Sunday, June 1, 2008

How Kate Gets Divvied Up - the Final Word

As those of you who've been following this blog & our newsletter know, the big question here at the Portsmouth Brewery is how are we going to divvy up our limited supply of Kate the Great Russian Imperial Stout, which is due to go on tap in a few weeks' time? The rumor mill has been working overtime, with lots of conjecture, opinion and a few "facts" mixed in. Please consider this the definitive source of information and accept no substitutes.

Before we start, however, here's some background: this past December, as he normally does, Tod put his imperial stout, dubbed Kate the Great, on tap. At roughly the same time the December issue of Beer Advocate Magazine appeared, naming Kate as the Best Beer in America (and Second Best on Planet Earth), a judgement based on the thousands of Beer Advocate reviews posted online over the previous year. Needless to say, the beer sold out very quickly, leaving folks clamoring for more, and asking when Kate would make her next appearance. Frankly, the whole experience was quite gratifying but a bit overwhelming. (Here's Tod's interview on New Hampshire Public Radio.) In January, Tod & Tyler brewed the next batch, which they planned to put in tap sometime in late spring or early summer. 

In response to many inquires, and just for the fun of it, we chose an utterly random date and time for Kate to make her reappearance - Tuesday, June 24, at 2:27 pm - and even placed a countdown clock on our website. Well, we really stepped in it this time. After receiving reports of bottles of Kate trading on e-Bay for silly prices, and hearing ominous warnings about lines of people pitching tents on our sidewalks on June 23, we realized that we'd need to establish some protocols. Given my reluctance to establish arbitrary limits, we asked our newsletter subscribers to help us find the most equitable way to distribute the very limited amount of this tasty libation. The four options that were voted on ranged from no limits, to moderate limits, to strict limits. 

With several hundred votes submitted, the people have spoken, and they have chosen, by a significant plurality, Option Four - two bottles per person per day.

So, this is how it is going to work - 
• This batch of Kate consists of approximately ten barrels. Five barrels will be transferred to a serving tank to be offered on draft; the remaining five will be bottled. That's seventy-five cases, or nine hundred bottles.
Kate the Great, both bottles and draft, will go on sale at 2:27 PM on Tuesday, June, 24th.
Bottle purchases will be limited to two per person per day; Portsmouth Brewery Imperial Pint Club members will be allocated an additional two bottles - not an additional two per day, just an additional two.
There will be no quota on cases offered for sale each day, as was originally suggested. In other words, if 450 people show up on Day One and each buys his/her alloted pair, the beer will be sold out on Day One. 
On June 24th, bottles will be sold downstairs in the Jimmy LaPanza Lounge, not in our retail store, due to space constraints. After the 24th, bottles will be sold in the store, during regular store hours. Bottles will not be available after ten PM, as per standard policy.
The cost per bottle will be ten dollars, same as before, NOT twenty as has been rumored.

We are not going to offer Kate in growlers. Instead, we have upped the amount to be bottled from forty-five to seventy-five cases. This was a difficult decision, but at the end of the day, we decided the 22-ounce bottle is a better, more stable package, and that the inevitable spillage that happens when filling growlers is not worth it.

So there you have it. We're looking forward to hoisting a glass of Kate with you on the 24th!

Cheers,

Peter

19 comments:

  1. Without a doubt this is the best possible solution to an enviable problem. This way more people from the area will get to try it and it will remain on tap for a lot longer (I give it three weeks tops still!)

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  2. Guten Tag!

    I am pretty much in agreement with these new edicts, save for the growler aspect. I do feel that growlers should be available, maybe perhaps for the Impy Pinters.... Anyhow, I will be looking forward to having more Kate soon....

    Prosit!!!

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  3. Wow, just got my hoppy point’s gift card to pay for my extra two bottles
    May I suggest doing a few cases of the other beers that are on tap for the non local customers attending the release?
    Also will you be filling growlers of everything but Kate on that date? Or no growlers at all

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  4. Good questions, Joe. Yes, growlers of the other beers we'll have on tap will be filled, and, yes, we'll do our best to have a good selection of our other beers available in 22-ounce bottles as well.

    Cheers,

    P-

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  5. Seeing that you are in such a good mood how about bringing some of that Oaked Hanami Ale I saw in the racks at Smuttynose, to the release.I love to get a sip or two of that
    Cheers even thought the soxs just lost

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  7. Peter,

    Will the La Panza be open at 1130A to queue up in? Will people line up downstairs, oe will you give out numbers, deli-style?

    Thnx!

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  8. Great Kate! Good decision and congrats on finalizing the plans. Looking forward to trying this on the 24th and talking with others about how great your beers are. Thanks and Cheers!

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  9. In reference to another bloggers comments about deli-stye numbers. Any though as to bathroom situation? I suspect people are going to be lining up early and 4-8 hours without a pee break can get a bit dicey.

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  10. Regarding the anticipation of strained bladders on Kate Day, here's the situation.

    The Brewery will be open for regular business at 11:30 AM. As always, however, we make our bathrooms available to the public as soon as our front door is unlocked and staff begin to arrive, right around nine.

    For those who come prior to that, there are some excellent breakfast options in town, all with indoor plumbing. We suggest the Friendly Toast, Popovers, Breaking New Grounds, Bagel Works & Colby's, all within easy walking distance of our front door.

    See you on the 24th!

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  11. Peter,

    What about the line situation in LaPanza itself, and how will it be handled? Get in line and stay there, deli-#s and you can retreat to the bar, etc?

    Thnx!

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  12. To be perfectly honest, in the absense of a crystal ball, we really don't have any way of knowing how many people are going to show up on Kate Day. Will it be a handful of stout-hearted beer fans, or is downtown Portsmouth going to be transformed into Max Yasgur's farm? Some of this stuff will just have to be worked out on the fly. One thing we can say for sure: keep off the brown acid.

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  13. I don’t know about anyone else but I rather be standing around running a tab at the bar than standing in line doing nothing
    How about the chef opening early and doing a beer brunch for us I’d be up for that too

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  14. Will Kate the great be on draft while we wait for the 2:27 PM release?

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  15. No. The official release of Kate will take place at 2:27 PM for both bottles and draft. That's eight days, twenty hours, seven minutes, and forty-two seconds from now. Ooops. Make that thirty-one seconds. No, twenty-one. Seventeen...

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  16. One last question, how much are pints at the bar and will IPC members get the typical 16 oz. instead of the 10 oz?

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  17. I think the deli ticket # idea is great! I would much rather have a few pints at the bar, than stand on the corner in the rain! (i guess it is supposed to??) I asume you would rather have us spending more $, too! Cheers, See ya then.

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  18. So, we can all wait outside until 11:30 for the bar to open and then get tickets for when Kate is available at 2:27?

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  19. Ok.... So, who gets the 1st glass of Kate tomorrow? Highest ranking IPC member in the house? FOP (friend of Peter)? Tod himself? hehehehe.....


    Prosit!!

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