Bruery 2017 RS/HS Allocations

And now they'll lose business because of it...ahhhh sweet capitalism.

 

The whole monkey see monkey do scenario. "They can get away with charging this much so I will too". It's so rare these days to feel like you're ever getting an exceptional deal on something. Now it's all about squeezing whatever they can out of you, just because others are doing it. And on and on it goes.

I just quit working at one of those mega hotel/casinos on the Vegas strip after 16 years, and that was one of the reasons why. I've actually heard management say "Let's **** them" in regards to pricing certain "amenities" for their "guests". Sickening.

 

Show me anywhere else that you can get a 32 oz growler of something like The Bruery's top tier stuff. Don't want a growler at that price? Don't buy a fill. You also have to remember that your fill price also covers the lost beer from filling a growler and not just the 32 oz of beer inside of it. One of the perks of membership is to be able to get fills of special stuff. If enough people bitch the price they may stop doing it entirely. Given the backlash that may not be a bad thing but chances are people will bitch about losing another perk of being a Society member.

Let's be honest for a minute. The Bruery has never been about affordability or cheapness. If you want cheap beer drink PBR. The other thing with competition and everyone cutting prices is it makes things a race to the bottom. How do you lower your prices when you're already at the basement? You cut corners and do things cheaper but that isn't in line with how The Bruery operates. In the craft segment we should abhor this idea because it goes against what craft beer is really about. A quality product that is made the right way without any shortcuts.

 

While I do agree with you, people are upset about the abrupt price changes. If they had raised them slowly, or even had a "hey, this is what we're doing and why we're doing it" before they did it, it wouldn't have been as much as an issue.

 

Again my biggest problem is the growler fill increase. Before it was about 40% less, growler vs. bottle. So I am going to buy just bottles now. Fine! But I bought an overpriced growler. It was going to take me about 5-6 fills to equal out the cost of that overpriced growler. Had I known they would change the price in a fucking MONTH I wouldn't have bought that piece of shit growler. It's a fucking paperweight now. The price increase in bottles has got to be right around the corner. $50 BT here we come.

 

If they raise bottle prices anymore, they risk becoming Cascade which are shelfturds in most markets.

 

Indeed... I would love to buy Cascade beers... But not for $60 a bomber! Makes GM look like a bargain!

 

Hello Terrence & everyone else. This is Jonas Nemura, Sr. Director of Operations at The Bruery & Bruery Terreux (I figure an introduction is necessary since I haven't posted to BA in probably around 6 years). I first want to re-iterate my statement that we appreciate all of your support over the years, and are always interested in hearing your thoughts regarding our business, good or bad. I won’t attempt to respond to every statement made here, but I’ve attempted to summarize what I see as some of the major issues raised by folks (in bold) and provided my input below:

· This came without any warning. I personally apologize for the sudden nature of this increase. Given the fact that it was a sizable increase, it would have been courteous to provide some level of notice to our customers, and additional training to our staff, prior to the changes going into effect. For background, the concept initially was raised as a fairly minor price increase; upon further research into both our costs and a benchmarking of the local market, we determined that a larger increase was prudent. We decided it would be better to take this increase at once, rather than as multiple small increases; as the debate here shows, I don’t believe there’s a correct answer on that point. Regardless, once we determined the path, I should have hit pause and had our marketing staff provide some notice prior to pushing the adjustments through.

· These increases are too high by percentage. As previously mentioned, we have not implemented an across-the-board price adjustment in many years. In most instances, prices have not changed in the almost 9 years that we have been doing business; I likely served some of you a $6 tulip of Saison Rue from Patrick’s homebrew fridge in the back of 715 Dunn Way in 2008, and as of last week that same tulip of Saison Rue ran you…$6. That is not a sustainable business model.

· You say the new prices are in-line with market pricing, but XX is cheaper over here. I stand behind my statement that we are still providing excellent value. You can point to specific examples of our beer that may be more expensive than a similar beer elsewhere, but there are just as many examples where our prices are less expensive to comparable beers. I won’t point out specific breweries, but looking online now I see a 7% IPA at $7 for a 12 oz. pour (our price would be $6.50 for 14 oz.), and an 8% stout at $8 for a 12 oz. pour (our price would again be $6.50 for 14 oz.) And, because a significant percentage of purchases made at our tasting rooms are made by Society members (and again, we thank you for that), the posted prices in many instances are not the prices actually being paid.

· Some beers changed from $7 for 10 oz. to $8 for 5 oz./It’s insulting to say that pour sizes need to be modified as if we can’t be responsible adults. On the high ABV point, we appreciate those of you who, like Terrence, are responsible citizens, and this is in no way designed as a nanny state approach. However, the fact of the matter is that we make a large number of high alcohol beers, and we have both a legal and an ethical responsibility to take reasonable steps to mitigate someone becoming overly intoxicated on our premises. We have decided to draw the line for very high ABV at 13%, limiting those pours to 5 oz. In reality, this isn’t a new distinction for us, but unfortunately it was not always followed, particularly when a beer changed ABV over the years or when a variant had a higher ABV than its “base” brand (i.e., Mash vs. Mash & Coconut). As an example, So Happens It’s Tuesday began its life at 11.4% ABV; at that point, serving a 10 oz. pour was reasonable. Over the years, however, it has climbed to 14.7% ABV and it should simply not have been served in 10 oz. pours at that strength. Of course we trust our bartenders to judge when someone has been overserved, but a lot can happen between pouring someone that 10 oz. glass and him/her finishing it. I assure you that we have seen this many times, and sadly not everyone is a responsible adult.

· Tasters are too expensive now, and they don’t seem much bigger. Regarding the taster pour sizes, we have always poured more than 2 oz. We are now more accurately stating our pour size and allowing staff to pour a bit heavier. And you are correct that flights are a sizable focus of our business, but they are also significantly more expensive to pour than a glass (in labor, waste, chemical, opportunity cost, etc.)

· I bought a 32 oz. growler expecting your previous pricing on growler fills. Regarding 32 oz. growler fills, I’ll point out that these prices have only changed for beers that cost over $14.99 in bottle form. For those above this threshold, simply put these growler fills were drastically underpriced and greatly de-incentivized bottle purchases of the same beer. As Joel mentioned, the intention of this shift was to mirror bottle pricing; at over 25% more beer provided to the customer (and a good amount more being lost in waste), this seems reasonable. I understand the argument that with growlers we save on bottle and label costs, and our draft system cost substantially less than our bottling lines, but this misses the point that we purchased our bottling lines specifically to package beer with better quality than what a growler can provide, not to mention that we can fill several cases of bottles in the time it takes to fill a single 32 oz. growler, and with substantially less wasted beer. Additionally, I can find numerous examples of breweries charging more for 32 oz. growlers than for the same beer in a 750mL or even a 22 oz. bottle.

· Based on this, The Bruery is bound to increase prices on bottles tomorrow. We have no plans to change our bottle pricing structure to consumers at this time.


I hope that provides some context and understanding regarding this price adjustment. All of that said, we have heard you and will be making some downward adjustments to tasters, 32 oz. growlers and 2L growler pricing structures shortly. I hope that this will demonstrate our sincere appreciation for our most passionate customers and our commitment to customer service.

Lastly, thank you for pointing out the excellence of our tasting room management and staff, as well as Joel. I couldn’t agree more, we are very fortunate to have some of the best men & women around serving our customers (as well as brewing our beer, filling our barrels, writing our press releases, driving our forklifts, making our journal entries, etc.)

Cheers,
Jonas

 

Just wanted too say that this is pretty awesome and really appreciated. It's been less than a week and you and the Bruery have already heard our complaints and thoroughly addressed our concerns. Customer service doesn't really get much better than this. Thank you.

 

Hi Jonas,

Thank you for your response to me and for addressing my (and others) concerns.

I want to say that I'm blown away with the level of interaction myself and others have had with Bruery staff in the past week. It's that kind of approachability that finished the job (of making me a diehard Bruery fan) that awesome beers such as Black Tuesday, Sour in the Rye and Mischief started! You guys are doing an excellent job providing great beer and great service! Despite how my tone has sounded in the past week, I want to say that from the first Trade Winds I had in July '13 to the Black Tuesday I shared with friends tonight, I've NEVER had a bad Bruery experience! I'm always excited to share that experience with others by inviting them to the Tasting Room, bringing a growler to a dinner or movie night, or sharing my favorites with close friends. I'll always be that apologist of The Bruery I said I was at the beginning of all of this... It'll take a picture of me with "do not serve" on it nailed to the TR wall to keep me from being a loyal customer at the tasting room again, LOL! I hope my antics haven't earned me that in the past week.

With that said, I'm stoked to hear that you have listened to our concerns and have made adjustments based on them. It says a lot about The Bruery as a company that has always been top notch with their customers. You guys rock and I look forward to my next visit (provided the absence of the aforementioned sign, LOL!)

I raise my glass to you Jonas, Joel, and Patrick! You guys make great things happen.

Cheers, and always a fan!

 

Glad to hear this.

Now, if they would just take back the three bottles I have of 2014 infected Autumn Maple

 

Hey Jonas (@ishotjr42 )! I want to thank you for coming in here and breaking down the changes and thoughts that went into the various decisions in regards to pricing at The Bruery. I can completely understand the company's standpoint and need to appropriately price the beer. As you stated in your post, I think you also understand the bit of shock it seemed a lot of the membership felt when it came out of the blue. I think that part of this, plus the large increase in some growler fills (the perk and purchase I probably make the most at both TR's) was what had me puzzled and a bit shocked. Appreciate you taking a second look at that.

I also want to echo your comments that you have some PHENOMENAL staff over there. @BruerJoel rocks it in here in a regular basis, and over the years I've gotten to know a great deal of the staff both customer facing and not, and these are nothing but top notch folks. Great beer for me is one thing, which is why I enjoy the various offerings The Bruery has, but your staff is also a large part of my loyalty. This cannot be understated. They deserve huge props.

 

Bravo Bruery! @PMR You've got some great people here and we appreciate your company being so honest with us. Kudos to listening to the market and making adjustments where needed!

 

Honestly.... I just want to repost this because the hardworking floor staff have absolutely nothing to do with these changes and deserve our kindness and respect.


@ishotjr42 I was initially under the impression that tasters incentivized customers to purchase bottles. While a lot of the RS and especially HS members have blind faith in the products you release, many of us find it important to try something before we buy it. With that being said, and with an understanding of the liquor industry, I believe there will be a detrimental impact when you charge excessive $ for a taster and deter customers from trying a beer they are contemplating a purchase of. I thing you should wave tastings if bottles are subsequently purchased. You can make increased profits off those who do not purchase bottles and/or "that birthday group who only cares about getting white girl wasted", but any good business knows that it is ESSENTIAL to keep your core group of supporters happy (*cough* RS/HS members *cough*).Thoughts on this?

 

Crowlers ok? I'd take Great Notion Double Stack or Parish Maple Shade over any Bruery Stout.

 

May I also compliment the staff at Terreux. Unfortunately I live about two hours away, so I don't get there often. However on the occasions when I have visited, they have done a great job every time. I love the entire layout there, and wish continued growth and success.

 

This shouldn't be understated. I read an article here: https://www.brewersassociation.org/articles/the-value-of-fractional-pours/ about the value of free samples and smaller pour sizes - this brewery found that customers who asked for free samples wound up spending more on their tab than customers who didn't.

The Bruery is in a weird place with this because their beer is so high-octane, and unlike a normal brewery/bar serving 5% lagers or whatever, it's much more possible at the Bruery for a tasting flight to be the main event rather than an introduction. And I'm not advocating that The Bruery start giving out free samples or anything, just pushing the general value of providing lower cost options for people to try your beer as a gateway to spending more on larger pours or larger bottles, rather than as the profit center in itself. This is always something I previously felt we got a great deal on at The Bruery with the very reasonably priced tasters, and it's good to see they're responding to feedback here and hopefully not increasing prices on those as much.

 

Potentially an unpopular opinion, but as someone who'd like to be able to try a wide array of beers and still be able to legally drive home afterwards, let's maybe not pour people more of that 20% alcohol stout than they think they're being served.

 

In theory you should never drive if you have to question whether you are under the legal limit or not. In reality... well lets just say that its a good thing they don't setup checkpoints between Orangethorpe and the 57 entrance.

 

My Lyft driver always makes sure I get home ok.