Iowa Rumors?

Oh ya...I was anticipating twenty bucks when she told me they had it and asked if she should grab one. I'll give it a go, but man if this beer isn't an orgasmic experience, I am going to have a lot less nice things to say about Toppling Goliath at that price. Though in their defense it was $20 at the release, and my gf could be rounding up to 30 from say 28 (she just said holy cow its 30$!) so this could be more John's work than TGs, but either way. I doubt what I am about to taste will be worth 30$ per 22oz.

I don't much care for lagers, but I was rather underwhelmed by Dorothy's New World. However it was only $5.50.

 

I don't think that is TG's price. That is John's price. So I guess any messages should be sent John's way. TG sells Assassin for $20.

 

I know how John's does their pricing, and they are not able/willing to mark up this type of stuff much. I expect them to make money, and am fine with it. One way to do brewery sales is to do what New Glarus does - Sell it for more in the brewery, and support your retail accounts, who are your bread and butter.

 

$28.99. We marked it up the same percentage as we do any other beer. I wouldn't get the pitchforks out just yet. They drove down here to hand deliver us one case, I'm sure that's not cheap with gas and man power. I'm happy to see it up on the shelves personally. Their Dorothy's Lager is pretty damn amazing and priced well at $6 a bomber, at least in my opinion.

 

I don't even own a pitchfork to bring out! I figured it wasn't John's but just didn't know.

I do have a certain amount of admiration I guess for them having enough confidence in their product to price it that way and most of the reviews are sterling, it's just annoying to see we are getting to that point I think in craft beer where people are charging $25 and up for any barrel aged special release.

Also with regard to Dorothy's that's almost certainly more me than them. I have yet to find a lager I like from anyone, everything in the style just reminds me of many rough nights my freshman year of college.

 

Kind of disappointing that TG did not drop off any Assassin at HyVee Wine and Spirits in Cedar Falls last night, just the bombers of Dororthy's. I've read here that earlier in the day yesterday, Des Moines got some of the extra bottles of Assassin. And then it appears today John's in Iowa City got it. But Cedar Falls, sandwiched between those two deliveries, got nothing. Any particular reason why we weren't on this lucky list?

Definitely would have bought some if it was available. Really wanted to make the release in Decorah last weekend but was unable to do so.

Too bad, I know that Cedar Falls was one of the earliest markets to get TG when they started up. I have been enjoying their beers for quite some time. Lots of loyal fans here, several bars/restaurants with them on tap. Seems like it was an intentional decision to skip over us if the delivery before us got a few Assassin bottles, the delivery after us got some, but we did not. Chalk one up in the loss column and hope for next time I suppose.

 

I'm guessing they didn't go to CF because its easier (less time) to get to Decorah than Iowa City and Des Moines last weekend.

 

Ya I was curious to see if it would pop up anywhere else in the IC area but it doesn't seem to be. Props to them for even getting any out by hand from a limited release that they easily could have held the rest at the tap room reasoning that anyone in the close IA/MN/WI area could have come to the release.

I didn't plan on getting any as I was unable to go to the release, so I'm content with being able to give it a go, even with a slight upcharge for their extended efforts.

 

Yeah, that is a decent point. Its still a pretty good drive from here, but yeah closer than the other two cities.

 

Hopefully you'll believe me when I say we didn't try to skip over anyone. There were only so many cases to go out the door, and our original thoughts were that sending them out would make things easier for people who were unable to make the trip. We had concerns that people might think we skipped them over since we didn't have enough to make sure every account in each city, or even every city would get some, but we thought (wishfully hoped?) it would make more people happy this way.

We're unfortunately still waiting on our new brewhouse; this is way behind schedule, and so is our ability to supply more beer because of it. There are other areas we're wanting to send beer (Quad Cities is included, for anyone reading from there) and we're wanting to get more beers to places we're already at. A lot of time and effort is going in to all of this, it's everyone's support that really helps keep us going.

Cheers,
Mike

 

Well just finished mine off.

In all honesty I would say $28.99 is fair for this based on the going rate of the style in the market these days. It is a freaking delicious BA stout. May try to come about another!

 

I don't get how people are complaining about $30 bucks when the only way to get this beer was in Decorah which is AT LEAST two hours from the major cities in this state so therefore you'd spend more than $10 on gas for a $20 beer...

 

The math is simple. KBS is $.4375 an ounce, BCBS is $.45483 an ounce, BCBSV is $.818, Rare is $1.818, Assassin is $.909 at the brewery, or $1.3177 at retail outlets. You can't figure cost to get the beer (driving, gas, time) in the equation. This is an accepted fact in the BA world. Plain and simple it is overpriced.

 

Three Floyds gets away with much worse than this

 

Its definitely understandable. We are fortunate to have you guys on tap at so many places around town (pseudoSue on tap at two of my fav bars in CF/Waterloo currently, Dorothys and G-Nugget at a couple others), and I WAS able to get some Naughty Temple a couple months back when we got our allotment here in CF.

The demand for your product certainly outweighs the supply at this point in time. Thanks for being so accessible to the BA community. Keep making awesome beers. Cheers!

 

Tilting at windmills. Small breweries can't produce and distribute beer (and make a profit) at the same price as much larger breweries. Good local restaurants can't sell me a double cheeseburger for $1.49 either. McDonald's can, but that doesn't mean I only buy cheeseburgers from McDonalds.

 

Off the record as a John's person on this one but....I don't really know how to respond to this post. As a person that enjoys drinking beer, I can easily figure cost to get the beer into the equation, I do it every day when making a selection and I hope everyone does. If you're trading the beer or just collecting it, then yes, I understand that cost is cost no matter what time/effort/gas/hotel room you've invested in the beer. I've traded on $ 4 $ since I started 300 some trades ago.

If you see this from a brewery standpoint and say "yeah, we could sell this at the brewery and make more money and use less resources but we'd like to hook up accounts we know will promote and sell our product as well as make it easy for out of towners to grab a fun beer..." you'd get what TG is trying to do. It's seriously a gesture I am happy to see. If you see this from John's standpoint and realize we will probably get calls about this daily for weeks after it sells out then you see why we don't want to sell it at our cost.

All of this talk about the beer and I didn't even grab one for myself. Hopefully we get pseudo sue bombers in stock soon so I can drown my sorrows in some damn good Iowa beer.

 

Big difference is that Founders and Goose Island are massive players in the craft beer world and have a huge distribution footprint. TG is basically still a small, DIY brewery and do almost all of their own distribution. Therefore, I have no issue with them charging more for bottles they have driven half way across the state themselves, so fans of their beers from Iowa couldn't make it to the release could enjoy it, than they charge at their taproom. Their own gas and mileage and employees time isn't free.

 

Founders and Goose Island are far more established breweries with an established distribution. I think that makes a difference. They likely get a bigger break on raw materials due to the bulk they are buying as well. And the space used for barrel aging has been paid for already (maybe).

Kinda why Walmart has cheaper prices than your mom & pop stores. And your opinion is kinda why mom & pop stores go out of business and then everyone complains about having Walmarts all over the place.

Regardless, as with everything, it an individual decision as to what it is worth to you. I made the trip to the brewpub and I'm glad I did. And I spend more $ on TG partially because I think the people behind the product are terrific and deserve a shot at the big time.

 

^^Here, here.