Toppling Goliath Releases and Updates

From an owner's standpoint, you'll always choose more cash. But I'm not an owner...I'm a consumer.

 

Not defending the price but wasn't the quantity of MD based on how much maple Clark harvested from his family farm? Same with KBBS. And not all the barrels turn out the way they want. I guess that's the art of blending..

 

Is the syrup still coming from his family farm? I was under the impression the last couple of batches did not come from said farm. I could be completely off on that, though.

 

Now, how about the difference between 1k and 10-20k bottles?

TG is making their money on their other beers, namely their still stellar hoppy bombers, less beloved but higher volume in sales cans, and most likely their on-site day-to-day pours. But they churn the brand hype with these marquee brews, while the profit they make on them is a drop in the bucket compared to their standard operation.

All that's to say, I really don't think base profit is the motivating factor on limiting quantity. They'll continue to charge an obscene amount for flavoring-added and/or barrel aged stouts despite yield.

Wait...do they use natural Iowa maple syrup as the sole contributor to the maple flavor in MD? I find that extraordinary, to put it as kindly as I can and leave it at that.

 

Not sure what price you all expected for 48oz + 2 glasses + a small pour and taster you get to keep ?

8000 bottles means a lot of opportunity for people to try it, by far the most they've ever done. This will also lower secondary profit. No scarcity at all.

Discourage people that just go there to get bottles and resell ? Good ! leaves room for people who move heaven and hell and travel thousands of kilometers to meet same-minded geeks, share awesome beers , discover a small but lovable town, and create unforgettable memories.

 

While not trying to shit on it, it's truly not that crazy, CW did it with Maple Barrel Stout. Admittedly, that was with the help of B&E's Trees. But still, very doable. As someone who boils some syrup themselves, I find that to be a metric shit ton as well.

 

The only reason these sets come with glasses is to make the price more appealing. Glassware is cheap as hell when you buy it in bulk. I couldn't care less about the glassware.

Second, it's not even barrel aged. As many people that have troubles paying $25 for more mass produced BA stouts (KBS and BoCo come to mind), $100 is just absurd. Sure, I bet it's an expensive beer to produce, but the problem is that they are putting scarcity into the price tag as well.

Thirdly, the 2.5oz pour is a joke and is a real kick in the nuts to consumers.

 

Yet CW can put out great stouts and still manage to charge between only $8 - $25...

 

Everybody is selling glassware with their product, cant blame them for it.

And about that pour: md3 release was best ever, 250 people per session and you could sit and drink for hours. Kbbs/assassin was without drinking to get product to as many ppl as possible. This one is in between, a small pour to get your tick but still get the product to a lot of people. It's all about finding a balance, there will always be ppl complaining.

 

Exactly! But they're a barrel aging giant, really.

 

They should skip the pour , that size is an embarrassment, to folks traveling and tossing down C-Notes, as you noted get the MD into the folks hands , Sitting and drinking it seems TG does not want to have anymore.

 

Wait...do they use natural Iowa maple syrup as the sole contributor to the maple flavor in MD? I find that extraordinary, to put it as kindly as I can and leave it at that.[/QUOTE]

I think sabots is trying to imply that they're using maple flavoring not just maple syrup. A baseless accusation but he seems to have an agenda. Also, I think it might be Wisconsin.

 

You know it's $25 per bottle, not $100, right?

 

I dunno, let's run it down here. A small pour of even a super limited beer should be what, $4-5? Probably less, but let's go with that. This is a non-BA beer, so it seems ludicrous to suggest that the going rate for an adjunct stout should top that of a BA one, which has much higher costs due to loss (evaporation and bad barrels) and aging (how long you're going from brew day to recouping those costs, monitoring the barrels, maintaining the barrels), etc. But let's give it to them anyway because we're being generous. $25/22oz / $30/750ml/25.4oz bottle is about the top rate. So $60, even though again, four packs are typically cheaper per ounce than large format.

Two glasses, leaving aside any judgment about markup for what are probably dirt cheap, about $15 for the pair?

A $20 premium on top of already top-of-market prices across the board is pretty damn high, but entirely worth it for people that really want the beer. It won't materially impact demand, as this cost isn't nearly enough to drive demand down closer to availability. The gray market for this will still be robust.

So TG is just banking on making a little bit more of that gray market money on a product that demand far outstrips supply and assuming that what little backlash there is will be mitigated by some level of understanding. Seems fair. And if they ramp up production considerably and return the price to a fair market price most people will be overjoyed rather than hold old slights against them. And if they've decided they want to push the cost of premium beer permanently higher they're probably just doing something a little earlier than will happen somewhere else inevitably.

There's no reason we should suspect the cost of the most sought-after beer to do anything other than go up. An increased premium at the top of the market that far outstrips the cost to produce.

 

.... yes? KBS comes in a 4 pack of 12 oz bottles and BoCo used to as well before the 15.9oz bottles. I can see how that might have been a little unclear, though. I was just assuming we were all on the same beer-nerd page

 

Thanks for your elaborate answer. A lot of people dont care about the glassware, if you count it at the price theyre selling them it all totals up to the top margin you suggested. Guess it all comes down to if one wants to pay a premium for special releases. Obviously $100 makes the line move quicker then $85 but that shouldnt be the reason.
I for one think its in line with previous releases and prefer a small pour above no pour at all. It aint cheap but dont think its outrageous as so many ppl think. Ppl wouldnt have complained with a small kbbs pour.

 

KBBS is also barrel-aged and a even if the latest batch wasn't as good as others, it's still night and day better than the last MD.

 

People are acting as if some of us don't understand basic economics; I'll wager most of us do.

In the end, it's a great brewery that is choosing to exploit the opening created by the secondary market as an excuse for a cash grab. That's 100% their prerogative, but it doesn't mean I have to like it, or respect breweries that act like this.

 

If people didn't pay $100+ for these types of releases then TG would stop charging said prices. It's supply and demand, plain and simple and I applaud any effort on their part to maximize the business that employs numerous people (a number which will grow by leaps and bounds very soon) in a very small town. Any outcry of greed or price fixing is short sighted butthurt bullshit.

 

Actually no.