Shangy's hopslam thread

I'd love to see that happen, but it won't. Shangy's owns the distribution rights in PA, and will for some time. To be honest, if I'm Larry Bell, I pull out of PA completely.

It really is a shame people continue to do business with these scumbags. I can assure you, the shenanigans with Hopslam every year is but small tip of the ice berg. I find myself buying the brands they carry less and less. Bell's, Moylan's, De Dolle, and a number of others...I miss them, but I just can't justify supporting Shangy's anymore. They are the antithesis of what makes the craft beer community great.

 

I have no doubt people are calling, but 3000 calls? C'mon - that's about 1 call every 80 seconds for an entire week. Exagerate much? But it must be true cause I'm sure Shangy's wouldn't lie.

 

For those of us not planning to buy from Shangy's, can we expect a similar arrival from other distributors, or will Shangy's get it first? This is all new to me.

 

Shangys get it first, then ships it to other distributors.

 

I thought the same thing. Comical but that is what you should expect from Zima and crew. And I like the comment about beer almost being at expiration. ALMOST???? That is a funny one. Shangy's would have no problem putting out ten year old Pliny if they could.

 

Pull out of an entire state (and forever earn the scorn of all of your fans in that state...and the surrounding states were people drive in just to take our precious HopSlam) just because the importer for one section of it, granted it's the biggest market, is really weird/idiotic with their handling of one of your beers? Is that a good business decision? I would think if anything, they would try to get the importer changed, but I do not pretend to know the ins and outs of those contracts.

 

Any cost savings on the case would be negated by the cost of gas to drive to and from Emmaus. I also value my personal time too much to spend an afternoon just to get one case of beer, but that value is subjective.

 

PA's beer distribution system runs basically like this:

1. Brewery register their beer with Pennsylvania liquor control board.
2. Brewers can only sell their beer to a wholesale distributer. There are very few wholesale distributers, and brewers typically do exclusive regional distribution deals them.
3. The wholesale distributers sell the beer to the local distributers throughout their region. Regions can be very large, for example Shangy's region for Bells is all of eastern PA. However, wholesale distributers are also allowed to sell beer at retail on location to individuals and local bars/restaurants, just like any other distributer.
4. The local distributers (the vast majority of PA's distributers) sell the beer to individuals on location, or to their local restaurant/bar customers, who in turn sell to individuals.

So yes, Shangy's gets all of Bells beer first [or Westy's for the western half of the state], then it gets distributed to local distributers/bars/restaurants. The problem is that Shangy's distributes a pathetically small amount of Hopslam to the other distributers in their region, and hoards the rest to sell at retail themselves for a couple extra bucks profit per case. The local distributers [and their customers] are completely at the mercy of Shangy's.

 

No matter how Shangy's does it, they will never please everyone.

 

I'm not sure what all the huge Shangy's hate is about. Guess it's one of those gotta have it happen to you deals. Last year when I heard they had it I drove 40 minutes and walked in, asked for a case, and walked out a minute later after a dude from the back brought one out. Painless.

 

That's been my experience at Shangy's as well. Drove from Jersey, got there, got my case.

 

So it is fair to assume that distributors in York, PA must first get their Hopslam from Shangy's? Bummer...

 

Westy's does indeed buy directly from Bell's.

 

No, those of you in the land of CPA units get their Bell's from Westy's.

 

I've never had a problem with Shangys ever before. I drive up from NJ, get my case and then head to Weyerbacher and Pearly Bakers for some beers and lunch and head home. I don't ever bother calling them because I'm sure they're annoyed as hell getting 3,000 calls within a day inquiring about a single release. I think a 1 case limit is pretty reasonable considering the volume of calls they receive about it. I've driven there a few times with friends in the car who also wanted a case, so we just walked in separately, bought our cases and left. Not a big deal.

 

Does Westy's sell Hopslam to retail distributors in their region or do they retail it all themselves? I'm sure if I asked Nima he would post his exact thought process in his distribution of Hopslam or anything else he carries that has more demand than supply.

 

while we're at it. Fuck their sales team as well!!!