Stone Enjoy By 7-4-19

Are you in the part of California where Stone and many other craft brands are distributed by the brewery-owned Stone Distributing Co.?

 

Except for a BA Ten Fidy...when you’re already kinda drunk. I wouldn’t wish that hangover on my worst enemy. I can never drink that beer again without having flashbacks.

 

Well played.

I’ve had a BA Ten Fidy stovepipe a few times. That just seems more reasonable as a stout. Lots of stouts come in big formats. My comment was geared more towards those that might try to tackle 2-3 or 4 in one sitting without much thought.

 

Depends on how you use/consume it. Grabbed a couple cans for backpacking trips. A nice hoppy beer to enjoy while setting up camp. And then something heavier/darker for sipping by the fire, or a nice rye whiskey.

 

Reminds me of the time I was already pretty shit faced and then I decided that having that one last bomber of barley wine would be a good idea. Yeah, no surprise I can't remember which one.

 

2x4 is difficult to drink and a miss, IMO, from one of my favorite breweries. And I’ve tried more than once to like it—bought 4 packs twice and singles a couple times too, from the store where I work.

And I LOVE MelvinIPA and Hubert.

 

But those retailers also do have some 'in code' beers as well so I (and other customers) buy those beers.

Also. those retailers have HUGE stacks of AB beers and those beers are all in code.

Cheers!

 

No surprises there. I don’t buy out of code beer either but have seen plenty of folks just walk in, grab a six-pack and pay for it.

 

Should I feel bad that I once did a side by side of the BA Ten Fidy and the regular? In my defense it did take a while.

 

That's one of the biggest issues for craft brands that are distributed by a Miller/Coors or AB house. These reps know where their bread is buttered and for the most part these usually aren't craft enthusiasts we're talking about. Sure, they show some love for national brands such as Sierra Nevada, Samuel Adams or New Belgium (brands established enough to offer quarterly/annual bonuses), but the smaller the brand gets the lower it falls on their priority list. They're not getting paid on "brewery X" so they could care less if it rots on the shelf. However, when it comes to those huge floor stacks and endcap displays of Miller/Coors/Bud/Corona/Heineken, that is where the real money is which is why sales reps are so diligent with regulating the codes on these products.

Some may find it hard to believe, but these national brands also have extremely thorough "Quality Audits" throughout the year. These are abrupt sweeps of a distributor's market where they are on a witch hunt looking for any OOC product and grade the distributor. Trust me, you do NOT want to be that guy who has a stack of old 30pks in one of your stores or, even worse, a wholesaler who receives a poor overall score. The grading on these audits has only gotten tougher over the years. It would be great if all breweries could implement something like this, but it just isn't realistic as performing these audits throughout an entire distribution footprint is extremely expensive.

This is why you see graveyards of old (although great when fresh) craft beer slumped next to proud stacks of the freshest Miller Light you've ever seen.

On the actual topic, I love the Enjoy By series and thought this 07.04.19 release was great. It's been 5-6 years now, but I still remember how exciting it was when we were allocated a single case of fresh Enjoy By bombers at my previous job. It was the beer that really opened my eyes to West Coast IPAs and I've been a big fan ever since. My love for the style has even grown recently with the current onslaught of New England IPAs. A few years ago, finding a fresh, readily-available NEIPA in stores was challenging and West Coast IPAs were a dime a dozen. Now it seems like the roles have been reversed.

 

There is indeed a cost associated with this business practice. I will opine that there is also a cost associated with maintaining the status quo of so much old product sitting at retailers. I have noted that more and more folks are purchasing beer directly from the plethora (and growing in number) of small, local breweries.

The distributing craft beer industry really should take note of the changing craft beer scene.

Cheers!

 

But part of his point is that there is only a beer distributing industry and craft beer is a small part of it.

 

?

I buy beer from multiple breweries who do not distribute their beers.

Cheers!

 

To clarify, there is no craft beer distributing industry, only a beer distributing industry and the folks you mention buying from who do not distribute their beers or who are small enough to self-distribute are not part of it.

Similarly, the craft beer that does go into the beer distributing industry is generally small enough that many of the breweries who use it don't have a lot of clout in monitoring what happens in the beer distributing industry.

 

Found some on Sat. This certainly isn’t the beer I remember loving when it first came out. It’s way to big on the abv, and it’s really tough to pull that off. I like ipas that are much lighter, crisp and fruity, this beer is none of those things. I can understand why the local mom and pop doesn’t stock it, a future pass for me. Found it at TW.

 

Balance in ipas are critical imo, it’s really tough to pull off these rather high abv and maintain any semblance of balance, and the same applies to session ipas on the other side. There’s a sweet spot that’s between 6-8% that just seems to work really well. But I’m a fanatic about this stuff too, and perhaps to an unreasonable level. I know whether I’ll like it or not with a simple whiff, and the EB at first whiff smelled like it was 4-5 months old when obviously it’s not.

 

Dale, I tend to agree with you here.

I have yet to drink a Session IPA that I enjoy drinking - they are too watery for my palate.

As regards the other side (e.g., DIPA and TIPA beers) there are some DIPA beers that I enjoy drinking but more often than not they come off too cloying for my taste.

When I homebrew my IPAs I shoot for 7% ABV.

Cheers!

 

Yes