Trillium has ruined me..

Agreed ... they are just about on the cusp of seeing their beer not in the cooler. I've been to several stores not where the beer is sitting warm though it moves fast enough to where I doubt it is a problem. We are so used to them having cooler space all of the time. Gratz to them for keeping up with the self-distribution ... it can't be easy.

Things are about to get interesting in the NE with many of the more popular breweries expanding right around the same time. Bissell Brothers, Tree House, The Alchemist, etc

 

My ranking in terms of hoppy beers:

Trillium, Tree House, HF, Alchemist

My ranking in terms of overall:

HF, Trillium, Tree House, Alchemist

That being said, I will happily drink ANYTHING from these breweries and will likely enjoy it.

 

Or what we can sum up as "f'ng awesome!"

 

Well, I live in Somerville and work right by Redstone, so maybe my "world" is different. But, I'm just saying that "ugh, I'm not waiting in line for this stuff at the brewery anymore" bit isn't really a thing with Trillium anymore. Unless you are going for cases of specific beers, then, yeah, you still have to make the pilgrimage.

 

THIS

 

I thought the Alchemist was still planning to stay within VT.

 

Yes ... VT only, but it might be easier to get HT and others once they are open in Stowe.

 

Picked up a bunch of Trill bottles at Redstone Thursday. So weird to see bottle dates almost 6 weeks old on a couple of the brews. Heard they had a case sale this weekend -- likely the result of some excess stock. I assume the cost per oz and 25 oz format is stunting sales....they gotta be at least thinking about canning at this point and lowering $ to be in line w other 16oz peer pricing. I guess the fundamental issue with that is that they'd have to do it for all of their ales cause who would pay $12 for a 25 oz dipa when they could get a 4 pack of say FPPA at $16? Something's gotta give eventually.

 

I hate the 25oz bottles... I wonder if their bottling line can handle a 16.9oz format? Might help with pricing...

 

Problem is breweries that use the 500ml format (Maine, Singlecut) are even more expensive per ounce. I hate the 750ml format too. Bottles don't travel well and are cumbersome and the price sucks. Today I bought a case plus 3 5oz pours in the taproom and it was $160 Cans at a more competitive price would be the shit. I would happily make the extra hour of travel to Trillium more often.

 

You're right.. even the 16.9oz and 500ml bottles are almost double the price per oz compared to cans. Maybe with the increased capacity trillium will come down or consider a canning operation.

Hit OH today and bought a mixed case of 16oz cans for $94.

 

People bitched abour JA 4 pack 500ml bottles at the 11-12 dollar price they were. People bitched about the price of the 4 pk NS cans when they first came out. There is no pleasing most anyone here wrt price. The format/price shit is played. Buy what you like enough to afford. Everything else is lol.

 

Bottles sitting month+ might be evidence of bad pricing, but it might just be from poor distribution. Are these aging bottles Congress St. or some other labels? In my liquor store I do see old Trillium but it's the not-top-tier stuff (e.g. Big Sprang or Free Rise) that lingers, not, say, the Streets. A case sale though....

Price doesn't hold these guys down because there are costs and headaches associated with getting stuff from all comparable NE outfits. Do hope Trill gets to canning by the time TH-Charlton gets up and running.

 

Some quick googling reveals that the Canton facility opened with an initial 10,000 barrel/year capacity, with enough space to eventually get up to 35,000 barrels/year. It seems clear at this point that if they want to continue to ramp up production (and I suspect they may actually have had to slow down a bit from what they started with), they're going to need to either move to more attractive prices/formats, or expand their distribution footprint considerably. It's basically just a question of where they want to position themselves on a scale of The Alchemist to Maine Beer Co. And I guess we're not allowed to complain about price anymore or something but I don't think anyone particularly wants another MBC.

 

At Redstone -- all the flagships are aging -- FPPA, Melcher etc. Perhaps it's premature to speculate -- but based on this sample of one --- they are setting up to be the next MBC....and I don't think canning is in the near future for them as it totally changes their business model and cash/sales/profit and would bring with it uncertainty....financial predictability even more important now that they've got debt to pay off in the form of a multi million dollar brewery in Canton.

 

The prices don't completely drive me away. I will pay a premium for superior beer. Also, I guess the fact I won't have to wait on line makes up the $ difference.

I am still going to hit canton next week and buy up a bunch... I just prefer 16oz for consumption purposes. I feel like 25oz is meant to share and I generally don't open one alone.

 

You could say the same thing about signing on with a distributor.

 

Canning, for trillium, means paying an Iron Heart canning service. Distribution, means losing a percentage of the cut. Both mean a hit to bottom line. Does anybody know if they've cleared the debt incurred for, effectively, being out of business for several months?

The Redstone example, unfortunately, isn't an outlier. It's the same for every distributed beer - the shiny limited release sells, where the staple (which may arguably be better) sits. Does changing the format and price help? Possibly. There are so many options that it may not make a difference.

If Treehouse goes to stores and Julius starts sitting in favor of the limited releases, do people freak out? Once something is consistently on the shelf, people don't feel that need to buy on sight. 90+% of craft consumers are one and done on most beers. Think about your own repeat purchases.

 

People bitched about Night Shift when they first came out as 12 oz 4-packs. Now they charge basically the same price for 4-packs of 16 oz. Listening to the consumer, even if it's anonymous forum posts, can be a win-win.

 

For the flagship base Fort Point, I think not putting Citra dry-hopped on the label was an oversight on their part, expecially when it's on the shelf next to the Galaxy or Mosaic. Not everyone is an uber beer geek that checks out their website for the hop profiles.

I also think it'd be wise to put the main flavor/dry-hop on all the street beers as well, would definitely help them at the retail level where not every shop will have a hop expert on hand.

Just a different thought other than the format/pricing argument, still love me some Trillium!