2014 Bourbon County Brands release - Chicagoland

I see your point(s) as well. Releases like this help bring possible future business into the mom and pop shops that people may not have known existed although, I think that is debatable as well since I have heard this is based upon sales numbers.

Perhaps an event coupled with a general public release (Darkness) would help however, I think the fact that BCBS is so popular and mainstream coupled with the boom in the craft beer industry it may be a wave that cannot be stopped.

 

They do a tapping day on Black Friday at goose. They couldn't do a release though that's consoled by ABev. That's why Walgreens and jewel got allotments. Sell a lot of 312 and honkers get bcs. That's why small stores got so little. They don't sell a lot of goose so why give them a lot.

 

How many more conspiracy theories can we come up with before we hit maximum ridiculousness?


Goose has spies in Mom and Pop stores and every time they didn't recommend a Goose Island beer to a customer they were deducted one 4pk of Bourbon County.

 

exactly, even their FB release page mentioned the allotments. changing that the morning off would have angered folks.
remember the promised allocations of KBS at founders (was that 2012 or 2013?) Allotment went from a case, to half a case? founders was a villain that year.
Btw, i opened a frangelic mountain brown (a few weeks ago). oh god was that a bad idea. fortunately, the brother in law and my wife enjoyed it. i on the other hand, made sure i got a tiny pour and went to the next beer.

 

Lotsa great beers out there. Everybody relax.

 

this. i went to 2 stores, struck out at both and called it quits. too much good beer out to stress about bcbs

 

Yeah, that could work, especially with the new taproom opening at the brewery. The brewery release + distro model could work... coupled with other release events around the city. So, you have a choice of Vav's, GI Fulton, or some other Binny's.

I think the days of M&P shops having close, personal relation with GI is numbered. They'll be outlets for GI shelf beers. Dealing with 100s of small shops is a PITA, because...

Goose Clyborn is a different situation entirely.

Based on other comments, it sounds like the big stores are getting allotments because it's easier to deal with them on a national level. Fewer buyers = less hassle = more product sold for less effort. Simplifying distribution and all that. Plus, less opportunity for people to "break dates" if it's all at national retailers. So, build the brand around BCBS, get them used to buying Goose at the big stores, and keep em year round.

 

InBev puts a tiny RFID chip in the base of every bottle they produce, and know exactly who's buying what & how much. They give every BCBS retailer a set of scripts telling them exactly what to say based on the purchase history of who's calling...someone who otherwise never buys InBev is told, "we're not getting any this year, what a bunch of bullshit." Someone who buys the occasional 12-pack of 312 is told, "we might have some left over after all the folks on the waitlist get theirs." People who buy so much Bud Light they must be bathing in the shit automatically have 2 cases of everything set aside for them.

I hear they also followed DeBeers' lead in leasing a huge warehouse on the west side, which is stacked to the rafters with unsold cases of all the BC variants; if they released all of it, stores would have enough for everyone and there'd be no hype, no one would be lining up for releases, and prices would plummet, so they hold a majority of the product back to create false scarcity. Keep an eye out for "Bourbon County is Forever™" commercials soon, which will suggest that women spend two months' salary on BCBS as an engagement gift for their fiancés.

 

Not sure what you are exactly getting at but it's called order history and volume. AB does not have to "spy" on their stores as cases are ordered and delivered on a weekly basis. There are plenty of times that I am shopping at a store when the beer rep is there doing inventory. If volume based rewards do not exist then, removing the relationships from the equation, why do some places get more then others?

 

Disclaimer: this is not legal advice, and Is not meant to be relied on.

Unless the liquor laws change in Illinois. That is probably never going to happen. The Illinois liquor control commission has strict limits on what can be sold to-go from a brewery/brewpub. Bourbon county is such a large release, there is no way they could swing it. And if they gave it all to binnys they would piss off all of their other retailers.

 

Holy shit man, that was clearly a joke.

 

Let me preface this by saying that I went to 1 place this year and got all of my BCBS/variants so I'm not pissed/angry/upset that I didn't get any or that I didn't get enough. I'm very happy/content with what I got.

However, reading through every post in this thread and hearing stories about the release this year, I agree with the people saying that this needs to be a ticketed event. I'm not going to get into logistics but GI/BCBS is 10x bigger than Surly/Darkness and FFF/DL so I don't think you would be able to run an event in one day giving the volume of people/beer. I think if GI ran a BCBS event like Founders does with KBS and spread it out over a week instead of 1 day it would be a lot less chaotic and no pressure to line up for hours before an event. Just my .02

 

Yes I realize that...I only brought up the point for the sake of discussion.

 

I've been racking my brain all week trying to come up with the ideal solution to this Bourbon County problem. And I can't find a perfect answer. Ticketed event means only people who can get tickets and then travel to Chicago get Bourbon County. It also cuts out the stores and distributors. Plus it means only people who can make it on that day get Bourbon County. If you have something else going on you're SOL.

 

Yup, this is what I'm saying. This is a little less simple than saying "just sell tickets, sell at a Binny's (or GI Clybourn)." Besides, InBev has their own motivation for selling BCBS, and they're probably not gonna say, "hey, let's make this fairer for everyone!!!"

 

I'd be curious to know just how much AB-InBev actually gives a shit about BCBS. It's such a tiny tiny miniscule amount of their annual sales. I'd be surprised if the CEO of AB-InBev actually knew what it was. Everyone keeps invoking their name but I really don't think they're the bad guys in this at all.

 

Precisely. BCBS is used as a carrot/reward for their accounts to sell other GI/InBev beer. I highly doubt the customer experience really enters the discussion at all.

 

Someone should send Rahm a link to this thread. Just think of the tourism dollars! If he can get a Star Wars Museum built in the name of tourism, he can get some stupid liquor laws changed.

 

This would be an awesome solution for us beer nerds. Combine it with a strong distribution push (much stronger than KBS) so that non-beer nerds could get it, and we'd have a much better situation. Keep the beer nerds happy (they get a bunch by buying tickets early) while keeping normal people in the loop (also available at ALL THESE BINNY's and your local Walgreens this BF).

They care because Bud stuff that isn't alcopop (*brr-rita) is on a decline sales-wise. GI is their one of their answers to losing ground to craft.

 

Right. Goose Island but not Bourbon County Stout.