Out of state?

My bottle shop will sometimes put a supply of limiteds out for anyone to buy, but also keep some in the back and dole them out to regular customers. Generally, they know their regulars by name and just let them know there are a few available if they'd like.

Seems like this store is trying to keep the limiteds for local, hopefully returning and regular customers, as opposed to just making any sale. It seems like a blunt question, but I doubt it's a legal issue (though I honestly know nothing about Colorado law). It could be an informal agreement with the distributor or brewery to try and fairly dole the few bottles available to all areas.

I agree it's an odd question, but I'm not sure it's nefarious.

 

In this area of PA, the importing distributor for Bell's Hopslam also operates a retail sales establishment. The owner has had sometimes to limit case sales (he can only sell cases to the general public under PA law) to one case per automobile.

Why? Because there were large numbers of out of state folks car pooling and coming in from neighboring states to try and buy up as many cases of Hopslam as they could stuff in the trunk and then take it back to their home state. So he wanted to be sure he was selling as much as possible to his more local customers who support his business year round. Once the word got out that Hopslam was available he would sometimes have more out of state cars in his parking lot than you could shake a stick at and they often outnumbered PA plates.

If you check some of the regional forums you'll find there are lots of folks who will brag about scheduling driving trips of 6-12 hours from one state to another to buy beers that are not distributed in their home state, sometimes buying 6-10 cases at a time if they can.

 

This is interesting. If I'm not mistaken, Merkin dropped in Denver just before GABF. Since lots of out-of-staters were arriving around that time, perhaps he was curious if you were one of them? I had a guy at Mile High ask me the same thing, and I think he was just genuinely curious if I was in town for GABF.

 

Haha. I'd love to see someone's reaction when they're asked the question "Are you from out of state?" after driving 6+ hours for a beer and they're denied the sale when they say "Yes."

I know it wouldn't go down this way, but I picture someone getting asked the question while they're near their car and they try to slyly step in front of their license plate while saying "Why, of course not."

 

i know that some of my bottle shops here in colorado hold back some harder to find beers for regulars.
for a while i was on a "pliny the elder call list" at my local shop and it never hit the shelf
after reading stories about the lengths people go to to get heady topper i understand why stores may hold back or limit quantities so that regulars can get a chance.....

 

Well the word is that's why the 1 case per car limit. No need to ask about residency. Pissed off a fair number of in state car poolers when it first started too since apparently a good number of them were from regions of the state where Hopslam didn't get distributed. (Many of these importing distributors don't get the rights to the whole state--too big geographically.)

 

that's always a risk at liquor mart in boulder which was my local bottle shop of choice for years the turnover was super high so you had to get to know all the employees to stay in favor
at this point there are so many good beers i dont need to kiss any @ss to get good beer