Shelton Bros/Freedom Beverage at odds?

Betcha it's got something to do with Shelton sending all the Westy 12 to TW and shutting out the independent shops that actually carry their other beers.

 

Its all coming to FL

 

They have a few decent brands, though for the most part they're all too rich for my blood. I don't think I'd miss any of them. That said, I always want our bottle shops to have as large a selection as possible, for their sake as much as my own.

 

Probably not going to see Shelton for a while, possibly even a LONG while in NC, pretty sure both sides hate each other!

Your not too far off

 

I didn't take kindly to their kind nohow

 

The exact same thing is happening in Georgia with Shelton Bros & Savannah Distributing. Haven't seen any of their products in a while, and may not see anything again in a long time...

 

Are these the same Shelton brothers that own shelton vineyards in Dobson,NC? Curious.

 

Not 100% sure but I seriously doubt it. Shelton Bros importers are based in Massachusetts I believe.

 

Nope

 

Good riddance!!! They (SB) control some great beers, but I and all the NC retailers with any balls will never buy a SB product in this country. I have had conversations with some of the people at breweries they control and i feel sorry for them.

 

I am one of the breweries they "control" as you put it. You have no idea what you're talking about. Only what you distro is telling you.
Most of the so called problems distributors have with Shelton arises from the prices the distributors want to charge their accounts. The distributors feel they should be able to charge out the ass for Cantillon, Fantome, and so on, and legally they can. Ethically they should be tied to stay somewhere near the price the brewery's intended. This and pretty much only this is the reason you see Shelton Brothers come and go from distributors.They have in their portfolio some of the greatest breweries in the world and instead of taking advantage of the market, they're trying to be fair to everyone involved. Can't say the same for the rest of the supply chain.
This is the exact reason for Shelton going with Total Wine for the Westvleteren release. They were guaranteed that the beer would sell for no more than the agreed price of $86. Period. Would your "local" retailer give the same guarantee, or jack it through the roof and sell only to a chosen few. Unless you've personally talked to anyone from Shelton Brothers as to why you can't get X beer, quit dreaming up conspiracy theories.

 

Actually to take up for Mike a little here, I personally have talked with Dan Shelton on multiple occasions in the last 6 months and extensively after the Westy 12 release. And it is YOU sir who are inaccurate in your response! You do have a small point that is correct about the distributor price point....but that is NOT the only reason, and as someone who used to carry a lion's share of their portfolio, YOU sir are the one who doesn't know what your talking about. You are totally off base here, but I am glad that you are happy with your relationship. Obviously you have little respect for retailers anyway, so to say that we should be ethically bound to anything is just silly. And Cantillion as well as multiple others in their portfolio is a supply and demand issue, not a distributor price point issue. It gets a higher price put on it because it is highly allocated. This is not only passed down from distro, but also by retailers alike. I'm sure since obviously you sell/make the equivalent of these world renown brews you should be very insulted by these gauging distributors/retailers just trying to make money off of you. If you want to be Mr. Ethical and have control over how your product is sold... self distribute, or open your own shop, otherwise, it is you who need retailers to sell your product, and distributors to push your product to people like me and Mike....So calling us unethical is probably not the smartest move, although obviously no one gets your product in NC anyway. Now if you'll excuse me I have to go help Mike dream up some more conspiracy theories....... ZZZZZZZZZZZ!

 

To add on.... I just saw the brewery that you are affiliated with....Hilarious, that you would try to throw a dog in the fight.

 

So, what you're saying is that ethics have no place in business?
Seem to have pushed a button here! Please...tell me more!

 

I know that in Georgia Shelton has been trying to force Savannah to order waaay more of everything in the portfolio just to receive the rare stuff. Sort of like a retailer saying you have to buy 1 bottle of ???, 1 ????, 1 ???, and a ???? in order to get a bottle of St. SomeWhere Pays Du Soleil. I totally understand the distributor not over ordering a bunch of stuff they cant sell just to get a few cases that only a few accounts see anyway. Shelton needs to hire some reps who know the products like every other Import company. I also feel sorry for the Breweries who signed deals with these guys.

 

Nope no button pushed, and trust me I have a wife that is a constant "brow beater", so it would take a whole lot more than that. I think Ethics most certainly do belong in business, however I was responding to your comment about retailers jacking prices through the roof and the comment about how we "ethically" should charge what the brewery intends us to charge, THAT is silly. If that were the case then let's throw out the three tier system, and just "pool" all of our money together as importer/breweries/retailers and we'll all split it equally, how does that sound?!

 

Not what I'm saying.
You know how it works.
Breweries fix their price to their distributor, allowing profit of course, with the hope that after normal mark-up of X from the distributor and normal mark up of Y from the retailer their product sits on the shelf somewhere close to Z, which is the breweries intent. Everybody's entitled to a profit but when the retail prices go through the roof, who will be to blame? The greedy brewers, usually. I've raised my price to wholesale twice in 6 years. The first time was five years ago when hops went through the roof. The second time was this year, mainly because retail prices were slowly and steadily climbing even though my price hadn't changed a penny in five years.
I'm not saying all retailers price gouge, but it would be a little dishonest to say that nobody does.