Bottle Shops that sell singles / mixed 6ers

Singles are great for a craft beginner. After 400 beers to my credit I don't check them out to often anymore though. But, this might be because yes, I have noticed alot of singles hang around for too long. I do occasionally want a brew and maybe just two at the most so I will check the singles section. To many times I have to pass because I can tell the difference between fresh Headhunter and two month old Headhunter. On the otherhand if we are going to be decent Ba's . . . Singles are a greatway to share with those left unaffiliated with better beer. Just the other day a guy I work with was going on and on about Bluemoon and how it was the best beer out there. I told him that Bluemoon wasn't a bad beer but if he liked wheat beers there are much better choices out there. So, I stopped in at my local shop. In addition to my haul I picked him up a hand picked Mix six with some solid wheat offerings. All of which rank 85 or higher here on BA. So in short I like the singles option. And we'll see if my friend changes his mind about beer.

 

I've had pretty good luck doing the HyVee (grocery store) pick six in the past. I rotate around 3-4 of the stores in my town and I've only gotten 2 expired brews from the lot. Just have to pay attention to the expiration date (if posted) on the bottles. I see the selection varies quite a bit and I always like to go to the store **just to look**

 

Mix a 6 is great but its not something I do very often. Yeah in my experience there's plenty of "old bottles" around and checking each bottle frantically for dates is annoying and time consuming.

 

Binny's in the Chicago 'Burbs will cut into a new six if what you're looking for ain't up on their "Mix Six" rack. In my area if you're looking for a single of something in particular, especially if it's popular, all of 'em will break a sixer. For these popular bottle shops, it's just good business. Craft beer is popular everywhere. Those who are customer oriented and successful at PR find a way to manage it.

 

The store I go to most often has mix a six, it's a good way to sample beers that look interesting but you're not ready to spend a ten on.

But, the kind of beers available don't change very much. There's some great beers there, like a lot of Founders and Unibroue stuff, but once you've tried all the stuff that looks interesting, you can't come back later and find a totally new selection. So once you've had all the interesting looking singles a store offers there's a lot of diminishing marginal utility.

 

My favorite shop has enough business or turnover for it to work, thankfully. I think the fact that offering a 10% discount on mixed packs and allowing people to grab whatever from a 6/4 pack helps (rather than being at the mercy of whatever they choose for the single shelf). I've never had an issue with old or expired beer there. Then again, it's sort of a hipster area where craft is very popular (not complaining about the latter, obviously) so I know that model wouldn't work everywhere, but it works great where it is.

 

My experience is that shops that sell singles are much more likely to get my business than shops that don't.

 

My local shop sells singles, which I thoroughly enjoy. He gets around the freshness problem by discounting old stock and reserving a shelf or two for these oldish beers. I bought a year old Wipeout IPA for $4 from this shelf and loved it, old or not. Seems like he's got a simple fix in place, and also a loyal customer.

 

Just came in here to say the same thing, and as for freshness...buyer beware. I'd rather get stung by a single bad bottle than a whole sixer that's past it's prime. Which really goes back to checking dates & brewers who don't date, well better luck next time boys.

 

Sounds like this shop keeper got past the "challenge" of the singles inventory.

 

Greed can be a challenge, I agree .

 

I'll do it very rarely, too. Usually what catches my eye are beers where I don't care about dates too much. The last one I got was because the Unibroues (Trois Pistoles, Maudite) and Monk's Cafe caught my eye- stuff like that isn't going to matter too much if it's getting on in age.

 

I was just making up a mix a 6 at Binnys in the Chicago burbs yesterday . Was about to put a Southern Tier Live in the holder before noticing the bottling date of Sept 2013 - no thanks!

 

I like the option of having mixed packs...it lets you venture out and try some new things without getting burned on a $10 six pack of a beer you hate.

I threw together a mix 6 yesterday as a matter of fact for the first time in about a year. Picked up a few things I've been wanting to sample but haven't had the shelf space to risk on sixers of each.

 

As a consumer I love the ability to buy singles. We have a store in Indy that will sell everything by the bottle, not requiring you to buy a six pack's worth. I like this because it gives me the option to try multiple new beers without buying a whole six pack.

If I were a retailer I would find it very difficult to offer this because of the logistics/keeping track of inventory behind selling a full six pack and singles. As other's have stated this often leads to out of date beers so you have to keep an eye on what you are buying.