The Scribe label just got Federal approval - one step closer.
Now we wait for Missouri approval!
Update on Side Project.....
The excitement is mounting!
We again want to thank Cory and Karen King! We are so excited to get these beers!
Side Project Derivation #4 - scheduled for release next week! This will be the next release through the BRC - since it will be in December it will be based on our new BRC numbers in the POS system only. So basically October until the release in December. Last release was beer only, so this one will be based on overall sales including beer, wine, liquor, cheese...and yes, we will still add the double points from Beer Fest for this Side Project release.
Derivation Blend #4
15% ABV
Blend of a Munich Imperial Stout aged in (2) TWCP Willet 11yr barrels for 22 months and an Oatmeal Imperial Stout aged in (3) Side Project Elijah Craig 12 bourbon barrels for 18 months. Derivation is our series of barrel aged Imperial Stouts in which we take a variety of recipes aged in a variety of barrels and blend back in an attempt to make an exceptional and unique barrel aged stout. Derivation #4 showcased 2 Imperial Stouts in which the barrel was the star. Being so, this gave me the opportunity to age the beer on an addition of Madagascar Vanilla Beans to bring more toffee, caramel and of course vanilla to the palate...
Side Project The Scribe - getting closer, registration should come through soon!
Check out that picture!!! The beer is delicious, I got a chance to taste it already!!
The Scribe
13% ABV
Brewed 1/22/14
TWCP Elijah Craig 12 and Henry McKenna barrels and a Cabernet barrel.
The Scribe is the collaboration between Side Project and Perennial Artisan Ales. Its a huge, rich, soured Quad that was inspired by our favorited mead called The Heart of Darkness from Schramm's. It was aged in a Cabernet and bourbon barrels on black currants, sweet cherries and raspberries before being blended back and bottle conditioned... Drinks more like a mead or nice port than a beer!
With some new releases coming up, I wanted to re-post about the BRC.
Important features -. We want to continue to evolve the system and make it better and I think the new POS will help that.
I wanted to highlight a few things...
VERY IMPORTANT: Make sure you give your phone number each time you check out. This is how your purchases will be tracked. Sometimes if you are buying a lot of beer the checker will ask you if you are a member, but when it gets busy they might forget. Just tell them when you are checking out you are a member of the BRC at any time while they are scanning your stuff. Plus, this time of year we will have some holiday help that will be working at the register that might not ask as they will be part time and new. Your name should appear on your receipt, if it does not, tell the checker immediately because that means your purchases are not being tracked. Even if you place an order online for pick up, that does not automatically register. Give your phone number when you check out. Reserved orders do not count on your BRC, they must be picked up and rung through the register.
Yes, when we only get 6-24 bottles of a release, it takes a lot of purchases to get a bottle. But some of our barrel aged releases we get 200-400 bottles and it takes sometimes about $80-100 purchased over the course of 6 months to get an allocation. Which just means you need to purchase a couple of 6 packs per month which I think is fair to get an allocation of a rare beer. We do the BRC to try to be as fair as possible. The BRC sales are 9% of our overall beer sales (yes, there are still a lot of people that do not care about rare beer releases) and it takes a lot of effort to generate 9% of our beer sales, but we feel it is the right thing to do as it is the fairest method.
New feature: Our new POS system will be able to randomly select a BRC member -- when you check out, a message will pop up on our screen saying something like "you have been allocated a bottle of [insert super rare beer name here]. Again, as a way of rewarding people for shopping in the store. This will be totally random and we will not know until you actually go to purchase something and this note will pop up. This will not start until January as I need to work out the details after we get through the holiday season. Sometimes it might be a free give away to pick out of our swag box of beer stuff or it might guarantee you a bottle of the next upcoming release. Possibilities are endless. I think this will be a very cool feature.
Another new feature of our system is a much easier way to do double point days, or double points on a certain brewery.....things like that. This will also not start until 2016.
BRC releases coming soon - we could seen these in the next 2 months. Obviously things could change on these, and more beers will be coming in the next two months also.
- 4 Hands Woodsman Imperial Stout aged in Apple Brandy Barrels - tomorrow release. Emails will be sent in the morning.
- Side Project Merci - bottle conditioning now - could be soon
- Side Project The Scribe - waiting on label registration - could be soon
- Side Project Derivation #4 - NEXT WEEK!
- 2nd Shift Barrel Aged Vanilla Cat Spit (1 barrel) Jan/Feb 2016
- 2nd Shift Barrel Aged LSD (3 barrels - variants yet to be determined) Jan/Feb 2016 - dates subject to change
- Prairie Artisan Ales (2 different barrel aged beers, in bottle now, bottle conditioning) could be soon
- Goose Island Bourbon County Stout and Variants (released Friday November 27th)
About these releases above:
4 Hands BA Woodsman is exclusive release to TWCP. I posted back in September that something special was coming from 4 Hands at it would be based partially on 4 Hands purchase. Deadline is tonight at 7pm November 20th to purchase 4 Hands towards this release. Report will be printed tomorrow morning. Again we do this in order to thank these breweries for doing the special releases for us. No better way to thank them than to show more support for their "everyday beers". We have 2 more Barrel Aged Beers possibly coming from 4 Hands before the end of the year, these will be released the same way. Support 4 Hands if you like their beers.
All Side Project Beers will go through the BRC. Since they do not have any "regular" beers to support, it will either be based on overall beer sales or total sales including cheese, liquor and wine.
2nd Shift BA beers will be partially allocated based on 2nd Shift support. These next 4 barrels will be based on the start of our new POS system (October 12th until the beer is released early next year)
Prairie Artisan Ales barrels - again we want to thank Chase and Prairie Artisan Ales for doing these two barrels for us, so part of this release will be based on Prairie Artisan support since October 12 until we see these bottles. Support Prairie now if you want to get in on some exciting limited TWCP exclusive beers from Prairie Artisan Ales.
Goose Island - based on Goose Island support - click here to see that post
More details about the BRC:
BRC - BREWard info - Free to join.
As we have found, there is no perfect system for allocated beers as the demand surpasses supply by a great distance. We have 1500+ people signed up on BRC and many times we get less than 36 bottles. We are trying to do the best we can to be fair. Overall, we have been happy with the system.
This is the only way to get bees like Side Project Brewing, 2nd Shift Barrel Aged Releases, Cantillon, Founders KBS, Goose Island Rare and BCS and so on.....
To sign up: there is no charge to sign up
click here to sign up
Your phone number will be your account number. After you sign up, you must give your phone number without the area code every time you check out at any of our stores. Your name will appear on your receipt. If your name is not on the receipt you are not getting credit for the purchase. Tell the checker immediately if your name is not on your receipt. You can join if you are out of town also. When you place an order, just put you want to join the BRC program and we will start tracking your puchases.
Here is how we allocate the beer....
We have been basing the allocation on the previous 6 months sales. We feel 6 months is a good amount of time to reward regular customers. I feel that is a good amount of time to let new people sign up and get in on the allocations. We have also been rotating how we allocate. We use a few methods.
- Based on overall sales
- Based on beer only sales
- Based on quantity of units purchased (instead of dollars).
- Sometimes if we get 50 bottles we send out an email to the top 100 and say first come first served at the store.
- Sometimes it is based on a particular brewery like the top Founders purchasers will get KBS.
- Sometimes we blend the two, like the 2nd Shift BA release we are allocating some out to the top 2nd Shift supporters and some to the top overall supporters.
- Sometimes we will still do online fastest finger method.
More info
- We do still randomly put special beers out on the shelf for shoppers to find.
- We also draw names randomly down the list from people that have not receive an allocation for free stuff. We have given some tickets away to Schlafly and Morgan Street Beer events, beer glasses, beer shirts, hats, openers and so on.
- We also have been randomly drawing names for allocated beer further down the list when some beer does not get picked up.
- You will get an email if you get an allocated beer, you have 7 days to pick up or it goes to the next person on the list.
Any questions or comments email paul@wineandcheeseplace.com
