WeldWerks (2020)

If you've traded beer, you've paid as much or more for beers. I don't like the recent hike in prices, but that's also why I got out of trading.

 

@Dicers - yes they do. I avoid them as well. $25-30 is my limit.

 

So buy cycle. They're local to you and more affordably Priced Right?

 

They are more affordable, just 4hrs away

 

well then, go troll them.

 

seems weird to even dignify this troll attempt... like it didn’t work lol

 

Just asked about inflated prices & the lil hits start flying.

 

Calling people desperate was your first mistake. Just because it's out of your price range doesn't mean you gotta hate.

 

The new PB Noche will be 1pp in 500ml bottles. Anyone know if this will be the format going forward? Hopefully, WW is just experimenting and smaller bottles at 1pp will not be the new normal (this is probably just driven by GABF).

I share most of my big BA brews, so 22 oz. is preferred; also, I like the aesthetics of the waxed bombers, but I get that it’s more expensive.

 

The post made it sound like 500ml is the new normal for BA stouts. Limit 1 is probably GABF related.

I hate that format as well, but they're trending towards $40 bombers for a lot of these which isn't ideal either.

 

They haven't waxed much outside of premiere in terms of Noche's this year, but as said they almost certainly will be 500ml bottles moving forward. They have more bottles to sell, which is good for them

 

Gotta hit those max profits! I reckon it's also "better" for the consumer as more total units means more people will be able get their hands on bottles, but I don't think WW gives a shit about that - they're just driving up hype. 16.9oz may as well be a pint can; the real difference is that they'd likely get a lot more push-back charging $2/oz for a can vs. a bottle.

 

Glad we can always rely on you @DanInRealLife for a healthy dose of skepticism...

But for another perspective, we made the format change for a plethora of reasons, none of them involving margins, profit or hype. Feedback over the past few years made it clear that 500 mL bottles were a better and far more preferred format for our customers. Despite the lower margins of 500 mL bottles (due to the increased cost of the bottles themselves, increased labor costs due to the smaller format, and the cost of the brand new bottle filler to replace one that was still working), we decided it was a transition worth making. As you mentioned, higher bottle counts means we get our beer into the hands of more people, which typically has the opposite affect on hype (greater accessibility = lower interest).

 

I do what I can, and I genuinely appreciate you taking it all in stride and responding directly. After the latest Nilla Noche release I was expecting to be skipping future bottle releases and at the very least, PB Noche made that easy, what with the $20 GABF passport requirement just to purchase it. It's the cost of admission that grinds my gears. I do prefer the smaller format, but why not just put it in a pint can any save yourself the overhead and margin if not for the marketing end? There is no question that a sexy 500ml bottle has more appeal than a can, so it's a hype-driven decision to make people overlook the $/oz, plain and simple.

*Jaded though I may be on these bottle releases, I still bought four packs of Evil Haze Factory and Transmountain Diversion just this afternoon. Still happy to be drinking all this delicious haze...

 

@DanInRealLife despite my sarcastic tone, I really do appreciate your skepticism. Critical feedback should be valued by any business that prides themselves on improvement, like WeldWerks. In fact, that same feedback is why we switched formats in the first place, so keep it coming.

And you're right, there's no question that a 500 mL bottle will market and sell exponentially better than a 16 oz can. But for all intents and purposes, cans have never been on the table as a viable format for our Barrel Aged Stouts, for a lot of reasons beyond the inability to sell them. So the only real decision we were considering was whether to stick with the previous 22 oz format, or to make the investment in a new bottling line to transition to 500 mL bottles. So for that comparison, profit and "hype" were never considerations, because if they were, we would have stuck with the 22's.

 

Will this cause a shift back to bottles for the achromatic or other bigger non-ba stouts (a la Starriest)? I'm thinking mainly the 2 packs you've sold for the past year or so.

 

The final format for the non BA Stouts is still up in the air, based on the reception to Starriest Night and the next one we have in the queue, but that's our tentative plan.

 

Why are we begrudging a guy trying to make a living?

 

As always thanks for the info

I don't imagine most of us are