Update: Founders gets a tongue-lashing as server crash spoils ticket release

GRAND RAPIDS, MI — Attention beer lovers: Mark your calendars for Feb. 16.

That’s the first day to buy tickets for the March 2013 release of Founders Brewing Co.’s incredibly popular Kentucky Breakfast Stout, or KBS, an event the company significantly restructured this year after running out of the beer in 2012.

Dave Engbers, company co-founder, said the brewery is going back to the online ticketing model that worked well for their last big release, the Bolt Cutter 15-year anniversary barleywine that came and went in November.

“From here on out, for any of the big releases, we’re going to go to that timed ticketing system,” he said. “It makes things so much smoother and accommodates the customers so much better than the free-for-all last year.”

Last March, more than 1,000 people lined up outside the brewery's Grandville Ave SW taproom in Grand Rapids — some 12 hours in advance — in order to get their hands on a case of KBS. Surprised by the demand, Founders pulled back on the amount of beer each person could buy, but many still left empty-handed.

About 1,000 people waited at Founders Brewing Co. in 2012 for the limited release of KBS. About a third walked away empty-handed due to limited quantity and high demand.

The fact that KBS is ranked No. 9 among the all-time best beers in the world by Beer Advocate reviewers, and No. 4 on the 2012 list at Rate Beer, speaks to the demand for a brew that Founders stakes its reputation on every year.

After the event went awry, Founders apologized, vowed to triple the 2013 batch, and developed the online ticketing system for the Bolt Cutter release, which went off without a hitch. Engbers said the Founders staff consulted with friends at Three Floyds Brewing Co. in Indiana, and adopted the ticketing model more akin to a concert or beer festival event.

Engbers wouldn’t say how much KBS will be released this year, other than to say it will be “significantly more” than last year. “Anytime you put beer in wood, it’s a little bit of a gamble,” he said. “But, there’s a hell of a lot more barrels” this year.

KBS Release

How to get your hands on some KBS:

Founders' KBS release 2013 will begin with a four-day, pre-ticketed, on-site bottle release beginning on Wednesday, March 27, prior to being released across the brewery's distribution footprint on April 1.

Beer lovers must purchase tickets online starting at 11 a.m. on Feb 16 for one of four release days at the company's taproom, located at 235 Grandville Ave SW in Grand Rapids. The $5 tickets are limited to one per person, and good for 12 bottles maximum.

The beer will be available for pickup between 11 a.m. and 9 p.m. from Wed, March 27 to Saturday, March 30, when the brewery is throwing an all-day party.

Visit the company website for more details.

Founders ages the beer, an imperial stout variant of their popular Breakfast Stout, in recycled oak bourbon barrels stored for a year under the city in former gypsum mine caves. The coffee and chocolate-flavored beer is 11.2 percent alcohol by volume.

The first day it will be available is Wednesday, March 27 at the brewery's taproom, ahead of its distribution across Founders entire footprint starting April 1. The brewery moved the KBS release from early to late March this year amid a realignment of the brand categories.

It's unclear whether distribution agreements in several new Eastern U.S. states that Founders expects to bring on line in 2013 will happen in time for the KBS release. The brewery, which is undergoing a $26 million expansion designed to position them for national impact, is expected to start distributing this year in Florida, Tennessee, Maryland, Delaware and West Virginia.

“We don’t feel any pressure to jump into new contracts or territories just because of KBS,” he said. “We want to make it available to our entire footprint, but we’ll have to see when we start shipping to the new territories.”

The “KBS Week” culminates with an all-day party at the taproom on Saturday, March 30, the first day KBS will be available on tap.

Email Garret Ellison or follow him on Twitter.