Poor Business Sense

Having no flights, and not filling growlers on everything are both pet peeves of mine, however, being a businessman myself, I completely understand why brewers would not offer either. Cigar City is my favorite local brewery, as well as my favorite overall. They offer growlers, but generally only on their year round offerings, and a handful of special releases, though none of the major releases. Of course I WISH that I could walk in there this afternoon and get a growler of Caffe Americano, but I completely understand why I can't. But hey, at least I can go down the bar and get a $2 taster or a $5 snifter pour. Flights are a little different for me. As someone who dreams of opening a bottle shop/tap room, I get why flights would not be offered. As discussed previously, glassware cost, cleaning cost, and staff time to fill so many little glasses (though I would think the time it takes to fill four 4 oz glasses wouldn't be that much more than a single 16 oz pour) would be a detractor. On the other hand, flights provide an added margin that would easily make up for those added costs. If a pint normally costs $5, that is approx. 31 cents per oz. At a conservative $6 flight cost, you would be making approx. 38 cents per oz. But then you need to consider whether or not people will drink less while buying flights vs full pours. I would say that in some situations, yes, but I suppose everyone is different. If it's a brewery I haven't been to before, I generally get a flight or two and then depending on time allowed, I'll get a full pour of my favorite from the night. If it's a brewery I go to regularly, I'll usually get a flight that includes some things I haven't had before and then imbibe with my brewery favorites. If it's a bar that offers flights, it all depends on what offerings they have. If there are a lot of different beers that I've been looking forward to trying, I'll usually get a flight or two. If there are less than 4 beers that I am looking forward to, I'll usually go for full pours.

 

I know a lot of breweries that don't offer growler fills of all their beers on tap, its just supply and demand. By not allowing growler fills of certain beers more people get to try them and the brewery generally makes more money.

As far as them selling bottles, what's the difference between them not having it on tap to try and going to a store? I can't go to the bottle shop and say "hey I need to pop one of these and try it before I buy." Whenever I go to a Side Project release I'm buying expensive beer I've never tried

 

My point exactly. Its not like were talking about some brand new unreviewed brewery here. Its SARA for christ sakes.

 

I definitely agree with everyone on the supply/demand, we are forgetting about one major thing and that is how the beer will hold up in that growler. A growler will definitely change how the beer is tasting especially if you hold on to it for longer than 2 days. I believe that breweries are definitely also thinking about how people will rate their beers in house vs growlers and it probably isn't worth it for them. They are afraid of their image by having people judge them based solely on having a growler taste.

 

If it's some of the best beer that you've ever had, what is the problem about buying bottles that you haven't tried? They can't do growler fills of every beer on their board because they would run out of beer to pour in house. Flights would make the lines extremely long and everything would slow to a crawl. I cringe whenever I see someone post a picture of a flight of 18 beers from Russian River. You know how much of a pain in the ass that is to pour?

 

I totally get that it's a hassle and understand why Sante doesn't offer them, though there are some places that have a million taps and no concerns of running out that are doing the customers a disservice by not offering them a way to try several beers in one visit. I like the way Tired Hands offers(ed) beers in different sizes, the smallest one being essentially at taster.

I actually cringe more when I think about the asshole bartender who all but refused to pour me a sampler at DuClaw in the Inner Harbor. He was just being lazy and they weren't even busy. Kept trying to say "why wouldn't you want a full beer?" and I just gave in out of frustration. We should have stiffed that guy.

 

You should have bought the Cellarman!

 

Nothing to see here except for OP's tears. Delete thread, move along.

 

LOL @ OP visiting Sante and passing on Cellarman bottles

 

That sounds like great business sense. When there's a lot of demand for your product, the best business decisions will not appeal to tickers or people who want to take beer to go. And its pretty obvious who it is given how specific you are with the details. Buy their bottles, they're not cheap, but they're damn good.

 

meow. meow. meow. They obviously are in the middle of discovering they need to upgrade their equipment to grow their capacity and you're on the late side of what they have available in house due to what they are capable of producing and providing for their customer base. i.e. they have a good problem of not being able to sell a bad presentation of their beer. i.e. growlers. Sucks for them because it sucks for you, but grin and bear it, and support them with what they offer if it's so damned good.

 

Ha! The first flight I will ever get is when they come in half-liter samples .

 

You're still here too?

This thread kills me. OP, please don't ever return to Sante. They don't need your business, and we don't need any more entitled noob mouth-breathers taking up space there.

 

Also, in SARA's case, this is a bit over the top. Read up on Adair a bit—not only does she have a legal background, she's adjusted some of the tasting room practices at Sante to deal with legal concerns. Further, she advocates on behalf of the craft beer community in her position on the California Craft Brewers Association board, so everyone working there is very much so knowledgeable on the subject.

As for OP's issue, I've seen people come into Sante before and be disappointed with the structure of things—recently I saw someone look at the board of offerings for the day and ask if they had "The West Ashley," despite it not being written any place at all, so I understand there's some confusion over how they work. Everything honestly does seem very fair there, especially given that they almost never put out a beer above 9%, making hanging out and drinking a few half pours with friends completely doable.

 

SARA sucks. Shitty policies. Shitty beer. Shitty staff. Avoid. What kind of respectable establishment allows dirty stinky dogs to run freely?

 

But you can't even buy a pint of beer a HF, talk about poor business sense. That business model will never succeed.

 

What

animals. also how the hell does goose island expect me to drop 30 on a bcbs variany ive never tasted. total bs i tell you.

 

SARA doesn't even make an Amber Ale. Talk about poor business sense.

 

So, FWIW: ISO SARA trading Partner. message me, gracias.

 

Why do some people expect a brewery like SARA or Side Project to fill growlers? First and foremost, what do you think a growler would cost? They are selling bombers @ 20-30 a pop. You'd be looking at $75 for a growler easily. Secondly, these beers that both brew are very, very limited. More often than not, most breweries I know of don't allow growler fills on super limited beers. They want to spread the wealth. As far as samples go, again, these are very limited and highly expensive beers to make. For every 5 samples they give away for free, they are losing out on the sale of a full glass. When Voodoo had their most recent bottle release, the bartenders treated those beers like gold. Not a drop was wasted. Every ounce of those beers was sold whether it be in a glass or in a bottle.

Honestly, they are just running a smart business imo.