First, the misconception. The Portsmouth Brewery does not have a two-drink limit on Kate Day, or any other day for that matter. The number of beers we serve is dictated by our longstanding practice of responsible alcohol service. In other words, we will not serve a single drink to an individual if in the opinion of our staff that person has been drinking elsewhere and has already had enough. On the other hand, we may serve a customer more than two if he or she is drinking responsibly and is not approaching a state of intoxication. That said, it would be nice if those who participate in Kate Day are respectful of the people waiting in line behind them and voluntarily place limits on themselves so that everyone has a chance to come in and enjoy some beer.
On a related note, a number of people have written asking us how we plan to deal with individuals who intend to cut in line or hold places for other people who are not in line. While it is not up to us to police people's bad behavior or rude manners outside of our own premises, we do want to make sure Kate Day is a fun event for everyone who attends. (We are in the hospitality business, after all.) The only way I can see addressing this is to change the time when we start handing out the calendar pages that people use to hold their places in line. We have let people know that we'll start handing out pages at seven in the morning. That is no longer the case.
We will start handing out calendar pages much earlier in the morning, possibly as soon as people begin to assemble outside. We will only give out one page per person, and if someone is not present when we pass out a page, they will not get one until they are. We will also stamp people's hands when they get a page in order to prevent people from going to the back of the line to collect an additional page. I will not say here what time we'll begin to pass out pages. We'll make that determination on the spot. There will always be those individuals who try to game the system, and frankly, we can't put too much energy into obsessing about them. It's good enough to know that life has a way of sorting that stuff out in the end.
We believe that the best thing about Kate Day isn't the beer; it is a friendly, sociable event that draws people from all over who share a common interest and discover new ones. When it ceases to be that, we will not host it anymore. Let's all do our part to keep Kate Day is fun, safe and sociable.
Cheers,
Peter Egelston, Proprietor
The Portsmouth Brewery
Peter - I assume release time is still 9AM for bottles?
ReplyDeleteYes, everything else will follow the original schedule.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
P-
Peter, that all sounds great. I was wondering myself how things would go down if someone really tried holding a spot in line for 20 of his friends. "No, you don't understand, they were all out here for five minutes earlier so it's cool". I honestly don't think it'd actually happen, but good to know we don't have to worry about it. See you all nice and early Monday.
ReplyDeleteGood job, Peter. Look forward to meeting you soon.
ReplyDeleteThis event was a total disappointment. I'm a local to Portsmouth and a loyal patron. After reading about the event I was excited to try this highly rated beer and join in the festivities for a brewery I love. To find that pages were issued and gone prior to 4am was a complete let down. I think this method is absolutely ridiculous and won't be bothering to partake next year. How about making enough batches so it can be on tap for more than a day.
ReplyDelete-angry portmouth beer drinking girl
@ Anonymous Angry Portsmouth Beer Drinking Girl
ReplyDeleteIt takes several months for Kate the Great to ferment, mature and be ready to serve. This entire time it is sitting in a tank taking up space that Portsmouth Brewery needs to brew the rest of their beer. They are pretty much running at full capacity. It just isn't physically possible to brew more Kate the Great AND keep beer on all the other taps. Their core business is the other beers, Kate is just a nice add on. I think they have their priorities straight. As a loyal patron, I'd think you'd rather them have their delicious regular beers on tap, rather than eliminating several of them for most of the year in favor of a beer that would only last a couple days.
Overall, the event was a bit of a disappointment for me. I think PB did a great job with a crazy situation, but it just didn't work out for me personally. I came too late to get a bottle and then couldn't make it back until a little after 5 yesterday evening and only managed to get a glass of it before it was gone. I guess I was lucky I got even that, though, since I'm sure plenty of people missed out altogether. I do have a couple of suggestions for next year. How about one bottle per customer? Some people have said it wouldn't be worth it to come for just one bottle, but they'd obviously still sell out and you'd still be packed all day. One other comment, there were definitely a few people who were there a long time and got a lot of Kate. How about having a few glasses and saving some for the rest of us? I'm not asking that Portsmouth Brewery start kicking people out (although I got the impression that the table next to us had been there all day so maybe in a case like that, yeah), but I just ask that people be a little more considerate and try and get this to last a little longer. Last year was crazy, but it worked. This year, it was just too much.
ReplyDeleteI thought the restaurant/bar end of this was handled quite well and turnover was pretty decent throughout the day. From 3:30-4:30, there was practically no wait to get in and the guys at the door were good about offering standing room only spots downstairs and tables upstairs as they became available. The free pretzel rolls in line were a nice touch also. But the bottle system just doesn't work for me. Tod was laughing last year about people showing up at 5:30 to get tickets and this year they were completely gone by then! I just hope this doesn't regress into a contest to see who can sleep on the street and who can't because that's what it will turn into using these same rules. Overall, it was a fun day and the atmosphere inside was fantastic.
ReplyDeleteIt was a difficult feat for me to get the day off, drive the two hours to get there before sunrise only to find that my day was already done. Congrats to those who were successful in getting Kate - and congrats to PB for doing your best (both brewing and organizing!). As a possible suggestion for the future: how about utilizing a lottery system for the bottles? I don't think I'll bother with a Kate day again unless I know in advance that I can get even one bottle. I will, however, be happy to stop into the Brewery on my way through town for all the more regular tasty treats!
ReplyDelete