Columbus shop selling illegal Hopslam?

This really turned into quite the crapfest today. All over facebook and reddit. Savor Growl was deleting posts and reviews on their FB page

 

Is there any evidence that this is illegal? I scanned the ORC/Ohio Liquor Control pages and could not find anything to indicate that the sale of alcohol between retailers is prohibited.

 

$3.99 a bottle or $24 a six pack are inflated prices, let's avoid the incorrect gouging term, but in a few metropolitan markets this has been the going rate in years past. The point of my statement is not to condone the inflated prices or practice, but simply to state that these prices are not unheard of.

While its sad that retailers would utilize such tactics, what disturbs me more is that I have little doubt that consumers will buy up all that Hopslam, inflated prices and all, in short order. As much as we want to paint the retailer as the bad guy, we (the consumers) are the ones shooting ourselves in the foot by continuing to purchase such products. Ultimately we have no one to blame but ourselves, our purchases justify the businesses actions.

 

That is reprehensible. It happens everywhere too. They just got caught this time.
And people will buy it all up and forget about it in a week anyway

 

Beer is a luxury item, all purchases are completely voluntary transactions. Hopslam is not the only beer on the market, there are several comparable alternatives. The fact that we are talking about non-essential items that have reasonable alternatives available completely eliminates the word gouging from the discussion.

Again, I cannot condone the actions of the retailer but people have a choice to make the purchase too. I understand the frustration with the situation, I would be upset too. It is unfortunate other will not feel the same way and will line up to hand over their money for Hopslam at an inflated price. T

 

To add on to Kzoo, gouging is a legal term that applies to retailers grossly overcharging for essential commodities during a market disruption, usually caused by natural disasters. Price gouging is illegal. "Overcharging" for beer is not.

 

Could you provide some reference for that? I was looking for some information to that effect in the legal codes and couldn't find anything. Also, I was under the impression that certain retailers could act as wholesalers.

 

I don't really see the financial incentive to this. If they bought all 80 six packs at the other store, they're only going to make a total of $480 or so from all of this. And I'm sure they lost more than $480 worth of business from the fallout.

 

It's federal, not state. Alcohol must go through the Three Tier system. From manufacturer/importer -> wholesale -> retailer. States may have different ways of dealing with it (making exceptions for small brewers, as an example,) but either way, what is alleged above is illegal. Full stop.

 

Edit: look up Three Tier System for more information.

 

The three-tier system is intended to exclude manufacturers from owning distribution and retail of their product. Laws in Ohio specify who a manufacturer or a distributor may sell to, but not to whom a retailer may sell to as far as I can tell. Haven't there been examples of "beer recalls," in which a manufacturer or a producer will buy back/compensate for bad beer from a retailer? First instance that comes to mind was the Abyss infection in 2009, but I can't remember all the details from that event.

 

Agreed. Almost $500 isn't chump change by any means and if you brought people in who each bought another 6 pack or bomber you would be making much more than that.

Shady and lame way to go about things and I'm sure they are already regretting they did it.

 

Apples and Oranges...a recall is between a brewery and a distributor. A "Buy Back" generally means the wholesaler destroys the product and is credited the amount by the brewery.

ugh fine i'll do the research for you.


4301:1-1-22 Consent for importing alcoholic beverages for resale in Ohio.
(A) No alcoholic beverages shall be imported into the state of Ohio for resale except upon the written consent of the division. Application for such consent shall be upon forms provided by the division. Consent must be granted by the division prior to said importation. The division shall not grant consent to any party if consent has already been granted to any other party, and is currently in effect. The division shall not grant consent to any supplier to import alcoholic beverages in any calendar year unless the supplier files an affidavit with the division stating that said supplier will comply with all laws of the state of Ohio and rules of the commission concerning alcoholic beverages. Violation of any of the laws or rules may be cause for suspension or revocation of the authorization to import by the commission.

(B) All alcoholic beverages imported into this state for purposes of re-sale to retail permit holders must be consigned and delivered to the warehouse of a wholesale distributor.

R.C. 119.032 review dates: 11/28/2012 and 11/28/2017
Promulgated Under: 119.03
Statutory Authority: 4301.03
Rule Amplifies: 4301.03
Prior Effective Dates: 7/5/50, 12/1/81, 9/30/85, 6/20/02


And, more importantly:


4301:1-1-46 Miscellaneous restrictions.
......

(B) No retail permit holder shall sell any alcoholic beverages to other permit holders or any other persons for the purpose of resale. No retail permit holder shall loan, exchange, transfer, allocate, or deliver any alcoholic beverages to another permit holder or to another permit premises. A retail permit holder may transfer alcoholic beverages from a permit premises where the permit is not renewed, the right to sell alcoholic beverages has been cancelled in any manner by law, or the operations have ceased permanently, to another permit premises for which that retail permit holder holds the permit, or to another permit premises for which the retail permit holder receiving the alcoholic beverages has, in the opinion of the superintendent, substantially the same principals as the retail permit holder transferring the alcoholic beverages, but only upon receiving written consent from the division of liquor control. The retail permit holder requesting to transfer the product shall provide a written request for consent to the division, which shall include proof that the retail permit holder offered the wholesale distributor the alcoholic beverages and that the wholesale distributor declined to repurchase the alcoholic beverages, and proof of ownership of the inventory.

(C) No deliveries of beer, or wine and mixed beverages to retail permit holders shall be made by anyone who is not a bona fide employee of the B-1, B-2, B-4, B-5, A-1, A-2, or A-4 permit holder making the sale, except such deliveries may be made as provided by section 4301.60 of the Revised Code.

 

I wish each of these statements were true but I really doubt that they are. Craft beer consumers do a very poor job of keeping retailers accountable. Ticks and landing limited release beers are far more important than taking appropriate actions to prevent such retailer behavior from occurring. Even many of those who are upset today will forgive them tomorrow when they are the only place in town who has the beer that they "need to have".

For as many people who are outraged by a thread such as this, you are going to have a handful of people who will use this as a source of information regarding where they can score some beer. Beyond that, the large majority of the craft customer base is still completely unaware that there is any controversy at all, we must remember that those of us on this site are still the minority. This store is going to be remembered by most as "the store that had the beer" rather than "the store that screwed people over". I very much doubt they have hurt their reputation or pocket book with their actions.