Why does NJ distribution suck so bad?

Petrock's in Hillsborough (ask for Frank) and there's a good bottle shop right in the square in Princeton

Hahahaha.........tell that to High Grade.

 

That's bottle store in Princeton sucks. The selection is very small. It's more of a wine store.

Buy Rite in Cranbury blows it away. Not that far from the center of Princeton.

 

Yeah, and they have a crazy markup. As soon as I have a chance, I'm going to check out that Buy Rite. Heard tons about it.

 

Sure we don't get all of the crazy distro stuff in CMC that some of the areas near the cities get, but I've seen some pretty rad stuff stuff down here that I think there is no way I would get it in those areas due to the high volume of shoppers. It does get boring this time of year since there are no people and there aren't many new deliveries, but Cape May Brewing being nearby helps, and an occasional drive to the city also helps. It really isn't so bad here.

 

Stop searching for beers and drink local. Kane,Carton, and new breweries in NJ opening soon

 

This was a great week for NJ distro. Founders Harvest, Schafly T IPA, and Allagash Nancy all today. Harvest is great this year. My spot blew through 3 cases in hours apparently.

 

Where in NJ are you? I'm sure there is a brewery close to you

 

Morris County, NJ.

Trap Rock is the closest one 15 min away, but it's more of a restaurant and I've never been much of a fan of their beers. just mediocre stuff. next closest is Ramstein at 30 minutes away. they're good (I've only had their blonde and amber and both were fine), but again, having some fresh local stuff available at a store within a few towns is easier than driving an hour for a growler fill. it is very dense NJ, after all.

considering the amount of beer lovers in NJ, I just wish there were more Kane's and Carton's and breweries of that ilk in northern/central Jersey, or more Kane/Carton available in stories. but I totally respect what Carton is doing -- not enough breweries ensure quality control in regard to preventing price gouging, unrefrigerated beer, etc. I'd be totally ecstatic if I could walk into a store and buy Boat and Head High whenever I wanted to, as I can with beers from Founders, Lagunitas, Rogue, Southern Tier, etc. one day hopefully. all the best IPAs routinely available in NJ stores have to endure cross-country shipping and are often dated.

anyway, was very happy to find some Founders Harvest! have yet to see some Tasmanian or Double Dose (seems like I missed the boat on that one), but was able to get 2 4-packs of Harvest after asking my place if they had it in the back.

guess Harvest is in extremely high demand now. was definitely easier to get last year. also nabbed some fresh Breakfast Stout -- tasting great! love how coffee-forward fresh BS is.

 

Not sure what part of Morris County you're in but I've lived there for many years. Kane and Carton are about an hour away from you. Kane is a good place to taste and fill up a couple growlers. Carton you could load up with Boat and 077. Beats looking for it all over the place. They are worth the trip on a Saturday. You could bang them both out the same day. You can make the old lady happy that you're going to the shore as well. Just have to stop and load up at Carton lol

Trap Rock sucks. Overpriced and their beer is awful. Ramstein is mediocre at best. Morris County and its surrounding areas has some solid craft beer liquor stores so I'm not sure what the issue is. Not to mention a town like Morristown has plenty of bars with Kane and Carton on tap always.

 

What we get stays around longer in the off season, stuff like Founders Breakfast stout will be in a couple local places till summer. But even the Firestone Walker limited box stuff, Sunset didn't get any of the last 2-3 releases, same with Colliers. When its on the shelf at Rio Grande, if you don't get there within a hour of it being on the shelf its gone. Again, its not terrible, but even my friends in Cherry Hill are like, XXXX beer is all over sitting on the shelf, and we never see a single bottle, or even are allowed to order it. A couple of the managers, beer buyers in our local area, will ask, but are told straight out, they can't order any of XXXX, while stores in the northern counties are over flowing.

 

oh yeah. I go to Kane every other weekend -- my parents live right around there. I definitely should hit up Carton soon to grab some cans. I don't mean to complain -- Morris County has more than enough decent beer stores and bars with good stuff. But NJ's high density combined with the lack of large distribution among NJ's best breweries contributes to scarcity in regard to limited releases and local stuff available in stores. basically, it would be so amazing to replace outdated IPAs that sit on store shelves after traveling cross-country with some of NJ's best. they'd certainly sell. it would also create less demand for out-of-state limited releases like Bourbon County, which is literally impossible to get in NJ unless you're good friends with a store owner. meanwhile, last year's still collects dust on Brooklyn shelves.

even if Kane/Carton had Flying Fish's level of distribution, that'd be awesome. I always see Flying Fish stuff in stores, and I can't imagine they're THAT much bigger - if at all - than Carton or Kane. all in due time I suppose.

pretty awesome that Kane and Carton have set the bar though. can't really get much better than that. both have world class IPAs, amazing seasonals (Kane's Morning Bell/Sunday Brunch and Carton's Regular Coffee come to immediate mind), and plenty of successful experimentation (especially Carton!). it helps that the people who work at both places are really chill as well.

and yeah, Trap Rock should get a new brewer or something; they have a nice space for brewing, but all their beers taste like NOTHING. like, the beer is not even terrible. it just tastes like nothing, which may be even worse. I've read some praise regarding Trap Rock on here, and just don't get it. maybe I'm just used to Kane/Carton awesomeness so I don't really have a palate for replacement-level attempts.

 

I hear ya man. If Kane and Carton became a regular on the shelf that would be pretty sick.

Another thing to consider is that living in Morris County you're not that far from Nanuet NY either. I've gotten some great bottles up there. And again it's only like 40 minutes away.

 

Conclave Brewing is opening soon in Flemington. That's about 30 minutes from Trap Rock in Hunterdon

 

Kane is slightly bigger than Carton and both are way smaller than Flying Fish, by a factor of like 10. Forgotten Boardwalk in the old FF space is way bigger then Kane and Carton for that matter (let's hope they find some soul for that watery IPA) Maybe @jesskidden can help with actual numbers?
A thanks I think we owe both Kane and Carton is that Flying Fish seems to be paying a lot more attention to NJ beyond the Philadelphia suburbs since they came along. In the Colts Neck/Freehold area they were impossible to find 5 years ago, now they are in a lot of places around here. That may be because their Coors Distributor saw the loss of taps to the new guys and used a NJ craft to get it back, or because FF themselves realized that as a Jersey brewery they should be at least as far into their home state as they are PA but who knows? Either way they started showing up about 3 years ago I'd also say guys like Cricket Harder are trying much harder since the Kane/Carton arrival.

 

There's plenty in Philly if you know where to look. It's not like those beers aren't distributed here.

 

While I agree about it sucking that we can't get things that sit on shelves elsewhere in the state I disagree a bit about special release stuff, sure the Firestone stuff goes pretty fast but i was able to get a second parabola the next day for the 2013 release although I didn't see it this year. I don't shop at Collier's at all and not often at Sunset, but I shop frequently at the Canal's and I've seen Allagash sours sit there for a couple of weeks, I've seen Black OPS, Red Poppy, Angel's share, and Agave Maria sit for months, and Older Viscosity for years! Sure it isn't as good as many places in the state but we were one of the few to get BCBCS last year, and I was able to convince a smaller store in WW to get reg BCBS and it sat there for weeks before it was gone, I bought one 4 pack per week until it disappeared and I think I ended up with 4 of them.

 

Again I think we are agreeing on the same thing. What we get sits on the shelves on the off season.
Sunset had bcbs left in March. Summertime forget about it.


But any real special stuff. Barely any chance of it hitting.

 

Not to nitpick but this isn't accurate. They rolled out here in Pittsburgh late spring/early summer.

 

I just don't understand the point of your thread. From my experience NJ has great distribution compared to many other states and beer that many others don't get as well. think of captain lawrence now here, kane which is exceptional, firestone walker etc. Also some you made reference to being tired of beers in NJ, however many are relatively new to nj distribution too like like great lakes, port brewing and Firestone so its not like these are beers we've had forever in NJ. As much as I'd love to have access to all beers i wanted to try, but that's kind of part of the fun: trading with others or traveling and picking up beer, making weekend trips etc.
I recently was on vacation and visited russian river and brought back beer to share with friends who would never get the chance to try it (one of my friends i am shipping pTe to in Chicago has been able to share FFF with me). I also often will go to captain Lawrence when visiting my in laws. as mentioned by countless others both philly and new york have access to other beers we cant get here. its unrealistic to expect that any area will have all of the top brews across the country especially when some of the top and most coveted beers are made on a small scale and as examples breweries like pipeworks, three floyds and toppling goliath are essentially only available in their own state (also think of kane). stop complaining about lack of distro and get out and travel, take a guys trip, make some friends and actually be a beer advocate rather than complain why we don't have a certain distribution in NJ.

 

Love the OP shout out I Warwick NY!

I'm a north Jersey native myself- moved I warwick when I it married- Beverage Plus and the guys in there are all awesome

Jersey distrobution is rough- I've been enjoying my newly found NY craft selection