Twin Cities Bottle Hunt

Has anyone seen Yuzu Fierce hanging out around Woodbury or the east metro recently?

 

Pseudosue at Haskells Maple Grove. That place is awesome! Pompeii as well, no sign of founders harvest or wet though.

 

Mosaic Fresh Hop, Cromulence, Pompeii, Light Speed are some of the many highlights at S. Lyndale. I feel spoiled.

 

I have several 4 packs at Lakeridge Liquors, Vadnais Heights.

 

Hows FS Cromulence tasting ?,

 

Add Rum King to the list! 2 bottles pp $15.99 (not sure if this was mentioned before)

 

Went with the Mosaic tonight, which was heavenly.

 

Any Bell's 30th still out there? I am really only looking for a bottle to just try it. I work in Mendota Heights and travel through Minneapolis and out to the sticks in the north west.

 

Heritage has it, at east 4-4pks on shelf right now

 

Cub Eagan Rum King @14.99. A couple left as of now. Looks like we pay a premium to get out "guaranteed" bottles at the tap room.

 

This actually crossed my mind on Tuesday. I got 3 bottles at a store and was expecting to pay $20+ each, based on what people who got them at the tap room were saying. The total, including tax, was $17 each. Doesn't make much sense considering they have to ship to the stores and give them a little room to make some money.

 

It's the same reason that they don't sell pints at the taproom for $3. They could still make plenty of money doing so, but they want to make sure they aren't undercutting their customers/partners (i.e. bars/restaurants). Plus I'm sure they don't mind raking in the extra dough.

 

You hear that a lot, but I don't ever think I've paid less for Darkness than at the actual brewery, especially considering tax is included there. Nor have I ever paid less for surly beers on tap than at the brewery - tulips of Darkness and all their high ends for $5.

edit: I like Indeed a lot, but I find their taproom in general to be as pricey as it gets in MN.

 

Makes sense. It's a delicate balancing act though. Charge too much for a bottle at the tap room, and eventually, less people show up for the release event and the brewery has to sell more bottles to stores/distributors at a smaller profit margin.

 

Not that I'm defending the practice in general, I just get why they do it. I agree that it can have other impacts like @B-Town mentioned and if you overprice your bottles, people may not show up for the event. I also understand that it costs indeed some $$$ to hire extra security and staff, set up tents, pay bands, etc. when they throw a big, free event, so it makes sense for them to recoup cost via higher on tap/bottle prices.

I also agree that Surly is the best in town at throwing a party and making sure that customers aren't gouged for bottles at the event. I wonder if their unique situation with Brooklyn Center (municipal liquor stores) has any impact on how they are pricing bottles.

A final comment - while I agree on Surly's pricing of higher end/limited offerings at the taproom for the most part, there are exceptions ($5 [or was it event less?] pints of darkness at Moose on Monroe last year). Plenty of places offer/advertise specials for Furious or Hell for $3.

 

Agree on all points. I have no issue supporting guys like Indeed, but if I were frugal (definitely not) I probably wouldn't spend much at their taproom.

 

I think Darkness is a bad comparison as that beer is higher in demand (non craft beer nerds seek it out for trading/selling) and has historically fetched more on the black market so places charge a higher premium for it.

 

Light Speed bombers just arrived at Lakeridge Liquors, Vadnais Heights. $7.99.

 

BA Narwhal at Vinifera.

 

Founders Harvest Ale is at France 44. It must be the wider distribution that's making it so hard to find this year. Even though Founders specifically said that wouldn't happen. Last year it was still sitting some places in December.