DC/MD/NoVA Beer Updates (2018)

I believe Magruder’s may still have some. At least they did as of a week ago or so.

 

I also missed Parabola a while back - is that still sitting on the shelf anywhere?

 

Sucaba remains available at Magruders. Stickee Monkee too.

 

Still got a few bottles on shelf at Odd Provisions

 

BCBW total wine chantilly. $20

 

Wow didn't think Total Wine was on the scarcity/price gouging trends, but clearly they've proven me wrong!

 

@b-mc-g For TW, it's all about the distributor's price at which they sold the product. This time around, the distributor price was significantly higher than it used to be. While the retail price is higher, TW's profit margin is LOWER on this product this round than previous times it was sold.

Scarce? Yes, relatively speaking. BC of any variants is not normally available this time of year.
Price gouge? If you think so, you may want to talk to the distributor. Part of their explanation might have something to do with their holding/cellaring costs associated with this stash of bottles.

Hope this helps shed some light on related facts.

Cheers,
Rob

 

Fair enough. Can't help a distributor's prices. However, anyone who sees this should unequivocally steer clear as it is a clear price gouge set either by GI/AB, the distributor, or both. A fair price for that beer is around $13 new, so $20 is a nearly 50% markup. While I appreciate storage space etc, you can't tell me that beers value appreciated 50% for having sat for six months.

Further this is a clear and coordinated effort to price gouge as they just announced that the barleywine won't be dropping next year.

The GI team should worry more about quality control than creating scarcity and hype.

 

A couple weeks ago a Total Wine up here had Regal Rye for $50. Original and Barleywine too, I believe BW was the same, ~$20

 

It’s the same at all Total Wines I’ve seen. Regal is $50, BW is $20, 2014 BW was $15 (12oz), BCBS was $13, this was the case in Norfolk VA. I caved on some of the 2014 but agree the price gouging is a bit egregious and coordinated

 

All the more reason for craft enthusiasts/Beer Advocates to spread the good word and let people know what a rip off this and other ABI products are.

The initial thought was that these buyouts were meant to make six packs of their buyout beers (Elysian GI Golden Road) irresistible to craft drinkers, but now they’re entering the realm of hype and scarcity aggressively as well it seems.

With Parabola and Stickee floating around on shelves in the DMV still I hope that’s where people buy.

 

BCBBW 2017 sitting out on the shelf at TW McLean with no limits. $20/bottle.

 

God who cares

 

The last Commonwealth drop at CBC has 2 of the better NEIPAs i've had from a local brewery. Iconoclast and Guatavita are better executions of the style than anything i've had from Aslin in recent months.

I've had some really bad cans of Big Papi here and there, but the limited release stuff from Commonwealth has been very good lately.

 

I'd be curious to hear more about this. Was it batch inconsistency? Carbonation issues?

I've only had it once, and I've been meaning to buy more since the first can greatly exceeded my expectations, but this gives me pause.

 

I've had some pretty badly oxidized cans in the past--you can tell immediately, as it pours a brownish-orange and tastes pretty stale.

Maybe its been resolved--i haven't had a bad can since the winter, but i also don't buy it as regularly.

 

I picked up both of these yesterday but only tried Guatavita last night. It is really good, but I'm a sucker fo El Dorado.

Glad to see Commonwealth putting out good stuff. Especially considering the ease of obtaining it.

 

Last week I had Aurora and Bizango (IIPAs) and they were spectacular.

 

Did Commonwealth start dating their cans yet?