citrus forward kettle soured hoppy beer. Loads of lemon character. Brewed mainly with Citra hops. $14+tax per 4-pack; 2 4-packs per person.

Limits are per person, per day. Please do not try and get back into line to purchase another allocation. You will be denied.

For draft we will have:
-Lord Shredder-6.1%-IPA with blood oranges
-Crucial Taunt-8%-our flagship Double IPA
-Cheryl from Accounting-6.4%-Sour IPA with mainly Citra hops

We have tons of hoodies and a fair amount of men's and women's shirts/tanks(women's only). We are running low on platinum glassware. Pick one up while you can before we switch the color.

Goatocado will be serving food all night too!

Come on by and grab some fresh cans, fresh food, and some fresh draft pours."

 

My theory has been disproved. Even with a two 4pk/pp limit they sell out 2 of 3 (Crucial Taunt and Lord Shredder) in under 3 hours. Let's go for 1pp next week!

 

One of the new ones made it to the next day, so there is that.

 

All about the number of cases and desirability of the beer. RVA is an IPA/DIPA town, and those two beers had the least amount of cases available. As soon as the other brewer joins, you will start to see a bunch of double batches, leading to an increase in cans available each week.

 

Minor win. I wonder how much CT they would have had if they didn't pull some for draft over the weekend. Their post this morning mentioned a total of about 250 cases between the 3 beers. In the past their total max canning load has been closer to 200 cases right? I am impressed they moved more cases with lower limits. I really do think that 1-2 4pk pp is the magic number. With barely 10 cases of Cheryl left today I would have backed it down to 1pp instead of leaving it at 2pp. Either way, I'll be visiting this weekend and glad to hear they plan to have all 3 on draft

 

According to FB they brewed a double batch of Dirt Nap this week, hopefully it is part of this week's can release.

 

From the post it read like they just brewed it on Wed. It won't be ready that quick if that's the case.

 

It won't. Generally the hoppy stuff they brew is ready about 3 weeks or so later. So expect a can release on that one sometime in June. This week, I'm guessing it will be Yung Blud (hoppy red) based on that turn around time. Then probably one or two more can offerings.

 

Thanks for the info, I should be driving through Richmond around that time, hopefully its on the day of a can release.

 

make sure you come through on a Tuesday, that's when the cans are released.