Hopslam in SE-WI?

Probably the same batch, just got Madison more quickly for whatever reason.

 

The Woodmans in Beloit had 6+ cases as of 5:45 tonight. No limit.

 

Riley's in Madison still had some as of 8:15pm tonight. Bottled 01/04/2014 and tasting pretty darn good.

 

A lot of reps are just salespeople. It's a job. That's not to say that there aren't some who are passionate, but in the end, it's still work.

I always think it would be fun to be in the business, but then I'd have to deal with all the bullshit that would likely suck all the passion for the hobby out of me.

 

I can understand that completely. There are a few models out West where a larger craft brewery (like Stone) not only self-distributes to stores, but also distributes other smaller craft breweries in the region. It makes a lot of sense and they do an excellent job of hiring passionate, well-informed beer people. The laws here don't allow it, but keeping the beer in the hands of those who make it as long as possible (and cutting out the middle man who has spent the past sixty years getting fat on selling cases and kegs of macro in Wisconsin) is the best possible future for the industry.

I think that we are the key to the change happening- educated, informed buyers of craft beer. There are several establishments in Milwaukee (liquor stores and bars alike) that I don't go to because they don't treat the beer or the customer the right way. But there are small shops like Three Cellars and bars like Roman's, Sugar Maple, and Blackbird that do do it the right way. The more places like that can keep opening up (and new breweries like District 14 who really care about their beer) the bigger the collective craft beer voice will be in Milwaukee. That's when businesses like Beachwood and Beer Capital start listening. It's already happened with the "big" shops like Discount and Ray's- they pay more attention to beer now than they ever had. I still prefer smaller shops (beer only, if possible- I don't know of any in MKE, though) where I can go in, talk to the owner about beer for an hour a week, and leave knowing that my money is going to somebody who supports the craft industry.

Making noise about Hopslam distribution, as petty as it seems, is a positive thing. No doubt Bell's wants to get that beer to us as fresh as possible. And if Stone can set up a network to get Enjoy By distributed nation-wide within days of bottling, than surely our distributors can figure out how to get a beer from Michigan to Milwaukee in a day or two.

So shoot a well-worded e-mail to Beachwood & Beer Capital when you're upset about the way they're doing something. Let them know that if they don't do it right, there are other options for us out there (sure, we're limited to self-distributing micro-breweries at that point, but I could drink Black Husky Pale Ale, Toppling Goliath and Lazy Monk all year round if it meant better customer service in the long run.

Eventually, the laws will change. It might take decades, but craft beer is an industry full of ingenious, thrifty people. After all, if there is one language that everybody understands, it's a pint of good beer.

That's my Monday rant. Sorry for buggin' ya.

 

Pretty sure you can self distribute in WI. Isn't that what TG is doing?

 

The Hopslam I bought at Hyvee-West today was bottled 1/10, weird.

 

I'm pretty sure it isn't even Beer Capitals fault. Earlier Monday (hours ago), they didnt even have Hopslam in their inventory at their warehouse, so they aren't holding it back on us (retailers and consumers alike). It could be Bells themselves.... Maybe something to ponder about. Or its contract issues here in SE Wisco, it seems like there are always contract issues. DFH being one that has been making a lot of people question what is going on around this area... I will say this though, Beachwood does do a much better job with shipping beer, and they do also have a much better line-up for which breweries they have contracts with.

 

Yes, you can self distribute up to a point. But when you want wider distribution, you're pretty much stuck to signing a contract with one of the big boys. As a brewery, you can't own your own distributing company. If you could, then a larger craft brewery like Lakefront or New Glarus could actually form a company and sign on other smaller craft breweries for distribution. It would make for might competition with the existing distributors, forcing them to up their game in distributing craft beer.

 

I'm sure it's more complicated than I was making it seem. But history is against SE Wisconsin here, as this corner of the state has long been a bastion of macro-brew/macro-distributing. I doubt that we are at the top of anyone's list (be it DFH, Bell's, Stone ((when they were here)) for distribution. That will change over time, but those old perceptions and relationships are difficult to change in this industry.

 

Interesting

Seems to me that a handful of likeminded breweries could form a separate corporation whose sole purpose was to distribute their beer statewide. By keeping the focus on regional craft brews and by not having profits be a motivating factor, they could probably pull it off pretty easily.

There’s all sorts of niche distribution companies out there already, so it’s not unheard of. (like that guy out of Prairie du Sac who’s the sole US distributor for Karmeliten)

 

It's tough in this environment to get something like that off the ground with today's economics. Most established breweries wouldn't be able to take the time to pull their brands from their local distributor, have enough hands to setup accounts, and acquire the right equipment (trucks, manpower, etc) to start a project this large. Not to mention all the red tape that would have to be taken care of. I don't know many breweries that could survive being down for that amount of time to put something together.

 

For Stone, uber-fresh beer is a large part of their marketing. (I know marketing is a dirty word with some Craft Breweries, but that's all it is). I suspect that most breweries (Bell's included) would argue that there is no discernible difference between a beer bottled today, and a beer bottled 10 days ago, assuming it has been stored appropriately over that period of time. If a beer falls off within the first 10 days, the brewery is doing it wrong. If you're unhappy that the freshest Hopslam you can find was bottled two weeks ago, you're doing it wrong.

I agree that beer should be fresh, to a point. The notion that we have to have it bottled yesterday is ludicrous. But then again, that's what the Stone Marketing Machine would like you to believe. Assuming you've fallen for their ploy and that they can get the beer to you marginally quicker, you're gonna buy their beer.

Seems to me that would violate the rule in WI where breweries cannot have direct ownership in distributors.

 

The law just says that a person with a brewers permit may not be issued a wholesalers permit as well. So Brewer Joe's brother Jim applies for a wholesalers permit and begins to distribute beer for those craft brewers who wish to participate.

That part's pretty simple

The hard part is the law which says that while a brewer can leave a distributor at will, they also have to compensate them for the loss of revenue, and that cxould become really expensive really fast.

 

Welcome to the world of big business, little brewery. I just want my beer like I want my bread. As fresh as possible. That's why local breweries and brewpubs are the best thing that could happen to Milwaukee. We have a few, but we need more. And the one's we have need to make better beer. If we all have a decent brewery in our own neighborhood, then we don't need to worry about distributors.

 

I'm surrounded by local breweries - some good (Next Door, Ale Asylum, Karben4), some not (Great Dane, Granite City) but even with all of those, I'm still going to have to depend on a distributor for a lambic or quad or numerous other things.

 

But good local (and by local I mean walk-able) brewpubs can stem the desire for good beer as you wait for those specialty beers to come in via distributor. In San Diego, SF, or Portland, you can find pretty much any style brewed in the US within a few miles of wherever you are, brewed or bottled fresh. Madison is doing a great job of cultivating a good craft beer scene and it is really exciting to watch it grow. There is no reason that Milwaukee can't do the same.

 

This is different from what you said above. I agree that a friend or other unrelated party could start a distributor to cater to craft breweries.

I'm confused as to what you are looking for. Milwaukee already has quite a few brew pubs, some of which package beer as well: Water Street Brewery, Milwaukee Ale House, Rock Bottom, Delafield Brew House, Stonefly Brewpub. Hinterland - although all the beer is brewed in Green Bay. You might even throw Sprecher in there, although the restaurants are technically owned by an party unrelated to the brewery.

 

Heartfelt apologies for not being more specific in my business plan.

 

Back to the main topic at hand, anyone spotted Hopslam?