Keegan's Now Carries Mead!

[William_MacKean]

Keegan's now carries the Classic Mead AND Egyptian Curse!  Tell all your friends!  Stop in for a glass.  Send them an email of appreciation.

We'll have another tasing in ~3 weeks as well.

[DeadBishop]

Wow, that must have been an easy sell.  Now that J Bird has a customer that buys year round, MNRF will have to play nice if they want them back I suppose...

BTW, how much are they charging per glass and how big is the glass?

[Goody]

wow i can have meade with my shepards pie?!?!? Lif eis good!!

[William_MacKean]

Wow, that must have been an easy sell.  Now that J Bird has a customer that buys year round, MNRF will have to play nice if they want them back I suppose...

BTW, how much are they charging per glass and how big is the glass?

I am sure we'll be at Festival for many years to come.  All things considered, Fest has been good to the winery, and the winery to Fest.

We are in the process of redesigning the labels and acquiring glass bottles.  Now ask yourself:  Why would the winery do such things?  In a word:  Liquor stores.  Which and when have yet to be determined.  Probably after X-mas as those displays are set for the year.  If/When this happens, I will let everyone know!  Feel free to 'friend' the mead booth and I on myspace for timely updates.

[DeadBishop]

Wow, that must have been an easy sell.  Now that J Bird has a customer that buys year round, MNRF will have to play nice if they want them back I suppose...

BTW, how much are they charging per glass and how big is the glass?

All things considered, Fest has been good to the winery, and the winery to Fest.

Funny, that's not what I heard during several conversations.  According to Jim, the way they were treated 5th weekend, they nearly packed up for good. 

[William_MacKean]

How people feel and what is really going on are often very different things.

Granted:
MAF makes a lot more $$ than Jim(s) off the product.
Management has had some issues with events circling about the booth.
Bonnie and Jim had a fairly lively discussion about things.
CKC occasionally treats the mead booth workers like 15 yr old pizza shack kids, even though we're adults who are there to make money, not goof off.

However:
If Jim was not at Festival, his sales would suffer.
His product recognition would sufer.
MAF would see reduced revenue because MANY people come to Fest just for The Mead.

It's all business.  Jim & MAF are in the business of making money.  Given what MAF is paying people to do the work, one can expect that they would be getting the bottom of the barrel employees or kids that just want to be out there doing something else.  That puts a wild spin on the business dynamics of the festival as a whole.

So, when MAF perceives (and outright sees) that free product is moving across the counter, they have an issue with that.  If I were in their shoes, I would too.  The solution MAF applied is:  Wine partials are destroyed on Sunday.  Mead & beer are shut down immediately at cannon.  No freebies period.

In the end, I care about 2 things (in this order):
1.  That my patrons (friends or not) are satisfied and treated fairly.
2.  That the Festival and its occupants make serious money.

Neither can happen if both sides are not on the same page and working together, instead of in opposition (which has 100% MAF's way or no way.)  The current culture is one of vitriol and subversion.  That is not healthy.

[DeadBishop]

I'm just going on the actual conversations that I was present and part of while at fest and up at J Bird wines with Jim himself.  That's all.

[William_MacKean]

Not a problem.  I had the fortune to have a few discussions with MAF about this as well.  Granted, most of them started as some form of reprimand or 'ratcheting down' of some new rule, but the convo usually ended with a positive spin. 

Jim is a craftsman.  He is very proud of his product.  He has been at Fest over 25 years.  As such, if he thinks he is being mistreated in any way, he takes it personally.  Very personally.  And make no mistake about it, Fest management has become more aggressive over the years.

If I had one wish for Fest it would be that management would not take out their frustrations at the children on us adults.  I wish they would loosen the reigns and trust us enough to say 'Make us mad money in the best way you, as a certified, trained & licensed adult are able.'  And this idea that 'it offended one patron so we must ban it forever' crap has got to end.  Everything will eventually offend someone eventually.  Even I have offended a person or two in my day.   

I'd he happy to clear things up a bit more over a beer or six.  My posting any more on this in public is likely to be misread or taken harshly, which is never my intent.

[DeadBishop]

So, next pub night at Keegan's then?   

[Random Girl]

I am down with that idea!!

[DeadBishop]

Kyle, just out of curiosity, are you business partners with Jim, an employee, or just a good person promoting J Bird Wines mead  ? 

[William_MacKean]

Kyle, just out of curiosity, are you business partners with Jim, an employee, or just a good person promoting J Bird Wines mead  ? 

I'm just a guy promoting a good product made by a good guy & his family.  Whether I am any good at it remains to be seen.     As of yet, I do not receive any compensation for my time or travels other than the occasional glass of mead.  If I prove myself enough to increase sales and distribution, perhaps that discussion will come about.  Hadn't thought about it until now.

[Lord Figaro]

Sometimes you do it for the love of mead. And why not eh??

[winterland]

Keegan's now carries the Classic Mead AND Egyptian Curse!  Tell all your friends!  Stop in for a glass.  Send them an email of appreciation.

We'll have another tasing in ~3 weeks as well.

Don't tase me Bro!

[Killian]

Woo hoo!!! One more reason to move back to Minneapolis!