An open letter to Ballast Point Brewery

Why don't you just go back in time in that borrowed Delorean and get fresh beer right when it hits the shelves?

Seriously though, have you checked the bottom of the bottles?

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Bottom of the bottle. They started doing it even in transition with the dates still on the labels last November. NEXT!!!!!

 

C'mon Biff, in a fraction of the time it took you to write that post you could have typed 'Ballast Point bottle date" in google and been presented with the following link.

http://www.ballastpoint.com/date-stamp-guide/

 

NM is a great example. I want to say BP distribution started in May of 2015. Things started off nice.. real nice. 10 day fresh GF Sculpin. Price was never an issue. Soon it was month old. Then I too, couldn't find the bottled on dates. BOTTOM of the bottle, just like the cans is what I found. But it wasn't on their website for months.

They appeared to have staled in sales as they now have more shelf space than Sam Adams in many outlets. Cans and bottles of the same outdated "junk".

It's the new wave of craft unfortunately.

For reference, I checked today, new displays of BP gf sculpin, julian dated 50 2016. I just can't do it anymore. Their sell out has made it even easier.

I tell myself, if I can find it under 30 days, I would do it. I really like freshish GF sculpin. So far, it's been since their buyout that I have found it fresh.

I have to say, sales do dictate how fast product can move. Maybe stores are getting too much of the same dated stuff to "inflate" sales figures. Or more product variety/sz quantity ioptions.

But at the end of the day, their day may be coming if they can't correct these issues. It's laughable to think a billion dollar brewery is fragile, But I don't know anyone buying it anymore. Will they disclose their sales figures for the first q16? A responsbile brewery would rotate out old stuff and bring in new. But I really don't see that happening much for American craft in general. So they sorta get a pass there. Their frontier spirit makes them an easy target. Freshness is a problem for all.

In closing, I do get OPs message loud and clear. And I agree.

 

Biff,
You have knocked me askew with your well reasoned, rational, thought out and reasonable post. While I am not a fan of BP, I think your overall post is an excellent point. I have the same problem here with Firestone Walker. I love Union Jack and Double Jack. However I can rarely find it less than 60 days old. Once or twice a year there will be a deluge of new product and then it will sit for months and months. (In a similar vein, if anyone wants 2014 Founders Double Trouble I can get you a couple of cases)
Great job Biff

 

I'm having the same problem with freshness and I live in California, the home state of BP! Perhaps I just don't understand how distribution works but I have been hunting for fresher Grapefruit Sculpin and the best I've found was 3 month old cans. I miss old BP... Hope the issues get ironed out soon.....

 

Easy to find fresh GF Sculpin around here, but my favorite is the Habanero, and all I find is usually ~4 months old.

 

Maybe BP will figure out if they competitively price their product, it might not sit on shelves. Their price points are what limit my BP purchases.

 

Price sells when all else fails.

 

The last thing I tried from BP that I really liked was Mango Even Keel but not enough to spend what they're asking on a regular basis. I'm waiting for their "10 versions of one beer schtick" to fizzle. I think they should keep up with beers like Calm Before The Storm, that was an awesome beer ($16 a 6pk is a bit steep but I enjoyed the hell out of it) and I think their should be more cream ales (I always look forward to Anderson Valley Summer Solstice). But the whole "People like IPAs right? People like sugar right?" approach is getting annoying. And as someone who works in the retail end of beer it is a HUGE pain in the ass having to make room for all the new bullshit that BP throws at us and the just watching it sit there.

 

I believe distributors and breweries need to work together more on knowing how fast the product is moving. I know there's more to it then that, but if you order less per delivery to the distributor you will have less on hand. Which means fresher beer in stock, and everyone knows the fresher the faster it will sell.

 

Dear Ballast Point, not every beer needs a fruit version (see Watermelon Dorado). However, please continue to fruit Sculpin. That is all.

 

I'm not a huge fan of ballast point, sculpin is good but not worth $14 a six pack. They definitely need to bottle date, their beers sit, probably because of the price.

 

Julian dating is fine, I'll look closer next time.

 

Picked up some grunion a few weeks back, liked it a lot but 9 times out of 10 I refuse to pay BP's prices when there is always something of similar quality $2-$3 less a six pack.

 

It's a points of sale/shelf space/expanded portfolio game. I have seen BP absolutely dominate various shelf areas (who isn't trying to do this). They have just had greater success. When entering NM, they had about 5 total offerings. Now it seems everything comes in both cans and bottles. It doesn't appear they sell that well anymore, but I guess that is up for the stores to refuse every variation of sculpin, when people just want fresh regular and/or GF sculpin. Or maybe they can't refuse every variation without losing Corona (speculation obvously). I want to say consumers have a say, But I just don't know anymore.

Have any beer store workers/owners seems sales stall? The honeymoon phase is definitely over in NM. I know BP just entered a half dozen more states this year

 

With the availability of great local/regional beers I just don't see how some of these breweries expect to be or are going to be successful outside of their local/regional markets at these prices. Maybe a few years ago, but not in todays beer scene. There's also plenty of other great breweries that distribute outside of their areas at much more reasonable prices.

 

It doesn't matter where they print the date. There are towers of Ballast Point Sculpin and all its variations in Connecticut in every store, including Whole Foods. And every last bottle is 6-8 months old at this point. Why does it sit? Because the average consumer doesn't know what the hell it is and it is too expensive. But it has AleSmith to keep it company. At least they aren't lonely.