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Thursday, February 9, 2017

Side Project Releases!

One more chance to get bottles

Friday February 10th.  Release of the "extras".  We saved 12 bottles of each the Side Project Beers, plus we will have the extras that people did not pick up and we will release them all with a version of our weighted raffle that we use for the Whiskey Reward Club. 
Each $60 spent in the last 6 months will count as a raffle ticket.  We will draw a name for each bottle we have left.    If you already got a bottle, you will not get a second one.  Sorry.  Going to go to people that did not receive a bottle already.



As I have been saying, this year is the 35th Anniversary for The Wine and Cheese Place.  We have a lot of surprises coming this year.  These Side Project releases are not surprises, but I think it is great that they are coming in our 35th Anniversary year.    We feel honored and privileged to be able to offer them to our customers.

The release party went great and we had a lot of great beer.  Of course, I forgot to take pictures again, but here are the remnants of a great time.

Update:  Emails sent for Langst and Black and Berry.  
Update: Derivation 6 Emails just sent out.  Sorry there was not more to be had.  This is one of the most sought after beers in the world.

A few people I need emails for in order to contact --
We have a bottle of Langst and Perennial Sump for 
Chris Tall....
Adam Welg...
please email paul@wineandcheeseplace.com if these might you.



Kicking off our 35th Anniversary with a bang!!


Side Project Release Party- It was a great time!
Friday January 20th with Side Project owners -- Cory and Karen King (not sure if both are making it yet) from 5pm-6pm
This will be BRC invite only release party limited to 35 people.   Invites will go out either Sunday or Monday morning through the BRC - will do a combination of both beer only and overall purchases for the invites.  You will get a chance to taste all three beers and you will be allocated a bottle of Side Project Langst that night.  You will get to taste all 3, but only Langst is being released that night.   Deadline for purchases to count towards the party invites is (Tonight at 7pm)
  
Side Project Langst - Release date Saturday, January 21th.   This was one of the beers that we had the name the beer contest a few years back - read more.   Emails will be sent out Saturday morning.  On these releases, we will do a combination of both beer only and overall purchases for each release.  This one will be weighted more heavily towards beer only.   ($35 / bottle and we have 240 bottles)  Deadline for purchases to count for this release is Jan 20 at 7pm.

Side Project Black and Berry -- Release date Thursday, January 26th.  Emails will be sent out Thursday morning so that we can get them transferred to the stores that day.   On these releases, we will do a combination of both beer only and overall purchases for each release.  This one will be weighted more heavily towards overall purchases.   ($35 / bottle and we have 180 bottles)  Deadline for purchases to count for this release is Jan 25 at 7pm.

Side Project Derivation 6 -- Emails sent.   Emails will be sent out Thursday morning so that we can get them transferred to the stores that day.  On these releases, we will do a combination of both beer only and overall purchases for each release.  This one will be weighted more heavily towards beer purchases.  ($40 / bottle and we have 120 bottles--less 6 we used for the release party).  Deadline for purchases to count for this release is Feb 1 at 7pm.




From the labels.....


"Black and Berry is our strong, wild black ale that was aged in fresh bourbon barrels with blackberries and black currants. The intense acidity, bold fruit and chocolaty malt is layered with the deep notes of vanilla, spicy charred oak and rich caramels from the bourbon barrels in which this beer matured for more than a year.

17 comments:

John Pearson said...

Thought you weren't releasing position anymore? Seems like that is just going to affect the customers that have been consistent because they are out of town or something and get bumped at the last minute.

Paul Hayden said...

I will not consistently do it, but will every once in awhile. I get a lot of emails from people that say, I would have thought I got that one because I spend a lot. I don't want people to fly completely blind. This just gives them a rough idea where they stand right now.

John Pearson said...

I understand an occasional positioning. But the day before a release? If people email you for position and you have a policy that says you don't share it, why worry? I'm a loyal customer, I wonder about missing bottles sometimes but I certainly don't complain and realize it's just beer. Thanks Paul.

Paul Hayden said...

Yes, sorry, I guess in hindsight, it would have been better to print the report after this release so people would know why they did not get this one. I just did not think it through and it was kind of a knee jerk reaction to all the emails that I received about it. I just do not want people to get frustrated when they do not get bottles and basically stop using the BRC even though they might have just barely missed a release. That is why I do not want people to be completely blind to where they stand.

Anonymous said...

Why don't you do this like the rare whiskey, send a few waves of emails to the top 540- one per person but the top 120 get their first choice, the next tier of top spenders get to choose next, etc.. the way you're running this is basically a monopoly for the top 120 spenders... I spend a lot of $$ there but since I don't have a thousand $$ to drop on booze each month I can't compete with the top 120 and frankly I no longer feel incentivized to shop there for points

John Pearson said...

He is with 36 of the bottles. That's probably equivalent to the same number of bottles of the higher end bottles of whiskey they just did, thinking pappy, eagle 17... With almost 500 bottles, doing it multiple ways awards all kinds of shopping. I just feel bad for the person who is #35 and may be out of town and get bumped because #36 found out how close they were.

John Pearson said...

I appreciate all the work that goes into these. Adding the raffle should help those that feel left out, especially for these bigger releases. Thanks.

Paul Hayden said...

Yes, there will be at least 12 of each that we will use the weighted raffle method. It will be more, I know for some it is hard to imagine, but some people will not want their Side Project release as they do not like a particular style and they are not traders or flippers and don't just buy it because it is rare. So there will be 12 plus of each for sure. As far as doing more weighted raffles for the beer, we have talked about it, but the time involved in those is extremely long--you cannot imagine how much time was put into the Whiskey raffle. We are not sure we can invest that kind of time for each beer release. We will do it every once in awhile on releases like this. We addressed that situation by adding the Beer Pop up where you can randomly get some of the rare beers by being a member of the BRC and shopping at the store. Your name might pop up when you check out and you can purchase one of the rare beers. Some of these Side Project beers will be saved for that also. A lot of people got some rare beer this way last year. Some people missed some rare beer because even though their name was drawn for the pop up, they did not shop at the store during the time their name was eligible. So the pop up works to reward regulars in the store that might not spend as much as others.
As far as "#35" missing out, it could happen, but it could have happened either way randomly too. People will not know how far they are out, they just know what number they are. The release party is going to be invites from both beer and overall purchases, so your ranking does not completely help you determine if you will make the release party. I only gave people their beer only ranking just to give them a little reference on where they stand so they are not out in the blue.

Unknown said...

What is the time period being looked at for sales?

Anonymous said...

What is the time period being looked at for sales?

Paul Hayden said...

We are continuing with the previous 6 months.

Anonymous said...

Was the party on Friday just BRC or was WRC and overall sales chosen too? or like top 18 from each list?

Paul Hayden said...

Just BRC (WRC is for whiskey). BRC Beer only and BRC overall sales.

Anonymous said...

With the release of the extras through the raffle, will those only go to people who haven't gotten one yet or will everyone have a chance?

Paul Hayden said...

People that have not gotten one.

Anonymous said...

For the weighted raffle on 2/10, remaining Side Project beers, how does that exactly work, is it open to anyone that wants to put there name in and hasn't gotten a bottle yet?

Paul Hayden said...

Will update either later tonight or early tomorrow. It will be a weighted raffle of people in the BRC only that did not get a bottle.