Bourbon County MA

yea I stopped going there long ago for this very reason. I do however doubt that they are missing my business

 

BA-ZING!

 

bum, respectfully, the problem with your analysis from my view, is that the Brewery isn't the one setting these high prices. In fact, they intend for the beer to be sold much cheaper. They are selling it to the distributor at a particular wholesale price, knowing full well they could get a lot more for it. But they don't, because they hope that the end consumer will be able to get a world class beer at a fairly reasonable price. The only thing that frustrates that goal is when distributors and retailers mark up the price beyond the suggested retail price set by the brewer. This is all the more noble considering the fact that the brewer here is essentially AB/Inbev or whatever they are called now. Obviously that company is aware of how much they could charge for Bourbon county. But they don't.

So while I generally agree with you that the market can and should set prices... the problem I have is when the producer of the beer clearly intends for the beer to be sold at a reasonable markup, and then the retailers don't follow through. That's fine, but in a perfect world, in my opinion, those retailers would be shut out by the brewer in the future. Of course that won't happen.

 

Was it the overpricing of everything or the dusty out of date IPAs they left out on the floor?

 

One Stop has ridiculous pricing on most beers ($30 BCBBW 4pk, $12 KBS singles). Then you get stuff priced reasonably like $15 Farm to Face. The bonus to shopping there is you can personalize bottles you buy for friends by drawing in the dust.

 

Last year I went in there and they had pulled out year old pumpkin beers when the new season's began dropping. (oops we ordered too much, but I have a plan) I won't shop at places that think that is acceptable.

 

I got a Vanilla Rye at Julio's $25 not bad, I guess. I paid $22 for Cherry Rye 2 yrs ago. I have never been disappointed with any BCBS beer. So I guess I don't mind paying the high prices. Gotta figure most of the Rye releases have been limited and every 2 or 3 year releases. Or one offs. I regret not buying Backyard Rye last year.

 

I agree with pretty much all of what you're saying about One Stop. They have a pretty dusty/outdated inventory and lousy customer service......but in the past year I've gotten Parabola, Sucaba, Nancy, Farm to Face, PumpKyn, Rumpkin, Angels Share, BA Clown Shoes, BA Framminghammer's, and countless other seriously tasty beers at the same price I've seen them all over MA......so......there's that.....

(On a side note I would still never buy an IPA from them)

 

If a store charges over what the MSRP they run the risk of losing access to the product altogether, so NO its not worth it nor is it right for a store to overcharge. If you need to overcharge and make an extra $2-$3 on a BCBS 4pk, you just have a shitty business model for your store.

 

I would take those numbers with a grain of salt. Not every BA keeps their Gots up to date. Those are just the 133 that have and it doesn't take into account multiple bottles that some have.

 

This. 100%. There's great stuff there, but crummy customer service and prices can get outrageous. And never an IPA. I think there are DFH 60's from May.

 

On the BC side of things, I had the BW at the Barking Dog Ale House last night. I really thought it got better as it warmed up. I'd love a bottle to see how this thing progresses next year. Delicious.

The BCBS was just okay, in my opinion. A little too much for me. Sure, it'd be different beer, mellowed out after a bit of cellaring, but I'm really happy I passed on the $10 bottle.

 

I'm not having any trouble finding regular BCS and Barleywine at $25 a four pack. Same price I paid for 2013. Still no Vanilla delivered in my area per local shops.

 

I was hoping to land Coffee, but didn't see much. Oh well, got enough BCBS to last a while, so I can't complain too much (though I am still a little upset about the Kappy's release haha)

 

According to Kappy's Medford FB about lack of variants...
"we hear you loud and clear. Unfortunately, this was dictated by Goose Island - having black Friday launch parties, with people waiting in line, etc., is something they've been doing in Chicago for a while. If we're lucky enough to get to be involved again next year, we'll pass the message along. Sorry."

 

Did people honestly expect 200 bottles of Vanilla and 200 4-packs of coffee at 1 store?

 

Judging by the outrage I'm assuming people expected a lot of things. I think the tiny amount of variants available kind of shocked everyone. Seeing as how other events got a ton more. AB expected tons of people and didn't bring the most desirable beers to the table. I have no horse in this race because I bought zero bottles of anything, but If I was close to the front of the line and saw the news van and enough doughnuts for all but only enough Vanilla rye for a handful...I'd probably be upset as well. When a place is put up as the 'release event location' people expect more.