Russian River Rant

I go to Wicked Weed for a late lunch mid-week when I'm in Asheville. Some things dawn on some people way too late.

 

Yeah - someone else also pointed that out to me. At least I got the brewery name right.

 

I was in Cali visiting and have a good friend who works at a certain craft place there. I stopped in for a beer and he told me that I should enjoy the Blind Pig on tap because it was last of anything RR they were going to see according to their distributor as RR was going to stop distro to southern Cali, i.e. San Diego. Now I hope this is bull but it comes from a reliable source. I have no reason to doubt him and I am sure the distro didn't make it up if that is the case. I also know I was unable to find ANY RR anywhere while there and everyone I asked said they either hadn't gotten any lately or were sold out. That was unusual as well as it is present somewhere or else I have just been damn lucky every time I go over.

 

Gonna have to side with the Cilurzo's on this one. Their beer, their building, their business. When they retire, someone can expand it. Then, like other posters mentioned, we'll all complain about how they sold their soul, sold out, went corporate. I'm sure the time with Korbel let them see that side of things.

They could go reservation-only. That'd save the lines, but would make them look elitist. They could expand, but that entails a pretty big up front cost-and-maintain that they aren't willing to do (and don't have to). They could move merchandise to another storefront, but... more of that up front cost-and-maintain thing. They could do contract brewing in other locales, but then lose control over... well, over pretty much everything.

The thing for them that they've made clear is that this is a labor of love. Once it leaves that realm, well lots of bad things can happen. It's Santa Rosa. Go on a rainy day.

 

This complaint is very American. It doesn't make sense to us that a successful company wouldn't want to expand and "capitalize" on their product. This same dialog happened when that ridiculous cronut thing blew up in NYC. Why the hell doesn't the guy just make more and get rich while doing it?

In Europe, and other places around the world where happiness > wealth, this isn't such a strange concept. As Americans, we've been conditioned to believe that success = wealth, and that sacrifices to attain wealth are reasonable and what should be done. It's easy to look past "comfort level" when you're inundated with ads for superfluous products that you can't have unless you get way beyond comfort level. Is that what's best for people though? Probably not.

All of that said, the OP has a point about RR. I don't think they should be seeking to expand their production and distribution. But, their pub is ridiculously small for a brewery of such popularity, and I know for a fact that the lines general ruckus surrounding their events and weekend crowds are not appreciated by their neighbors. There's a brewery around the block, Third Street Ale Works that's enormous and not very good. If RR moved into a space that size I think it'd be a win for everyone.

 

Don't know when that was but Blind Pig is either on tap now or has been on tap at multiple places in LA in the last week or so. I can't speak to when they got those kegs or any future plans but I haven't heard anything like that around here.

 

My only beef with RR was when I went there for Younger this Feb. and got kicked out by the bartender after spending the day there. Who else from MN can make that claim?!

In the end, though, the manager realized they had made a mistake since the bartender assumed I was wrecked because the party we were sharing a table with was completely shitfaced. I was totally fine, pacing myself all day, so they gave us a wristband for the next day so we could just come back whenever. That was excellent. I think I drank a gallon of Beatification over those 2 days. Got to chat with Vinnie too. Excellent time. Can't wait for this February to do it again.

 

Do you bash a steak house for having a line at 7pm on a Friday night?

 

Hey, it's their business and they can do what they want with it. I'd probably take the same route. I visited RR twice in one trip to Sonoma County two years ago and I guess the crowds are heavier now. But I'd still go, and just prepare myself for it and enjoy the beers, despite the wait. In the end, I would say cheers to Vinnie for producing so many beers I enjoy, and I hope he keeps enjoying the ride!

 

This type of beer is a retailer and consumer nightmare. Christ, think of all the other great beers. I had a very fresh Foothills Jade draft this afternoon and that's really ALL I can ask for! It was delicious.

 

I know a bottle shop that refuses to carry RR. He carried it before and he hated all the people walking in asking for it, not finding it, not buying anything, and walking out of his store.

 

I agree with many others above - be flexible and go on Tuesday if it means that much to you. Or move to the Bay Area, where it won't be so hard to find some RR (see Wholefoods amongst others)

 

You have to decide how hard you're willing to work for the beer you want. I'm a pretty lazy consumer, so I probably wouldn't stand in lines that long. Now I might show up early and be near the front of that line if I was obsessed or something. The cool thing is that craft beer is growing so quickly that you have more access to great beer in more places. Now you don't have to spend an entire afternoon waiting to get in for a good beer. Just go down the street. Life is too short to wait that long for a beer.

 

???!!

 

They're very similar beers. The recipes are almost the same except for DJ's use of cascade and 1.5% higher ABV. You can disagree with me all you want. The flavor profiles are extremely similar and both are very well balanced. Double Jack doesn't get the attention it deserves because you can get it almost anywhere, unlike Pliny.

 

In the case of RR, the early bird gets the worm. It's not a Sunday drive kind of place anymore, unless you want to wait in line for thirty minutes. Its above excellent and for the most part, its fresh, straight from the brewer.

 

It's marketing, they want to keep it small, they want to keep the hype.

If they increased production to, say the size of Sierra Nevada then everyone would be able to try one and move on to something else.

By keeping the hype it keeps RR elusive and thus posts like this, which really just fuel the hype.

 

LOL. Ok so it's as simple as increasing production to the size of Sierra Nevada huh? Shoot Vinnie an email to that effect, I'm sure he will find your insight valuable.

 

I'm struggling to come up with a good coherent answer to this situation, which is very much a part of the beer life here in northern VT, with Alchemist, Hill Farmstead and Lawson's nearby but occasionally hard for us locals to procure (at least in bottles; drafts are not so hard to get). My wife is fed up with the beer tourism, sometimes worse than the 'leaf peepers' as far as jamming the roads and public establishments here in the Waterbury area. She is offended by the fact that we can't just drive up to HF to buy a case of Everett whenever we feel like it. My feelings are more mixed, hating the periodic congestion and associated hassles, but kind of proud of the status of our local brewers. There are some upsides, like small local brewers that most of you don't know about stepping up their game, brewers from afar feeling compelled to sell their products here to capitalize on the VT vibe, etc.

Obviously, CA is a much larger market, and RR's location in the wine country complicates their status. The boutique model that they embrace seems to offend some people in the larger beer world but their local market probably understands them completely. What else can they do? My opinion: just keep doing what they're doing.

 

Did I say that? Why are you so defensive over this?

I said IF, I never said they could. All I'm saying is that with stuff like Zombie Dust it's in their best interest from a marketing standpoint to keep the hype up.

I don't know how much of each beer Three Floyds makes but there are always Three Floyds beers in liquor stores by me, but Zombie Dust sells out immediately and places never get as much of that in as some of their other beers.

Hype is a real thing. There are several beers that were first made limited and they were super hard to find, but now that they upped production you can usually find it because people have tried it and moved on to something else.