B. United International (2019)

It comes over in tanks and put in kegs and/or cans!

http://www.bunitedint.com/information/collections/tank_container/

 

Huh. I had no idea you could you could do that with beer. I know something new now, thanks.

 

There's a brewery, or rather a fermenterium, in the next county south, Garden Path (https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/52917/ ) that has a neighboring brewery make their wort, put it into vessels, and the drive it over with the forklift. Then, they use their yeasts and bugs for fermentation.

Same theory with shipping across the ocean, just a bit different.

 

Anheuser-Busch was doing it circa 1980, when they had an agreement with Wurzburger to import their beer in bulk and bottle or rack it into kegs it at their Newark brewery. Of course, they took some "artist license" in the illustrations in their ads


AB execs at the time noted the containers - insulated, but not refrigerated - contained ~5000 gallons and looked like "giant stainless steel boxes". (Although early articles, when it was still in test market, said they were "100 gallon barrels"). AB gave the bottles a 100 day shelf life, with 45 days for the kegs - probably about the same as their domestically brewed beers at the time.

 

A delayed follow-up about my interactions with my region's B. United agent (Brendan Kingston) and the rep for their local distributor (Kevin Holmes of TJ Sheehan).
On July 18 I contacted Brendan about where I could buy Schlenkerla near me. He responded within an hour and, after some back & forth, had me in contact with Kevin by the end of the day. A couple of emails and a phone call with Kevin the next day resulted in his arranging for a case of helles through my beer store.
We bitch about distributors a lot so it's only right to point out exceptional, prompt, and courteous service from one.

It took three weeks for the order to arrive, but thanks to a regular customer “showing interest” my helles turned into the store ordering a case each of Schlenkerla's full line.

So, thanks @ONovoMexicano for starting this thread.

 

It is indeed proper for you to point this put. I just want to emphasize the "exceptional" aspect here. I have interacted many times with Wholesale Distributors trying to obtain beers and I have yet to experience 'good' (let alone "exceptional") service in dealing with them.

Enjoy your moment!

Cheers!

 

Yes, there are some distributors that deserve praise. For years there was one Retail Distributor near where I live who would get me a case, fresh, of any beer brought legally into PA. If he couldn't get it as fresh as I liked it he'd let me know and not get it. He went the extra mile since he knew if I ordered the full case I'd buy it...

 

Yep, that's why “exceptional” is the first word.

EVERY OTHER TIME I've contacted a distributor I've received either a canned “contact your retailer” reply or no response at all.

 

Bingo!

Non-cheers to Wholesale Distributors poor service which happens 99.9% of the time (100% so far with me)!!

P.S. Just yesterday I posted:

“Jim, FWIW I have had numerous similar (bad) experiences with other local Wholesale Distributors. I have reached the conclusion that Wholesale Distributors just don't give two shits to help beer consumers to locate the beers they distribute. This situation makes me motivated to just buy my beers directly from the plethora of small, local breweries in my area.”

https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...-updates-etc-2019.600922/page-15#post-6609666

 

This may actually have to do with state laws. In PA there are Wholesale Distributors and Retail Distributors (effectively they are retialers who primarily sell beer to us by the case). In PA the Wholesale Distiributors may not, under state law, sell directly to any customers other than Retailers, and risk losing their licenses if they do so.

B. United, as an Importer of international beverages may well be in a gray zone that doesn't exist for Wholesale Distributors and that allows them to deal more or less directly with both situations.

 

Not really a "grey zone". In PA (as in most states) the wholesale distributor - technically called an Importing Distributor* in PA, right? - is licensed to buy beer from a brewery or an importer and sell it to the retailers (retail distributors, bars, restaurants, grocery stores). * Because they are licensed to "import" beer from out-of-state breweries into PA.

The way @officerbill tells of his experience he was dealing with both the importer, B. United and their local wholesale distributor, TJ Sheehan. It would have been Sheehan who delivered the beer to his local retailer in most cases. Not much different than you or I complaining to a US brewery about their beers and them getting in touch with their local distributors in our area and making things right.

 

Thanks for clarification, that does make B. United an exception indeed. So the solution may be dealing with both... to help “facilitate” the process. ( I’d assume an importer is an importer regardless of international or not.)

 

Well's that PA (and a few other states') legal lingo. On the Federal level, an Importer is licensed to import beers from outside country - although some also have state distribution licenses and others act as "master distributors" for some domestic brewers.

But in the classic Three Tier system model, it's:

Brewer or Importer
V
Wholesaler/Distributor
V
Retailer

 

NY is similar; wholesale distributor > retailer > consumer. Three previous times I asked distributors if a beer they supposedly carried was available in my area; twice I received canned “ask about our products at your favorite store....” replies, the other time there was no reply at all. I wasn't asking to buy, I was asking where to buy.

Edit: when I first contacted B. United I was under the impression that they were both importer & distributor. I didn't know about Sheehan distributing, just that some of BU's other imports were sold around here.

 

And I have done the same in my area with similar results. You would think the Wholesale Distributors would want to foster the sales of the products they handle but consistently for me the answer was no - they weren't interested in fostering sales.

Given how the craft beer scene is changing so drastically with ever growing numbers of small, local craft breweries you would think the distributing beer industry would be 'chasing' every dollar? But no.

Cheers!

 

The bigger the distributor the more likely you will be met with an insufficient response to any question. We were a small distributor. I always steered the public inquiries about beer and where to find it as best I could. It's just good manners.

 

I agree with you here. In the Philly area none of the Wholesale Distributors have exhibited "good manners" to my numerous inquiries. This is not going to motivate me to support the three tier distribution beer industry when I can purchase my beers directly from the plethora of small, local breweries in my area.

The craft beer industry/market is much different today then when you were working.

Cheers!

 

I tried to bring civility into our business practices, and it largely worked. Some competitors and customers were big challenges.