VSS and BA Speedway release

The problem is they are taking beers out of the market only to put them back in at a mark up. As I have said before, they are no better than the companies that only exist to scalp tickets. They are not providing a service, they are only trying to make money for themselves and inconvenience others.

The reason we all got bottles of BASS and VSS is because Alesmith made them readily and easily available. Liquor stores buying them up make them harder to get as now you have to hunt around looking for them. Plus, this year/release it was fine. So was standing in line for BA Alesmith beers until 2010. Who knows what will happen in 1, 5, or 10 years if this becomes a norm. More stores buying more and more allocations just to resell them, cutting off people from buying them from the source. If Alesmith wanted it done that way they would have distributed the bottles.

And I echo Xul's statement. I cannot fathom why a business would risk a license that is their livelihood for a small $100. To me it just shows their ignorance and arrogance. What else are they willing to do damn the laws, consequences, customers, and (beer) community?

 

Taking beers out of the market and putting them back at a markup isn't illegal and neither is ticket scalping. That is basically the problem I'm trying to describe; its weird to bust someone for criminal conduct for basically doing something that is only illegal per a law I don't agree with in the first place.

As for that last statement, they may or may not believe it is legal. We really haven't discerned it either way yet.

 

How can Alesmith control this? They don't know every employee of every liquor store.

Right now these guys don't have lots and lots of bottles, but that doesn't mean it won't explode like a lot of other aspects of craft beer. I would rather nip this in the bud now, than 5 years later be complaining about "how did this get out of control?" Plus I have no qualms about reporting it seeing how it is illegal and against the breweries wishes, they just don't care.

 

Ticket scalping is actually illegal in a lot of ways, companies have just found loop holes. This however ("Taking beers out of the market and putting them back at a markup"), is completely illegal.

weird for you, sure. But what about those who don't have a problem with the law? This isn't a 3 tier system issue, as a CA brewer is allowed to directly sell beer to a store for them to sell. This is a tax and license issue.

They do. They have responded in a manner of "what are they going to do about it". They just are not concerned about it. This is their livelihood, they better know the ins and outs of the law, especially when doing something against the norm like this. This isn't like some distributer bringing bottles to them illegally (through brewery release or unlicensed/undistributed brewery) and them having no idea not to check up on it.

 

To be fair, I don't think this guy was doing anything more with that Facebook post than bragging to a few of his beer buddies and/or best customers. I would also be surprised if he had more than 2 or 3 allocations. I do think he is probably surprised that this got out into the open, so to speak, and probably has learned a bit of a lesson.

 

No, the law actually isn't a difference of opinion - it's a clear law, and there's a clear statement of interpretation of said law from the ABC in this thread. If you think it's a dumb law, that's fine, but openly flaunting illegal behavior on beer sales isn't exactly civil disobedience.

 

"Taking beers out of the market and putting them back at a markup isn't illegal "

Ummm.... Yes it is. There are quotes from the ABC on this very page.

"neither is ticket scalping"
But it should be. I hate those fuckers.

 

I simply don't see a material difference between this guy buying some bottles and selling them vs. BAs getting 3 mules to buy cases of DDG and selling them at a rarity-markup on the trading forum.

And yet, doing the same thing in a personal capacity is perfectly cool, right?

And for the record, it actually isn't clear at all because I have no clue which "law" this is in the first place.

 

No, it is not illegal to sell beer at any price you want; the quotes from the ABC do not support that at all. You're confusing one issue with another.

 

A) there's a huge difference, they have a license to sell alcohol so must abide by the rules or risk losing said license.

B) the trading forum is for trading, no one is selling any DDG on the forum, maybe in BM's but not on the forum.

C) any BA's selling DDG at a markup are pathetic.

 

And it's illegal to buy beer from a retailer and sell it. Markup or not, they are committing an illegal act by going to AleSmith and buying the beer as a consumer and then selling it from a retail establishment

 

I believe his intent was to sell them for a markup. Why post them on his business' page and indicact to come get them. His wording was "Speedway stout is here!" posting that on your liquor store webpage means they are for sale. Also, I asked him about an upcharge to which he replied with a comment stating so what if he charges $10 more. Since all the comments are deleted and for some reason I cannot find the e-mails from facebook I cannot provide exact quotes on everything.

I am guessing he is surprised too, though I am not going to act like some dude on a beer website is "rocking his world". However, I did repsond to his last responses on FB via private message, essentially outling all of my points that I have here. I did it in a kind and (I think) thoughtout manner. I don't want places to get in trouble or go out of business, but I am also tired of seeing this. And it is not my fault if they are doing something illegal and get called out for it.

 

LOL
I'm going to go ahead and assume you know WTF the actual point of this is and are just picking at semantics now. So, I'm out.
Keep up the good work though!

 

I see a lot of difference. The easy one is one of them is a for profit business. But I also have not stated my opinion on the state of trading forums. I hate the course of the trading forums, and I combat it as much as possible by always keeping well under my allotments for releases and giving my beer to other people at cost.

 

I understand what you're saying, but I think its an open question whether marking up beer for rarity is a "for profit" venture. I don't see a tremendous level of difference between bartering goods for goods and bartering goods for cash.

 

All I know is that I'm probably going to get in big time trouble the next time I'm spotted at Alesmith.

 

Do you look exactly like Duff Man?

 

No, but I'm a known troublemaker, and if anybody there has caught DelMesaGate they'll probably blame it on me.

 

I'm just glad the ABC responded and hopefully we can get rid of some of these shady liquor stores. If people are in support of illegal beer resells then nobody is making you report them - hopefully others will do it for you.

 

"A few bottles of beer" is actually a recurring problem for a lot of these stores. Every single "rare" beer release, they are having people go and buy them bottles. As that problem grows, it becomes significant to the average BA who will likely be impacted when they can't go get their bottles because more and more retailers have jumped on the bandwagon.

A lot of people are reacting strongly because 1.) it's illegal and 2.) it inconveniences people who want to buy the beer. Whether or not you agree with the law does not change the fact that it exists, and many retailers abide by it. Everyone needs to play by the same rules, and people who break the rules should be punished.