Founders/ FW Sitting on Shelves

I aint paying more because some stores can't manage their own inventory. The brewery needs to work with their distributor who needs to work with beer buyers to determine how much beer needs to be made and how often it needs to be delivered to be fresh on shelves.

 

BTW: Devil Dancer has moved to a DON'T BUY on the Lutter stock market. Unless you like it super malty.

 

people will always find something to complain about. people buying too much of a certain beer so there isn't any left on the shelf for the next BA/Hoarder or beer that sits on shelves because a beer buyer has no idea what it is or because BAs dont want it.

complain, complain, complain.

 

Though new to BA, I think that I need to shed some light on this conversation with those who have experienced not the feshest of beers. I worked on the distributor side of business for 16yrs. With that being said, there are some distributors that do a much better job than others, and there are suppliers who do a much better job than others. Even when you put the best distributor and the best supplier together, you still can not predict the future of a products performance based on price, brand, style, market etc. So when new suppliers and distributors launch products, they do the best job they can to satisfy everyone's demands........not an easy task at all, I might add! Below are things to consider before all of us beer lovers start bashing either suppliers (brewer's) or distributors.

A. Both Brewer and Distributor have the same goals --to make consumer's happy by making many fine products available while playing nostradamus at the same time!!!
B. Ordering product for a new brand launch is like shooting at a target in the dark.....you have to guess how much you are going to sell upfront, and blindly put in a second order to support initial distribution until you can gauge the products actuall movement and success.
c. The result of all this is what some of you are experiencing at the moment.........an uncertainty of how well products will perform in the begining which leads to dating issues. The distributor typically takes it on the chin for "not knowing how to sell or order product". That's not the case in most situations, so lets not be so quick to be judgemental with these guys!! They also take it on the chin from retailers if they run out of product.....kind of a catch 22 if you ask me. It usually takes about 3 months on average to get a consistant read and ordering process. The distributors you really need to look out for are the ones that continually have product out of code and don't take care of it in a timely manner. Doesn't matter if they are Bud, Miiler/Coors, BEK, Duff, Glazier..etc.
D. Good consumer example of shooting in the dark: Go to the grocery store and buy 30 days worth of something you haven't eaten before, then buy another 30 days worth because if your family likes it they will want more but...... you have to get it right then because the store won't be able to get you anymore until 30 days from now and if you don't get it to they won't be so nice to you, but if you have too much, they are going to complain that you spent too much money. So, now what do you do with all of this food? Your family is not eating as much as you thought they would, but you know that's what you need to eat because that's what's available. Not as easy as it looks....is it??????? djjohnnyd-- Pleased don't bash anyone until you've had experience in this industry to know how everything works and the effort it takes to make it work.

 

Can't wait until we reach the point where Parabola and Sucaba are collecting dust on shelves in H-town stores.

Along w KBS and Breakfast Stout.

 

I don't think it will ever come to that..........there never seems to be a problem with the limited releases......except there's never enough to go around.

 

very true sir

 

I've noticed that FW has sent fresh shipments of Union Jack the last 2 months to my local HEB here in Pfville/RR. I got 10/14 bottles last month and just picked up some 11/4 tonight. If they're sending fresh batches every 3 weeks, I might not drink another IPA. I hope they keep that type of brewing schedule!

 

Ton of Dirty Bastard at the Spec's on 1960/Cutten. I was just there today to buy Woodford Reserve and stumbled on all the Dirty Bastard.

 

Just wanted to update this thread with my latest experience. Beerman41 you pretty much nailed it. I've noticed over the last couple months it getting more dialed in, to the point this week where the Ballast point Sculpin this weekend was literally 1 week old (at WF Lamar that is). You can't beat that - it's impressive it makes it from brewery, shipping, distributor, shelves that fast.

Same with FW - bottles now are born on 11/4 - bought some of that last week.

Glad to hear that many of these issues are growing pains really.

 

I wish I could find some fresh Double Jack.

 

I haven't seen any fresh Union Jack or four-packs of Double Jack, lately, or any at all for that matter. Have only seen fresh bombers of DJ at a couple locations. Would love to get some fresh sixers of UJ and four-packs of DJ. Are they just not able to meet demand or are they sitting in distributors' warehouses?

 

I'll take a fresh bomber. Where have you seen them? Not sure about supply/demand. I did pick up a 3 wk 6'er of Velvet Merlin.

 

11/4 DJ isn't acceptable. Critically close to too old.

And no, I'm not kidding.

 

Whole Foods downtown has the UJ 11/4 (bought that the weekend of the 22nd so was less than 2 weeks old at that point). They have Sculpin with date code of 13324, i.e Nov. 19th, 2013.

 

Firestone Walker disagrees with you. Emphasis mine.

Would I prefer one week old DJ to one month old DJ? Sure. But that one month old bottle is still going to be fantastic if it's been stored properly. Hell, I've had 2 month old DJ and enjoyed the fuck out of it.

When all is said and done though, it doesn't matter what you and I think about the optimal freshness window of a given beer. Most breweries set out guidelines for their distributors to indicate how long their product is good for. Those guidelines can be pretty ridiculous sometimes (no IPA is good for 6 months, I don't care what the brewery says), but distributors absolutely swear by them. As a retailer, I can bitch about 3 1/2 month old Centennial all I want, but Founders says it's still good, so BEK is obligated to sell it before they can release fresher batches.

It sucks seeing old beer on the shelf, but unfortunately that's one of the drawbacks of having a large variety. I remember a time when I could buy Hop Stoopid at any store and it would be super fresh 99% of the time because the demand severely outweighed the supply. Now it just sits and sits because supply has increased and simultaneously we're being flooded with more DIPA options. I have faith that one day I'll have a fresh Stoopid again. I just have to hunt for it now.

 

At 6 Weeks, Double Jack is a mess. Not good at all.

My first experience with a 6 week DJ was bad. I gave it one more chance. It wasn't any better.

Of course the breweries say it's still good. It takes real customer service to tell the truth. Sadly money > truth in the manufacturer's eyes.

I will say at least DJ is good for 5 weeks. Sculpin in the bottle doesn't last for near that long and they extend their magical drink by date even further than FW does with DJ.

 

Totally agree. I absolutely love it that we are starting to get all the awesome west coast IPAs now, but it does create competition. We can only hope that what happens is the best rise to the top and everyone figures out what the market can handle for each brewery.

On the flip side I wish someone local would match the west coast awesomeness of a sculpin or union jack. I know people love to slam on all the IPAs, but I honestly still think we lack a solid west coast style IPA made in Texas (bottled or canned that is...I think we have some contenders on tap). Lost Gold fresh is close, and the good thing is you can usually guarantee it's fresh. I rarely see it more than a month old it seems like.

 

I agree that Lost Gold is close, but I also think it falls off WAY too fast. I won't buy it if it is over 2 weeks old. I know that is extreme but there is a huge difference.

That being said, I bought a sixer of Fire Eagle that tasted off to me so I forgot about it in my fridge. I drank one about 2 months later and it wasn't bad at all, MUCH better than I remembered it tasting initially. Sometimes I think my palette is just off (due to allergies or something) and beer tastes different that it should.

 

I haven't been able to fresh test yet as the first batch is still fresh and I drink them too fast, but for great local IPAs, look at Community Mosaic IPA. It's really good!