Oh where art thou Ballast Point?

I’ve heard a few comparisons to Rogue, which makes sense from the inexplicable high price point. But Ballast Point always seems to put out a good product and is run by seemingly happy and content employees.
Whereas Rogues’ fall from grace seems to have been spurred by average to poor beer, horrific treatment of their employees, and shady to straight-up illegal business practices.

 

Too pricey for me, and for some reason I just don't like the name Sculpin so it has no attraction to me at all.

 

In the weeds with a lot of the other regional and nationally distributed "craft" and craft breweries. Why bother with them when there are locally distributed beers that don't have to travel thousands of miles to reach their shelves.

 

Sculpin has become an almost value IPA option around Boston these days. $7/pint usually vs $7-9/12 oz for many of the local IPAs.

 

@jesskidden, does your industry data provide any insights into whether their growth is being driven by continued expansion into new markets, or whether sales are increasing in certain existing locations? All these anecdotal stories about product lingering on shelves has me wondering, and at least SeekABrew doesn't show them as having distro everywhere in the US, so my hypothesis would be that growth is being driven by pushes into new areas, and that they may stagnate overall once there are fewer new places to go.

Edit: now catching up on the rest of the thread, I see @JackHorzempa already hit this question. Cheers!

 

They can take their $16 six packs and shove em!

 

A buddy of mine works for BP. They have a ton of amazing beers that Constellation keeps trapped in R&D, never to see the light of day, because they dont want the hassle of marketing something new when Sculpin, etc sells so well already. Basically the business version of "if it aint broke, dont fix it."

I've sampled a few of these R&D beers and I can vouch that the amazing BP quality we all fondly remember hasnt died...it's just imprisoned.

 

Seems to me that BP has always been a brewery that BA's like to poke fun at or give a hard time too. More often than not, I find that their beers are very high quality and offerings are interesting. Price point may be high, but when out at a bar or restaurant they are almost always the same price as all the others. Grapefruit sculpin is still so good.

 

What is their goal of making these if they know none of them will see the light of day? I guess I don't understand the effort. Sounds like some of these guys need to go off on their own and start up a new venture and bring these to the public.
Cheers

 

They develop test beers and although it almost never goes beyond that, at the end of the day, they're getting paid to make whatever beer they can dream up, knowing that they'll get to drink it on the job and bottle it to take home and share with people.

As I understand it, they are constantly told that one of these days they'll mass produce one of them. They just haven't stopped dangling the carrot while there are more fruits to add to Sculpin.

 

Sounds like NM to a tee. It gets worse though. Gf sculpin is upwards of 6 months old constantly. I still try to find some fresh but it's rare. The first three months, it couldn't stay on the shelves. That $1 billion dollar sale looks so much worse. Did they think triple digits growth was normal? And no one would step in to compete? I do not feel sorry for them in the slightest.

That goes for other guys too. Bells, FW, DFH, Founders all came to my state within the past 3 years and after that 1-2 month rush/surge, you start finding beers like DFH 60 min at 2 months old and not 2 weeks old. FW sits like there's no tomorrow. They sell but not at the quantities these stores are buying. So you'll be drinking that same aged beer 2-3 months down the line. For most, it's onto the next newly distributed brewery. Breweries are actually expanding based on these one time sales bumps. Scary stuff.

 

Sounds like they need to jump ship. From what your saying there is a lot of talent and great beer. Sort of upsetting to hear these things, just more proof big corps care less about the beer and love of beer and just focus on pure profit. Amazing.

 

It's good stuff I guess, but it's way overpriced. I can get Revolution Anti-Hero, Columbus IPA, Bell's Two Hearted, etc... all fresh and for around 10 bucks a 6

 

I remember when Sculpin only came in $8+ undated bombers and people still raved about it and said it was worth it.

 

When Sculpin first came out, it was one of the best IPAs around and scored very highly in the BA top 100 IIRC.

 

I think the price point cant compete with other local stuff, but i know its coming down about $1.50 a 6 pack here in NoCo soon. Also their 2017 high west aged victory at sea just came out and ill be getting some of that, and fathom is now an IPA it cans so that could be fun. It is just tough to throw down $13.99 for a 6er when there is stuff at $9.99 that is just as good or better

 

Very rarely will I spend $16 on a 6 pack. I haven't had Sculpin in years, but I did enjoy it. I will throw them in if I'm getting a mix six and some of their beers are available. Was able to try Grunion, Big Eye and Calico Amber and did did enjoy all of those, but not enough to warrant spending up for them.

 

Love me some BP....wonder why they didn't do a holiday or Chrictmas beer?...or should I say 'Fishmas' beer....

 

Picked up a 4-pack of their High West BA Victory at Sea for $16, which I thought was a pretty good price.

To echo others, though, in general I find them priced too far above the rest to buy with regularity.

 

I drank and purchased a lot of Sculpin a few years ago when I first started getting into IPA's. At that time, it was one of the better IPA's to be had in Houston. Local breweries weren't putting many IPA's on the shelf, and those that were tended to not be of the same quality. Things have changed, local breweries are doing a better job. Other large breweries are getting good IPA's on the shelf in the sub $10 range. So Sculpin has been relegated to the buy on tap when found status. I can afford the additional $3-4 a bump per 6 pack, but I'm not going to pay it. I had hoped so much the Constellation buyout would bring efficiencies to the brewery, procurement and distribution model allowing them to price this beer in the $10 range. If that was the case, I don't think it would be sitting on the shelves everywhere. And after reading that article from the Marketing team from Constellation/BP I am questioning what i know about marketing