Crooked Stave 2014 Cellar Reserve

I've got one too...guess I'm going.

 

Shhh...don't speak of that of which we do not speak.

*Cough*Yes*Cough*

 

i could be a trustee for someone who wouldnt use all of their allocations. send pm.

 

What is the deal with the member party aspect of November 9th? Just curious how it will differ from the usual pick-ups.

 

Thanks for the email. Really interesting to see the thought process in the email. While I still think this will sell out without a problem, I also think that it is pushing the limits in price point. I'd also venture to say that $15 for 375ml of a high quality sour is well above the current market rate for shelf sours in Colorado. Tough to find a parallel for what CS offers but I've yet to come across a US sour on the shelves in CO for that price at that size. The closest comparison would either be Paradox sours at $20 a 750ml or something like Jester King Atrial Rubicite at $16 for 500ml.

I understand costs and what not just wish the explanation stopped a "quality and exclusivity".

 

It's called AC Golden... still waiting for that membership to open up. Heck that $17-$18 (750ml) Peche, Apricot & Ctayt are looking mighty fine right now....

 

Russian River is at that same $12 price point for same size

 

If that happens, everyone can call me "Reserve Member #1." They might not be the best value on the shelf, but their quality is unmatched.

 

Sorry, I'm already Member #1. How's it feel all the way back there, #2?

 

Any current members on the fence and want to split 2014 with me?

 

Exactly, and they fly off shelves. Plus, the RR sours aren't mostly one offs, and IMO, most CS CR beers have been better than RR. Furthermore, I can't go online, buy 8 bottles each of supplication, consecration, temptation, and sanctification, and then go pick them up at my leisure and have a bottle share to boot.

 

I wonder about the shelf price of the 2014 beers. Right now, at $6.99 for "regular" stuff, bottles sit for a while. The above-average beer drinker (who would) like to try something new, will not pay that much for a small beer. Beer dorks--like yours truly--will with little problem. This may seem fine, but if the goal of CS is to introduce people to Brett beers, the pricing limits the audience. Now, if the price increases across the board on CS beers, then fewer new customers will come on board. Again, fine for us geeks--more for us--but this may be an interesting intersection of volume v. pricing. I'll be curious and concerned to see how this unfolds...cuz that's some good flippin beer right mmhere.

 

Great beer. Brewer is coolio. Still, I can't/won't support the Coors machine. I really feel that they threaten the craft beer world, and if other sour beers climb to ACG pricing, then Coors could flex its distro muscles (although Coors is raising its line pricing).

Maybe I'm paranoid.

 

A/C Golden has been putting out some nice beers, Colorambic could be some of the best sours I've had outta the US and Troy is a cool dude from the little I've seen. That said, I don't want to support Coors, and I'm not going to pay those prices to a company that can actually afford to undercut the competition and put some good sours out there.

It's ludacris, kinda like New Beligium charging more to locals while undercutting pricing further out of the state.

 

This is a good point. It will be interesting to see the prices on the "shelf" stuff next year. They could probably bear an increase in price for brand new markets, but they will sit even more here locally at $7+.

 

The argument I've heard is that both AC Golden and even New Belgium don't want to undercut the competition. That would essentially force breweries like Crooked Stave to match them and lose money or price their beers so high that nobody will pay for them. They're priced high for a reason. I'm sure there's more to it than that, but I've read and heard that explanation a few times.
With AC Golden, I make no claims about their parent company, prices, distribution, strategy, etc.
I just know that I love their beers and that Troy and Ben are good folks.

 

Let's be honest. Chad is a smart guy as a brewer and marketer/business man. The price point (which they are super picky about) helps keep that premium imag. He markets more to the beer geek than anyone and Iits working. Distribution is expanding a well as demand.

 

Ive had a conversation with a guy over there and asked him specifically what the point of the ac division is. He said all we are really to do is make good beer and have fun.

 

Maybe the whole thing is an evil plot to take over the craft world by Coors and Troy is just an evil robot…but if that’s true, they certainly aren’t going about it in a normal manner. Beers limited to a single batch sold on a single day in one store? A BA imperial stout priced at 2x the competition? Sours that still haven’t seen a price break after 6 months on shelves? Beers that are only sold and priced high at the Rackhouse? An entire line of beers that are brewed and aged just for small beer events? A flagship non-geeky lager that funds everything else?

Short of “winning hearts and minds,” nothing they’ve done adds up to craft beer industry malice, IMO.

I’m sure if I was a small brewer I might have a different take, but as a geeky consumer I’ve been really happy with their “strategy.” The high price on their stuff means I can actually still buy buy off the shelf 6 months later. Remember when you could do that with Cantillon? I do.

Still, I'm sure there are craft brewers that probably have at least a small tinge of fear in the back of their mind. If I were them, I probably would.