Calling bottle shops to ask for whales

Russian River sells PtY in DONG format - would that not be an example of them giving a flying fudge about who buys their beer and how?

Manufacturer/Dealership model is nowhere close to Brewery/Distributor/Store model, but if you want to continue to use this analogy, then you'll have to permit me to do the same.

You're comparing a "car" to a "limited beer". How about a limited car?

You call up a dealership looking for a Camry - yeah of course they'll be happy to give you any info you want and sell it to you. But do you not think you'd get exactly the same response calling a beer store asking for SNPA / SABL etc? You totally would - they'll probably say something like "yeah we have cases of the stuff - come on by and buy as much as you want".

We're talking about very limited beers here, where demand outstrips supply many times over. Because cars are priced in such a way that demand/supply are more in synch, you don't so often see similar situations to the car equivalent of the BCBCS release. One that came to mind to me was Ferrari FXX - lots of wealthy guys who probably all own Ferraris wanted one, so Ferrari had to make a decision regarding who the regulars were and offer it to them first. And there are lots of examples of hypercars (the closest thing in my mind to these highly sought after, specially brewed, limited beers) that were sold in comparable ways. If I won the lottery and had the financial means to buy the newest hypercar, there's every chance that the door would remain closed to me as a first time buyer. But if that doesn't suit you - from an experienced car dealer's perspective, what is an example of a car where there is a massively disproportionate amount of demand for a car, yet the dealers operate on a first come first serve basis?

 

well, when I first moved into the area I found out what my local bottle shop was and over the course of the month visited the shop on different days, and saw what arrived/when. I then used the power of the internet and looked up who distributes what (your state ABC agency may not provide that info, VAs does...) and I joined the local beer FB group. using that FB group I quickly figured out that all of the shops in a given area of the city all received their deliveries from Distributor A on wed, Dist B on fri, etc... also, said FB group members (the bottle shops and restaurants/bars) post daily their new deliveries and any special tappings....

regarding distribution schedules yeah, holidays, extreme weather, warehouse/truck issues, etc can alter a set schedule but 99% of the time, the distributor is delivering to certain types of accounts in certain parts of a city on set days and will RARELY deviate from that.

take the initiative sometime; not everything has to be spoon fed.

 

YES! YES! YES!

Delivery schedules are set by days. Distributors are also held to a standard because of competition, so they aren't flaky. If two deliveries a week are the case, the two deliveries a week are just from different distributors. The staff will tell you what comes in from each delivery.

 

Again, the ferrari FXX, and when it was first released, Lexus LFA are exceptions to the rule. They are FAR from the norm. You fail to realize that even some very "common" cars are not always available. There are some models that are sold while they are still in port, before they make it to the dealership. There are some dealerships that only get, for example, 5 cars of a certain make (very similar to BCBS where it is widely distributed, but limited in volume). Huyndai veloster turbo and the Subaru BRZ/Scion FRS for example. Demand was incredibly high and dealers had 1 available for every 10 people asking about them. They were sold first come, first serve.

When the GT-R debuted in '09, it has highly sought after and not very widely available. Certainly not a hyper car, but point still applies. Dealerships did not care who it was that bought them,they were still first come, first serve.

After 9/11 when gas prices skyrocketed, there was an incredible spike in demand for feul-economy cars.


Also, bugatti will make you any variation of the veyron you want, as long as you have the money. They care not about anything else.


Moving on from this point, I think we both are off-topic now, and it was my car analogy that brought it off topic, so I will henceforth refrain from using this analogy furthermore in this thread. Opinions will continue to differ, but that is the point of discussion, is it not?

 

To some extent that isn't true. One of the main reasons MN received such little amounts of BCBS and the variants is due to us not purchasing much of Goose Islands regular production brews. So yeah, the breweries do try to reward the people who they deem their "regular" customers by sending them more of the limited brews.

IF you were lucky enough to get your hands on bcbs or the variants up here, there was a 1-2 bottle limit at vast majority of the shops - forget about four packs, and cases were completely out of the question.

This was such a headache for the shops up here. The one a go to all the time and am self-declared a "regular" at (spend lots of money and have gotten to know the owners/employees) released theirs at 4pm during the week. I got there at 3:40, waited in line and didn't get any. I did walk out happily with a bunch of other great brews though, but there were a bunch of people who walked out empty handed and pissed they didn't get their bcbs and variants.

Honestly, I felt for the owner. I think he tried to do it the "fairest" way possible and it just left him scratching his head, lol. I am certainly not entitled to anything, nor would I ever ask for special treatment, but I can assure you he would have liked to see me get my bourbon county. After all, I am one of the people who supports him day in and out, and I don't think this is that hard to understand. Was this method of distribution fair, sure? Am I butt hurt over it, NO! I guess I could of taken a half day and gotten there at noon if I wanted it that badly.

If I didn't have family in another state who easily went out the next day and got a bunch of bcbs, would I be forced to shop at his competitors - you better believe it! No business owner wants their loyal, everyday customers to shop at their competitors and they certainly don't want them to snatch up a bunch of rare stuff elsewhere because they couldn't supply them with any even though they had it in stock and sold it to randoms who only purchased that one product and fled the scene. For this very reason shops are put in a $hitty situation with these releases without even addressing the crazy amount of phone calls. Sure this has become a part of their industry, but it doesn't mean it's not $hitty...

At some point in time I say F@CK IT! It's beer and there's lots of it out there, like in my basement.

 

This.

 

In the same way that a bunch of beer geeks hunting down the latest craft shelf-whale are an exception to the rule, and are far outside the norm, when looking at total beer sales in the US. Perhaps even more so if you're looking at it in terms of $.

I remember the riots that took place when people missed out on this.

Absolutely - was just offering mine.

Now back to beer.

 

After reading up on many of these posts, I think the problem is that many customers are not getting screwed by the liquor stores but by certain type of customer that is making it bad for everyone else. I'm sure no liquor store has a problem with having a customer, say somewhat regular, go to their store and buy 2 bottles of Pliny and leave (~15.00). Especially if this guy's beer budget is around ~20.00 for that particular day.

The problem is the guy that's calling the store and every other store in the vicinity for Pliny. This guy runs through every store and buys the limit to say, have 8 bottles total. This person usually has a bigger beer budget (~100) and you wont see him ever unless another 'limited release' come along. These are perceived as greedy and not loyal.

How can you tell the difference? Well customer 1 will show up every once in a while and buy a bottle of something else with his regular weekly budget of ~20.00. Customer 2 wont even look around, grab his Pliny and leave -- never to be seen again till next Pliny shipment.

 

Why would a bottle shop have a whale? They're a bottle shop, not an aquarium.

 

ISO: Video of man who cried at Whole Foods after he missed out on Bourbon County.

 

For the store owners here, I'm curious how much $$ spent per year (month) is considered a "regular". Let's say my wife and I spend $2,000 per year at a single store on beer and wine. Am I a regular?

Yes, I know this would vary considerably depending on the type of shop and geographic location. But say a small to mid sized town and a small beer/wine shop that gets lots of good releases.

 

Second question: how do stores feel about trading beer? Say, you aren't a hoarder, but you buy 2 of whatever: one to trade and one to drink. Would telling them you will trade one be frowned upon?

 

why voluntarily offer unneeded info? it's none of their business

 

Just in conversation. Say they have interest in beer. You have a great trade set up. Maybe you'd even share a bottle you got in trade using a bottle you bought in trade from the store. I was just curious...not saying I'm gonna go in the store, buy everything off the shelf, and tell them I'm sending it out of town.

 

If the limit is two, then they probably couldn't care less. If someone is trying to get more than the limit, whether it's to hold on to or to trade, they probably would view them in the same way - someone trying to get more than their share. Whether it's because "I really like it" vs "my trading partner really likes it" probably doesn't make much difference to them.

 

Unless you were selling very limited super cars your 11 year experience doesn't apply to the question. This whole car analogy is worse than apples to oranges, it's like apples to Obamacare. Nonetheless why don't you answer the actual question which was what do you think the dealer should do in this whole ridiculous hyperbolic scenario? I'm not asking you what you think the dealer would do I'm asking you what you think he should do in the scenario where you are the guy giving him good business and buying a car from him every week?

 

I haven't read every post in this seven page beer shop study, but as an owner of a liquor store who prides himself on carrying a great variety of craft beers, and personally as a BA, I can tell you that you are pretty much correct that your "Customer 2" is ruining it for everyone. I'm going to sum this up with a very quick and easy scenario that happens all the time:
Customer takes about two steps in the door: "Do you have any Pliny?"
Me: "No but I have lots of other great fresh IPA's and DIPA's would you like me to show you some?"
Customer: "No, I don't like IPA's I'm just looking for Pliny."

This is pretty much a daily occurrence. These are the people that are running around only trying to buy the beers that they read about on BA and see traded in the ISO:FT forums. They know the name, they don't know what type of beer it is, where it comes from, if it's distributed in the area, or anything else about it. This is why store owners feel the need to hold the allocated beers for the guys who will actually stop in for a six pack once in awhile. Also I'm sure it's been mentioned but the allocation quantities are based on how much the that breweries regular beers the shop sells, so if I sell no DBA then I get no Parabola. So the guys that only buy the Parabola owe a Thank You to the guys who buy the six packs of DBA.

 

I love it when people do this-"Where's your Pliny? What do you mean you can't get Heady Topper-it looks like you have everything".

 

Actually, for the hardest to get "rare" cars, you have no chance of getting one unless you have been a regular and purchased many, many other models from that manufacturer. Your analogy is actually very similar to someone looking for beer "whales" and getting preferential treatment for prior business. If your talking Shelf turd cars, what you said is true.

Edit: I missed rollom's post but already said what is also my point.

 

So customer 2 ONLY buys Pliny ever? If that's the case and that's what he likes what is he supposed to do? Buy beer he doesn't like/want? Also what if customer 2 does actually buy other beer? Might he come back there?