Over the last few weeks we’ve been following with interest the online chatter regarding our upcoming Kate Day, such as this one on Beer Advocate. We’ve resisted the temptation to weigh in, until now. There are a couple of items I wish to address here: one is a misconception that I need to correct before it grows into an Urban Legend worthy of Snopes; the other is in response to a concern that a growing number of people have written to us about.

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