Brewery collaboration 12 pack samplers

Discussion in 'Beer Talk' started by bubseymour, Feb 18, 2016.

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  1. bubseymour

    bubseymour Grand Pooh-Bah (4,800) Oct 30, 2010 Maryland
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    Like many BA's on here, I love buying 12oz singles / mixed sixers more than anything else because I like variety. Problem is not that many stores do this option, and the ones that do there is at greater risk of selling old beer, plus the cost per 12oz bottle is marked up, so my avg. 6 pack is around $15-$16 where avg. unbroken craft 6'er is around $10-$11.

    If 2+ breweries got together, and bundled their beers into 12pack samplers (say 2 of same beers x 6 different or 3 beers x 4 different, and sold for around $18-$22 would you as a consumer be more prone to grab these?
    Fresher beer, greater variety and better cost per oz?

    Plus I'm wondering if it actually could help more of the larger to mid-size regional or national breweries in this ever competing market space to help sell their quality standard lineup beers that are now more frequently overlooked by the fickle craft beer drinker as everyone chases after the new offerings.

    Just wondering opinions on this. One problem I could foresee would be distribution (different breweries go to different states). If there is a work-around though it would be awesome if all 50 states could get the collaboration 12 packs than may contain a few breweries beers that normally don't hit their state. Not sure if that is feasible however.
     
    #1 bubseymour, Feb 18, 2016
  2. djtothemoney

    djtothemoney Zealot (591) Nov 30, 2015 Ohio

    I'm thinking this would be very difficult and time consuming to do.

    Big breweries who actually put their beer in 12 pack cases probably have it mostly automated. They would have to send the beers to a distributor, or eachother to pack the 12 pack and then ship it out.

    The only way I could see this working is if one brewery brewed the beers from both breweries on premises, but not even sure the legality of it.

    I would say find another bottle shop in your case, the one I get my singles from charges about an extra dollar - 1.50 per mixed six pack and they are always fresh, as I get them when their sixers are released.
     
    #2 djtothemoney, Feb 18, 2016
  3. bubseymour

    bubseymour Grand Pooh-Bah (4,800) Oct 30, 2010 Maryland
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    Many breweries do variety packs with their own lineup of beers. Is that automated process? If it is, then yes, I agree that multi-brewer 12 pack variety probably isn't practical.
     
    #3 bubseymour, Feb 18, 2016
  4. djtothemoney

    djtothemoney Zealot (591) Nov 30, 2015 Ohio

    As someone who is in manufacturing, I can't honestly imagine them doing it by hand. I could very well be wrong though.
     
    #4 djtothemoney, Feb 18, 2016
  5. jesskidden

    jesskidden Grand Pooh-Bah (3,145) Aug 10, 2005 New Jersey
    Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    I have a vague recollection* of a mixed brewery package(s) many years ago, something along the lines of "Microbrewed Beers of New York (or Pennsylvania or California or some other state)". There were* also a few variety packs put out by marketing companies with beers from a contract-brewer like High Falls or City, with different dba names that made them appear as if they were different breweries.
    * aka "I might be making it up..."​
    That's not the case for the million barrel Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. for at least some of their mixed 12's, according to a post by their PR guy, @sierranevadabill:
    I've worked in manufacturing for at least 3 different Fortune 50 corporations, and we did a LOT of hand work. Doesn't seem that an automated packaging line that would be able to package 3, 4, 6 or 12 different beers would really be cost-effective considering the small percentage of their total sales that are from the variety packages. Boston Beer Co. might be the exception, given that many of the their top selling packages according to IRI data are their seasonal and variety packs.
     
    #5 jesskidden, Feb 18, 2016
    Last edited: Feb 18, 2016
  6. BillManley

    BillManley Pundit (954) Jul 2, 2008 North Carolina
    Trader

    It's true. We spends weeks upon weeks upon weeks hand repacking beers for each of our variety packs. (Pro tip, that's why the bottle caps {crowns} in a variety pack are all different, it makes the different beers easier to spot from above when packed in a box.)
     
    #6 BillManley, Feb 18, 2016
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