3 Floyds permanently closing Munster brewpub

Never a good sign for a brewery when there are more shots than beer.

 

At the risk of contributing something relevant to the thread, I picked up some beer curbside today. I was stunned by the number of cars in the distillery and distillery overflow parking lot. With the restaurant closed and no line for curbside, where are these people going? How many people does it take to work just the brewery and curbside? I have no overreaching conspiracy theories. I just don’t recall seeing that many cars any other time I went pick pick up.

 

QAnon says the brewpub didn't really close; they just got sick of tourists so it is still open to those in the know.

 

Is there a secret beer, only served to lizard-people, who know the brewpub is really open?

 

My brother from NWI brought me some Gumballhead at Christmas. He said the brewery was out of Zombie Dust. So I have no idea what’s happening over there now

 

Every time I’ve been there since March I was always given at least month old ZD. I’d have to argue with the guy bringing it out that I want it to be fresh, especially if I’m driving out to Munster to pick it up from the brewery. He’d grumble and bring me out a couple week old cases instead. I guess trying to get rid of old stock?? Shame to see it happen but FFF doesn’t produce the hype it used to so I’m not shocked to see they have beers sitting around. Long gone are the days of lining up to grab ZD and Gumballhead

 

One month old ZD is unsettling. The quarterly releases of imperial IPAs (War Mullet, Perm Funeral, Dreadnaught) lingered well over a month.
Behemoth has been there since January. Unless there is a clear announcement for 2021 bottles, this might be where my vertical ends.

 

This has been my favorite brewery for as long as I can remember, but I just can't figure out what they are doing. They failed to take advantage of the Covid bananza for breweries, they released more one off beers to-go before the pandemic and the beers that made them so popular have either disappeared or become available quarterly (Hoppy DIPA's). So strange...

 

Curious, though, are the bigger breweries with moderate to heavy distro footprints doing anything like this? I know it's behooved smaller breweries to up their releases, and even transition to packaged product quicker than they otherwise would have, but it doesn't seem to make as much sense for one that already has a presence in grocery stores across the country. I'd be curious to know from anyone working in beer departments of larger grocery stores what the sales numbers looked like on to-go beer pre- and post-pandemic, and obviously in particular FFF.

 

My comments are more on 3 Floyds and the brewpub in general as I really don't know how economically viable it was. I've gone to the brewpub once or twice a year or the past several years. They seem to hit their heyday at a time where very hop-forward beers were in fashion. Those days have largely passed and 3 Floyds beers after a while were kind of repetitive and in a sense outdated. That doesn't mean I want fruity puree beers - I like Dovetail for instance where simple styles are done really well. Many of the FFF beers gained popularity during the hop craze and in a sense were gimmicky in that regard, and what's popular has changed.

Their food was good but over the years changed from basic pub food that was very well prepared, over to more unique gourmet stuff. Maybe that's what is popular in the Chicago area, but last year I would look at their menu on line and not really see much I was interested in. Ultimately the brewpub overall didn't have that much to offer especially when so many other good choices existed.

Having said that they were usually busy when I went, so they were still attracting customers and my observations could be in the minority.

 

Not that the trade market is fff’s target audience, but it certainly caused people to buy cases at a time of their beer. Nobody waits in line to get a case of ZD just to trade it anymore. Perhaps they should consider making less to create demand. Maybe then it won’t sit for a month. Perhaps with less ZD, they can do more one off’s. Create some buzz, ... that’s not normal.

I really don’t want them to start adding fruit puree to their beer, but I agree that the market has passed them by to an extent.

 

I disagree. How many states are they in? Less than 10? There is a lot of room for them to grow as a macro craft maker.

No one is throwing big money around to buy hot small breweries. At the end of the day, if you want to cash out, you have to have scaled and be moving product on a grand scale- expand into those other markets. If FFF can scale for a Lagunitas like buyout, those multimillions will buy Nick Floyd a lot of D&D boards.

 

I'm wondering if their lack of ZD here locally is because they are shipping it to the east coast?

I'm not an insider, and heard this from a friend who heard this from a friend....that the plan was to reopen the pub in the distillery space. Only thing is the distillery doesn't have a kitchen, but that was where the pub was losing its shirt anyway - they always had 4 or 5 people working in that kitchen only to serve a relatively low number of seats. It works when all the tables are full, but not so much when there are 10 people in there.

 

Walk into any bottle shop, you will find a lot of IPAs/pale ales. If month old ZD is "acceptable" to sell at the pub now, how long before they are selling two month old ZD? That does not even address how old the bottles are at the grocery store.

If fff expands to another state, there will be initial buzz, then it will fade. It happens to all of the cool new breweries that have come to Indiana (I suspect Illinois too). I don't think month old ZD will any more exciting in another state than the 5 month Jai Alai or Head Hunter I recently saw. Seasonal/limited brews would create more buzz.

 

This is an interesting possibility. If that is the case, they probably need to take better care of their home market. Month old ZD might be acceptable (for now) in New York because it is interesting and new, but people and Chicago and NWI will tire of it quickly.

 

I miss the days when zombie dust for sale at the kiosk was a huge deal and the beer was literally bottled that same day

 

No one who buys Zombie Dust at the grocery store gives a shit how old it is.

 

So you are saying FFF would disappear like those other breweries that were cool before they were everywhere? Must be why I can't find Founders or Lagunitas anymore...oh wait, I can, they are everywhere and wouldn't be stocked if they weren't moving.

 

lol you'd be surprised.

What I don't understand is driving to the brewery for ZD if it's available on shelves more locally. Is it still difficult to get in Illinois? It's likely more fresh at a large grocery store, and if it's not you need to complain to the steward. They usually keep on top of that in my area.

FFF probably sells the old ZD that got sent back to them from grocery stores

 

That’s a pretty big leap! Even for you. Never said anything about disappearing.