I kinda stopped going to package stores because I got tired of checking dates on cans, because people stopped buying as much so 20 dollar 4 packs were sitting around, which if I'm shelling out that much it's gotta be under a month old. And the vicious cycle repeated so now if I want an IPA i just go to treehouse. Otherwise i'll just buy gansett. 6-7 years ago imagine if the substance was something you could buy in boston...now Id have to make sure its not 4 moths old. These beers do NOT age well
whoever came up with anchoring an entire industry on a revolutionary new (and extremely perishable) style is a friggin idiot lol. remember when finding old beer at a store was a GOOD thing? i do.
agree such a bummer when I see a beer I would absolutely buy such as substance but then it’s 4 months old. I found a rare sighting of tired hands alien church at a random shop in NYC and it was nearly a year old.
You have a point. And most consumers aren’t in-the-know enough to buy that garbage. It’s why I have co-workers tell me “I’ve never had an ipa I liked”.
I have that feeling as well. It's easier for the stores to rely on distributors' recommendations than to work and try to curate their selection. At the same time, the distributors will likely have a limited selection that they know sells well and at the same time provides the highest margin.
If I lived nearby your store I think I would be a regular... BTW, by vendor do you mean distributor? I could see some distributors wanting to get some brands "placed" into as many retail outlets as possible. It seems like you take time to curate your beer selection. It seems many beer buyers don't want to take the time and effort, or have the time, to do this. I appreciate those of you who do.
Thank you for the kind words! With vendors I mean the local breweries that we work with directly ie. I buy from them and they deliver directly to the store. Generally a distributor doesn't have any say in what I buy or how I carry it (they dont really offer me anything besides access to product), but with local vendors I try to operate in a way that best serves both our interests. They're always happy to share some samples, contribute to a store raffle or something, and I've even been invited to their breweries for beers/food. Reps from the bigger distributors will pitch me on items, but I tend to reject a lot of them because I'm pretty particular about my inventory.
From my experience doing tastings alongside distributors and other brewery sales people (albeit several years ago at this point), a lot of them will sell a beer based on the beer selling. Like they'll suggest a beer by saying its their best seller with the implication being that because it sells, people like it, versus doing the work and trying to find a beer that best suits the person tasting the beer. The incentive system there is misaligned because they get judged on numbers, not on customer satisfaction. They're incentivized to push. They're not incentivized to curate or cultivate real opinions on the product. There are plenty of brands like Lord Hobo or out of market breweries like Toppling Goliath that I am always a little perplexed about taking up so much fridge space, but then I remember how the distributors operate and it makes sense.
