Twin Cities Bottle Hunt - 2016 Edition

I agree that being a regular has its advantages too...I've had someone give me special releases being held "in back" as well, so perhaps I'm a hypocrite.

But I no longer have a regular haunt. It was Petschen's in West St. Paul - now closed - then Boozemart - now closing - & Princeton's in Maple Grove - when my office was in M.G.

The answer to truck chasers is strict limits IMHO. I know someone who bought 8 cases of BCS. That's just wrong, both from an individual & a store level. Hopefully there's a happy medium in there someplace!

 

All good comments. I just don't know how stores can really complain about these "chasers" because there just isn't enough of these sought after beers for store regulars to get it from their regular store. So of course they'll start calling around asking.

If Perennial made a million bottles of Abraxas, people wouldn't call, obviously.

 

I can definitely see why stores get tired from people calling about rare beer releases like this week's lot, but at the same time I don't feel that bad them. They're allowed to charge a hefty price per bottle (justifiably so) and move through the product almost immediately. They often don't even need to stock or tag it and it's often out the door within 24 hours. I'm sure they still get the jerks that will give them the "I WILL NEVER SHOP HERE AGAIN" BS, but missing out on releases has never kept me from coming back to my favorite shops.

Now, I don't have any experience in the beer/liquor biz, but I have to imagine being able to turn your expensive stock into cash that quickly is any retailer's dream. Or am I missing something here???

 

Loads of Tweak at MGM Woodbury for $19.99/bottle. No word whether or not it comes with KY

 

Though it definitely seems more fair to give preference to "regulars" by holding rare beers for them, in my limited experience, it seems like rare beers are often just held for buddies of the people working at the store, even if they're not the most loyal, valuable customers. It seems like you're just exchanging one game for another; instead of the game of watching social media and chasing trucks, it's the game of buddying up to the people who work at these stores.

 

I'm sure it's great, but they are not staying in business based on these releases. They stay in business with the rest of their product and the rest of their customers who come in. Selling 2 cases of some rare beer is going to gross them what, maybe $1000? That's not enough to stay in business. Maybe a few of those people grab a 4 pack of something else. Grab some other beers here and there, but most, myself included, run in, grab the bottle and head on out. It's kind of a nice bonus to have a quick sell, but they need more than that I'd suspect.

 

Has anyone seen this in stores yet, or have insight about when it will be available? Made a couple calls but it doesn't seem to be in St Paul yet...

 

So what you're saying is, we all should be buying more Saga right now???

In all seriousness, good points.

 

Elevated WBL got it yesterday. Hopefully it makes it to the parts of the Twin Cities that matter today.

 

This reminds me of the "silent" release of Assassin at Casanova, where there was a line the length of their parking lot at 2am (hours before the announcement).

 

Black Note and High Westified singles at Total Wine in Roseville. A couple cases of High Westified at least, not sure how much Black Note was left.

 

I remember that one. I was number 62 in line. They had 60 tickets.

 

Gold Assassin? Not quite, they tweeted the night before, saying something to the effect of "you should be here tomorrow when we open." I made an educated guess that it was Assassin, and ended up 6th in line at 6 am.

 

So long as it is not a Surly release and the hefty price is not too hefty. Violate that and you become public enemy #1 on these boards for years.

 

I feel I need to add some comment about where actual beer is today, so I will, after work, since I completely derailed the purpose of this string.

Oh wait I think the Nova has NL Sosus (again), although this might be a few days old. I will do better.

 

I was right behind you, that day sucked.

 

Just left TW rose. One big bad baptista left, out of black note, tad bit imperial coffee left.. 2 bottle limit $2.99 , said they only got 2 cases.

 

Shorewood Liquor has Tweak, Cave-Aged, Stone Unfiltered Enjoy By 12/25, Boom Island Kriek, and Coconut Victory At Sea

 

What the hell, they only gave me one bottle of each. Also, was the Baptista on the shelf? I searched high and low and didn't see any.

 

I could only get one bottle of each also and specifically asked about Baptista and they told me they were out even though it was still listed as available on their website.