Toppling Goliath comes to NY!

Pretty cool news. I'm sure all the stouts will take the cake on the hype train (mixed metaphors much?), but I'm looking forward to trying out fresh Pseudo/King Sue and Golden Nugget. Some "old school" whales that I remember reading about a lot when first getting into craft.

Also, looked into their distributor, Sarene, which looks pretty neat. Quite the list of brands they represent -- will be cool to see what other big names they are able to bring to NY.

 

Let me know what the dates look like on the TG stuff. I have never seen a brewery enter a new market with fresh product it always seems to get held up. Would be a shame if the govt shutdown again on Friday and somehow messed with this.

 

I would expect TG, like any other brewer moving into a new territory, would ship some of their existing beers into New York - labels for which already have the TTB COLA's.

 

Damn, I already feel bad for other great brands, such as Burial, that have to compete with the local excellence we have here in NY. I do love SOSUS, though, and not too many mosaic IPA as good as that one here (or anywhere). Hopefully they price their beers competitively, and give us some fresh product, otherwise I predict a dusty future for many bottles and cans from Iowa.

 

Feels like 6 years ago this news would be awesome, today, not so much unless they are bringing their stouts !

 

yea its interesting a lot of places are expanding but getting into markets late. i guess a bit of a double edged sword as you don't want to grow too quickly but per both your and @cavedave comments, a lot of these breweries that expand distro are sitting on shelves.

I can think of Bells, Cigar City and other brands that have expanded into NJ and just the amount of stuff generally that sits now given the sheer volume of choices. Personally I don't buy either of them much at all given everything available. Will be nice to have access to TG when I visit my in-laws, but again it all depends on freshness and pricing relative to the other great options.

EDIT: also interesting choices by TG to expand into two very competitive markets in Mass and now NY.

 

With all of the awesome breweries in NYC metro area where we can go right to the source and get great fresh beer, very little reason to buy off the shelf any more, local breweries are killing the national and regional breweries as well as local beer stores.

 

A common enough mantra here. Although it’s fitting for you personally, it shouldn’t be presented as a universal truth. It doesn’t apply to me at all and I’m in that area. Buying directly from/at a brewery is perhaps a 1 out of 100 occurrence for me. This year, I’m going to try to buy less local product at stores. For me, buying local frequently means spending more money for less satisfying beer. It’s just hard for me to not get sucked into the notion that perhaps a new local option will be really rewarding (because they can be occasionally). Regardless, I know your shopping habits must satisfy your needs, but where you see “very little reason,” I see quality, value, convenience, and variety - which are very good reasons for how and what one purchases.

 

I’ve had quite a few good Shelfies recently. Should be a thread for em

 

The problem I have with buying stuff through distribution is the retail markup here. With an unlimited Metrocard and enough friends willing to tag along to OH or Grimm every few weeks, the time/effort spent is worth saving $2-3 per can, especially if I'm looking to stock up a bit.

 

If fresh, I'd buy Pseudo and King Sue all the time. Would love to hear about any sightings, especially in mid-upper Manhattan.

 

not sure this is an apples to apples comparison... I'd expect TG stuff like Psuedo Sue to sell in a similar range as Half Acre stuff for example... mid to upper teens at best guess?... so buying OH and Grimm at an average of $20+ isn't saving money... now that's not to say OH and Grimm aren't better quality or deserving of the price difference though .

I do think your mark-up argument applies to finding local NYC beers at retail though... much better off buying at the source for stuff like Interboro, Singlecut, Finback, KCBC, Grimm - since the limited number of places that do get it apply a decent markup..

 

I welcome increased diversity of shelf options (if reasonably fresh), especially from breweries with the rep of TG. I live in the NY Metro area (Suffolk County), but in a relative wasteland as far as really good, truly 'local' options go. I don't want to drive an hour (or more with traffic) to acquire beer from Other Half and the other hyped borough breweries that only do on-site sales. Sand City, while in Suffolk County, is inconvenient to get to and I'm rarely up that way coincidentally. If it weren't for Barrier, which has limited distro within the area, I'd be strictly an off-the-shelf beer drinker.

 

My problem with this kind of cost analysis is that it's a 1+ hour subway ride to OH/Grimm for me, so paying a markup, even a significant one, is more than worth it. 2-3 hours (including time drinking at the brewery) is much more valuable to me than spending a few extra bucks per can.

 

The kicker for me is that on a Friday evening/Saturday/Sunday, going to a brewery with some friends is toward the top of the list of stuff I'd want to spend my time doing, and coming from Manhattan the longest trip is about 50 minutes to Other Half, so I find the time/effort spent to be worth it in those situations.

That's a good point, I guess with the hype they have I figured that they'd end up toward the high end price-wise, but if they're closer to the Half Acre range then that will be pretty nice.

 

I'm with you there, and to me the great benefit of the scene these days is actually what's available at my circuit of shops, in terms of variety and freshness.

 

Ewwww are we talking about shelf beer again. Surely that stuff is given away for free to the plebs these days

 

For those whose palates are exhausted of over-oated and wheated IPAs, Psuedo Sue is an excellent APA to seek.