Tips for ordering beer online

If you're ordering Pliny online (based on your avatar), you don't need to worry about freshness. It doesn't last long enough to lose freshness.

 

I just wish the shipping charges weren't so ludicrous (although understandably so).

 

I sent let's pour a e-mail asking about this, and received no response. Therefore, I won't be buying any beer from them...didn't really plan on buying any online anyways, I was just curious about it.

 

It'd be ideal if they included the bottled MONTH(let alone date) on any of these sites, and I believe Lets Pour has listed one or two of those in some different descriptions. It'd be almost as hard to manage as the in stock counts are already for them, but still.

I only buy beers online that freshness doesn't matter much for, though I did get 9 day old Surly from france44.com, so that was cool. I also got month and a half old Two Hearted which wasn't

 

Please explain how something can simultaneously be both ludicrous and understandable.

 

as far as shipping and in support of france44.com, I got 2 six packs and a single 12 oz bottle and my shipping was only 17-18 dollars...for a bigger than usual, well packed box with foam shipping materials that is NOT an unfair price, especially per UPS.

And that 18 bucks is a fine price to pay for me not having to drive to Minnesota to get Surly beers

 

Let's say the cost of a 6-pack of interest is $10 (let's call this x), and the shipping value (around $16) is y. The y:x ratio seems rather steep, considering the emotional value I place on a $10 6-pack of something I might not be able to get in my area. However, as the weight of a 6-pack is ~5lbs (including bottle weight), it makes sense as to why it costs this much to ship.

I believe this explains my statement reasonably well.

 

For the cost of shipping that these websites charge you're better off working out a trade with another BA who can tell you the bottled on date before s/he ships it to you.

 

Look up the definition of "ludicrous" and then let me know if you still think so. I agree, shipping prices are high (often prohibitively so). But if it's understandable, I don't think it can also be ludicrous. They're, like, opposites.

 

For IPA's/P.A's yes, probably. If you can work out a trade, its more fun and generally cheaper(though if you're shipping out a big box and generous with extras, you may be spending much more than the -$20 you'd be spending otherwise)

 

I believe there are 2 different contexts in my reasoning. Ludicrous describes the former, and understandable describes the latter.

 

There is no way I'd ever order an IPA online, I mean it would be my luck I'd get it in and it would be several weeks old and undrinkable.

 

I'm glad I don't have your luck (knock wood). I ordered some Abrasive from France44 around 12/8 that had been canned on 12/1. Received it 12/13, despite UPS's repeated efforts to completely screw up delivery. That beer falls off faster than most (especially aroma) but was still outstanding w/ 2 weeks on it.

 

Several weeks = undrinkable???????????

 

France44.com is a good site. Each time I have ordered from them my package has arrived quickly.

 

I like fresh IPAs too, but some people on here are venturing into Princess and the Pea territory.

 

I think Hanzo was maybe being a bit sarcastic, especially after the earlier post about the 6 week old Two Hearted.

 

I've had great luck with both holiday wine cellar and halftime. I've gotten Pliny from HWC a couple times and it's never been more than 14 days old (according to bottle date) and they ship very quickly - sometimes same day.
I always wait for halftime to run a free shipping special for a full case. They run them in the week preceeding any holiday - ie, father's day, July 4th. Both sites are pretty reasonable and ship pretty quickly in nice shippers.

 

I should have used sarcasm font. One of the most annoying things on this site to me is the ridiculous immediate IPA falling off nonsense that gets perpetuated here.