Total wine fort Myers, FAIL!

6 week old Jai Alai is still amazing, but FRESH is mind blowing! I went to Ft. Myers TW last weekend and was hoping they had a little Sofie left (ran out of stock earlier same day). I wasn't sure because their website said they were out of stock. With TW Sarasota the website is always waaaayyyy off. I asked TW ft.M staff if they had Sofie left he said if the website says no they are out, he said the website is always accurate (as I'm starring at 6 packs of FL Cracker and website shows out of stock)

 

Yes I was there in April on vacation and had the same experience.

 

In my experience your best bet in Ft. Myers for CCB bombers, fresh Jai Alai, and good customer service is the north trail ABC, just north or the big bridge. NOT the ABC down by Bahama Breeze. Those guys are nice, but they never get anything worthwhile.

 

Good gourd has not been released. They put 12 on draft in the tasting room for el cat members. Bottles were not in the case 12 or 13. Also even if it is in the tasting room it could still be a month before stores get it

 

Picked up 4 bottles of 2013 in the tasting room yesterday but like Gene said, it could be a while before stores get it. Especially down that way.

Also, agree with the original post. I am originally from Naples and the TW there is great, Ft. Myers not so much.

 

Total Wine hasn't fully gotten on board with craft beer. They have a great selection, but mostly out of necessity. The staff and management of most of them would be much happier just selling wine and liquor. The amazing thing is, they don't even bother to touch the beer isle themselves. The distributors do pretty much all stocking and ordering. The beer isle takes care of itself.

 

The only thing out of your 3 complaints that I can see as wrong is the possible date changing on the ST bottles, and if flabeer is correct above that is most likely the distributor doing that.
BigGene explained the deal with Good Gourd, but you don't seem to accept that.
And strolling in and demanding something fresher than 6 weeks old is pretty spoiled if you ask me.

You certainly don't have to shop there, but I'm betting they would be OK with that.

 

I am amazed that I have a 50-60 hr a week job and still know much more about stuff like caring for and correctly stocking beer, beer releases, importance of IPA freshness, etc.. than 90% of the employees and even managers of bottle shops and beer stores. I almost feel embarrassed for some of them.

The best taproom/bottleshop in Pensacola regularly beer past its prime. Can't they just check dates once in awhile?

 

I work at the Total WIne in Durham, NC. Most of the staff actually cares about craft beer, they just get wrapped up in wine knowledge. There's 3, yes three total, emplyoees with BA type knowledge. The rest of the staff at least calls for one of us if theres a beer question thats out of their league or above their pay grade.

With me working here, The other guy and I have kept the freshness up and rotating stock. Also pushing out IPAs to get more fresh bottles. Weve also pushed out all the outdated and old IPAs. It was pretty bad when I first started, but weve made head way.

 

No it's not OK to brush off a customer but I don't believe they brushed you off. You asked, he said they didn't have any, and you got bent out of shape. Asking for it is fine, snobbish or not, but judging them because the answer was 'no' is a bit petulant.

 

In my experience (which only covers the carolinas and one in fl I can't remember), the quality of staff seems to vary from store to store, but that's generally the case with any chain.

 

The Tampa Total Wine has been really nice but the beers there don't have a chance to sit on the shelves long. I went to that Total Wine you are talking about OP when vacationing with friends. We were followed and harassed by a female employee who hinted that she assumed we were there to steal things because we were under thirty. Extremely dissapointing to say the least. I didn't go back to ANY Total Wine for almost a year after that I was so disappointed. I saw the same employees bend over backwards for the little old lady trying to find a scotch for her husband that ignored my wife asking about flavored vodkas a minute later. An absolute travesty of a store. The only 'tolerable' person in the entire store was the cashier who stopped and asked us about our plans and gave us some advice on new rums in the store. Nevertheless my experience at that wine has turned me back onto ABCs. Never had as bad an experience at any liquor/beer store. I can attest that Total Wine Corporation lost a significant amount of money from me and friends I drink beer with due to that incident.

 

I have to be honest, I would have scoffed at you turning down six week old Jai Alai as well. As far as them not being helpful, you have to remember TW is the Walmart of alcohol and if you've ever been to Walmart you know customer service is a pretty low priority.

 

Would i prefer Jai Alai the day of canning? Sure. But i think for me it is more because i know the likelihood of it being handled inappropriately is diminished. I have picked up Jai Alai from the tasting room, put it in my fridge, and drank it 10 weeks after canning and i cant say it tasted any better/worse than Jai Alai i have consumed much "fresher." Of course, this can likely never saw the light of day and sat in my fridge controlled and upright at all times.

To the contrary, i once accidentally left a can of Jai Alai in my golf bag for about 10 days in the trunk of my car. This can was only about two weeks old, however, when i removed from the bag, chilled and subsequently drank it - it was disgusting. I think i kicked my own ass for beer abuse on that poor can of Jai Alai.

The point of my rambling? I hope folks continue to scoff at 6 week old Jai Alai. This will help me be able to purchase it when it otherwise may not be available. I bet if i bought a fresh can today, put it right in my fridge and then 6 weeks later compared that to a "fresher" can it would be extremely hard to find any discernible difference between the two. Leave it in my trunk for 6 weeks - yeah, that would be a drastically different story.

 

I would recommend going to any of the area Publix stores for fresh Jai Alai. Hell, the Walmart at Colonial/Six Mile Cypress usually has Jai Alai that's less than 2 weeks old.

 

Is that just across the bridge in North Fort Myers? I may have to check it out.