Can we talk about Carton brewing?

yes and one day before the next month, so ahead of schedule

 

we both use iron heart, they really are the best.

the answer is simple: it adds time and we don't have it. when we can we can't do any other brewing process. we need to set up and can and get them back out the door. so we can do all the other things we need to do in the brew house.

beyond that i don't want this to sound like an anti-trading thing but in short: at this point, at our scale we make our beer for NJ people and care about their experience. if that is your case a date doesn't matter because when you got it it was less than 1 month old (really less than 7 days these days) as you can make sense of from reading all the posts on here about my distro policies. if that's the scenario you can keep track yourself pretty well.
now if you have traded for a carton can i don't know how you got it. over night mail, 2 day mail, 6 moths later? if you have can of dub that was cellared properly for three months it will taste far better than one that traveled by mail over any week this winter when it was sub freezing across america for months on end or worse this week when it is well over 90. a dated can in that case only confuses things..." its a week old and tastes dead" and so on.
there is post in here from an illinois guy about dub coming in 5th in 5 ipa tasting. i get it, our stuff isn't for everyone but either way what can i say? i don't distro in IL so i can't track beer and see if the job was done right.
when we grow process and footprint dates on the cans are as important to me as you; but at this point-at this scale-in this community it is hours we don't have for data points we don't need

 

To be fair you don't need to fully date the cans, Neshaminy Creek julian dates the top of their paktechs with simple stickers and that's plenty. I can tell the beer I bought today was 8 days old and took 6 stickers on top each 4 pack. How long can that take? I get that you believe your beer is selling out quick enough to not do so, but eventually there will come a day your beer won't sell out within a week.

Pay someone $8 an hour to do it for 3 hours a week.

 

When did that start? Bought a sixpack (County Line) and a fourpack (Shape) last week - 7/22 - both pulled from cases still in the stacks left in the middle of the aisle by Hunterdon's handcart (so "fresh" - off the distributor's truck but still of unknown bottling date) and none had stickers.

Those were the first NC beers I ever bought since, despite the claims of "always being fresh because they sell so fast", I'd seen numerous NC beers sitting on shelves untouched at various stores.

As for Carton - in the past few months I've spent more on gas driving a couple of miles out of my way checking the shelves and asking for the beer at a few area stores that Carton lists as their retailers than I have on Carton beers ($0).

 

3 hours is the time we don't have, that can't happen out side the scope of the canning day, and as said its unnecessary and would be slower and longer than the machines

was me saying that when our beer doesn't sell out in a week, when we are making more in more space they will be dated

 

allow me to try to make this easier on everyone. there is an image we post on our FB page of the fridge full of cans when we restock our fridge after canning. when that image goes up it is a safe assumption that all the stores on that list will receive and put cans on shelves in the next week or so.
we are a small company with 1 truck doing all the delivering so it changes as our needs do therefore i can't say it will be at x place y days later and m place n, but that is when you should use this list http://cartonbrewing.com/find-our-beer/ and the phone numbers we have put on it to make your life easier and check on the beers before you do any driving.
that image went up yesterday as @SammyJaxxxx pointed out above. a couple places will get some today (some places got some late last night) and the rest will over next week.
again when we have more and produce more regularly this will vary but for now and the last year and a half that has been the process.
(i wanted to paste the image in here but can't figure it out, if any savvy BA would like to i'd appreciate it)

 

This one?

 

To take this a step further…
I live in Hunterdon County. When Freebridge posts their similar picture, I know Central in Flemington has it in stock and grab some within 2 days. (Would go to Freebridge because they're cool people, but closeness counts.) This method hasn't failed me all year. I've actually had an easier time getting Carton this year than last. Follow the clues!

(I probably shouldn't be sharing this…)

 

that's her

 

Not gonna lie, I'm fully aroused by this.

 

Guess fairly recent. 201 is July 20th.

 

I love me some Carton beer, but I'll never understand why at the brewery I have to pay $12 for a 4pk of Boat....yet if I drive down the road to Whole Foods or a Buy Rite it's $10 or $11. Seems odd to pay more at the source. Just me?

 

Why would a brewery want to piss off its retailers by undercutting them? What incentive does the retailer have to sell the product if the brewery is just going to undercut them? This is pretty much standard practice and the correct way to do things.

 

i stand on the beach in NY and stare at the Atlantic Highlands knowing Carton in like 15miles away...but if i drive it will take me like 3hrs ea way w/ these friggin roads and traffic...if i could commandeer a boat it'll be like 100$ in fuel...so hitting the brewery has only happened once....beer blue balls for sure

 

There's a ferry or something that drops commuters off right down the road from the brewery. Feasible?

 

This is distribution 101....

 

If it makes you feel better I stand on the beach in Atlantic Highlands staring the other way during Other Half releases.

 

Please update your Instagram page @augiecarton

 

nahh...thats a possibility for city folk...not us Nassau county folk....but i do work NJ and have a shot to score the usual suspects like once a month

 

That's interesting considering other breweries I've been to charge less or the same on premises than in the grocery/liquor stores