2014 Bourbon County Brands release - Chicagoland

Probably one of the best things I heard about mom & pop stores selling their [very limited] allocations [thanks GI] is from a small outfit on the southwest side of the city. During November, if you bought $25 worth of beer, you received 1 wooden nickel. If you bought $50, 2; $75 you got 3; $100 you got 4; and $125 you got 5. Those nickels were then redeemable this past Saturday for Bourbon County. 1 nickel guaranteed you a 4-pack of regular BCBS. 2 nickels got you BCBS and 1 variant. 3 got you BCBS and 2 variants. 4 got you BCBS and 3 variants. And 5 got you BCBS and all 4 variants. Also, the beer was discounted between 10% and 15%.

The best part is, none of this was announced ahead of time or while it was happening. You basically found out if you made the purchase. Then, once the store got the allotments, it sent an email stating when the customers could redeem them. Anything left over was then sold to whoever on Sunday.

This is a great way of rewarding regulars and keeping the hype down.

 

Archer Liquors for those who are curious, and I highly recommend reading their twitter page. I doubt they will be dealing with BCS again for the foreseeable future.

 

Yeah. I like how they cancelled the tasting for this Friday.

 

Mariano's Greektown received BCBS today; no variants.

 

I don't know... They seem to overcomplicate things. I understand the reward for patronage but the attitude and hostility to sell beer when one is in the business of selling beer, is always baffling. Not just with BCBS but, seems as though there is a perpetual annoyance about having to deal with beer geeks or selling beer in general. I think they should become a foodtruck/speakeasy hybrid. I stopped going there and head to Town & Country instead. Born and raised on the southwest side, I love patronizing local businesses but I don't have time for pretentiousness (coughcoughit'sgarfieldridge?!).

Of note, T&C, being in spitting distance of an AB/InBev warehouse, reported chasers Friday a.m. Hence, they also required a purchase of another GI product in order to buy the BCBS variants.

 

Can you blame them? So many smaller retailers who have been supporting goose island products since the beginning are getting shit on by them now. I understand it's all about the money for AB but at some point you need to help the little guy who helped the product become something worthy of being gobbled up by this atrocity of a beer producer.

 

Mariano's also was doing 4 packs at $19.99. Solid!

 

Walgreens was $32.99 - $34.99 a 4-pk (13.8%).
Jewel had some 14.4%s and I think they were around $23.99.

 

Seems like this really was the trend for this year. In the Milwaukee area, the two largest craft beer stores got equal or less allocation than the grocery stores and the smaller shops were maybe given a case of BW. Sounds like in Chicago, besides the Binnys, the Walgreens and Costcos received a vast majority and a lot of the little guys who had better allocations last year got the shaft.

 

To echo the point many are making, I was just in the Lakeview Whole Foods talking to who I presumed to be the beer manager. I asked about BCS and was told it'd be coming in tomorrow. He said variants were all long spoken for and asked if I'd gotten any. I mentioned the LP Binny's event was where I had luck and he seemed annoyed they got so much and mentioned he guessed that's where all his allocation went. It'll be interesting to see how scarce the rest of the rollout really is this week.

 

It really is just brilliant marketing and promotion by AB/InBev. They already had a superior product with a following. They established the barrel warehouse earlier this year for next year's (mass) production. Using (faux) exclusivity and scarcity principles while introducing it at an entirely different level of promotion and partnership of intensive distribution with the chains, they are planting seeds and introducing BCBS to the average beer drinker as this superior, exclusive product, as well. It is what it is. It is still one of the best all-time stouts, in my opinion.

 

It's kind of a joke that I paid $24.99 at Binny's in the western burbs (I presume all Binny's charged the same) and Mariano's in the city was able to sell it $5 cheaper for a 4-pack.

 

Now even fucking whole foods has a list?!?

 

Binny's in the city charged $26.99.
So there are some variances but not as severe as the delta between Mariano's & Costco on the low-end of the spectrum and some of the local, independent shops I saw & WAG on the high-end. I think this is part of growing pains for the grocers & drug stores. They don't know how to price the reg 4-pks and wouldn't break them so they either upcharge or charge on the low end.

 

I remember buying my first BCBS from Archer Liquor's back in 2007 when it sat on the shelf! Sucks that they got such a small allotment, but that is the current landscape.

 

i would not be surprised if some smaller shop very publicly refused their BCBS allocation next year based on how this has been going. and it would doubly not surprise me if it was archer liquors that did so. i cannot imagine the level of frustration and shithead beer nerdery that stores have had to deal with for what appears to be like a 4-5 case allotment.

 

I got very lucky this year. It feels good to get lucky!

 

Isn't that @Vav did with Black Note last year?

 

Tony's never got their shipment today, they say tomorrow.