Chuck Silva resigns from Green Flash Brewing Co.

I used to buy GF quite a bit. Rayon Vert and West Coast IPA were staples in my fridge and I would buy pretty much anything new that I saw from them.

Then they killed Rayon Vert. And changed the recipe for West Coast (in spite of still producing tons and tons of varied IPAs/IIPAs and therefore having no particular need to kill a highly-rated and I assume popular IPA). And I stopped buying them as much.

That said, the Cellar 3 stuff sort of piqued my curiosity again. I bought Silva Stout (unfortunately), Flanders Red and the Natura Morta Plum (haven't opened either of those latter two yet). If I don't enjoy either of those, I'm probably going to lose even that latent curiosity.

It's sad, as Green Flash was one of the breweries I really got into early on in my craft journey.

 

I see a lot of disdain for them too. It's probably because their beers are too readily accessible.

 

So basically if a company switches their format from a 6 pack to a 4 pack you personally will not buy those beers anymore? I understand it is frustrating, but breweries are businesses with rising costs too...

 

A lot of old school GF and Alpine fans have explained their disdain (or declining fandom) time and time again, but I guess the message just doesn't get through all the noise.

 

Green Flash deserves some of the flack they get because of how poorly the Alpine acquisition has gone.

However, they've been making excellent beer for a long time and have brought quality stuff to the masses. West Coast IPA is still good, even though 1.0 was better. There's also Road Warrior, Green Bullet and many other fantastic brews they make. I get a little down on them sometimes too, but I think we need to keep everything in perspective. Green Flash has contributed a lot to one of the most vibrant brew scenes in the world, and they continue to do so.

 

If they simultaneously significantly raise the per unit price then yes, they lost my business. I few this practice unfavorably.

Well, the other breweries that retain the 6-pack package format at reasonable prices will get my dollars. Needless to say but feel free to send your dollars to Green Flash.

We all get to choose which beers we prefer to purchase.

Cheers!

 

I'm pretty much with this world view, though I found it a lot easier to keep this perspective *because* Chuck was there.

 

I bought a 6 pack of Soul Style just yesterday.

 

I've had a good number of GF beers over the last decade or so and they've always been about my 4th favorite San Diego brewery. Of course, as more and more breweries open in SD, I can't keep up with them any more, so it's hard to say where they woudl rate now if I had tried everything down there.

In response to a previous comment about labels - good-looking packaging attracts. Poorly designed packaging does not. That's why there's an entire industry called "graphic design". Two equally worthy beers at the same price point in two different packages - which one sells?

 

Good luck Chuck.

 

Just to throw more gasoline on the fire, this little news item from last month that flew under most beer geeks' radar may be related to this move:

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Green-Flash-Brewing-Co-Names-COO-Chris-Ross-324411941.html

 

That would really suck, I love BP. Although if it meant fresh Sculpin at places I would never normally expect to see it that would be ok.

 

I understand people being angry with GF because they ruined a great beer when they acquired that brewery. But it seems that some people started rating GF's beers lower just because of this, instead of keeping it as a separate problem.

I've recently tried West Coast, Hoppy Red, Double Stout and Citra Session and they were very good.

 

I was just tasking about your personal preference. For me it really depends on what it is and how much I like it. I don't automatically not buy it anymore, but I do take the change under consideration when comparing to other options.

 

What was the price?

Cheers!

 

Just my personal opinion; when a business simultaneously goes from 6-packs to 4-packs and significantly raise the per unit price I do not want to support that business decision with my dollars. Others (like you) will make differing decisions.

Cheers!

 

I paid $10.99 for soul style 6 pack that was quite fresh. It was more than a disappointment. Loved Rayon and thought I would try this new 6 pack IPA. Not a tropical juicy beer as the label describes. Really not much of anything. Still sitting on 3 as it was not enjoyed by anyone I've offered it to.
My GF days are over. Have not made a purchase since Rayon left and this purchase puts me back into who cares about GF

Enjoy

 

This is silly. I don't dislike green flash because they are accessible, but because the quality of their beer has been lacking. Not everything is tied to some invisible and subjective trade market that the BA echo chamber puts far too much emphasis on. To my palate, they simply haven't been up to snuff. If other people like them, great, but try not lump green flash critics under one broad net.

 

Just to clarify, you're saying they raised the unit price by not lowering the package price when the decreased the number of units in a package, correct?

I only ask because when you say they changed the packaging "and" they increased the unit price, it suggests that they actively did two things (changed package and changed price) when really they did one thing (changed package) that resulted in the other thing (unit price increase).

Honestly, I'd usually rather experience a price increase via a packaging size decrease than a raw price increase (at least wrt beer six-packs) but that is *my* personal preference, as it were.

 

Just thought I'd mention, we just got a really fresh shipment of Alpine bottles (in GF bottles) and kegs. These are easily the best batches of Nelson, Hoppy Birthday and Duet since the buyout. The Nelson was especially good, which makes me hopeful for the future, although the Duet still isn't quite as good as before.