CEO buys beers at Blackrocks as public apology for company's mistake

Blackrocks Brewery in Marquette was packed Tuesday night as hundreds stopped by to receive a free beer from the CEO of an online ticket retailer.

Brett Goldberg, the Co-CEO and Co-Founder of

stopped by the brewery to apologize to the Upper Peninsula, after his company left the U.P. off a map it posted online of the United States. The company's response then turned the situation into a public relations nightmare.

A customer service rep told the U.P. resident who pointed out the error "We got the important part of Michigan, isn't that good enough?" and "We're sure the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is a lovely place to live, and I assure you we didn't intentionally leave it off the map. But seriously, it's just a bunch of forests..."

After issuing a public apology, Goldberg decided to hop on the last plane from New York to the U.P. He said he felt compelled to do so because Yoopers told him he needed to see what Upper Michigan had to offer.

When he arrived at Blackrocks, he personally met with many of those who stopped by the brewery, including Kyla Vasseau, who sent the original message to TickPick.

Goldberg was warmly welcomed by the crowd, even being given a plaid Stormy Kromer, a U.P. t-shirt, and a U.P. bumper sticker.

"You know, I think we've taken a bad situation, and we've made it as good as we can at this point," said Goldberg. "There will still be some lasting effects, and negative impacts, and I'm sure some people still won't use us, and I understand. But we're trying to make it as good and as right as we can."

The map has since been edited to include the U.P., and Goldberg said TickPick will now have guidelines in place to make sure something like this never happens again.

He did not, however, reveal how much his tab was by the end of the night.