Madagascar Distro-Chicago

While that's definitely frustrating, West Lakeview Liquors isn't the greatest at answering their phone, and they're still one of the most highly-regarded beer places in the city, because they take care of the people in their shop, first. Sarah Mart is a small corner liquor store, so I can understand why they wouldn't want to spend their time answering phone calls about a random beer, when the vast majority of their business is just random walk-ins grabbing a 6 or 12 pack from their coolers. If they posted (or re-posted) Madagascar on Beer Menus after selling out, that's totally uncool, I agree, but I don't blame them for the phone portion.

 

I dont get why you're bothering calling in the first place. Based on the past few years of experience with BCBS, the majority of stores will lie to you about a limited availability product if you call. So many times I have been in a store chatting with a clerk and have had the phone ring 3 or 4 times with people asking about the same thing within a 10 minute period of time.

If you're calling around to stores asking about anything that limited, expect that 9/10 times you aren't getting the truth when they tell you they either do not have it, don't know when it'll be in, or that they haven't heard of it. They dont care about the idiots calling every liquor store in a 50 mile radius that will make the long drive to buy 1 beer and never return. None of us care about these idiots.

 

But would you have checked out this place for anything other than limited releases that sell out within 24 hours? If not, then the store's behavior isn't hurting them at all.

 

Here's the example from the other end: I went to Bottles and Cans first time because they had a limited release. When I went there and found out their store was a nice place to shop, I decided to stop in when in the area going forward.

The limited release at the store is what appealed to me initially, but I keep coming back because of the nice folks running the place and the selection they offer.

 

That's how I am, too, but Sarah Mart isn't that type of place, I wouldn't say.

 

Alright everybody, take a deep breath, and say it with me...

"It's just beer."

 

Had three of these on tap last night at Tribes Alehouse. Fantastic vanilla and coffee notes, wish there was a little more bourbon flavor, but overall one of the better stouts I have had in awhile.

 

I don't know why this is complicated...

If a business posts something online claiming they have something rare in stock, they are burdening themselves with the fact people are going to call.

If they don't want that burden or miscalculated the extent of that burden, then they can simply take it off the site.

If they choose to keep the item online as available and just ignore persistant phone calls in hopes those people searching for the rare beer will come in and end up buying something else; is plainly a shit business ethic and they deserve to be shamed for it.

And yes, I do call ahead. This isn't BCS so stop comparing it. Bourbon county was released on a specific day and specific times based on the store. Madagascar distro hit stores on several different days

 

As I mentioned to someone else, I agree that keeping it on Beermenus/putting it up after the fact (potentially) is shitty, but I don't see how this is much different from a Bourbon County release. Outside of Black Friday, no one really knew when their stores would be getting it in (one place I frequent didn't see it for 2 weeks, despite continuously telling me it was going to be in "that Friday"), so calling to get an idea when BCBS would hit isn't that strange.

I think the real issue here is honestly that these beer releases are too limited for calling to be realistic (as has also been mentioned in this thread). If you're calling for confirmation, you better be calling within a minute of them getting stock, and be at best 15 minutes away, or you're wasting both your time, and the time of the person answering the phone. I'm not saying this to be an asshole, because I get why people call for these beers; but realistically, if something posts to Beer Menus, or Twitter, or Instagram, or Facebook, or if it's understood when a beer is hitting, you have less than an hour (if you're lucky) to get there.

 

I can confirm Sarah Mart has some shady practices. The first time I stopped was for Helldorado which was listed on BeerMenus. I went in looked around and picked up a few bottles that I otherwise would have bought elsewhere and then went to the register and asked about Helldorado and was told they sold out. After asking me a few questions I guess the owner deemed me worthy of buying Helldorado...as long as a bought a FW six pack and came by regularly. Needless to say I did not become a regular.

I do not have an issue with them saving bottles for repeat customers, but I do have an issue with someone exploiting BeerMenus for foot traffic and then lying about the availability of a beer. So when Madagascar was relisted he probably did have bottles, but those bottles arnt available to the masses.

 

I'm interested in what sort of questions he asked you. Was it along the lines of "Have you killed any shelf beers? Have you killed any whales? Why?"?
On the general topic, I don't have much sympathy for beer chasers being given the runaround. With few exceptions, the MO for many of these people is to swarm in, purchase highly desired beer and then leave in a cloud of dust. Never to be seen again. Well, until the next highly desired beer is released anyway.

 

friendly reminder that its just beer people

 

The beards prevent people from understanding that.

 

Those that are bothered by these shady business practices, I would encourage you to contact Beer Menus. I can tell you that I know they do not look kindly on this kind of stuff as it affects the value of their site. It might just be beer, but it's also my time and money that is wasted because of fraudulent posts. As mentioned by someone earlier, it's hard enough to find these after a legitimate post. As Goose Island says, "Life is too short to drink cheap beer." I couldn't care less if Sarah Mart, Binny's, or any mom and pop doesn't like me coming into their store because I never buy a 12 pack of Coors Light. Bottom line is that every time I buy something, they are making money. I second Bottles and Cans, that's a great bottle shop run by good peeps.

 

Life is too short to be F5'ing Beermenus, calling up shops, chasing beer all over the city, and getting offended when a business doesn't answer their phone. Get a grip.

 

Thanks for generalizing. On the general topic, I don't like to give my disposal income to dishonest establishments. Check them out on Yelp!

http://www.yelp.ca/biz/sarahs-mart-chicago

 

I prefer to deliver 15+ German Suplexes before F5'ing places like Sarah Mart on Beermenues.

 

In all fairness, the single review of the place on Yelp seems to describe exactly the type of person @Jaycase is talking about. Does the store employee sound like a dick? Possibly, yeah. Does the review come from some rando who came in for Madagascar, never to be seen again? Sounds like it.

I get the frustration of people trying to get limited-run beers, but stores do NOT need your one-time-only business, and I think it's fair to acknowledge that.

 

The point I am trying to make is that every "rando" that walks into an establishment is a potential repeat customer. Why not play the long game? Don't package six packs, don't judge your customers, don't flip flop on product availability, and most importantly SELL WHAT YOU ADVERTISE!!!!!! Do you get a few one off customers maybe...but don't create one off customers from the jump through bad business practices.

 

Honestly man, I agree with you in theory. It just seems like a lot of the smaller business owners have gotten pretty bitter about the limited releases, and I get that too. Not everyone handles them correctly, but I try to remember how it feels to be the retailer (did retail work for a while). It's hard to see through all the scumbags to the guys (presumably like you) who are trying to find a reason to give a place their business. It's a bullshit situation for everyone, and no one has figured it out perfectly yet.