Why Brewery Only Beer Releases?

Show me the money

 

I feel the biggest reason most breweries do these is to get more name recognition...build their brands (you can substitute "hype" for "their brands" in some cases)

 

It's like mini Lollapaloozas with all of the excitement and electricity in multiple regional beer hotspots. If these had been part of the social landscape 30 years ago, I would be all over it, meeting people (girls), without ever having to worry about sleep loss versus the fun to be had. It's also good marketing, big cash influx, but damned hard work, I'm sure. I'm very lucky now, lots of people bring me these beers, so I'm all for these crazy ass releases. Cheers.

 

I think in some ways these were maybe done as a way to celebrate a new special beer or anniversary with mostly local patrons that support the brewery year round. That's at least how some of the initial firestone annivesary releases I went to were. In the past few years it's defninitely gone away from the local patrons, but with that being said Firestone has definitely been able to handle these events in an amazing way even as they get more and more popular(hyped?). The Feral One release went about as smooth as could be hoped.

 

I would love to see a Hill Farmstead release/festival in the Dead of early February when it might have 3 feet of snow and also in single negative digit temperatures.

You want it that bad? Come get it... let's see what you are made of!! Us locals in the area can handle it! Come join the fun!

 

I think there is a difference between a fest type atmosphere, where something is happily announced and people come to try it; and a "dig deep people and wait in line outside all night" attitude. I guess I am just not of the mind to do it.

 

Hype, Hype gets your name known out there. Also these beers are usually really awesome beers and highly sought after and the Brewery can make 100% of the profit instead of distributer/store taking a cut. Since they know the beer will sell out without it even hitting the shelf and people will drive far and wide to come get it they know they can make 100% of the money. Good way to get a chunk of change all at once too.

Im sure if cigar city had the capacity to make enough hunahpus to where 100% was not sold at the brewery they would. because they're going to make a crap ton more money if they could sell more.

 

Are these releases necessary? No

Are they just a way for the brewery to get some cash into the accounting, but a disservice to the consumer? Yes on getting cash, I don't think it is a disservice to the customer though.

Just a way for the brewery to build a demand among us? For the most part yes.

Some beers might need that hype to sell out? Probably true

Is there anyone who thinks that Hunahpu's wouldn't sell out in any quantity produced? Churchill's? Younger? Anything Hill Farmstead? For the most part, though I think if one of those breweries made said a million bottles I don't think they would sell out, haha.

Is it even fair to the customer, to have such bedlam, or potential for bedlam? It is totally fair to the customer, the customer can simply choose not to go, they aren't force to go and buy.

Should we consumers advocate for fewer of these exclusive release things? I live in an area where a brewery that used to have a shitshow at releases, does silent releases now, and distribution also. Should we demand all breweries do this? I don't think advocating non-exclusive beer releases will help at all, breweries mainly do this for money and as long as people show up they will certainly keep doing them.

Or are these releases so great because of the bottle shares only? What if there were no big shares, like at Ithaca releases? Still great? I personally don't like bottle shares at releases that much, I find it disrespectful to the brewery to bring beer on their property, it's kinda like bring your own food to a restaurant.

 

its clever marketing and it works. This reminds me of the 4 pack threads-same answer here, because they can. Some breweries even over hype the shit out of their beer and sell fucking golden tickets that dont even guarantee you some of their mediocre at best brew *coughcoughThreeFloyds coughDarklordcoughdaycough*

 

So can't applaud this enough. It reminds me of all the people I would see at some of my favorite concerts and bands, with people in the audience who would go and get wasted even before the first note got dropped, never even remembering what happened 3 hours later.

Seriously... so you are going to get messed up before you even experience the joy that you forked over money for??? ok then... why don't you just give me your money... and I'll go enjoy the show more myself

 

Ignoring all of the pros and cons to having a festival imagine how awesome it is for the owner of a brewery to have 1000s of people come to your place to buy your beer. One of the many great things about Darkness Day is that Omar is visibly out among the patrons the night before and the day of.

 

I don't know how many barrels it takes to make 1,000,000 bottles but you are right. It will be interesting to see just how much Bourbon County Brand AB-IBV decides to brew. They are looking for a sweet spot of how much they can sell without lowering the price.

 

I like the releases for a few reasons.
1. You know you will get some of the beer. Otherwise you will be forced to check every liquor store and hope to get lucky.
2. It gets the money to the brewer and skips the distributor, I’d rather my brewer gets the $ and can make more cool beer.
3. It keeps the beer in state, rather than seeing my rare local brewery ship them all around their distribution footprint. I don’t want to see some guy from 5 states over enjoying a beer I couldn’t find in stores.
However, I do think that the “wait in line” releases are a horrible way to do it. I much prefer the EventBrite pre-ticket sale method. That is what Founders is doing for KBS (although they still distribute too (wish they didn’t)). Anyway I bought a ticket for $5 and am guaranteed KBS. I won’t, however, spend the night outside hoping to get a beer.

 

I'm against beer releases in general. I've only attended one in my life. It was the first bottle release of Dark Intrigue, I showed up an hour early and there was maybe 40 people in line when the doors opened(Chatted it up with some more experienced BAs and it was chill.

Now fast forward a year or so later and Victory announces another Dark Intrigue day, I thought cool but Victory also said it would make it to distribution and I know that It would be cheaper to land a case at the distributor(and it was) so I opted not to stand in line but did show up to fill some growlers that afternoon..

What my brother and I witnessed was nothing short of total madness..

The entire Victory parking lot was at capacity, there was a law enforcement presence that kept things cool but regardless I have never seen so many New Jersey State license plates and I live in SEPA People had their entire families struggling in line, I saw a handful of wives simply ditch their bum husbands and walk out in protest of the situation. What was even more unusual was the "madness in the air" when talking to these folks about Dark Intrigue. While waiting for my growler to be filled I had the opportunity to speak with some older gentlemen about their intentions and thoughts about the beer and the general consensus was I just bought 2 or 3 cases and I have 2 more on reserve from the distributor.

I mean that's basically where the rare beer game is at today, I know these guys got steaming mad when they found out it was cheaper through distribution than from the brewery.

So yeah I don't see anything cool with beer releases anywhere near a Large Metro.

 

Personally, I can't imagine myself getting so wound up about a beer in the first place. But I think no matter what system is put in place, a certain percentage of people are going to find a way to jack it up. Whether it is wrist bands or tickets or whatever - some people just have to beat the system and have the "I got mine (and more), f*** you" mentality. The people who feel the most "pain" are the ones who follow the rules and behave with some sense of decorum. Some people get what they want and are happy. Some people con their way to more than their fair share and gloat about it. Some people get screwed. Maybe most of these things go off without a hitch, but the potential certainly exists for things to go wrong.

I'm reading the CCB thread and even though the video likely represents the worst of the worst, I do think it seems a poor reflection on the "community", whatever the cause. I did not attend so I am reading the second-hand accounts, so whether it was poorly organized, a crowd out of control, people breaking the rules, or whatever else I don't really know. The reasons things went haywire hardly matter - the behavior does. Who's to say it won't happen at Dark Lord Day or Kate the Great Day or any other "day" where hype, anticipation, and expectation run wild and create that type of atmosphere? Look at it from an "outsider" point of view - like it or not, we'll all be classified like we're infected with the T-virus. "We" have no idea how far that video will get in today's instant universe. The average person isn't going to realize that what is in that video (hopefully) represents the vast minority. Guilt by association.

But I will say I have seen similar behavior at store releases and even at tastings. It doesn't take many people to create an uncomfortable experience. I've witnessed people being horribly abusive to staff - some poor bugger just pouring two ounces into a cup or stocking shelves. Why are you berating that person? What do you expect them to do? Never mind the pushing and shoving - hell, I have seen physicality and pointless bitchin' and moanin' even on non-release days when stores are just crowded/busy. So I am not sure if store releases would completely solve the problem - it might just spread it out over a wider area so the odds of ridiculous behavior is lower.

Like it or not, "our" beer is achieving rock star status (I am recalling the lament from Hill Farmstead posted quite some time ago). Beer isn't always just about beer anymore. It now draws in all sorts of people and that is a good thing since more breweries can sell more beer. But with that comes a higher percentage/probability of potential assholes. I guess we could debate about who creates the environment where these things can happen. The brewery by limiting a release or us by generating the hype in the first place?

I think I would rather see things like Night Shift is doing with the sours futures. You pay your money up front, they tell you when the beer is available, you go pick it up - more or less a subscription service.

 

Well said Lerose. And yeah the Night Shift sour futures is such a great program. Wish more breweries would follow suit. I also love how you can actually go to Night Shift the day they release a new beer and it's not complete mayhem.

I do think both breweries and the consumer are at fault in these bad situations with beer releases. What % lies with both? I don't know the answer.

These special releases aren't what pay the bills, but they certainly create hype for the brewery. The question is at what cost??

 

That's not fair, parts of NJ are closer to Victory than most of PA. is.

 

These releases are a way for a brewery to build hype about their brands. It of course horribly backfires when they are unprepared to actually run an event of the size they envision when launching the events. Even things as simple as lowering a bottle limit when more people show up than the original allocation would get beer to are for some odd reason overlooked when these releases are done.

It's really just the next logical step in an overcrowded marketplace. Many stores have 1000+ labels on the shelf at any one time - how the hell is a consumer to know which brands to purchase? Hype and reputation. Even tickers with 4000+ ticks have barely scratched the surface when it comes to all the different kinds of beer out there. But as is obvious from these forums, it's the Founders, Cigar City, et al. that people seem most likely to choose. Let's face it, having to buy tickets in order to buy a beer makes the beer seem more exclusive, and by extension, makes the brewery that makes the beer seem better. Nevermind that Kate the Great is a stout no better than many of the top tier RISs on the market - you have to win a lottery to buy it. That makes it better regardless of what it actually tastes like.