Distribution in Western and Central NY

Shelton Bros. is an importer, not a distributor. In the "three tier system", Shelton is considered the first tier, the same as a domestic brewery would be - they sell beer to local distributors.

L. Knife is a large corporation that owns (wholly or partially) a number of individual local distributorships in a multi-state area, and also has an import division - St. Killian's Importing. Each L. Knife affiliated wholesaler has their own contract with individual breweries and importers. (Some, for example, are also Anheuser-Busch houses).

To confuse things a bit, some domestic breweries do use import companies as a sort of "master distributor", rather than shipping their beers to a number of different wholesalers in a variety of states, they use the importer's wholesale network. For example, the beer/wine/spirits import company, Total Beverage Solutions, also distributes the US brands Southampton and Shipyard outside those breweries' immediate home regions through the TBS local distributors.

 

I could certainly try and get into details for you, but suffice to say that some of these beers are only getting shipped to one spot by the brewery and it does not have to do with the distributor. We have done some similar kind of things in other states as we add them.

There are three warehouses by L. Knife in NY and there are actually I believe 4 groups that cover the whole state that have their own organizational management team.

The whole business is a lot of fun to deal with and I cry myself to sleep every night that it does not fall under my job requirements with 3HB to be the one to deal with it. [end sarcasm]

Feel free to ask any question I might be able to help. But chances are you probably know more about all of this then me.

 

Are distributors required to distribute equally or fairly? Why can 8 stores in Syracuse get something like Bourbon County Cherry Rye and Coffee Stout while Ithaca who has the same distributor (TJ Sheehan) get none? Are there any regulations distributors have to follow or is it all "wild west" style do-what-pleases-you type of business?

 

Ithaca does not use TJ in Rochester. And no they do not have to be fair.

 

I think in most (if not all) states, breweries are free to sign contracts with any wholesalers they wish to, and to designate a particular region within a state- or for the entire state. In most cases, that region will be defined by the normal distribution area covered by that wholesaler, but not always. A wholesaler might have an expanded or limited rights for certain brands. Nor does a brewery have to make deals with other regional distributors so that their beer is available to retailers in an entire state.

IIRC, in NY state (like a number of others) retailers are free to pick up beer from in-state wholesalers which don't distribute in their geographical area. In some states*, that would not be legal IF a local wholesaler has a contract with that brewery. (* Altho' I had a retail license in NY state and would buy beer at F. X. Matt when in the utica area, even tho' I had a local Matt wholesaler in my area - St. Lawrence county - so not sure if that's applicable in NY).

 

According to the NYSLA:

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Don't know the specifics of the Cigar City situation.

 

With many things the brewery dictates where the beer is distributed, except in New York it is a lot harder to cut out a market like breweries do when they are over capacity. So what you end up with is a seperation between what L. Knife (Union, Tri-Valley, Sheehan, I'm pretty sure a new distributor is opening to cover downstate except the city) sends to its accounts. Generally Union gets more allocation (and higher priority) than either of the others, but the beers can be transferred between the 3 warehouse pretty easily.

Shelton is another terrible pain, often the sell sheets and order guides they distribute are full of OOS product, so it is hard to make any sort of order planning.

 

That's not the truth since lake Bev here is responsible for the A B products like goose island. Also lake is in charge of Founders. TJ Sheehans has been awesome at trying to get beers into the Rochester market. How a b and lake Bev distributes beer is a whole other story.

 

We got 5 cases Cherry - not sure how many coffee but I think one or two morel.

 

There is a ton of truth to this post.

 

Ran into a lake bev rep at a walgreens. then. I accosted him until he called his boss (he called him moose) in front of me. His boss told him the locations and allotments of cherry rye on speakerphone infront of me.5 cases.

 

LOL They call hin Moo. His name is John Mula and he's the guy that 14 years ago along with Jay Barber had a distributorship called Great Lakes Premium Brands. They were responsible for bringing Brooklyn, Long Trail, Shipyard, Ommegang and a whole myriad of great beers to our market. As far as the "whales" go, he's there fighting for us to get every case he can so the next time you get to enjoy a Bourbon County Brand Stout, raise your glass to him.

 

I agree they have brought in great beers and I appreciate it. It's not as much them, but A-B seems to give us the second run after NYC and Buffalo. NYC was teeming with BCBS and we had none for at least a month... You literally have to drive the truck past us to get it to NYC. It's not only them since I know TJ Sheehan's has to fight for our beers too from those markets.

 

We got in cherry before down state! So not true in all cases