American Made Marzens

Technically there should be no 'deal' between a brewery (e.g., Victory) and a retailer. Each Wegman's need to purchase their beers from differing Wholesale Distributors who serve their area/region. I suppose a Victory Sales Rep. could 'assist' here but ultimately the business transaction is an individual Wegman's store and the associated Wholesale Distributor.

Cheers!

 

this is what I was wondering mainly. To be fair they actually just seem to stock big on local actually but the two biggest stacks are always yards and victory.

 

How well represented is Sly Fox?

Are there any Jersey breweries that are well stocked (e.g., Flying Fish, Cape May,...)?

Cheers!

 

And, needless to say, must follow the NJ ABC regulations, which makes the wholesale prices and quantity discounts the same to all retailers. Last I checked, Victory (and, now, Southern Tier, too) are distributed in most NJ counties by AB houses - the exception being where AB has a "WOD" wholly-owned distributorship and it's carried by Nash (Bergen, Passaic, Essex & Hudson). This group - indie AB + Nash - has/had an organization called "New Jersey Beverage Alliance" which, I guess, coordinated the non-AB "craft" breweries' beers (FW/Ommegang, Brooklyn, etc) they bring in and distribute within the state.

Anyway, last year the AB house in central Jersey offers a "mix and match" discount of $ 4.50/cs (13.8%) on a purchase of 20 or more cases of Victory's standard beers to any retailer, according to an old CPL (Current Price List). That's a better deal than they offered on a lot of AB "captured" ex-craft brands.

Can't say I've ever been impressed with the freshness at Wegmans - I find a lot of older beer on the shelves (OoC Ramstein last few times I ventured into one, kinda frustrating given how rare it is to find that brand this far south). I remember finding stacks of Ithaca's Flower Power at the Rt. 1 Princeton store that was several months older than the same brand being sold in the next door strip mall by Joe Canal's.

 

@JackHorzempa yep. They were the only place that regularly had sly fox around here that I knew of, though I’m sure there is others that’s where I’d get them. They also do a good job stocking flying fish, cape may, and double nickel

@jesskidden the discount thing makes sense maybe that’s there motivation. Either way their pile seem to move fast. Maybe it’s their location. I dislike the mount laurel wegmans but cherry hill store is where I go and they just seem to have good turnover/restocking with certain brands I guess. Though I have definitely found old beer there too just not with the brands I’m thinking of.

They also just put all the seasonals in one area so it’s very easy to pick and find their Oktoberfest which is why I’ve been going more lately.

 

You read my asterisked footnote, right?

 

JK, so far I have had good luck at my local Wegman's. By all indications this store had tremendous turnover and thereby the beer has little chance to get old on the shelves. Now, maybe they do get from the Wholesale Distributors beer that is not super fresh? I purchased two six-packs today: Sly Fox Octoberfest and Weihenstephaner Festbier. The Sly Fox Octoberfest is super fresh. Unfortunately the Weihenstephaner Festbier is not super fresh despite being very fresh to the area; that beer was bottled in February 2020 for some stupid reason.

Cheers!

 

Same for my store in King of Prussia. I suppose some supermarket locations just have a more 'dynamic' customer base?

Cheers!

 

Yeah, I usually assume that any chain store's inventory "quality" as far as freshness is dependent on local management keeping watch over their distributors, not a matter of some corporate edict.

In NJ, Wegmans uses a technicality to get around the law that prohibits an entity from owning more than two off-premise licenses by putting the licenses in the names of individual Wegmans family members - that's why the receipt at the Manalapan, NJ store says "JWG FINE WINES & SPIRITS", for Joan Wegman Goldberg, granddaughter of founder.

 

I did not purchase it yet but now looking forward to.

Is it early, though? If memory serves me correctly it can always be found in Aug. and with all of their competitors out now too it makes sense.

$8.00?!? Is there any tax added when purchased? It's $10.49 a six pack here.

 

You had me questioning myself @ESHBG so I went back and checked my TD account history. After tax and all it showed up as 9.56$ So it must be 8.99$ not 8$, before tax. I just knew there was an 8 in there, oh well. Still a steal IMO.

 

Wow yeah still a great price and that's even better then here years ago when it was $9.99.

 

I don't recall seeing the Victory Festbier in early August before but....

Cheers!

 

I didn't get any smoke at all over a couple of 4-packs. Maybe I perceived it very slightly after reading that post about the yeast, but I was also primed to look for it. Two relevant points:

1. It was my favorite local Maibock I had this year.
2. I f**king HATE Ruachbiers. People have given me many recommendations, but I have never been able to stomach more than a couple of truly unpleasant ounces.

FWIW, I enjoy a lot of smoky foods: BBQ, smoked fish, I even have a "campfire" brownie recipe that uses liquid smoke. There's something about smoky beer that just does not agree with my palate.

 

Dunno -- I took one whiff of the first can (yes, poured into a glass) and thought, "What the hell?" Others who already perceived the smoke wanted to know what I thought of the beer -- without telling me what they thought.

With their use of the yeast throughout the batch, I doubt it would be stronger or lighter between can batches, so it must be all sensitivity.

 

Yup!

That's why I quoted it. I was just agreeing with you as another data point.

Wow. That's the earliest bottling of their Festbier that I can ever recall. There should be fresher stock somewhere. Mine was late May if I recall correctly, and I think I've seen some people post that they've found June bottling dates.

Typically their Oktoberfest is one of the "freshest" imports each season.

 

Then your experiences are markedly different from mine. In the past they were always packaged early in the year (unfortunately).

Non-cheers to this!

 

I could always drink Saint Arnold Oktoberfest which regularly medals as a Scottish Ale at GABF.

 

I know Jack. I used to always say 1968. Too many people are now dead to be comparable to that weird year. And here's one from 1962. This was the Duke chant and mantra for years.

 

I'll buy that. Looked through some of my personal notes and it looks like I'm either not perceiving it when my friends do, or I find it overwhelming and hard to stomach. Kind of an all-or-nothing perception.