Adding Grocery Outlet (Salem, OR) to "Beer Places"?

I don't understand.. Is it a good Beer place? That's the only criteria.

 

It doesn't matter the establishment as long as the beer is good. That place sells a lot of spoiled/very close to expiration date goods. It wouldn't surprise me if they also sold production runs of branded product that were considered below par quality by the producer.

 

Our beer is distributed to Grocery Outlets and I can assure you that it is not because we consider it below par quality. They get the same beer everybody else gets. I'm fairly certain Dave at Flat Tail wouldn't sell beer he considered "below par quality" either.
I think the Grocery Outlets have changed quite a bit since the days of old. I fondly remember when one opened up a few blocks from our high school my freshman year (89/90). It quickly became one of my odd group of associate's go-to lunch spots. We could eat really poorly, and for SO cheap. Back then all they had were seconds, discontinued packaging, marketing failures, just-past-the-best by date foods, and a wacky assortment of items that somebody got on the cheap. A Star Trek Enterprise model mounted on pedestal with lights and sound is one example. That's also where I found my slim jim (not the jerky).
Since then it seems like they've graduated to mostly carrying established brands (and stocking produce) but I must confess I don't shop there much anymore. I liked it better when they had all the wacky stuff.

 

As 8eer has indicated, I 100% would never put out sub par beer, at any account. One of the biggest jobs for our sales team is routine date checks (even though we don't have cool Jim Koch trench coats) etc to maintain quality. Some times we (Flat Tail) and other breweries will use accounts like GO to quickly sell large volumes of beer right before our next seasonal comes out by offering a post off, or discount. It's ipen to all of our accounts but the outlet tends to jump on these sales more than many other shops, by offering an additional mark down. Same quality, same batch, same beer. Just don't forget your hoodie and shades when you pick it up....

 

I go there at least once a month to peruse their beer section. Some interesting finds.

 

Added my local GO to the queue. I've made some good finds in the beer aisle--freshly canned Modern Times and Pizza Ports, score!--and learned to avoid the, er, vintage FW cans from a year ago. (So glad they print a packaging date, tho.)

 

My GO carries an oft-times interesting selection, but I've never considered adding it. 4 packs of North coast Pranqster for $6-7? Yeah, I'll grab that. Ya know what's weird? The place sells cheap food, but doesn't carry Ramen. WTF?

 

My wife and I call Grocery Outlet "The Island of Misfit Groceries."

The one near us carries an odd and constantly changing selection of food. You'll see a bunch of one-off products that were test marketed and didn't do well enough to add to a brand's rotation. Or crossover/seasonal marketing brands that aren't current anymore. (Kellogg's "Age of Ultron" cereal, anyone?) You'll also see small brands which can't get shelf space anywhere else.

As for beer, it's always worth a look. I've seen AleSmith Speedway Stout in there.

 

I like to hit them now and then, before I hit the usual suspects. You never know what they may have. One thing I did learn is if they have it, it is no guarantee they will have it tomorrow or ever again. If you like it, buy it.

Mine carries ramen BTW. Where the cooking instructions are not in English. Intuitive pictures though.......

 

Love it!