Why does Jester King not have Reserve Society?

Please God this. I feel like I'm taking months off the life of my poor Honda Civic every time I go out there.

 

Seriously, I don't really care. I just keep my fingers crossed that they hope to expand and pick distribution up as I'm not one to drive 200 miles for beer (club or not).

 

I think reserve society makes sense for breweries that can't handle hundreds of people showing up at their property for a given release. But Jester King has a pretty unique location that allows them to deal with these large crowds when they do these releases. I think it makes more sense to simply continue as is, rather than have to deal with storing & tracking allocations. Not to mention worrying about issues when a certain beer isn't ready when expected or if you have a bad batch that you don't want to release. Its much easier to just brew the beer you want, and then when you deem it ready, you release it at your massive property that can handle most crowds.

Sucks for those of us that aren't close to the brewery, but if you really want the beer, its not all that hard to get.

 

Also begs the question: what's the incentive to distribute when they can sell at the brewery and have money directly come in?

 

Storage space is the only advantage. Move that stuff out(orange /grapefruit) to make room for other stuff.

 

Selling bottles at the brewery lets them keep all the profit and drive more sales in on-site consumption. My brief talks with them seem to indicate they are not too concerned with making a ton of money, but it lets them to focus on things they want to make, and not just what sells. Plus Stanleys plays into that somewhere.

 

Growth?

I didn't say replace their local dealings with distribution. I said I hope they expand and distribute as well. The demand is there. I'm just speaking as a consumer who would like to see more of their product. If they don't...that's ok too. I have good breweries to choose from up here.

 

I'll echo the sentiment that their current SOP seems to be working just fine. I'd say they could triple their output and still not be even close to supplying their demand. Even with the tiny amount of distribution they do now, they are selling out batches in 12 business days or less.

If it ain't broke...

 

This thread sprung up pretty fast

This isn't a very satisfying answer, but at least is a transparent one. I've been told by other brewers not to do a reserve society unless you are in need of an up-front cash infusion, because managing a society is a big time commitment and is akin to taking on new equity investors in the brewery in terms of communication, service, expectations, etc. I'm personally worried about having the time to manage a reserve society at the moment. There are obviously some benefits from one for our supporters. It would be great to give everyone who is interested a chance to ensure access to all our releases. But for the time being at least, it's not something we can take on. - Jeff

 

Wish I could send you guys a direct payment and have a cousin pick the beer up for me, though!

 

I think it is illegal in Texas. I don't think you canhave exclusive clubs involving alcohol in Texas, which is why you don't need a Costco membership to buy from their liquor stores.

 

Why not just send your cousin a direct payment and have him go pay and pick it up?

 

haha, I've tried it that way and for some reason he makes it out to be more difficult that way. He can't ever make it out when I try to get him to anyway.

 

Although breweries are unfairly treated differently than wineries and this is not Wine Advocate, I do know of at least one TX winery that has an exclusive club (I am a member) for their more rare releases as well as discounts . He has used it for that guaranteed cash flow and keeps adding to his facilities because of it.

I also know they the work they put into managing it, so I don't blame JK for not wanting to do it. It sure would be nice for them hold an allocation through a club for those of us who can't get down there all the time though. I'd spend more money on their beer if I had way to get it.

 

Sorry this is a very exclusive reserve society. Only Humans with awesome exploding horns as avatars are allowed. Bears are not allowed due to health and safety concerns.

 

I can't even fathom why they would ever consider having a reserve society.

Way too many headaches to deal with, when the beers are selling just fine without it, and lots of people come out there every weekend to hang out and have a great time at an amazing location. I live almost an hour away from JK and am still out there easily 2-3x a month, if not more. There just doesn't seem to be any reason I can think of to change the way things are now, at least for the foreseeable future.

 

Well, shit. As a Tech alum, I feel like I should be shit talking a Baylor person, but the last 3 years have not worked in my favor.