Pub Draft Interest Thread (Sign up, or spread unsubstantiated rumors here!)

[indeedproceed]

Do we have an idea when the Cblog Draft is going to be?

Mid-late August, pre-September. I'm thinking drafting is 8/20-8/31, voting the following week.

[ChampKind]

Gotta say, I think the pub draft worked great last year. I'm not really a fan about the proposed changes for beer selection (I think that worked well), but here are the only changes I would make:

1) You cannot select anyone or anything you did last year. You can pick something/somebody someone else picked, but nobody/nothing you did.

2) Addition of a barfly category. One patron who is there all the time.

3) TV/Internet/Dancing are at every bar, as are speed racks (cheap liquor). So while one bar might specialize in premium tequila, everybody serves Sauza.

4) Irish whiskey, scotch, bourbon, are different categories (last year they were just 'whiskey' and carried me to the win), and this extends out to other kinds of liquor/drinks. Without getting too specific, and while trying to keep things from getting too repetitive, monopolies on stuff should be kept to a minimum.

I think the new beer idea will make things a bit more exciting to unfold, and there are combinations that are fun. Want to have the most taps out of anyone else in the game? Pick up the Bud label and instantly add 15+ taps to your bar. Want Sam Adams Winter Ale? Then you'd better pick strategically before someone else picks up the Sam line for their Lager.

Last year we got really obscure, which was cool, but there wasn't really a sense of urgency or the "got my pick stolen, give me 5 mins, everyone laugh at me" stuff that makes drafts fun. This way, you can still get really obscure, tell people about new beers, but also get a new facet that makes the game a bit more interesting.

I agree with your other points, but I think you should be able to pick things you had last year if you're building your ultimate bar. I would hate to go without my beloved Moosehead for hockey season. I also like SO's idea about activity being tied to things you can buy off Amazon.

[StartOrien]

I'm not sure where I stand on the matter now, but I think this is a great point by Champ

Last year we got really obscure, which was cool, but there wasn't really a sense of urgency or the "got my pick stolen, give me 5 mins, everyone laugh at me" stuff that makes drafts fun. This way, you can still get really obscure, tell people about new beers, but also get a new facet that makes the game a bit more interesting.

My counter to that it might overload beer choices in the first couple rounds, because the same holds true with all other categories. Sam Adams is a huge pick, but that level of importance isn't there for others. Someone took Prince, fine, let me pick my second favorite entertainer in the whole world.

Cuz even if you make an incredible combination of talents, lets say selecting Prince and then have the gosh dang ROOTS back him, no one will really appreciate you.

[indeedproceed]

I'm not sure where I stand on the matter now, but I think this is a great point by Champ

Last year we got really obscure, which was cool, but there wasn't really a sense of urgency or the "got my pick stolen, give me 5 mins, everyone laugh at me" stuff that makes drafts fun. This way, you can still get really obscure, tell people about new beers, but also get a new facet that makes the game a bit more interesting.

My counter to that it might overload beer choices in the first couple rounds, because the same holds true with all other categories. Sam Adams is a huge pick, but that level of importance isn't there for others. Someone took Prince, fine, let me pick my second favorite entertainer in the whole world.

I'd also counter that maybe instead of decreasing the lack of urgency, we should increase it.

[StartOrien]

I'm not sure where I stand on the matter now, but I think this is a great point by Champ

Last year we got really obscure, which was cool, but there wasn't really a sense of urgency or the "got my pick stolen, give me 5 mins, everyone laugh at me" stuff that makes drafts fun. This way, you can still get really obscure, tell people about new beers, but also get a new facet that makes the game a bit more interesting.

My counter to that it might overload beer choices in the first couple rounds, because the same holds true with all other categories. Sam Adams is a huge pick, but that level of importance isn't there for others. Someone took Prince, fine, let me pick my second favorite entertainer in the whole world.

I'd also counter that maybe instead of decreasing the lack of urgency, we should increase it.

?

Thought Champ's plan clearly was trying to increase urgency.

His plan points to creating urgency. Last year, if you missed out on Sam Adams - fine - but you still have the Boston Ale, the seasonals, etc. No big deal if your #1 got picked.

Under his plan your ability to take just 'Sam Adams' would drastically increase urgency. Getting their entire line is a big dealio, and certainly increases the value of certain other breweries.

[Redz]

I'll do it again, but only if I can draft the exact same bar.

[indeedproceed]

Right I want to increase the decreased urgency.

[StartOrien]

Right I want to increase the decreased urgency.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDNmLPATW0s

[StartOrien]

Kind of struggling to figure out a good time to run this

[StartOrien]

What's up nerds,

After long debate, me and Rondo (with some help from IP) have hammered down some of the details. This will serve as somewhat of an all purpose message. Please do your best to read this as I think a lot of questions will be answered in here.

Again, the Pub Draft is a draft where you make selections to make your ultimate Pub possible.

Every pub starts off with the essentials (tables, chairs, TV'S, stereo system, food, etc), and the space is as small or large as you'd like.

CATEGORIES

6 Beers
3 Specialty Drinks
3 Entertainers
1 Activity
1 Specialty Food Item
1 Bar Tender
1 Patron
1 Bouncer
1 City/Town/Island

A few things on categories -

ON THE MATTER OF SIX BEERS -

We did heavily discuss either going to breweries (if you select Budweiser you get bud light, bud select, etc.) but at the end of the day decided to go to 6 beers after Rondo made a good point; one of the best parts of last year's draft was being able to go to the liquor store with a list of new beers to try out. The brewery/label idea certainly would've added 'urgency' but at the end of the day new beer lists win out.

ON THE MATER OF 3 SPECIALTY DRINKS -

This year we are assuming that all bars have the same selection of house liquor. I've got the Admiral Nelson's Rum, you've got the Admiral Nelson's Rum, We've all got the Admiral Nelson's Rum.

Specialty drinks will be shots or mixes with a specific liquor. If I select Jameson as a specialty drink, it can't be picked again (even in a mix)

ACTIVITIES -

This must be a material purchase. And to insure that, and make things uber black and white every activity must be purchasable on Amazon.com . You must provide a link with the selection. So if you want darts to be your activity you need to provide me to a link of a dartboard on amazon.

It doesn't necessarily have to be the same model. But I figured we needed a way to make this a little more open and shut than it was last year.

RULE REMINDER -

You are able to select ONE (or zero) dead or fictional character as either your bouncer, bartender or patron. You can not select a dead or fictional person as an entertainer.

ENTERTAINER -

This is your entertainment. You can select a comedian, artist, band, magician, etc. NO MIMES THOUGH

ONE OTHER NOTE -

There was a suggestion to not be able to select anyone you picked last year for those of us returning for a second season. I'm going to say you're allowed to make return picks, but give caution that it'll kind of ruin the fun for yourself if you're too repetitive.

THE SCHEDULE

We will be opening this up MONDAY, JULY 9TH. It'll run for two weeks, weekends off.

7/09: 2 Rounds
7/10: 2 Rounds
7/11: 2 Rounds
7/12: 2 Rounds
7/13: 2 Rounds
7/16: 3 Rounds
7/17: 3 Rounds
7/18: Presentations
7/19: Presentations
7/20: Awards that everyone should take VERY seriously

PRESENTATIONS

The presentations is a Yelp review that you make to show off support for your bar. I've attached one of IP's from last year for an example (though I'd reccomend putting your 'roster' at the bottom) -

The Stagger Inn, Or, 'How I Got My Nose Broke At An Awesome Bar'

I had just broken up with my girlfriend of three years just two weeks before I ventured into 'The Stagger Inn' for the first time. As you can imagine, it was still an open gaping wound. She said it was about personal growth, and space. I said it was about a certain friend she had met at the gym who had an exotic name and artificially bronzed skin. Rico..Chico...I don't know. Something like that. %*@#$.

I had made sure that my outfit was one becoming of an eligible bachelor, because although I am 23 year old and very mature for my age, I have no idea how 'the kids' hook up anymore. I gave that harlot the best years of my life, and what do I have left? Picking up morally casual women at the bar while I try tentatively to pick up the broken pieces of my life.

As I entered the bar I noted the study but worn wooden paneling that encompassed the place like the warm, secure, lover's embrace I once knew. The bar wasn't packed, but for five pm on a Tuesday, it was comfortably inhabited. I sidled up to a bar-stool and took a look around.

The bar area was cozy, a sturdy hardwood construction from the imagination of a young James Joyce. Unlike my tortured soul, the atmosphere was far from dour. A man in the late-prime of life tended bar efficiently, a smug grin efficaciously hiding the hard intensity behind his dark eyes. His glance caught mine and he walked over, asking me in a Manchester accent (I know, because my ex and I spent 2 weeks abroad in the UK) what it was that I wanted. I told him about how I was having a problem filling the hours since Stacy had left me for whichever ex-member of Menudo she was currently dating. I explained that I had been trying to fill the gap with various substitutes; booze, NCIS: Los Angeles, old episodes of Night Court, writing fan-fiction about Judge Reinhold's life, none of it had worked.

The bartender looked at me, and asked 'You know what you can do?' I shook my head, and his hand flashed out like some sort of cobra, striking my at the bridge of my nose. 'You can act like a man,' he said after. He walked away from me and I looked around the room to find quiet sniggers of contempt and furtive glances to greet me. Soon though, the offending bartender came back. In one hand he held a rocks glass with two fingers of dark liquor, while in the other hand he held a pint glass with a dark midnight colored brew, topped by a white frothy head. He set them down in front of me, than tossed me a bar-rag to stop the bleeding on my nose.

'Drink that', he said, pointing at the rocks glass, 'then that' he said, pointing at the pint.

I left the bar sometime around closing, right around when my nose started to really puff out. My female companion didn't seem to mind. I've been back every night since, highly recommended. Great beer selection, best whiskey on earth, and I think at some point Flogging Molly played, but that might have been the jello-shots.

AWARDS

Favorite Beer Selection
Favorite Specialty Drink Selection
Favorite Entertainment
Favorite Staff (bartender, bouncer, patron)
Favorite Food
Favorite Overall

Something that worked REALLY well last year was submitting 3 superlatives with your selections. Here's an example from last year:

Bar most likely to be a mafia money-laundering scam:
The Rusty Nail - I mean, the place isn't even finished yet. Who drinks everclear straight up at a bar anyway?

Bar where I'm most likely to be spit on for wearing peasant clothes:
The Plagiarist and Apologist - Now THAT is a pretentious tap list. (Honorable mention: The Stagger Inn)

Bar most prone to regular fistfights:
Shecky's. Every single person on the staff hates people. The sign on the door might as well say "Misanthropes only, please."

SIGN UP

I'm ignoring all previous 'i'm in!' messages. Please copy and paste the list from below and then add your name next to it if you'd like in.

1. StartOrien
2. Rondo2287

[Rondo2287]

Just a couple of notes here. 

When it comes to the "place" category, I just thought this would be fun and be another aspect that people have to try and fit into their bars theme.  For instance my country bar last year probably would have been better suited in Nashville than Toronto.  Also you could pick crazy places, and im sure Edgar will.

Also if you need some ideas for what the perfect Pub would look like I give you this. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PuQhj1JRUg

[ChampKind]

I'll play, but I still like the "you get the brewery, and all the beers that come with it" rule better. You can still single out the best taps in a brewing line while expanding your bar selection that way. That way, if I want to take more than one Unibroue or Three Floyd's beer, I don't have to spend multiple picks, AND I still get to impress everyone with my beer snobbery.

Maybe a feature like "Pick: Miller Brewing Featured Beer(s): High Life, Miller Lite" that would combine the best of both worlds.

[StartOrien]

I'll play, but I still like the "you get the brewery, and all the beers that come with it" rule better. You can still single out the best taps in a brewing line while expanding your bar selection that way. That way, if I want to take more than one Unibroue or Three Floyd's beer, I don't have to spend multiple picks, AND I still get to impress everyone with my beer snobbery.

Maybe a feature like "Pick: Miller Brewing Featured Beer(s): High Life, Miller Lite" that would combine the best of both worlds.

I'll PM Rondo and will make a final decision shortly. If anyone else has something to add about this feel free to bring up your points now.

[StartOrien]

1. StartOrien
2. Rondo2287
3. ChampKind

[ChampKind]

I'll play, but I still like the "you get the brewery, and all the beers that come with it" rule better. You can still single out the best taps in a brewing line while expanding your bar selection that way. That way, if I want to take more than one Unibroue or Three Floyd's beer, I don't have to spend multiple picks, AND I still get to impress everyone with my beer snobbery.

Maybe a feature like "Pick: Miller Brewing Featured Beer(s): High Life, Miller Lite" that would combine the best of both worlds.

I'll PM Rondo and will make a final decision shortly. If anyone else has something to add about this feel free to bring up your points now.

Well, if you guys want to bring more good beer selections into it, having more taps available through picking a brewery and calling out your favorites as "featured beers" would be a good way to do that.

I just really want to talk about beer. My summers lag pretty hard in the workplace. You guys like beer? Beer?