Calling bottle shops to ask for whales

You too.

 

I never call. But I do go in once a week. The day new stuff shows up. If I don't see what I went in for I usually see something that I haven't seen before. And that's when we talk. I either get a "we aren't getting that but I know my cousin, (friend whatever) got in 2 packs, go here and I will let him know to have one ready for you". Or I get a "there not till next week, come by and see me and you will get one". I go weekly like I said but I know I am not the closest person or even the guy that spends the most money. But I am polite, and I engage him as a person and not the guy at the register. Knowing a few things about them goes a long way even if I don't agree that the Lakers are the best team in the world.

 

I'll throw my 2¢ in... we have a set time for posting rare beers on Facebook. It's 4pm any day that special stuff comes in... and that can be Mon-Fri. I do a couple of sneaky things, like hiding Pliny in the back of the photo, or I've even photoshopped over the lettering on the label and just made it a red dot, so that only people who really know what they're looking for will see it. But, other than that, everything else is announced at 4, and then it's first-come, first-served. One bottle per person of each rare release. Period.
We have an official policy not to hold anything for anybody, and I know we've maybe ticked off a couple of regulars that way... but fair is fair. For those of you saying bottle shop employees should hold stuff for regulars, and lie to other customers... that's just not cool. I'd feel like a dick if I did that kind of stuff.

 

I called once and they offered me a copy of Moby Dick when I asked about whales.

Never call, never will. If I fall into something great. I see many "whales" but choose not to spend my cash on them. A $10 sixer is better for me than a $20+ bottle of whatever. I will grab the bottle of RR when I see it, but only if its under $15. A few places sell them for much more and I guess thats why they still have them.


Enjoy

 

I've asked the guy at my beer shop what his stance on this is. He told me that he'll always be honest with customers on the phone, but that he also has a specific policy of not holding beers for anyone. It's always first come, first served.

 

My avatar actually represents what I would like to do to 'truck chasers.'

 

A. Friggin. Men. THANK YOU.

 

I went to a bottle shop a couple weeks ago and asked if they had got their BCBS in. He told me no. I then asked about Abyss and Sweet Repute. The guy said they hadn't got any of those beers except Abyss and said he didn't think they were getting BCBS. He checked the computer and said it looked like they had two Abyss left. He went back in he cooler to check and came out with a 2013 BCBS. The guy totally lied to me. Not sure why he even brought out a bottle though. It just confirmed that he lied.

 

I got to know a girl that worked there a little bit and she was supposed to be there when this beer came out. Told me to call her a bit before they opened and she would confirm with me that they got it... only problem was that she came to work late. After they gave me three different stories (truck didn't come yet, they didn't get any, they were sold out) I was going out to my car and I saw her. I asked her to go in and check to see if they got it in and just weren't selling any to me. She had no problem with it and went in and came out an basically said they had some and just weren't going to sell any... lame. Too bad, she was really cool and so was Jake back when he was the beer guy there.

A few days before KBS came out I was getting something else and just talking to here since it was midday. She told me they were expecting their shipment that Wednesday morning. She told me later that after I left another employee, the one that lied to me, questioned her about why she told me about KBS coming in since I was "only" spending $10 on a bomber of beer. I guess I needed to spend more money for that guy to let me in the club. She told me she told the guy she thought $10 for a bomber was pretty expensive and that I come in a lot. When she told me that I was officially done with that place. If they want to scoff at how I spend my money I will just take it somewhere else. I am also friends with somebody who owns a Mexican restaurant in the area. When they were really busy and running low on liquor they used to go to Smyrna WOB, since then they have been taking their business to Paces Ferry Bottle Shop. They are good guys over there too, that is where we buy our liquor now. Stout Brothers pretty much gets 90% of my beer business now.

 

Meh, I don't know how to run a business. I just know that as a customer I would prefer for somebody to be honest with me. I was at a beer store that I almost never go to and asked if they were going to be getting any Sweet Repute. The guy that worked there told me they weren't sure if they were going to get any but if they did it would go to their regulars. Fine by me. Not mad at all about that and I knew not to waste my time looking there for any Sweet Repute. The same beer store was nice enough to hold a bottle of BA Old Rasputin when I called and asked for it. A friend went by and got one too and then drank hers when she was in a "beer pinch". She said she hated it and poured it out because it tasted too much like bourbon. We are not friends anymore. For different reasons, but still... that should have been a warning sign not to trust her.

 

Preach brother. If it isn't BCBS, it's Pappy Van Winkle or George T Stagg or KBS or whatever the sexiest new release in beer/liquor/wine world is. It's truly tiring to field so many of these questions. Go into the store, there's a much better chance you'll find what you're looking for than over the phone.

 

I'm not getting the part where people differentiate between being lied to and being told "we're saving it for regulars". I think that if you have to call you're probably not a regular so you're not getting it from that shop anyway. If all of the shop owners said "we're saving it..." then we'd just have a thread about how bottle shops are always saving the limited releases.

I think there are two types of shops. Those that either save the goodies for loyal customers or you use them to lure in whomever they can get in the door. One is a bet that you'll retain loyal customers, the other is a bet that you'll gain them by showing you routinely have something available they're looking for. Consumers have the option of going with either, there are plenty of independent shops that do things their own way, and there are plenty of bigger box retailers like Total Wine that will get a fair share in and openly advertise the availability (with maybe some variation depending on who answers the phone). There are downsides and benefits to choosing to shop at one over the other, or even spreading your wallet among multiple shops/stores. When you chose to shop at store type "A" though, you can't get mad when you suddenly try out type "B" and it doesn't work for you.

 

And your attitude is exactly why the beer store shouldn't sell to you. You are straight up admitting that you only want to buy whatever allocation of Limited Beer X they are willing to give you, and consider the rest of their stock to be stuff you don't want to buy. So should they sell to you, or sell to build loyalty with someone who has shown a willingness to actually buy other products at the store, thereby contributing to the profitability of the store?

I love this attitude people seem to have that business owners are wrong for rewarding repeat customers. Practically EVERY BUSINESS these days rewards repeat customers. Airlines, hotels, hell even Target which was brought up above give repeat customers bonuses and rewards, and sometimes retail stores even give their best customers access to products that regular schmoes don't get. And yet the entitled spoiled brats on BA just want to complain about this business model as if it's something new and abhorrent. Grow up and get over yourselves already.

 

Since I deal with this on a daily basis I basically just inform the customer of the rarity of the item or when it is released seasonally and then let them know how we handle releases like that. The majority of the callers are people looking for gifts, people who saw it on a Top 100 list, etc. I have people print off the Top 100 beers of a style all the time and come in looking for them. I had a guy looking for Roze and Blauw once.

 

Ok, lets move to the car industry. I want a specific type of car that is pretty popular at the moment and many dealerships are not allocated very many.

According to you and others, I should drive to each one and not only look at the specific car I want, but I should also browse at all the rest in the lot? I should also frequent this dealer enough times so that they feel I am a "regular", maybe get the guys facebook page, his twitter account and his home address so I can ship him some seasonal cookies my aunt margarite made?

Or, I can simply call each dealer, ask what is in stock, or when they can get one and if they have one, great. I will come down, and if things work out, I will just buy that car, and nothing else.

Do you think the dealership cares if i am a regular? In fact, they don't. I know this for fact (having a stint in the car dealership business). Money is made AFTER they get the customer in the store for the first time. Repeat customers are already coming back, so they want NEW customers in hopes they return for any service needed (that is where money is made) or a future sale.

Why should it be any different for a liquor store? You have a guy who has never been there, asking for a beer. Be nice, don't lie to him, don't give the pretense that Joe-drunk who shops there 19 times an afternoon is somehow more privileged than he is. He might just come back after he "used" your store to just get that "whale". BCBS isn't a "whale", but if anyone noticed a previous post of mine, I was that guy I just mentioned. I called a store, asked about stock, the guy was very nice. I came in, bought just what I called about, but noticed it was a nice store and I have returned a couple other times after that, buying off the shelf beer. Sales that store would have never gotten from me had I not called to buy a "whale" (again, bcbs is not a whale, but its all I have that is a limited release beer).

 

The thing that's tough about this, though, is that a lot of times there's a place that's cheaper and/or more convenient than a beer shop for normal releases. Maybe you have a grocery near you that carries Sierra Nevada/Goose Island/etc., so outside of the rare releases, what's driving you to choose one of these places to give your business to?

I prefer to go to beer shops, but sometimes I can't make it to them, so if the frequency I visit doesn't make me "regular" enough to grab a rare beer or two, what's my motivation for going in? With places like Best Buy/airlines, etc., you get incentive from day ONE to be a repeat customer, whereas in this sort of situation, most places aren't giving you something tangible to work towards (i.e. "regular customer" status). I'm mostly playing devil's advocate here, but I'd imagine that this is a real issue for some people.

 

Well your analogy still doesn't fit in so many ways, starting with the frequency one usually purchases a car... but I'll play. Let's say you buy a car once a week from the same car dealer. If a Porsche that is limited to 500 units comes out and the dealership only got one... who do you think the dealer should sell the limited edition Porsche to, you who buys a car from him once a week, or some guys the dealer has never met who's just calling dealers across the state looking for one?

 

Quoting this, as it it does a better job of explaining what I trying to in my post.

 

The one that pays more. its a car dealer not a bottle shop. that is called bidding. if the price is fixed, that is another story. next example.

or look at it another way how do you want to be treated?

 

The dealer will sell it to whomever calls or walks in for it first. I haven't sold porsches, but one car we did have that was limited was the only one in a 50 mile radius. Was bought from a woman we had never seen before.