Lagunitas Sucks 32's = October

A guy who ran a billion dollar beverage company named Coca-Cola thought it would be a fantastic idea to change a hugely successful recipe back in the mid 80's.
Just because someone built and runs a business, doesn't mean they can't make mistakes.

 

I have to say it is nice to see that they want to wait and keep to the original recipe. I know a lot of breweries will just substitute a different hop variety or just brew it without if they have a supply issue. This adds to the list of reasons why I love Lagunitas!

 

Just because you've made a bogus analogy, doesn't make you right about Sucks.

Here is my prediction: Lagunitas will sell all of the Sucks they plan to make and will make more money than they would have by only selling six packs for $9.99.

 

Cool.

 

But, uh, like... I dunno.... wow.... ya know... like... Beerindaglass... that's like, whoa... that is SO positive a thing to say!!!

LMMFSWCBAO....!!!!!!

 

I suppose I should caveat that I am not a business owner so maybe I just don’t get it?

It seems to me that an owner of a business should not make fun of his (or her) customers. It seems to me that they should instead listen to their customers as is intimated by: “ur still the boss”.

But as I stated above: maybe I just don’t get it?

Cheers!

 

Eh, no skin off my nose. I'm not offended and I'll continue to buy Lagunitas on a regular basis! Plus, to be honest, I'm not sure what dogtown was saying anyway in that post. It can't be easy facing critics on a national message board. I was being genuine and not snarky when I said it would be cool if his idea works. I'm a huge fan of entrepreneurs and small business.

I do hope he reads this, though. Maybe he should have polled this place before deciding the fate of the Sucks bottle. Let his fans and consumers have input. Now that would have been a novel AND badass idea!!!!

262 in favor of 12 oz
26 in favor of 32 oz

http://beeradvocate.com/community/threads/poll-lagunitas-sucks-format.89789/

 

It's pretty selfish IMO to be telling a brewery what size bottles they should put their beers in because it is better for us personally. These are business decisions made by succesful business men so those of us (myself included) who do not know all the factors involved should just do what we are best at, drinking the beer. And I would agree with those that said every single bottle of Sucks in the 32oz bottles will sell. And if they do not, it's not a make or break decision for the brewery.
And how come nobody complains about "Enjoy By" coming in 22oz bottles? Every post I see on EB is from people happy to be able to be receiving it in their state finally, not trashing Greg Koch for not putting it in 6 packs of 12oz bottles.

 

I completely agree. There should be more threads complaining about what's in a bottle rather than what the size of the bottle is...

 

“It's pretty selfish IMO to be telling a brewery what size bottles they should put their beers in because it is better for us personally.”

But isn’t that what business in a market driven (capitalist) economy is all about? The business serves the needs/wants of their customers.

Cheers!

 

A. Obviously no one is dictating to any brewer how to bottle their beer. See 32oz Sucks. It's a beer message board. One of the more popular beers going from 12oz to 32oz will definitely start some conversation and debate. Actually that is pretty much what the brewer intended. Some shock value.

B. I think you would see a lot less blowback if Sucks was coming in 22 oz bottles. I'm chilling a Nelson right now for later today. 22 oz is a fine size. Furthermore, if Sucks started out as 32 oz. this thread would not exist.

C. I wish someone could answer how companies make so much more money off bombers if they don't move nearly as many? Do they make THAT much more on a bomber than a 6 pack? I'd love to know how many bomber of Hopstoopid sell compared to sixes of say Maximus? Or Ruination bombers to 4 packs (although I believe the price per oz. isn't far off on those 2).

This has been I think a neat topic. Apologize if I offended any BA's or brewers.

Cheers!

 

To a certain extent of course. And we all have seen a lot of complaints about bomber prices in these forums, but I don't remember when people were up in arms about 1 particular beer like this. I give him credit for posting but maybe Tony is pouring fuel on the fire by responding here. There are a lot of beers that are in bombers that I'd like to see in 12oz bottles or cans but the breweries have reasons for their decisions whether they are profit driven or not, and we have the power to say yes or no to what they are offering us.
(As a side note Jack, I hope this won't have an impact on all my stupid homebrew questions that you are so kind to answer)

 

“ ..we have the power to say yes or no to what they are offering us.” True enough, the customer is indeed the final ‘arbiter’ in a market driven economy.

I personally do not think it is unreasonable for customers to provide feedback to businesses. I give kudos to malatinodesign for starting the poll thread on Lagunitas Sucks. That is another good way for beer customers to provide input on their needs/wants to Lagunitas (Tony). It is now up to Tony (or Tony and his shareholders if he has them) to decide whether they want to listen to this feedback.

I also personally do not think it is “selfish” for customers to express their demands. There is a reason on why we can purchase milk in so many formats (single serving, pint, quart, ½ gallon, gallon, etc.). Milk customers demand milk in many formats and the milk industry fulfills those demands. It is a win-win for both sides: customers are happy that they can purchase milk in the format of their choosing and the milk industry makes money by serving their customers.

“I hope this won't have an impact on all my stupid homebrew questions that you are so kind to answer …” No impact whatsoever. I believe that part of Beer Advocacy is to help other BAs.

Cheers!

 

This has been interesting, for sure. I'm still going to do it but you've succeded in putting a nugget of fear into me about it so that's a little more pressure to show that some thing that wasn't visible before actually exists hidden... that 'thing' is that there is an unrealized desire for a tasty beer in an even larger format. I don't know if this matters but the bottle molds we are having made will not be proprietary, we're not putting logos in the mold or anything, so the bottle would also be available to any other brewer that wants to fart around with it. Could be the next big thing or it could die a quiet death, in which case I prolly won't be mentioning it too often....! Cheers...

 

Tony,

Is there a reason why you can’t provide Sucks in multiple formats? The 32 ounce bottle to ‘stir things up a bit’ and a 12 ounce bottle to serve the demands of your customers who prefer that format?

Cheers!

 

You obviously have not paid attention to the words I've written and are doing your own projecting. Yes, we get screwed on big bottle formats, but I never pointed a finger in your direction. A $4.99 bottle of Hop Stoopid lands at $6.99 at all my local stores - and because of skewed pricing here, they collect dust. So I would imagine a 32 oz at $6.50 would land in the $9+ range in my area and also collect dust after initial sales. Silly me for not wanting to pay more for an inferior product.

And you obviously missed that I have already been won over by the beer (and the pricing of 12 oz bottles), otherwise I would not have purchased 5 cases of it.

And btw, I had no outrage until your ego got in the way of a concern by one of your customers and told me I shouldn't drink you beer for voicing those concerns to you.

 

I think a 32 oz. bottle of Sucks is an awesome idea. And at $6.50 or so, that is about the same as the $5 per 22 oz of HopStoopid that I regularly buy. And when I finish the HopStoopid, it seems like I always wish there was just a bit more to drink! :^)

 

Unless I stand corrected I think the six packs will be back as a winter seasonal, right? Also, I take no offense with Tony's business strategy and postings and I think it's cool that people like him and Sierra Nevada Bill come on here and give us the scoop before most people find out. He's a very unique personality/entrepreneur, hence the names of his beer and the stories behind it, and I know he's just having a little fun and saying thin gs tongue in cheek when he comes on here.

 

Greetings Mr. Horzempa... In the world of brand management, which is the thing that happens right after you have a beer that people like, involves making choices and in my approach that has often meant leaving something behind in favor of something else. It is very mega-brewerly to try to stick it into every hole there is. One thing that make craft what is is the decision that we will make choices, which means leaving some things that are also valuable, behind. Lagunitas, if I did it right, is a 'story' that is told in beer and labels and I want to broaden the story into the virgin malt liquor box for a while.

In part I am also putting Sucks in 32's to keep the volume from overwhelming us. In the past I did the same thing when I decided not to make a wheat beer. In the 1990's that was also considered foolish, but I didn't want to be known as wheat beer brewery and that turned out to be a good thing. BTW, making an IPA was also less than a perfect offering back then. A few years down the road Sucks may end up in 12's, maybe even cans, maybe even pouches, but today that wouldn't be the right thing for what I want to accomplish.

It's all multidimensional and there are lots of moving parts. I expect that by putting Sucks in 32's I'll sell less than if I put it in 12's but, with our volume growing at 83% so far this year, more volume would have me in an even tighter spot than I'm already in right now... in the future all things good are possible, but the race is a long one. Enjoy the beer if you have a hankerin' for one, maybe you drink it less often. It'll be there when you get back. All this talk about how old things get in one package or another and all the anecdotal 'field reports' of bottle dates don't really predict much. I can tell this whole thing has touched a nerve, or maybe better, it has stuck a chord. I'm not certain about anything except that the recipe will be the same and the pricing will be friendly.

 

I get my Hop Stoopid for $4.49 here in SoCal, so it's not quite the same for us, and may not be $6.50 by the time it makes its' way to you.