IPA freshness & Collateral Damage

Easier said than done. If you were to suggest this to any higher-ups at a distributer's HQ, you'd get dirty looks.

Edit: if you suggested this to the warehouse workers at a distributer's warehouse you'd get cursed out.

 

Stone's Enjoy By is a super good example of breweries, distributors and retailers all working (really well) together. If more breweries were able to cooperate in this fashion with distributors and retailers in this way then... well... there would be more fresh IPA in more locations.

 

Enjoy by is a limited release that distributors only have to deal with every so often. If they put that kind of effort into every IPA they carry, everything would fall apart, it would be a nightmare.

Also - in california, Stone distributes themselves, and in that state there's an IPA culture. In many parts of the country, some liquor store owners have no idea what an IPA is, much less are they privy to freshness concerns.

 

But again - enjoy by is a 'special release' - so the distributers are given lots of info ahead of time and it becomes a business wide effort to make that beer come and go nice and quick. You can't do that with every beer.

 

I'd have to disagree- working on the craft end for a large independent AB wholesaler with PLENTY of amazing craft breweries, it has gotten to the point in 2013 where we HAVE begun to push back on our supplier partners. It's important that we do- they look at forecasts and depletions, and have a growth number to try and hit. On the other hand, the distributor has to warehouse the product- when those products don't sell through fast enough at store level, we get backed up. The supplier sees sales to the retailer (depletions) and not the sell through numbers at retail. Thus they forecast based upon the depletions, which leads to product backing up on the distribs floor.

The key here is shipping from the supplier. They want to send a full truck of beer on every delivery, in order to maximize efficiency and keep prices (and thus margins) where they are expected to be. Depending on who pays freight (which is normally decided upon in the distribution contract) the added cost of a 1/2 filled trailer cuts into either a distribs margin, or in most cases, the suppliers. No one wants to lose margin, but we have made it clear that we want the freshest product possible, so we have definitely pushed back.

Victory is great with this, especially recently with Dirt Wolf. They will ship a truck with just DW on it (draft and cases) which may be the only product needed one week. This allows us to get trucks between normal restocking deliveries with a highly sought after product, that is especially fresh. Obviously, we'll make sure to do this with all products from all of our suppliers if we can, but they have been especially receptive to it. And they understand why Wallop sat on shelves, and thus every bottle/bbl of DW that has hit Long Island has been uber fresh- we're talking within a week or 2, and sells out immediately.

Bottom line- I think more and more suppliers are going to have to build these smaller shipments of certain products (IPA's, Pales, Double IPA's, etc) into their cost, because more distributors around the country will push back. It's KEY to growth of craft, and something that will set certain breweries apart... and distributors will know what breweries play by the new rules, and they will be the most attractive partners. Fresher product= better sell through, and customers and retailers alike will tend to support those breweries more, because of their passion for getting the best possible product to market, even if it means losing a $1 a case. It's the trade off between margin and volume.

edit: Blue Point is also good with this, specifically with their hoppier beers, such as Mosaic Session IPA and Hoptical Illusion. Toasted Lager and Seasonals are ordered in such bulk, that we get trailers full of just those products...but it helps that they are a local brewery. Victory is good because it is also somewhat close (3 hours away), but the issue is with the West Coast breweries. It already costs a FORTUNE to freight from CA to NY, so to not send a full truck is pointless- prices would be through the roof on these products, and the sell through would be horrible based on pricing. And then you are back to square one... it's like the chicken or the egg.

 

If there are old IPAs sitting on the shelf you aren't buying them. If the store stops stocking them, you won't be buying them either. Nothing has changed except that old stock isn't clogging shelves. Less selection of stuff that wasn't moving and you weren't buying can't be a negative.

 

If this sort of thinking ever came to pass I think they will sell the 10 best selling IPA/DIPAs for that store. If you have a circuit of stores that you hit, then you could still conceivably get the variety of IPAs that you desire. Heck, some stores just might have a few rotating slots for new releases or whatever.

The benefits are twofold- guaranteed fresh IPAs is a huge plus, and so is more stock room in the store for a wider variety of beers. Those things definitely work for me.

 

Sometimes a case is over-anticipating demand. The store should take a look at the sales and adjust ordering to meet them and err of the conservative side for new releases. It's a weird thing. There is a store near me that blows through a couple of beers that a store down the street can't sell a six pack of. If you want fresh IPAs on the shelf there are ways but those ways aren't going to make everyone happy.

I beer shop at a supermarket on occasion that orders almost exactly what it sells. The selection isn't mind blowing but being able to find several IPA options that are very very fresh any time I want is great. If the selection was larger, everything changes. It's a trade off.

 

Supply chains are longer or shorter depending on the brewery. It's a "joint" problem to be managed actively by the brewery, distributors and stores. It takes a brewery and distributor that really cares or the store will have no real impact.....

 

If I were to look at that scenario optimistically, I'd say that since most of the IPA-craving customers will be shopping there (because of no real competition) then hopefully that store would cater to those customers' wants. Maybe they get a lesser total amount of IPAs, but still concentrate on variety and freshness. Some selections may be short stocked at times, but you would have other fresh ones to choose from.

 

I think IPAs should all be seasonal, or have seasonal names. That way you dont need to check dates. It would avoid the Union Jacks, Racer 5's, Lagunitas, ect that I want to buy in Mass but are never fresh. Obviously this is more difficult for brewery from logistics standpoint but it would be a win for consumers.

 

Couldn't agree more. And not to knock my brethren here, but not many distributors really care about it. They just see sales as a number, whether the product is fresh or not. Taking up shelf space may not guarantee fast sell through and reorders, but many take the trade off for exposure and keeping competitors OFF of the shelf. I am lucky enough to work at a distrib that actually cares, and is a brand grower, rather than a brand collector. We only partner with breweries that care the way we do, and sometimes that means passing up on a supplier that makes amazing beers, and makes me want to scratch my eyes out... but I've also been doing this long enough to understand WHY. At the end of the day, some incredible breweries that we all love don't care how fresh you get the product, so long as it sells. Especially some of the breweries that make 5-6 incredible one offs throughout the year, but push their ehhhh flagship and core beers in order to get the special ones. They try and hold everyone hostage, rather than focusing on HOW to sell those core beers rather than instead of being dust collectors. End result? Overage core beers on the shelf, and minimal amounts of the special beers that everyone REALLY wants from them. It's a shitty problem.

 

Impossible. My local just started getting good craft beer and some of there "fresh" stock is 6months old. Distros dump old crap anywhere they can. It gets mixed in with the crowd. I swear I already had a 6pk of last years sucks.

 

Good idea. That's why I like SN seasonals.

 

Yes.. Enjoy By is a "limited release" and that's exactly why it is fresh and tasty. Maybe more IPAs including other Stone offerings would be better if they too were limited. But.. $$ makes the world go around and people who walk by a case of Bud and grab a 6er of Stone IPA just to try may not know or care how fresh it is.

So we have to ask, if a beer doesn't have a shelf life,is it smart to be making tons of it and shipping all over place including to liquor store owners who don't know what it is? That's doesn't seem to make sense to me.

 

I would prefer less of a selection and fresher beer than a larger selection of old IPAs. Willing to sacrifice quantity for quality.

 

This sounds realistic only for large operations. If you've got people working only on the craft side of things, that tells me you're working for a huge wholesaler. I work at a small one, with 3 guys running the warehouse. AB, Coors (not miller) and all the craft. Whole shipments of a single product will only happen with macros for us, and even then, I'm not sure it ever happens.
In fact - we often have to share loads with other AB aligned distributers, and what happens is that the other distro will actually keep all the fresh stuff and send us their old stuff - this actually happens. We have no control over that and it sucks.
The take-away I guess is that it all depends on where you're standing, and some are in better luck than others.

 

As far as distro and retailers are concerned, the above is all that needs to make sense. They don't care how turned off by the 'few months old' ipas in stock the few customers who care may be.