HopSlam availability - SEPA

This shit is getting more ridiculous every year. Shangys can keep the hopslam, I will stick with NN and Sucks.

 

No, the amount was about the same as last year. The hype, apparently, wasn't.

I was lucky enough that Shangy's was "on the way" for me yesterday. I walked in a little after 10am, calmly pursued the isles for some fresh Golden Pheasant Lager (sorry @JackHorzempa - I didn't find any, but was going to buy it for you if they had it. Seriously), and bought my case of Hopslam with zero waiting time. From the photos posted on Facebook, though, it looks like the place was a Walmart on Black Friday when the doors opened at 0900.

If you missed out on Hopslam, don't beat yourself up. It's a good beer, for sure, but there are tons of equivalent and better DIPA's out there.

Cheers, SEPA BA's!

 

if anyone by me in NJ really wanted some, message me.

 

$5.50 is "much higher" for a single than you expected? You must be new to PA. Or Hopslam. Or both.

For a beer that goes for ~$20 a six pack, $5.50 is a pretty good price for a single. Especially in PA. All of the shops near where I used to live would charge $3.50 for something like a bottle of SNPA, and that's $7-8 for a six pack in many parts of the country.

And I can guarantee that a pour at your nearest bar would be more than that for a 12 ounce serving. And given that the bottles and kegs are all from about the same time, there's not a whole lot of room to argue that you're getting a vastly fresher/superior beer at the bar. So...I'd say that price seems pretty fair given the circumstances.

 

Exactly my feelings on this matter. Throw in a case of Hop Ranch and I'm more than happy. I'll grab a draft of Hopslam if I happen onto it, if not no big deal.

 

I'll throw in a keg of Dirtwolf for good measure.

 

Does it matter if I'm new to PA or Hopslam?

Considering Enjoy by is $7.99/Bomber, Sucks is $40/case or $11-13/six and Hopslam is $70/case I would have thought the bottle price would have been in the $3.75-4.50 range. I understand the entire business model and what dictates price. Here is my thought process, obviously I'm incorrect based on your logic.

At $5.50 per bottle you're at $132 per case. So you're telling me that the bottle shops need to make anywhere from $40-$50 per case they buy from the distributor? How much are they paying per case? I doubt it's the retail price.

I paid the price for the beers because I wanted them. I also realize that by me paying that price is doing nothing to back up my logic. If I had a real issue and wanted to cry about the price I wouldn't have bought it and I would have went with a different DIPA. I simply stated that I thought the price was higher than I would have guessed. I didn't include the name of the establishment or bash the beer or the price point.

Only an observation, which from now on I'll keep to myself.

 

Luckily I was able to grab a case before they sold out. If anyone in Philly/western suburbs got shut out and is really looking for some, message me.

 

You're correct, I did overreact. I think that the assumption that I'm new to PA or hopslam could have been left out. Along with attempted reasoning that draft prices at a bar have anything to do with retail beer prices. If I'm at a bar I am aware that I'm not only paying for the product but the service, experience, etc.

I do agree that the bottle price point for a beer such as hopslam is going to be increased due to factors besides the price of a case that the retailer is purchasing. I could have worded my original post better to say something along the lines of "Hey it's $5.50 at beer shop abc." In order to let other BA's know that if they want it there they'll pay a hefty mark up. New to this forum and didn't intend to come off as a jerk.

Everything else aside - I enjoyed the two I was able to get. Don't know if I'd buy a case next time or stick to the singles route. Maybe another go round wouldn't hurt to solidify my opinion of it.

 

Does it last on tap any longer than it lasts in stores? I don't need a case of it (stupid, stupid, Pennsylvania), but I'd like to try it.

 

The Fridge in Lancaster got some in today. $5 per bottle, with a limit of 4 per person. Looks like they got about a dozen cases.

 

Yes. I haven't even seen it on tap yet, but in the past it has not generated any kind of mad rush to the variuos bars that have it on. It seems the amount of kegs shipped is fairly significant.

 

One good resource for Hopslam on tap:

http://www.phillytapfinder.com/beer/bells-hopslam/

 

I'm getting 2 kegs sent next Thursday to my establishment. I will stop back and give a time frame for me at least. My town is only about 6500 people so it will be longer then the norm. I'm very Grateful for the chance to give my customers hopeslam draft. The funny thing is I'm getting 2 kegs and 2 cases.

 

If DenPub's is getting 2 kegs, in town X with population 6500, pretty safe bet that the big craft bars in Philly will be getting quite a large supply.

 

DTown Wegs put their cases out today, think they got like 8? Anyway, there was a line formed so doubt it will last to the evening... $23 / sixer. Not horrible I guess when other Bell's like Java Stout etc. are seeing $17.99 to $19.99 per

 

I would think philly will get a ton. I believe I was told they 3X the production in draft from last year. I have been working with more bell's on draft a lot more in the last year. Most of helped put me on the list. I get about 240,000 people in my establishment every year pretty good for a small town. So I do move a lot of beer.

 

Hopslam bottles were available around town starting yesterday. Was fortunately able to buy 2 at my local bottle shop earlier this evening.