Bay Area Thread

[litheum94]

Got out around 1130. Almost six hours in line. 3 1/2 from when they started selling. I heard I was 250th or so in line to give some sense of how long it took.

Selling non-beat bottles was moronic and a huge reason for the inefficiency.

Wait, I thought they said they weren't going to sell non-Beat bottles? Am I making that up?

 

[matedog]

Wait, I thought they said they weren't going to sell non-Beat bottles? Am I making that up?

Yeah, they announced from the get go that they were selling non-beat as well.

 

[kpasizzle]

Looks like folks got some nice zombie dust trade ammo!

 

[bdogg1]

so my friend just waited a whopping 15 damn minutes. I HATE LIFE.

 

[jtmartino1]

so my friend just waited a whopping 15 damn minutes. I HATE LIFE.

Same thing happened the last few years. Huge lines/wait times on the day of release, and almost no wait the next day.

You guys are crazy for 1.) waiting in line that long for a $20 375 that's inferior to most cheaper lambics and 2.) actually believing it was going to be better this year. It should be very clear now that Russian River will never change. The Cilzuros are either marketing geniuses or completely ******* inept (leaning toward the latter) and it'll never get better, unless they sell the brewery.

 

[tosh1]

About 20th in line.

So much for not bothering, i'm a hypercrite of the worst kind.

 

[bdogg1]

Same thing happened the last few years. Huge lines/wait times on the day of release, and almost no wait the next day.

You guys are crazy for 1.) waiting in line that long for a $20 375 that's inferior to most cheaper lambics and 2.) actually believing it was going to be better this year. It should be very clear now that Russian River will never change. The Cilzuros are either marketing geniuses or completely ******* inept (leaning toward the latter) and it'll never get better, unless they sell the brewery.

I did not sit in that line last year and i figured that it woul dtake a couple hours after they opened. Had they not been selling all their other stuff as well, it would have been fine. But alas, that would have made too much sense.

 

[jtmartino1]

I did not sit in that line last year and i figured that it woul dtake a couple hours after they opened. Had they not been selling all their other stuff as well, it would have been fine. But alas, that would have made too much sense.

I mean, I knew last year was gonna be bad, and I still went. Because I'm dumb.

Seriously, how hard is it to have 4-5 dedicated bottle-only checkout stations with working Wi-Fi so the card readers can function? Or one dedicated line for non-Beat, and 4 lines for Beat.

I swear, most bottle releases are perfect case studies for how brewers are absolutely garbage at critical thinking and management. I think this could be a good opportunity for a consulting agency to move in and take this stuff over. Arbitrator, you wanna get in on this with me?

 

[Arbitrator]

I mean, I knew last year was gonna be bad, and I still went. Because I'm dumb.

Seriously, how hard is it to have 4-5 dedicated bottle-only checkout stations with working Wi-Fi so the card readers can function? Or one dedicated line for non-Beat, and 4 lines for Beat.

I swear, most bottle releases are perfect case studies for how brewers are absolutely garbage at critical thinking and management. I think this could be a good opportunity for a consulting agency to move in and take this stuff over. Arbitrator, you wanna get in on this with me?

Considering 90+% of what I do is automate data pipelines, spot opportunities, and improve efficiency at work...

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absolutely not, because **** beer releases. Also, there's no money in it.

My few remaining beer goals at this point are to watch Russian River make a beer release so terribly managed that it has a mortality rate, and for Green Flash to turn Alpine into the next Hermitage Brewing Company.

Also, I hope they find that guy who let the air out of HaveUSeenMyCellar 's tires at SARA and give him free beer for life.

 

[mjl21]

so my friend just waited a whopping 15 damn minutes. I HATE LIFE.

Also took me 15 minutes. In the shade for my entire wait.

 

[evilhead]

Same. Maxin', relaxin', bout to receive grub then we out.

Also took me 15 minutes. In the shade for my entire wait.

 

[MrFootstones]

Also, I hope they find that guy who let the air out of HaveUSeenMyCellar 's tires at SARA and give him free beer for life.

Ok, I missed this story. This actually happened? Someone humor me with a link or retelling of the tale, please.

 

[bdogg1]

 

[drgarage1]

Ok, I missed this story. This actually happened? Someone humor me with a link or retelling of the tale, please.

I'm pretty sure I saw pictures at some point. Let me look.

 

[82300sd]

Seriously, how hard is it to have 4-5 dedicated bottle-only checkout stations with working Wi-Fi so the card readers can function? Or one dedicated line for non-Beat, and 4 lines for Beat.

I swear, most bottle releases are perfect case studies for how brewers are absolutely garbage at critical thinking and management. I think this could be a good opportunity for a consulting agency to move in and take this stuff over.

Having 1 line, you are psychologically persuaded to buy the other non-Beat bottles in addition to Beat. This is no accident. It is marketing genius. They probably sold more bottles of non-Beat bottles than Beat yesterday. Do you think if there was a separate line for non-Beat that people would want to get into another line after they waited X hours in the Beat line?

"Since I waited 6 hours, I might as well buy 6 bottles of Temptation too...Well I might as well buy 6 bottles of Pliny since it's hot as hell...Well I should probably buy 6 bottles of Blind Pig too, since they usually sell out of that by Sunday on a normal weekend...."

 

[jtmartino1]

Having 1 line, you are psychologically persuaded to buy the other non-Beat bottles in addition to Beat. This is no accident. It is marketing genius. They probably sold more bottles of non-Beat bottles than Beat yesterday. Do you think if there was a separate line for non-Beat that people would want to get into another line after they waited X hours in the Beat line?

"Since I waited 6 hours, I might as well buy 6 bottles of Temptation too...Well I might as well buy 6 bottles of Pliny since it's hot as hell...Well I should probably buy 6 bottles of Blind Pig too, since they usually sell out of that by Sunday on a normal weekend...."

I wouldn't call it marketing genius. I'd call it opportunistic salesmanship.

I fully understand the reason. I'm one of the (hopefully) many people that are becoming tired of the same song-and-dance put on by Natalie and her crew - hopefully I'm not the only one who has decided to not buy Russian River beer anymore after the past few years of stupidity.

But it's like the Bruery and their complete screw up of their beer (infections) and memberships (crappy, expensive beer). For every single (seasoned) customer they lose, two more newbies will take jump on the bandwagon.

 

[82300sd]

This is why there are no express, 10 items or less, check out lines in Costcos

 

[RyanG1]

SIGN THE PETITION!1

https://www.change.org/p/anheuser-b...source=share_for_starters&utm_medium=copyLink

 

[tosh1]

SIGN THE PETITION!1

https://www.change.org/p/anheuser-b...source=share_for_starters&utm_medium=copyLink

 

[bathroomlaughter]

apparently yesterday people were turned away if they arrived after the line ended (around 6 pm). they wouldn't sell you beat unless you waited in line for it. ******* bunch of line fetishists.

anyway i got there a little before opening today and by 11:30 i had a case and a table. they had a bottle only line and a pub line. some ******** went through the bottle only line then changed his shirt, put on a hat, and sunglasses and got in the pub line. we're using ******* disguises now.

 

[Arbitrator]

some ******** went through the bottle only line then changed his shirt, put on a hat, and sunglasses and got in the pub line. we're using ******* disguises now.

That's just evilhead. He's cool.

 

[82300sd]

some ******** went through the bottle only line then changed his shirt, put on a hat, and sunglasses and got in the pub line. we're using ******* disguises now.

Is this the person you saw?

 

[buzzword]

Is this the person you saw?

who IS that handsome man?!

 

[bathroomlaughter]

no but interestingly enough the guy in the back was behind me in line and the one who pointed out the shirt changer to me. he mentioned this picture. small world.

 

[litheum94]

Oh look. Drinking beatification and bought a case. Didn't have to stand in line. Funny how that works out.

 

[archagon]

How is it?

 

[johnnyramirez]

Greetings, everyone! We just ran out of Beatification bottles, but still have 20 half-barrel kegs left on draft! It will absolutely be available this weekend and beyond! I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone AGAIN for coming out this weekend, standing in line forever in the hot hot heat, and waiting patiently while we served over 850 people! We always appreciate your feedback (and criticism) and strive to improve on everything we do. Last week we invested over $15,000 to upgrade our POS system, including the addition of 6 tablets/handhelds in preparation for the release on Sunday. There were 5 registers or tablets running constantly for over 8 hours, with 5 people in the back packing orders. I took over a register at the bar while Vinnie filled bottle orders with the guys in the brewery. Jake estimated that he walked over 9 miles back and forth while waiting on customers! My body feels like I ran a marathon. But when 850 people show up unexpectedly (5 times the number we had in 2013), it's going to take some time to get through the line! That said, we plan to learn from this weekend and do future bottle releases differently. Despite some of the criticism, we actually do not enjoy having our customers wait that long just to buy a few bottles of beer. That is the stuff that keeps us up at night. Bottle releases in general have also changed dramatically in a very short time, attracting staggering amounts of visitors that very few breweries can physically accommodate anymore. But we learned from this experience and will absolutely make improvements for the future. Vinnie and I are very humbled by the huge turnout we had on Sunday, or any day for that matter. We can't thank you enough for your growing support over these past 18 years! Hope to see some of you in Denver later this week at the Great American Beer Festival where we are pouring STS Pils, Porter, Supplication, Pliny the Elder, and Beatification. Thanks again! Natalie and Vinnie

Yes, 850 people showed "unexpectedly".

It took a bit longer than usual but I'm certainly not disappointed with their post expressing shock and humility over people showing up for a beer release.

 

[walterfredo]

I assume POS=piece of ****.

 

[jeberman]

Does Natalie really think only 170 people showed up in 2013? IIRC, they sold ~900 cases on Day 1 in 2013.

 

[tosh1]

Does Natalie really think only 170 people showed up in 2013? IIRC, they sold ~900 cases on Day 1 in 2013.

Well maybe she means the small batch they released a few months before the main batch. But that wasn't 2013 was it? that was batch 5.

I seriously have no concept of time any more.