Costco and Craft Beer

Gotta love the .97's.

 

They absolutely sell bombers in VA: Leesburg, VA carried Chimay, Duvel, Victory, Sam Adams (barrell collection 3 pack), Ommegang (three pack and single bombers), Alagash, Straffe Hendrik, Anchor Christmas Ale, and others. I bought several.

 

Not going to read all 15 pages but our Costco's in MI sell craft. That's my go-to for New Holland bombers. They also always have Shorts mixed packs, SN products, many more. And from what was posted here on BA it was a score of a place to be on black friday as many of them reportedly had BCBS.

 

$29.99




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besides for that, they also had this big boy too:



$179.99 tho'.

 

That is a horrible price for 6 liters of la fin du monde....

 

Holy crap with remaining expletives deleted! I'd be all over that in a heartbeat. I buy my Christmas beers when they go on sale as leftovers but I've never seen anything marked down that much, and this is our official Christmas beer.

 

Whoa! A Methuselah of beer - thanks for the reply. I'm jealous as my nearest Costco does not have a liquor license and the one in Edison, NJ has nowhere near the selection of other locations across the country

 

Wisco reporting in (i'm sure we already have, but TL;DR)

went yesterday, so this is from memory...
NG Belg Red, and I think Serendipity for about $9. However, I've been buying Speedway there for about $10 and it's been magical. Everyone should just have Speedway all the time. Lolita for $15, is a frequent buy too.

Other things: La Fin Du Monde, Dragon's Milk, Duvel, some Hobbit beers that had neat labels, few ciders, and maybe Duchesse.

 

Savant, as in Jim's a frikin' idiot, savant

 

Yes, it's fairly new, but I've seen some nice (and nicely priced) selections in Twin Cities area Costcos.

 

Same here, except Victory and Anchor, but also add Lagunitas bombers for about $6. No singles on Ommegang--just the three pack with chalice.

 

I worked for Costco for many years. Great company to be stuck at while working my way through college, and beyond. I used to bug the buyers about craft beer. The general public didn't haver enough interest at the time (1990's) but now craft is big, and it fits into Costco's demographics of consumers wanting more than mediocre products. The buyers are so good at what they do, so now craft is there...BUT, having said this, I don't think you'll find them using up cooler space to keep hoppy beers chilled. But maybe...

 

What basis do they use for determining which geographic areas get craft beer? I ask because I can't believe all of the offerings at various Costcos in this thread, while my local Costco tops out with Sam Adams mixed packs and goes straight downhill to Heineken, Miller Lite, Corona, and Bud Ice from there. This is all the more curious because the wine selection in the same area is absolutely top notch.

 

I hate the beer that some of your costcos have, the best we have at mine is that Sam Adams barrel room collection 3 pack

 

In Atlanta there is SW 420 which is barely craft and nothing else.

 

According to the wine guy at a Costco in the Chicago suburbs, each store manager is responsible for determining which products their store carries. So his Costco, being located in a very upscale suburb, has a basic liquor selection, mostly BMC in the beer section, but has stellar wines, because most of the customers are, as he put it, "the wine-and-cheese crowd".

 

I'm not so sure about that. Costco has national buyers, as well as regional. In the past, the warehouse manager would be respectfully listened to, mainly about quantities of product, but rarely about types. But maybe the times have changed.

 

Mine does. Lots of it.
Actually, they had some good very local stuff for a while, but gave up on it.

 

For Michiganders: the Costco in Livonia carries Short's variety packs, and Bell's Oberon and Two-hearted, usually a buck or two cheaper than most places.

The one in Northville, however, is a God-send, lots of 750 ml. Ommegang, Fin du Monde, Tripel Karmelite, Rogue, Stone and quite a few others I can't remember right now. Lots of Belgians. And the prices were ridiculously cheap.

 

Vista Ca had 5.99 sculpin bombers but the wife and I jumped on the 18- 16oz mixed pack of pizza port with Swamis, Chronic and Ponto. Less than a buck per 12 ozs, and I get my Swamis