3 Floyds Brewing (2020)

Dammit will MI ever get distro from these guys? Close friend in KY has sent me several bottles over the years. Wish I could get more. I know expansion is expensive but distro in WI, IL, IN, and OH yet not here is just bizarre.

 

Yeah I don't know but, it doesn't make much sense to expand to NY and Ohio first when Floyds is a hop skip and a jump from 94. Maybe they're worried about competition from Michigan cutting into their sales but, Michigan seems an obvious choice.

 

I get it, but if you think about the market and who is entrenched in those states, Michigan is the most established market with all those contemporaries of FFF there. The other markets don't really offer similar competition. Would you rather compete for shelf space with similar breweries like Bells/Founders or the completely dissimilar offerings of NY's paltry major brewers? Ohio really only has Great Lakes for competition at scale and are they even close to FFF for offerings?

 

I don't know probably rather have my beer as fresh as possible to be enjoyed the way it was meant to be rather than worry about the logistics of cross country transport/turnover time in comparison to local offerings. It's why I always pick up my Floyds at Floyds because even on the same street it's bound to be a month old at a liquor store even in the same town. It's why I drove out to Toppling Goliath last month. After a certain distance does it really make sense to ship time sensitive beers to other markets? I mean i love floyds but, if I was in Iowa and my choice was TG that's fresh vs Floyds that's a bit old i'd go TG

 

Uhm, Fat Heads and Columbus Brewing Company.

Three Floyds is primarily hops in distro (or hoppy beers). The competition is primarily hops. For ohio, that's Fat Heads and CBC. Everywhere in Ohio. By comparison, Great Lakes isn't even a competitor. GL produces a lot of options, and way more distrod in Ohio than in other states, but I'd argue that they aren't really competing for the same market share as Fat Heads, CBC, or FFF.

 

Fat Heads and Columbus Brewing aren't FFF's competition. They are significantly smaller as FFF is top 50 in national sales volume. FFF isn't competing against your local brewpub. Great Lakes and Rheingheist out of OH are both larger in sales volume nationally than FFF, but as mentioned GL and Rheingheists offerings are so dissimilar to FFF's that it's easy to compete on their brand and offerings there.

 

I think you're going off of the idea of what size means in a much broader scale, and not the amount of distro both of these companies have in the state of Ohio, and the amount of product consumed. Both companies can easily compete on sales in the state of Ohio. Easily. Rheingheist and GL are for sure bigger, but in terms of hoppy beers, I'd be shocked if Fat Heads and CBC didn't outsell both of them. Rheingheist and GL compete primarily for different types of customers in the state of Ohio than Fat heads and CBC.

 

Isn’t more of this actually on the distributor as opposed to FFF? I thought if a distributor has contracts in certain states/cities, then that decides which breweries go where. Now maybe FFF can decide which distributor to go with for reasons of getting into a specific market. But I could be spouting nonsense, as I’m not in the industry.

 

They don't use a national distributor.https://www.3floyds.com/distribution/

 

From my retail experience, Fat Heads ans GLBC have been consistently outselling FFF by a country mile for the past 2-3 years post-FFF production expansion. The truth is that people want local now more than ever. Out-of-towners are not so special anymore. Michigan has such a strong and dedicated market with far more regional breweries than us. It’s 100% understandable why they won’t grow their market there. If they’re not doing so hot here, they absolutely won’t in a powerhouse beer state.

 

Thanks for the contribution.

Yea, I've noticed that Ohio seems to be more dedicated to Local than other states. I know michigan is too, and I thought about contributing, but I don't have near the experience that others do with Michigan, so figured best not to.

 

My local Giant Eagle grocery store has a full end cap stocked full of Fat Heads offerings - often more stacks of cases to the side during seasonal releases. More in the cold section. FFF has a much smaller footprint in the middle of an isle and some in the cold section, including some four packs of Alpha King cans that have been greeting me for over eight months. Alpha King is great fresh, but not interested in 8+ month old product when fresh Fat Heads is around the corner.

Rhinegeist seems to have made a impact in the Cleveland area, consistently taking up another end cap with product and a bunch of truth in the cold section.

 

It seems to me breweries have figured this out better than in the past. When TG first came to Chicago, we were getting beer that was months old sometimes. Not any more. I can't speak too much to Ohio, but I would assume FFF is getting beer to NY that is pretty darn fresh. Maybe it sits and becomes not fresh, but that's gonna be because

Curious - Are Fat Heads and CBC available south of Columbus? Also, where does Jackie O's fit in this mix?

 

I really wished Fat Heads reached Chicago, and FFF had a better distributor here.

Hoping Rhinegeist lands here over the next year.

 

Fat heads is available, literally, everywhere in Ohio I think. CBC isn't quite the same footprint, but I've seen it all over, including south of Columbus. That said, I only moved back to Ohio (cincinnati) last year, and between work at that time and the upcoming baby, not only was I not buying much beer (I know, I was doing it wrong; terrible BA), but any beer I was buying was pretty much out of state when I was traveling for work. There are no good beer stores near me; I have to go about 15 solid minutes to find any good stores. As a result, it's just usually easier to stop when I'm out of town. Since COVID, not only have I been not making any additional stops, but I haven't really made any beer purchases, and consequently haven't even looked much.

In my mind, I want to say CBC is in Cincinnati, but I can't say that with certainty.

 

Hell yeah. People love to talk about
Floyd’s and Hops, but I think they are right up there with Dovetail in regards to best German beers in the region.

 

RIP distro for the lager series at least. I got more hyped over those than I have for any of their hops over the last few years. Can’t wait for these crazy times to pass.

 

Yes, CBC is in Cincy and has been reliably plentiful and fresh.

 

Rhinegeist is average at best. You'd much rather have Masthead if they ever grow that big.