When a store slams a brewer on social media

It's good to shine a light into the shadows.

 

I would have thought allocations would be up to the distributor. Unless the retailer is blaming NH for simply not brewing enough of a hyped beer. Either way it sounds pretty weak and as a customer I wouldn’t want to hear that. Distributors already have a terrible rep, so no big surprise if one was doing something shady.

 

Let's hear the behind the scenes stuff....

 

New Holland created a series of release events for this beer at their locations.

I am not commenting on the specifics of the case in the OP (or siding with anybody related to it), but generally speaking:

It feels like many beer fans today have embraced the current taproom and brewery release model with zealotry. It's important that we don't turn a blind eye to how it has impacted bars and retail stores.

That's probably not going to be a popular position around here from folks who only see the upsides to the taproom scene... or don't care if anything outside of that mini-ecosystem is threatened. It's clear that the retailer's post in the OP is related to this even if it's just indirectly.

 

Did any of the mentioned distributor's accts. get any ? Did any distributors get any ? This is all unclear.

 

"Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants." Louis D. Brandeis

 

Did you obtain an allocation of NH Triple Mash?

Cheers!

 

Not sure how I feel about this. Sounds like they have carried other NH products and wanted to also get a hold of this release of which it did not happen. Sounds like they are pissed over it but with that said could they not have dealt with NH directly? I am not sure I like this open shaming thing going on. I come from a world where you deal directly with your business affiliates and keep it professional, not airing out your issues publicly. I am guessing they made this move in order to cull any negative blow-back from consumers towards them. I think it could have been done better.
Also the store most certainly will not see any new items coming their way and could hurt relations with other breweries who may just walk now. Companies don't like dealing with folks who do this stuff.

 

If I had a store being bombarded with customer calls for a beer they didn't give me you can be sure I would have the brewery's phone number handy and transferring people to the "ordering department".

 

I get that the triple mash is all the rage right now but don't you have at least a handful of other quality BA Stouts in stock right now?

The store should of just called the distributor, cursed them out and stopped ordering NH and another brand or two from their portfolio and never said a word on social media.

 

It's possible (unlikely, but possible) that the brewery doesn't know about the shady shit. Now they for sure do.

Would it be better if pay-for-play had not become common knowledge, and stayed behind the scenes? Stuff like this contributes to downward sales for the brewery. Once accounts stop placing orders, sales slip.

 

That is surely not an action that I would take as a retailer. My buddy at Liquor Shed is responsible for bringing in breweries into Casper and Wyoming in general by respectful persistence. That attitude has brought in some amazing beers from amazing breweries.

 

As someone like @ypsifly who deals with "the game" often, I've seen my fair share of allocations shell games with hyped beer. My and other stores in the area have pretty much began networking within ourselves to help one another and once we find out who got the hype beer we pretty much funnel customers to each others stores. Rivals as we may be, technically, we are all just businesses trying to survive and we share the same customers anyway so theres no sense in hurting each other's businesses by trash talking one another on social media. Same goes for certain breweries. We don't carry Golden Road or Ballast Point at my store but I didn't try to create a media blitz as to why. I just send someone to one of the many other stores in the area that does.

 

I get why the store is pissed and if I was a customer of that store I'd appreciate that post too, if only because I would know not to throw my negative energy towards the store. If the problem here lay with the distributor rather than brewery, I suppose it was a little misdirected but maybe also intentional, as it would seem doubtful the distributor is going to amend this situation in any way...but perhaps New Holland will, as their brand is the visible one with more to lose?

 

I have no insight whatsoever into the brewing and distribution industry, but from a purely business aspect I would think that particular store/person made a serious mistake. I would think that other brewers would not look at this in a positive manner, let alone NH. Doesn't give your current or perspective business partners confidence in someone who handles things in this manner. Now possibly he/she had tried to handle this behind the scenes first, which I'm guessing he/she did and was not satisfied with the outcome and decided to go public.

Sorry for the novel, but I have a question. I have seen mention of the 3 tier system (I believe we have it here in NC). What is it and how does it affect distribution?
Thank you