Calling bottle shops to ask for whales

Depends on what it is. If it's white choc moo hoo or something similar the whale hunters can keep hunting IMO. Why would I sell to a whale hunter I'll never see till kbs etc comes back around when I can reward regulars who buy from the store year round.

 

I'm liking your post just on the basis of your user name/icon (which is one of the greatest quotes ever).

 

Store: "Thank you for calling Blah Blah Bottle Shop"
Me: "You got any whalez, brah?"

 

Like I said before..might be a guy whose loyal elsewhere..and is venturing out to find something. May have never heard of the place.

 

One of the shops I frequent does this a lot. He'll hold back a few bombers of something limited or rare for a few months and then plant them on the shelf without saying anything. I've found quite a few surprises this way. It's done to reward the regular customers who come in, shop the store and don't simply look at the 'new arrivals' section and leave.

 

I like that.

 

I call stores relentlessly, stop in frequently, and buy other shit every time i go in. I apologize for being annoying but explain that i prefer to be the early bird and want to catch the worm.

worked out well this past pappy release.. snagged more than 15 bottles

 

Whatever you're looking for a phone call is generally a bad way to go about it. Go to the shop and introduce yourself then inquire. You'll find that if we don't have what you're looking for we will inform you of any other whales we have or when we expect to get more of the beer you're trying to find. Being one of 20-50 daily calls about a beer doesn't help your chances one bit. Just trying to give a bit of advice to improve your luck sorry if I sound jaded.

 

20-50 an exaggeration sorry

 

^^^ Genuis. This owner gets it!

 

In the bourbon world is etiquette different? Or is this the same as someone saying they got 15 bottles of Proprietors (in which case I guess it's proving a lot of people's points in this thread, and is not necessarily a good thing)

 

So why exactly is buying beer the only sort of retail sector where we see something like this? All of the poorly used analogies still don't match exactly what is being posted about (and yes I am guilty for some of those analogies).


1. Store has a rare, limited quantity beer.
2. Frequent customers (regulars) should have first dibs at it
3. Truck chasers should be tarred and feathered and maybe even drawn and quartered
4. Phones are not to be used for inquiring about anything.
5. Always browse around, even if you know what you are looking for


Maybe I am so jaded about this because I am not realizing how widespread of a practice this is with anything else. If someone can give me a few examples where being a regular will get you a limited release item ahead of a some low life who * gasp * used a phone to inquire availability, I would have a better understanding of the allocation of whales.

 

IMO it's because limited release beer isn't priced in line with supply/demand. Not saying it should or shouldn't be - just pointing that out.

Because of that, there's tons of f**king about, as distributors/stores/customers try numerous different things to give them an edge when it comes to buying/selling the beer.

 

That's not true either. You should be aware, for example, that if we get a case of Zombie Dust or Gumballhead in, you are not going to find out about it over the phone. When Lagunitas sends over 20 cases of Sucks though, you will find out about it over the phone.

 

Off the level summed it up. We welcome inquiries by phone but this is about calling to find out about really rare beer and from my experience and what I know you won't have much if any luck finding out about whales....unless you are calling a bottle shop or store that considers you a regular.

 

Whales are Whales for a reason. You can't just hop in a canoe and paddle into the tide and find one. Us bottle shops and stores get calls everyday for some sort of Whale or another. They are not just handed out like candy-canes to pass through every dirty finger that treads by. We do not birth the Whale. Your search my friends, in most cases, starts at the wrong end. We are the finish line. Your misplaced phone inquiries are being handled by real living people who have handled the exact same phone call a multitude of times. The ease of a simple reply, "no", is given in place of the lengthy explanation of why that particular Whale, is in fact a Whale. Follow the Whale from birth. Find it at it's intended home when it is intended to arrive and let your buddies know through some sort of modern technological device. Don't give stores greef for their misleading information. After all you are calling because you haven't paddled long or far enough.

 

I think it's hilarious that people working in a retail setting are upset that customers call and ask them questions. Maybe you're in the wrong line of work.

If my regular stops don't have a beer I'm looking for, I don't have the free time to spend 2-3 hours driving around looking for it.

 

Have you ever worked in retail, or did you just skip the shitty job phase?

 

I've worked retail, and I agree with both ends of this. It's frustrating as HELL to hear the same question over and over and over and over again, especially from people, some of which you assume don't even appreciate what they're asking for (because they're just trying to sell it/trade it/buy it for someone else/etc.).

On the other hand, it's also true that it's part of the job you signed up for, so you should remain a LITTLE sympathetic to the people calling in. Some of them don't have time to drive around everywhere, some don't know exactly when a beer is coming in, and some either haven't had the opportunity to build relationships with people in the shop, or are too shy to do so. Some people calling in DO want to be a regular customer of yours, but the definition of regular is different for everyone.

Personally, my girlfriend would kill me if I spent significant time each week at a beer shop (we don't have a lot of time together during the week, and we've got a puppy that doesn't see either of us enough), so as much as I'd like to hang out at these places (and believe me, I would), I don't get much of a chance. So for me, I call the few shops I usually go to (and like), and hope they'll give meaningful info, because I can't go to all of them.