"New" stock that's actually old

It is understandable that such a conflict/discussion between business partners, a brewery and it's contracted wholesale distributor, might not be public or, at best, reported third hand but there is this similar situation (brewery and importer) in an article on this very website, Ask the Brewers #4: Freshness Dates:

 

Same here with Green Flash. I really want to try some of their brews, but I've yet to see one that is less than 2 months old. But most of the time, they are 3 & 4 months old. I'm not buying a relatively pricey IPA with that much age on it. I wish I could find one somewhat fresh.

 

Nor would have I guessed it. Even more surprising to learn that DFH gets distributed to Djibuti.

 

Not quite. I asked my retailer to get me a case of a particular seasonal I had enjoyed the year before. So my local retail distributor put in an order for me. However, he didn't check the Julian dating on the case carefully enough when it arrived. When I opened the case and looked at the date on the first bottle I knew it was the prior year's stock. As it turned out the wholesale distributor had had the case on their warehouse floor since the year before. We found this out since it turned out the brewery wasn't distributing that particular seasonal beer to PA in the year I placed my order. So my retailer placed an order for a fresh beer, but assumed the distributor would ship fresh. The distributor didn't. I can only conclude they knowingly shipped us a year old case in hopes neither of us would notice. True my retailer accepted delivery but he did not make a conscious decision to order, accept, and put out for sale a year old case.

(And here I'm dealing with retailer who will often tell me I can't get a case of beer X because he can't find it as fresh as I want it.)

 

Well, besides state laws, such an action would be part of the contract between the brewer and the distributor. I'm not privy to any current brewer/wholesaler contract (but I am willing to download any pdf copy that anyone wished to email me ).

Although here on the BA forums (and, sadly, often in the real world) those parties are seen as antagonists, in the ideal they're partners. Besides "promoting and selling" the brand, what else is the brewery's regional rep responsible for, if not overseeing the freshness and other conditions of the distributor's and retailers' stock?

Anecdotally, there are stories on the BA forums in which Stone's "Freshness" webpage reports result in old stock being pulled/replaced, but the actual series of events (Stone in SD calls their local distributor, etc) and whose employees did it are unknown. I've reported old beer to a rep, and also mentioned it in forum posts and the beer was replaced - I assume by the distributor at the brewery's request.

BTW, Kane does self-distribute (and is primarily a draft-only brewery) as does Climax in it's local region, and IIRC they formerly used Black River Traders but now it seems they've switched to Mason. NJ has a long post-Repeal history of self-distribution, even by large breweries. Ballantine (once the largest brewery in the state, and among the Top 5 in the US) had a huge distribution network out of its Newark brewery, as did Pabst. Even Anheuser-Busch once owned the local north Jersey AB house.

 

Exactly. Distributors walk a fine line between ordering too much or too little. The VERY fickle nature of the craft market and consumer further exacerbates the issue on beers that are regularly available. Predicting sales velocity is not an exact science. I hear equal complaints about out of stocks as I do about "dated" beer. Good distributors get ahead of aging beer and move it out. Bad distributors are a combination of lazy, greedy, and/or stupid for sitting on beer and "suddenly" realizing dates are up or past.

 

If you read through the posts here, you notice a bit of a trend in terms of what retailers people are mentioning -- Whole Foods, CVS, Safeway. To me, it sounds like *some* distributors, when they find outdated or nearly outdated stock in their warehouse are inclined to ship it to retailers who are less likely to notice and/or complain. The convenience of being able to buy craft beer in supermarkets and drug stores is great (wish I could do it consistently, here in PA), but the truth is that whoever does their ordering and stock management isn't likely to be as vigilant as the beer manager at a good bottle shop, or even someplace like a TW. I would imagine that when your entire business is based around alcoholic beverages, you're going to pay a little more attention to the stock on your floor -- although I'm sure there will be plenty people who will be quick to cite me examples of that not being the case.

 

First of all, would you like to explain how a PA resident like yourself is aware that there's a Jos. Canal outlet in Glassboro, NJ? Hmm? Hmm? You do know that it's illegal to transport alcoholic beverages into PA, don't you?

OK, so now that we have that out of the way, it's funny you should mention Canal because I was in the Joe Canals in Lawrenceville not long ago to ....um, do some research. And I noticed a young woman walking around picking up bottles and taking pictures with her cell phone. Eventually one of the employees asked, in a very nice way, what she was doing and could he help her in any way. She explained that she was a jobber for a major regional craft distributor and she was checking the dates on bottles of beers they distribute that Canal had on the shelf. I have to admit, I was actually pretty surprised that the store employee was really cool about it and even offered to take her back to the warehouse so she could check beer that wasn't on the floor (of course, she was really cute, so I'm not sure about ALL his motives, but still). In short, it made me feel a little better about the way that Canal store manages their stock.

 

This. Some 2012 FW beers (Sucaba, DDBA) have been popping up around my usual haunts over the last 6 months, and Parabola is always delayed a month or 2 beyond when everyone else gets it. My beer store gal told me that is all on the distributor; she wants all of the product right away because it will sell, but the distributor holds onto it, sometimes for over a year, and now it looks like shelf turds. I'm glad that FW started printing the bottling year on their boxes, but the 2012s don't have it and this could really mislead customers who think they are purchasing fresh beer.

As to why the distributor does this, nobody knows, but it pisses off the stores something awful.

 

It reads to me that that is how an unnamed local distributor or a local rep for a brewery manages their stock - since the Joe Canal's employee wasn't aware of who the person was. I see distributor and brewery reps in stores doing inventory and checking stock all the time, since most of my beer shopping is during normal morning and afternoon business hours.

Also, for the record, in NJ no one entity can own more than 2 retail off-premise licenses. The Canal's and Joe Canal's stores (which are two different business) are "individually-owned" and license the brand name from the corporate parent (for instance, the JC in Lawrenceville and the one 30 miles up Rt. 1 in Woodbridge are owned by the some firm, but none of the others are). It's why there is no single website for the stores, etc, and why selection and policies can vary greatly store to store.

The same thing goes for "chains" like BuyRite, ShopRite, Wegman's, etc., in NJ. In some cases, these chains are membership co-ops (and why stores sometimes change from one to another), in others they use a legal ownership loophole and the corporate name is a 'dba'. Many of the Wegman stores' licenses, for instance, are owned by individual Wegman family members, not the corporation. Their receipts will read something like "JWG Fine Wines & Spirits" even as the sign above the door says "Wegman's" and it shares an interior entrance with the grocery store, etc.

 

Well first of all, there's also a Hops and Grapes in Glassboro, but other than that I know nothing except that one can learn a lot about how different retailers care for their stock by looking at dates on bottles, cans and cases. And such research is not easy to do in PA. That's my story, I'm sticking to it, and I have a good lawyer. :-)

I like your report of the "observations" you conducted at Lawrenceville, because if I were to purchase something at a Canal outlet in a place like Glassboro, for consumption in New Jersey of course, I'd expect to find generally fresher beers than were being stocked by their predecessor at that location, Monster Beverage.
(BTW IIRC the illegal act in PA would be having the untaxed alcohol in one's posession so if someone were to carry an alcoholic beverage across state lines and store it in their basement....)

 

Same thing happens around here. I saw a four pack of Hoptimum, almost bought it, and then realized it was the 2012 version of the beer. And they had like three cases of the shit. I just shook my head and bought something else that I knew was fresh.

 

Just had this happen with some Stone Enjoy By 9-13-13. Walked into a reputable shop and saw a bunch of bottles still on the counter. Hadn't even made it to the shelf yet. Problem was I walked in on 9-16-13. I mentioned they were three days past due and he told me they just came in! Grabbed one anyway and could absolutely tell it dropped off from the others of this batch I had when fresh.

 

I notice it all the time as well. When Dark Horse came out with Double Crooked Tree and the backwards IPA variety pack I searched every time I went shopping and never saw it. I'm just seeing it now and I know it's well past it's prime.

 

I once asked a local brewery why they would bother to print a batch code on the bottle instead of a bottling date that the consumer could understand - reply was that their distributor told them they would refuse to distribute their beers if they dated them.

 

It sucks seeing this happen too, I would love to spend my money locally, but they don't really get any new inventory and I want to try new beers, nor do they really get any rarities either, so I'm pretty much forced to travel elsewhere or buy online

 

Wow. Sounds illegal.

 

In unrelated news, there's a WFM in Djibouti that stocks Dogfish.

 

I totally understand why that could happen...just didn't think it did happen.

 

100% Correct