Old Beer in Nashville

Discussion in 'South' started by marcopolo, Jun 8, 2013.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. GameFreac

    GameFreac Initiate (0) Apr 8, 2011 Georgia

    Too bad the Dank Tanks are double the price in TN than they are in GA.
     
  2. TravisSaps

    TravisSaps Devotee (329) Feb 3, 2007 Tennessee

    If you think Tennessee is bad now, you should have lived here 10 years ago. Hell, even 3 or 4 years ago it was much worse. While still not great, it has slowly been improving.
     
  3. mattsdenney

    mattsdenney Initiate (0) Jun 8, 2010 Tennessee

    This doesn't further my point as its not available in TN but Cigar City Brewery out of Tampa is one of the best breweries in the country. I hope they start distributing here in the future. In the meantime, pick some up when you're vacationing in FL. Also be patient with Nashville, I read about new breweries opening here every day (Black Abbey, Little Harpeth, TN Brew Works still to come). Mayday out of Murfreesboro ain't bad either.

    Much respect to Stone, Founders, and Bells (all amazing) but I feel like the South is the fastest growing area for craft beer right now. It's really caught fire down here in a matter of years.
     
    ImperatorScab and Roman5150 like this.
  4. marcopolo

    marcopolo Initiate (0) Jul 10, 2005 Tennessee

    It's definitely getting better here. Like I said, I've only been here for a little over 18 months, but even during that time I've noticed things are improving. And hey, the New Yorker confirms it, so it must be true:

    http://www.newyorker.com/online/blo...-the-week-mapping-the-rise-of-craft-beer.html

    Of course, part of the reason the South seems like such a fast-growing beer region is that things were so dire here for so long. And the drawback to being part of a vanguard is that you're prone to step on a landmine or two along the way. But that's kind of exciting, too! Mayday's black IPA is really great, as far as I'm concerned. Knowing that I have access to the stuff, while the rest of the country doesn't, sincerely feels like a privilege.
     
  5. MikeEhrmantraut

    MikeEhrmantraut Initiate (0) Aug 28, 2012 Tennessee
    Deactivated

    Distributor reps are making it known that North Coast is pulling out. They'll be dumping the remainder of their stock into stores until they run out.
     
  6. marcopolo

    marcopolo Initiate (0) Jul 10, 2005 Tennessee

    Ugh, so weak. Guess it's time to stock up on Old Raspy. Thanks for the info.
     
  7. jsboots21

    jsboots21 Initiate (0) Jan 19, 2009 Tennessee

    As a consumer who expects to get what he pays for, I think this is a very anti-consumer mindset. When a brewer "goes pro," i.e. starts selling his beer at prices comparable to established craft breweries' pricing, he should already have his recipes perfected. I understand that not every beer will be a success and that risks must be taken to create rewarding products, but selling product before "getting...recipes just right" is offensive and should not be supported by consumers. Due to the very issue mentioned with Jackalope, I'm not waiting in line to try any of their beers when I see them in Nashville. I think that we, as consumers, should be much more mindful of the messages our dollars send if we're going to dump so much of our income into directly funding someone else's "working experiments" rather than supporting finished, perfected products.
     
    fsvan and TheGordianKnot like this.
  8. mmmckay

    mmmckay Initiate (0) Jan 16, 2009 Tennessee

    Beer is just like milk or eggs. Check your dates. It's on you if you buy something that's out of date. Especially anything in the IPA family. And remember Craft Brewed High Grav side has been only opened for barely a few months. Basically they received old beer straight from the distributor. Their mistake is the same as yours, they didn't check their dates. Of course they were also receiving hundreds if not thousands of products at the same time trying to launch a new place of business. So, I would cut them some slack. Things fall through the cracks.

    Stone is notorious for shipping old beer to Lipman brothers (the distributor). I can place lots of blame in lots of places here, but always check Ruination and IPA for freshness. I don't order Stone IPA unless it's draft the problem is so bad.

    While Celebration is a fresh hop ale, it holds better than most over time. A year or 2 ago, Flying Saucer aged and released a keg of celebration. It was over 2 years old and still tasted fine. Admittedly still better fresh but still very good.

    Next time. Check your dates. Inform your retailer if something is wrong. A simple phone call probably would have gotten you an apology and your money back. Return beer that doesn't live up to your expectations.

    Don't damn a place just because two beers you saw were outta date. You are doing way more harm than good on this one. Crapping on Craft Brewed on the boards is lunacy if your goal is to get better beer into TN.
     
    deviercw likes this.
  9. MikeEhrmantraut

    MikeEhrmantraut Initiate (0) Aug 28, 2012 Tennessee
    Deactivated

    Is it really Stone shipping old/out of date beer? Or is it more like Lipman isn't rotating it properly?

    We receive Lipman products, high and low grav. Any time a truck comes in, I check every case for dates; and if it's pushing it, I send it back before signing the driver's invoice. Lately it's been fine, but for a while I was sending something back on every delivery.

    I don't really have any issues with the other distributors in this area in terms of freshness/dates.
     
  10. Roman5150

    Roman5150 Initiate (0) Mar 29, 2013 Spain


    Yea i've yet to have Cigar City but it's high up on my list, heard great things. And yea from what I can tell, things are rapidly changing fast. When i move back here from Spain in a year or two, i'm expecting things to be a lot different! I'm just really biased because I went to school in Kalamazoo when I wasn't a craft beer junkie, I just took fresh Two-Hearted for granted, after moving away from Michigan I realized how lucky I was. It's good to see other states catching up quick! And mayday is amazing, their Evil Octupus and Angry Redhead are very good beers.
     
    ImperatorScab likes this.
  11. Roman5150

    Roman5150 Initiate (0) Mar 29, 2013 Spain


    I highly doubt it's Stone. My best guess is that anything other than a top tier bottle shop (in Murfreesboro there is only 1, Stones River Total Beverage), they get a shipment in of Stone, don't sell much, then they just sit on it. Why order more when it's just gonna sit there? Obviously a good shop would get rid of the old and get new shipments in, but it's just not the case in 9/10 stores i've been to around here.
     
  12. jbrana

    jbrana Initiate (0) Mar 7, 2012 Tennessee

    While it would be great if this was realistic, it simply isn't. Even if you perfected your recipes on a small scale system and brewed the exact same recipes on a large scale system, there are many factors that could make your recipes turn out completely different. Because of the capital required to start a brewery, it is completely unrealistic to think that a new brewery could or would brew large scale test batches to simply throw them out if they don't quite align with the flavors intended.

    It is also important to understand the distinguished difference between craft beer from other beer. While very much a business, craft beer is also an art. Should a sculptor throw their sculptures away if they don't turn out the way that they were meant to? Should a starving musician wait to go on tour until they have a hit record? The fact of the matter is that art is hard, and more importantly art is expensive. A sculpture sells their sculptures that don't turn out exactly as they hoped and recoup the money they spent in supplies... and because art is subjective (much like taste), what seemed like rubbish to one person was appreciated by another. Additionally, a starving musician goes on tour before they have a hit record to cultivate fans, become better at their craft, and most importantly make the money require to record a hit album. Craft beer isn't all that different from other art. It evolves and growth is part of the necessary process.

    If you are a, "Consumer who expects to get exactly what [they paid] for," I suggest that you stay away from concerts and movies, only buy coffee from Starbucks, only eat at McDonalds, and only drink macro brews. All others will leave an opportunity for inconstancy or disappointment that could ultimately lead to complaining on the internet.

    This is not a defense of craft beer in Tennessee, but simply a case for not writing off TN breweries completely, as they are still very young.
     
  13. CaptainPiret

    CaptainPiret Zealot (576) Oct 5, 2009 North Carolina
    Trader

    You can have all the state pride that's humanly possible, but it's impossible to ignore that Tennessee is way behind most every other state when it comes to beer. Selection isn't nearly as good and prices are so much higher. I did a site comparison of Buster's (arguably the best beer store in Memphis) against Total Wine in Dallas (my folks live there), and it was shockingly out of whack. Celebrator was $5 more for a 4-pack in Memphis. Some Belgians were $2-3 more for single bottles. Every 6-pack I looked up was at least a $2 difference. Frugal MacDoogal's, my favorite shop in Nashville, was also much higher.

    I like Tennessee. Lot of beautiful places here, lot of great people. But there's so much ground to make up when it comes to beer. I often drive to other states for the sole purpose of stocking up on beer. I drove three hours round trip to Cardwell, Missouri last week for that very purpose. I'd love to support local businesses, but until the politicians here bring about some change, it benefits the craft beer consumer to go elsewhere.
     
    Photekut, jsboots21 and Roman5150 like this.
  14. jsboots21

    jsboots21 Initiate (0) Jan 19, 2009 Tennessee

    I obviously won't change your mind about your approach (and your support of others using the same approach) to this "business." That's fine. If it's your wish, you can be the person who supports these breweries through their times of growth while they are not making products that are up to par. I, however, refuse to continually buy something in hopes it will get better. If it does, great. If it doesn't, great. I'm not paying for an artist's improvement. That should be his investment.

    I have a track record of trying nearly every brewery I find in my area and in my travels. My threshold is usually 4-5 different beers. If I try 4-5 of a brewery's beers and none are good, there's a good chance I won't try a 6th. If one of the beers is good, I may try more. If 2-4 are good, I'm probably going to try more. Call that a scientific approach if you want. Call it supporting an artist if you will. Doesn't matter to me. I call it trying beer and reacting accordingly. If it's not good, I'm not going back for seconds (or thirds, fourths, fifths, etc.) and WHY would anyone expect me to?

    Also, I'd caution you to think that most craft brewers are artists. I'm fairly involved in the Dallas craft beer scene (host and attend plenty of tastings, go to events, volunteer at breweries I support) and I've met lots of brewers here and in other places. My experience is that the product generally speaks to the brewers' intentions. One of our local breweries is experiencing a very rough patch, which led to the departure of the head brewer. There has been constant discussion of consistency issues regarding this brewery's products, and that is why many speculate that the brewer left; to preserve what's left of his professional reputation. Following this event the president of the brewery was quoted by another employee as saying "we are a marketing company first" when asked how they would deal with consistency following the head brewer's resignation. Do you think this screams artistry? This may be a rare case, but I don't believe it is. Too many people see $ signs in a booming sub-culture to think that everyone who participates here is an artist and a true supporter of the craft.
     
    CaptainPiret and TheGordianKnot like this.
  15. jbrana

    jbrana Initiate (0) Mar 7, 2012 Tennessee

    I'm not insinuating that anyone should continue to buy bad beer. I'm simply pointing out that our breweries in Nashville are much younger than breweries elsewhere and it may take time for them to perfect their craft. Our largest brewery Yazoo is only 10 years old which again is quite young in comparison to the slew of acclaimed breweries that turned 25, 30, and so on this year. Obviously don't support a brewery that is consistantly bad, but a sole bad beer or two from a brewery (again, ie The Beacon) does not necessarily translate to a bad brewery. And again, a "bad" brewery today could easily become an ok brewery tomorrow and even a great brewery in a few years.
     
  16. Dreizhen

    Dreizhen Initiate (0) Jun 6, 2013 District of Columbia

  17. jsboots21

    jsboots21 Initiate (0) Jan 19, 2009 Tennessee

    I will gladly echo the sentiments of several posters who believe the TN craft beer scene is improving. I've seen much more good beer become available to the public in the last 4 years (mostly since I left the state) thanks to breweries like Schlafly, Straight to Ale, Calfkiller, Yazoo, and Blackstone. I think stores like Midtown and Cool Springs Wine and Spirits, who were two of the first I know to prominently display their beer selections, also deserve some credit.

    I also echo the pain felt when one sees the end price to consumers. For example, a bottle of Rochefort 10 cost me $5.50 in Dallas last Sunday. The same beer costs from $7-8 in Nashville. 40-60% price hike? Pretty absurd. A lot of work needs to be done on tax laws before that situation can improve.
     
    Josiah2729 likes this.
  18. Pergish1

    Pergish1 Initiate (0) Jun 12, 2013 North Carolina

    Can I get a little love for Blackhorse Pub in Clarksville? They don't distribute, but they have some good brews - I'm particularly fond of Coalminer Stout. I haven't lived in Tennessee for years but I visit often and, apart from an obligatory visit to BP, I bring my own beer. Really a shame the industry doesn't get more policy and regulatory support.
     
  19. mattsdenney

    mattsdenney Initiate (0) Jun 8, 2010 Tennessee

    I agree that paying more for beer is never a good thing, regardless of which your home state or level of pride. Tennessee of course has no income tax which is meant to offset the higher sales tax (but this is a different discussion for a completely different forum). I also agree that the state legislation isn't overly favorable to brewers but it was my understanding that they are making headway in this area (see @FixtheBeerTax).

    To me, not having every great brewery at my finger tips can be a good thing. It makes me enjoy and anticipate out of state trips that much more b/c I know I'll be on the hunt for gems that are not available to me in TN. Just a different perspective on that. Last point; seriously how much variety do y'all need? Walk into Frugal MacDoogals, Midtown, or Craft Brewed and tell me there isn't variety in our marketplace. You're going to tell me that you are dissatisfied with choosing between 20 IPA's as opposed to 25? I'm stepping off of the podium now...cheers y'all.
     
  20. cmorph42

    cmorph42 Initiate (0) Oct 4, 2007 Tennessee

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.