Transient Reserve Society

I am really hoping your new years resolution is to post less.

 

I'll gladly pay $2 more for a transient IPA/DIPA over Hopslam! Honeystone ruined Hopslam for me.

 

I will gladly keep buying his amazing brews, so he can continue to purchase more equipment and produce bigger batches/more brews. Think he said 147 cases? of Juice last time in August, I'm sure it was quite more this time.

Also Transient gives back to the Human Society for Buckley purchases..............

 

Where's the backlash for the $13 pale ales (which IMO, are the better beers than JIL, but doesn't have "juice" in their names)

It's almost like a DIPA is more expensive to make.

 

The "D" in DIPA stands for "double in price" right??

 

No, the "DIP" in DIPA stands for "double in price".

 

Transient should be charging more for Obligatory the next time its released, Trillium charges $17.20/4pk for their IPA's.

 

I agree 100% here. I enjoy Transient's beer, but the "customer service" we've received on this thread has left a bad taste in my mouth. First it was tongue-in-cheek remarks regarding us trying to communicate with each other on availability in the taproom (due to a poor/inefficient communication system on their part currently) and now arguments with a consumer over price.

A lot of breweries use these forums to gauge customer satisfaction and address issues with their operations in a professional manner (Pipeworks comes to mind here). Transient seems to be using it more to argue with / make rude comments at consumers. Hopefully in the future we'll see more positive interactions between the brewery and consumers.

 

I liked how transient responded. The company shouldn't have to deal with baseless criticism. Not a single person could prove transient was overcharging. Also, transient made every attempt to communicate why they charge what they charge along with when beers were available. If you have a problem with the prices or product, don't buy it. This is the way the free market works.

 

Hops are expensive. Willing to bet transient is getting the highly sought after varietals at secondary prices without a long term contract.

 

Lulz, are we a bunch of *********s here that can't take a joke? Its called "sharp wit", maybe it just goes over some people's heads? And what "arguments"? You mean a brewer taking the time to explain the economics of brewing and packaging when he really shouldn't have to justify anything. As someone that has probably visited the taproom in Bridgman way more than any of the keyboard warriors here, I can say that I have never received an ounce of bad service (or beer for that matter) from Transient. Frankly, for the size of their operation/staff, I honestly don't see how they get it all done.

 

agree with this, but lets leave the term *********s to the people who endlessly bicker about politics on facebook.

 

OK, is "overly sensitive beer nerds" better?

 

Anyone else been clicking on this thread hoping to see any actual info on Transient? Haha

 

The criticism wasn't baseless. They picked on one word (price gouging) that was made in one post and used it to distract from the issue to make it seem like they were defending their business from unfair criticism (which, obviously, they aren't price gouging... the crux of the issue was high prices not unfairly high prices). By choosing that tactic, they are shutting down not only the "baseless" discourse but also the completely reasonable discourse. It's actually a smart business tactic but the whole problem is it discourages completely reasonable and justified discourse.

For example, why do Hop Butcher 4 packs cost roughly 30% less than their 4 packs? Both are smaller (relative) breweries making a similar style beers (a lot of the time, and specifically in the example I'm citing). There is a real difference between $16 and $22 but that discussion was discouraged.

Name calling and obvious sarcasm classifies as "sharp wit" now? Talk about a low bar...

 

...and this type of post is the reason that most breweries post very little on BA. There is no requirement at all to respond but once he felt that there was someone posting erroneous information using false analogies he corrected them. With the written word the tone comes from the reader so everyone will add their own tone/inflection to the post so if you already have biases for or against a brewery then your tone will tend further ingrain that feeling

 

I've had a very positive experience with every brewery that has posted on here until this to be honest. A great example is a recent Sierra Nevada release thread where people were trashing two new releases. Sierra Nevada came into the thread and rationally explained the changes, presented their own internal economic levers and their thought process. It went from a thread where people were wondering about the potential downfall of Sierra Nevada to being a much more informed discussion about the future of the brewery and the industry. The key was the tone and response of Sierra Nevada.

Rather than foster an intelligent discussion about the brewery/beer price the discussion in this case devolved into name calling. Transient can respond however they want but it's clear at least some people were bothered by the childish reaction and I've seen evidence of how handling something like that in a different way (both in this forum and countless times in the real world) leads to a much more positive outcome for all involved.

 

Unbelievable that we hit multiple pages of price bitching.

The service at the brewery has always been fantastic and the few times I have been able to interact with Chris there, he has been nothing but informative and great. Hopefully more people drop out of purchasing JIL next time, so I can buy more than two 4-packs.

 

I have to think that there's a difference between a corporate response and that of a small brewery/sole proprietor. Hell, I'm pretty sure Greg Koch has been a little prickly on these forums before, and he's the owner of one of the biggest breweries in the country (no disrespect meant, because as I've said, I enjoy that sort of response).

I like to see a little fire from the people on these boards; the "thank you for your feedback, we try to make sure our beers are competitively-priced while still giving us enough margin to continue to expand as a brewery" answers are polite, but boring to me. I get why the opposite rubs people the wrong way, but I don't think every comment necessitates a properly polite response. Saying a brewer is price-gouging is an insult, and while I don't necessarily think there should be too much offense taken (we speak pretty freely here, obviously), I wouldn't expect the response to be "thank you so much for the feedback!"

I'm also not entirely convinced we should be having this sort of price discussion, because there are no winners typically. It's like going to buy a TV; if you know the actual cost of the TV is $1000 and Best Buy is charging $1200, are you going to demand that they lower the price, or accuse them of price-gouging? We have the right to refuse to buy beer based on price, but we don't necessarily have the right to know every single cost the brewer covers on the way to releasing their beer.

Sorry, I know I'm not helping in this aspect. I agree with you on this; I assume those complaining about price won't buy, which leaves more for me (which is awesome). I hope to continue seeing these beers in Chicago (and at more locations, if possible!).

 

The whole point of having price discussions is to limit price inflation of beer. As I've said before, I've been a craft fan for a long time at this point, probably longer than most, so I've seen how prices have been steadily climbing. I think we as beer drinks all have a vested interest in understanding why. It's easy to say "well if it's too much don't buy it" but that can quickly lead to prices simply pricing people out because "well the richer of us can afford to buy the limited stock so go pound sand poorer folk." I would think one glance at * would highlight the danger to people of "well hey let's just all pay what the market dictates" line of thinking.

My whole point here is that Hop Butcher sells their NE IPA 4 packs for $16, is there a fundamental reason Transient sells theirs for $22? Again, they don't need to respond and they don't need to be kind but I think it is in all of our best interests as consumers to have the discussion. Liking the "firey" response to dissent is kind of dangers (i.e. read your history). There's a different between being PC and bland "thanks for your comment blah blah" and engaging with your customers. Another example, look at Pipeworks, I questioned if the smaller batch releases would lead to it being more difficult to obtain bottles of barrel aged offerings. Rather than insult me or say we appreciate the feedback they rationally explained their strategy, how it would work and everyone appreciated it and agreed it made sense (Pipeworks is awesome on many levels). Having positive interactions with your customer base is a good thing, having negative ones is now.