OK News #1 (new forums)

lol Well I guess they don't really care about business. The cases are 139.90 WHOLESALE that's 11.65 COST. I have bills to pay SORRY And on another note...IpeeA I know you really don't like me or you just like busting my balls. I say I will add you to the list of others that either do not like me, my business or my business tactics. I figured a 20% mark on a special release was a pretty good deal. I stand corrected.

 

Count me in!

 

It looks cool, but I'm generally pretty busy in July, out of town for a good bit of it.

 

Funny...So I call Byron's they said they didn't even see it in their system. SO was it really there? Am I getting lied to? Who knows. All I know is that SUPPOSEDLY it is there and SUPPOSEDLY it is and INSANE $11.79 which seems to me like that is the OLD price of the COOP Territorial Reserve Imperial Stout. But who am I to say differently? I believe they really don't know their ass from a hole in a ground over there. I called and talked to the "Beer Guy" and HE HAD TO LOOK IT UP?!?!?!?!?! WHAT?!?!! It's just the HOTTEST release from COOP in 6 MONTHS!! See here we go again...I don't even want to call people out. It's *ucking CRAZY. How can you NOT know what is on your shelf?!?! How can you NOT know what products you are SELLING?? Not only is OKLAHOMA in the *ucking woods with our liquor laws...but 8 out of 10 EMPLOYEES do not even know what the HELL they are doing. Look, if you are going to work for a store and SELL anything NOT JUST BEER...DO some Damn research. LEARN something. Stop making yourself and the company you are working for look like Hell. Because if you don't I will eat your lunch ALL DAY LONG. You know why? Because I have yet to meet anyone that works the hours I work at selling this product called BEER here in OKlahoma. When you put in 80 hrs a week doing my job then you can come talk to me until then, why don't you let the professionals sell the beer......Why don't you grab the broom and go sweep the fucking floor.

 

My apologies, I wasn't trying to stir the pot, only trying to help a fellow OKC BA find a good deal. Here is the link to their weekly add if you need assurance, which has the price listed clearly http://byronsliquor.com/ourweeklyad.html I also personally bought 1 bottle at the said price, leaving 4 on the shelf when I left. I haven't visited your store (being that I live in OKC), but based on your FB page, BA reviews, and posts made in this forum I have no doubt you run by far the best beer store in the state and are passionate and professional in regards to your business. Being a very knowledgeable beer consumer myself, I don't shop at Byron's for their expertise, but because they are reasonably close to my home, have a big selection, run through product quickly, and have by far the lowest prices in the area. I bought my first bottle of Wild Wheat Wine somewhere else and paid $14.50, so obviously you are selling it at a great price. I'm sure they have a reason for selling it at next to no profit (just as I'm sure you had a good reason for selling cases of Bigfoot for basically no profit). As far as their employees go, I think the "beer guy" is probably just the person assigned to restock shelves in that area of the store. A majority of the folks that work there seem to come from pretty rough backgrounds and are probably happy to have a job earning minimum wage. In fact, I think it might be safe to say that most have many more pressing issues in their lives to deal with aside from becoming experts on a luxury product like craft beer. Unfortunately, not everyone is as passionate about craft beer as you and I.

 

I appreciate you man! I figure that the reason Byron's is able to sell at such a low price is because they are one of the few stores in Oklahoma that can "self broker." Which means they pretty much cut out the middle man and can post beers in the state for lower prices than the other wholesalers. They are Grandfathered in, which it is illegal to do this now a days. Look, I am not asking for much, but you would figure...if you even WORKED, STOCKED or anything in a department of ANY store, you would at least TRY to familiarize yourself with the NEW products in the department. Especially a Special Release such as Wild Wheat Wine. Hell, that could have been ANY brewers beer. If I was the brewers I'd be fucking PISSED. Customers call and you don't even know if you have my product?? I mean Go LOOK?! haha At the LEAST. Anyway..sorry to rant, it's just that it seems in OK that $$$ is all that matters in the liquor business. There is no passion. If there is no passion there is no need for knowledge, and beer is ALWAYS the back of the bus. I am not saying I am better than anyone else, I just work really hard at what I do and try to give knowledge back to the customer. I strive to do better in an industry that IMO really does not care about its consumers. I will never just sit back and sell any product without knowing what I am selling, it is sad that some others will and do all day long. We have only been in business 3 years, and to have things like this lack of knowledge or knowing what products you sell coming from one of the oldest stores in the state is very disheartening. If the Biggest (and supposedly the BEST) doesn't know or even care to know...then where does that leave me and others like me? No wonder the industry is OLD and Antiquated. Everyone is HAPPY with the way things are and do not want things to change..including our laws. Because they make money the way it has always been. But Dammit, that shouldn't be IT, we should want to change and learn and be better at what we do so the industry can grow as a whole and the state can grow and so on and so forth. What is wrong here? As of now I will keep doing what I do and keep learning about my products and my industry. I am sorry some do not care at all about what they do...

 

I certainly agree with all of this, Oklahoma is far from being the most beer friendly state and we need 1000-fold more people passionate about good beer. My main point, regarding Byron's specifically, is that they employ a large number of people that may be working there b/c it is one of their only viable options. And almost all of them are extremely friendly and hardworking. They most certainly make shit for money and definitely do not have the same skin in the game or motivation as somebody who runs their own place. Furthermore, I doubt they receive much in the way of product education from the higher ups. Not to mention, spending $12-14/22oz of beer is not in a lot of peoples budgets, especially when the bottle says something as superficial as "Savor the rarity!". Anyway, no hard feelings, I wish there was a store even remotely close to me that runs things the way you do. Congrats on the write up in Southwest Brewing News BTW!

 

I'm down for this if you still need people! I need to finally get around to meeting more people in OK BA community.

 

Man I was never doubting you, I doubted THEM. I mean...if your store is running a "Special Ad" about a product YOU'D think that they could at least tell the damn employees about it. But obviously they do not care about their business or their customers. It really is no different than a big dairy farm. Fill the barn full of feed and milk the cows. Farming people for their money using liquor as the feed. It's a pretty shitty business tactic, but I suppose that is all that people care about for the most part. It is a sad time that we live in and it is a sad state of affairs. I hope that one day Oklahoma will be more than it is, because if it isn't, me and my family will relocate elsewhere.. somewhere people actually care about what they do and give a damn about the business and industry they represent. No matter what job you have you should at least try to do it to the best of your ability. With the hours I work, sometimes I make less than minimum wage, so low pay is no excuse. Basically, people just quit giving a *UCK a long time ago and I think they all moved to Oklahoma (Oh and THANKS! Gail did a great Job!)

 

At whatever the price for the TRWWW, generally Biergarten having the best, I am sad to say I don't think its worth it. I was really hyped up about this one too. The beer seems to be confused. Doesn't it want to be a wheat wine? Does it want to be a wild ale. Maybe it needs time. I don't know. But right now, I don't think it's drinking all that great.

 

Badass idea from YaKnowBrady! Decisions, decisions for July. Could either take 20 days of leave or collect more time and do this BFF. Por queeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

If you want to work around my July schedule yes would be my answer.

 

Chris, I'd be willing!

 

About time another BA shows up in Lawton. I think we may get together for a few beers soon. If your interested shoot me a BM