Are "Limited Release" Beers Really That Limited?

Limited is such a wide open term. All it takes to be considered limited is to not be a year round offering. The problem I see with most limited beers is that they seem to pile them in heavily populated areas while smaller towns go with very little or without at all. CBS didn't sit in my town, but we didn't get a lot of it either (this year it looks like we got more CBS in the area, not gonna buy at 25 per...)

 

The really good ones are.

 

CBS is not limited.....this is one store and it’s in another location there too......

 

Wow, at 30 bucks a bottle I don't know how that kind of pile would ever sell...

 

I was hoping to find one at $20 and share it on Thanksgiving but I could not do $30. Grabbed a case of SN snow pack for $14.99 a 12 pack instead.

Enjoy

 

I can't blame you at all. I'd much rather search for a 4 pack of another BA stout to replace it. I've had CBS on tap this year, I'm ok without any bombers. They really screwed up packaging it this way, I see them having a lot sit. If it were 4 packs for 25-30, it would be gstting snatched up like BA Expedition is.

 

CBS is about $25 and sitting on the shelf in at least one grocery store in STL. Never had it and yet I still passed on it for one of the reasons mentioned in this thread: too damn expensive!

 

$30.

 

I saw it for $27 at the local Whole Foods earlier today, and had the same thought.

 

"Limited" really depends on the size of the brewery. A local brewery (3bbl capacity)did a charity bottle release a couple months ago. I got bottle 308/357. That's fairly limited from most any viewpoint.

 

Everything has limits, so even Budweiser is limited - by their production and by demand. CBS and other maple beers were limited by the availability of maple barrels. With the recent glut of CBS and other maple beers, it seems they've overcome that limitation.

The elephant in the room this week is BCBS variants. This is the first year we've had them here, and based on the 11 stores I visited today I would have to say that this limited release is into the hundreds of cases in Eastern South Dakota. Two and three years ago, our distributor reportedly only got 10 cases. Last year it was up, and this year regular BCBS is way up here. I'd say there is not much limitation here.

Then there's Toppling Goliath KBBS. I seriously doubt they would stoop so low as to artificially limit production just to keep the price at $100 per 12oz dose. I believe it must be the ground unicorn horn that is limiting KBBS. Otherwise TG would ramp up production slightly, drop the price to $50, and still clean up.

 

At 50 bucks a pop, they can still shove it up their ass and have the most limited small intestine in all the land.

 

Yeah, I couldn't get a ticket either

 

Same place had 2 cases of BA expedition plus a four pack, $26.99. Guessing expedition is a bit more limited. It’s also a much better price and bottle size.

Enjoy

 

Some are considered "limited" but are produced in gigantic quantities. What's funny is some are limited even though a pretty solid amount is produced; the only problem is that beer nerds hoard large quantities.

 

Oh shit there's tickets on top of the inconceivable price? So hoops to jump through and I get to explain to my beer loving wife that the good stuff costs 100 bucks? Not sure I can keep a straight face there haha.

 

Only $6 for the ticket, but then there's the gas for the drive, hotel, meals, etc. Turns into a $500 beer pretty quick.

 

That is a pricey Total Wine! I guess Pennsylvania beer laws are to blame for that?