Old Founders Double Trouble is everywhere

Leave it up to Founder's to turn a decent beer into a shelf turd! Compared to the competition for a DIPA, that beer has really fallen off. I mean in an already crowded market, especially close to the territory of Munster, a DIPA really needs to shine to move. Double Trouble just isn't what it used to be. For me, they have 2 beers worth buying, Centennial in a can and Harvest Ale when you can find it. This is just my opinion folks!

 

Seems like it is the same solid beer now with just a lot more competition. A lot of local places have now put our solid DIPAs. It doesn't get the hype of some others and its footprint has gotten bigger. Seems they did make a lot more.

I really wish shops would firesale it at about 3 months--limit old beer exposure and boy there is plenty of good stuff to take its place.

 

Totally agree, some of the shops in my area think they can mark this up to 12.99 and exect people to buy it over the course of 8 months. Instead, it should be priced at 10.99 and sell over the course of 3 months.

It makes me happy when i see these places still have it sitting on the shelf in time for the next years batch to roll in

 

I saw on Facebook at the end of October my beer store just got another case of Double Trouble in I thought wtf! However, the beer store I frequent the woman knows nothing about bottle dating but what about the distributor that does that continues to sell it?

 

The problem is, the stores can't price that low or discount that much without losing money... I did the rough math below:
Average retail margin (margin, not markup) is ~30%
Standard shelf price for 4 pack = $12
Price paid by retailer =$8.50-9
Assume a reasonable portion of the margin goes to rent / keep the lights on / run the fridges / pay staff etc... and the actual profit margin on the 4 pack is more like 15%; they can't sell for less than about $10.

Hence the minimum they can sell the 4 pack for and not lose money is around $10 - but that would be giving it away basically and they would never make any money themselves. Assume a reasonable return on capital (a decent EBIT essentially) and they likely can't sell the beer for less than $10.50 or 11, otherwise in the long run they would be better off closing the store and doing something else with the (for a decent sized store) likely hundreds of thousands in capital (re stock) sitting on the floor.

When you see a 4 pack or a 6 pack on sale for a few bucks off, most stores aren't making a penny on the deal (might even make a loss) unless they got it cheap from the distributor

 

Maybe they'll finally do it in 6pks! Next year.

 

The store near me has some and is 18.99 a 4 pack

 

Just grabbed 2 last night In a partial buzzed state of mind and didn't even think about looking at the date. Had one last night. Checked the other right now. Bottled 8/8/14.

 

I was surprised to notice a lot of it around me this fall too. It was a great beer fresh but agree at it's normal price point I passed on buying more after so many months

 

Simply production outweighing demand I suppose.

 

The problem with DT (at least in NJ) was that either Founders got it to the distributors late or the distributors got it to the stores late. This year it was never available here fresh. The 1st time I saw it at several shops it was already 6-8 weeks old, so I passed and continue to pass. Had I seen it within a month of bottling I would have bought a couple of 4 packs. It's the same reason I never buy FW Union Jack or Double Jack. Reducing the price won't help as there are too many fresh DIPA's available now to even consider it.

 

Bout a month ago a store near my girlfriend had a ton of it left over from the 6/30 batch. Dropped it to 5.99 a four pack, and they kept their supply cold the whole time. I bought two 4 packs. They were fine to drink, but not the same fresh. Double Jack is almost always 5-6 months old near me. I never buy it anymore unless it is on tap.

 

Decrease Double Trouble production, Increase KBS production = problem solved!

 

Better to let it sit on the shelf & wait for suckers, I guess. Sadly I've gotten to the point that id if a DIPA or ipa is over 7 months old I don't touch it with a few exceptions (unless tired or silly)...

 

I don't mind "freshness" fading. I look at it like it's a good pale ale. India be damned.

 

I think Double Trouble and Devil Dancer released at the same time is a mistake.

 

I recently had one that was 18 months post bottle date. As others have stated, it was delicious, just not in the way that it was originally intended. Faded hops but still very tasty.

 

I like it with a few months on it

 

Ya at my local pack there are still 2.5 cases of Dissenter IPL (pretty sure they had 3 to start.) I'm almost positive they are still trying to sell from the same case that I bought 2 bottles from when it first hit OK. I really enjoyed it and Im guessing it is the price point that puts off most of the college kids that go to the store. Not sure when they were bottled but It has got to be closing in on 6 months. It makes me feel bad, because I want people to buy it so that the store continues to get Founders Special Releases, but at the same time, Im certainly not wasting my money on old IPL. Unfortunately this is a problem I find with almost all of the IPAs I can find at my local stores. The freshest IPA (even from brewers less than 2 hrs away), with maybe one or two exceptions, is at least 3 months old.

 

We have so much Dark Penance down here that I've heard Big Lushious isn't coming in until we get rid of it. All hearsay, but from fairly reputable sources. Double trouble just sold out down here also in the past 2-3 weeks. Same with Dissenter.

I want to try Big Lushious, but I'm afraid that dark penance will prevent that. Some founders stuff is just too odd or intense for many of the craft drinkers in my area...