The Bruery Changes Mind, Reserve Society 2012 Requires Paid Membership

The Bruery of Placencia, CA announced many months back, they were going to drastically change the Reserve Society program from a paid membership to an unpaid membership. This was to  allow for new free enrollments to slowly trickle in , as well as opening up more of their limited run beers to be available to more people. In a surprise move, The Bruery has canceled those plans in favor of beefing up their current model with more goodies, with a slightly higher cost of membership. Read on for the exact wording from The Bruery Danny Fullpint is a 2011 RS member, and will be sharing his year long experience with you all at the end of the year.

Dear Reserve Society,

A few months back we announced that there would be a change in the way that the Reserve Society would work in the future. We received a lot of feedback from our current members on what they thought of this new concept and after taking a step back and reevaluating our plan, we realized that the majority of the feedback made sense – the Reserve Society shall remain completely intact as it has for the past two years.

The price will be rising, but this rise will go towards a larger supply of included beers (like TWO bottles of Black Tuesday) and we’re working on getting a couple of very cool pieces of quality Reserve Society only merchandise made for you. Also, please note that the tickets for the Initiation Celebration will be sold separately since we realize that not everyone will be able to make it.

As always, the current Reserve Society members have the first right of refusal for the next year’s membership. We will be putting the new memberships on sale on September 26th and you will have until November 11th to guarantee your membership. After November 11th, we will be opening the remaining spots up to new members.

Reserve Society Renewal

Membership renewals will go on sale on September 26th through society.thebruery.com and will end November 11th at 5 PM PST.  Membership is $295 and includes the following:

•1 bottle 4 Calling Birds
•1 bottle Melange #3
•1 bottle Vitis Series: Oui Oui
•1 bottle Chocolate Rain (upon release)
•1 bottle Mystery Beer (upon release)
•2 bottles 2012 Black Tuesday (upon release)
•2 bottles Bourbon Barrel Aged 4 Calling Birds (upon release)
•2 high quality pieces of exclusive Reserve Society Merchandise
•Access to purchase special bottle release allocations with 15% discount
•15% off all Tasting Room purchases
•15% off of draft beer flights and Bruery beer at The Bruery Provisions (Cannot be combined with other offers or discounts)
•First right of refusal for 2013 membership
•Access to special growler fills
•Access to Reserve Society-only events (additional charges may apply)
•Access for two to the Reserve Society Initiation Celebration, additional charges apply ( mid-February)

Membership begins on January 1st, 2012 and ends December 31st, 2012.

We anticipate the following beers to be released to the Reserve Society in 2012:

•Apricot Sour (not yet named)
•Sour In The Rye
•Kriek
•Chocolate Rain
•100% Barrel Aged Fleur
•White Oak
•Oude Tart
•Oude Gueuzie
•Black Tuesday
•Melange #3
•Barrel Aged Smoked Porter (not yet named)
•Barrel Aged 4 Calling Birds
•Approximately 8 Provisions Series releases including some very exciting collaborations with local breweries

**Please note that some of these beers will also be available to the general public, but as a member of the Reserve Society you are guaranteed the opportunity to purchase these beers without fear of them selling out and for a discounted price**

We are still unable to offer shipping for the 2012 Reserve Society membership. FedEx, UPS, and USPS rules do not currently allow the shipping of beer from a brewery to a consumer (just from a licensee to a licensee, or for the case of wine, from winery to consumer).  There is a fairly high risk that if we do ship to you, we will have issues with the packages being confiscated or destroyed once the contents of the packages are known to the shipper.  We apologize for the inconvenience, and we will work with our fellow craft breweries to have this policy changed.  We will, however, provide storage for all Reserve Society allocations until March 1st 2013.  It is the responsibility of the member to arrange for pick up.  A trustee can be designated at the time of purchase if the member is not local to The Bruery by having that person’s name as the “Ship To” name. Any changes in trustees must be made by emailing [email protected] [Any beer not picked up my March 1st, 2013 will be considered forfeited and will be sold at auction to benefit a charity of our choosing.]

We hope to see you in February for the initiation celebration!

Cheers,
The folks at The Bruery