Yeah, I was thinking that'd be something like $16. Wish I had a little more time, would have gotten a second one, ha.
I saw 12pks of Surly Furious for $17.99 yesterday. On sale all of Aug. Perhaps an outrageously low price for some.
Yep, that's a great price if'n it's not close to it's, "best by" date. I've had to snag Furious in 6 packs only for $11-12 a 6 pack here since spring. We don't get the 12 packs anymore.
Just saw a couple of Horus BA stouts show up on Tavour. They are small bottles. Both are $85 each. It's insane. I know Tavour isn't charging much more than what Horus would charge (most of the time they are $2 to $5 more than retail. Total BS. What makes this worse is that Horus hits about as much as it misses. Who actually buys these?
I always wonder how much of this stuff they need to sell in order to break even. When I visited Toppling Goliath last summer, they told me that on average they sell a bottle of KBBS a week (on premises consumption only). I know they have an annual release event for KBBS, which I believe is the only time you can get it to go. Can't recall how much of it you're allowed to buy, but there is a restriction. The impression I have is that they're satisfied with the current status quo, which tells me that production is probably pretty low. Have to think that's probably the case for those Horus bottles as well. My take is that these are essentially novelty items, beers that are picked up by traders or curious consumers. Other than ardent traders, my guess is that most people pick up a single bottle (out of curiosity), with no intention of buying it again. That was certainly my feeling when I ordered a bottle of KBBS at the source last year. I agree the pricing is crazy, but as long as there's a market for them, I expect breweries like Horus and TG will just keep on keepin on.
While the discussion veered off to tipping a bit, which is per se not off-topic in this thread that’s where most of Europe differs for reasons mostly understood by all. My American buddies were on the money (no pun) when he mentioned that tipping provided generally better service. I mean, I experienced good service in “tipping free” parts of Europe as well, but nowhere the friendliness even if faked a bit for an extra bucks I experienced in most of the cities visited in America. @John_M makes some good point about some higher uptown or Michelin star restaurants; they know their stuff, usually have been working for years there, have some good to excellent English knowledge. Airports, concert arenas/venues like you aren’t places when I’m direly in need of a beer. I’m a bit nervous even when I passed the customs and in a hurry not to miss my plane, that’s just me. Others can enjoy their airports beers, not for moi.
I wanted to try their beer, but a shop I went to was selling it for $19/ 4 pack 12 oz cans. Hard pass .
John, I am confident that you know/remember Jeff of TJs (Paoli, PA). In the past he had a beer cooler(s) to sell beer for takeout and he would often have hard to get beers (beers akin to Cantillon) which were generally high priced. I had a conversation with him about how some other local beer retailers would have “outrageous prices” for these hard to obtain beers (the Whole Foods Market in nearby Devon as one example). I would comment that these products seemed to ‘sit’ there for extended periods of time. I suppose waiting for that wealthy customer for whom money is no object? Jeff responded that he viewed these beers as being inventory and that he chose to price them to move (i.e., lower priced than Whole Foods, et. al.). Not too long after that conversation he removed his beer cooler(s). I suppose that selling beer to go was no longer a good idea for him, he concentrated on draft beer sales. Cheers!
Outrageous! I say. Perhaps there's an "off season" when they go on sale. Kinda like cologne & aftershave.
Thst sounds lile Jeff alright. He was always a very practical businessman I thought. I can't imagine him "investing" in some expensive, limited release beer, that would just sit on the shelf. He did not want his money tied up in inventory. If he couldn't sell something quickly, he wouldn't carry it. That was his attitude about draft beer as well as I recall. The last few years as I recall, he would get in his annual keg of younger, put it on tap and sell through it. There was no event or special announcement. He wanted it in and out the door as quickly as possible.
One year Jeff was kind enough to give me a tip when he was going to put PtY on tap (I am sure I wasn't the only one he provided a tip to). It was on a Tuesday afternoon, I think something like 2:45. I thanked him for the tip but I was working for a living and as much as I enjoy Russian River beers I was not prepared to take a vacation day. The following Friday evening I asked Scott how the event went. He told that after tapping the keg he just continuously filled up glasses and the keg was kicked in about 30-40 minutes. Cheers!
You seem like a fun one to hang with. When I go out, less and less every year, I know tipping is part of the money i will spend. I was a waiter for a few years, i get it. I tip at 20% if it’s wait staff at a table and food. I adjust up or down based on service. I only tip on the the pre tax amount. If I order a drink at the bar I most times leave $1 a drink, not a %. I do not tip on to go beers. If I was not able to or not willing to tip I would not go out. I stopped going out with certain people due to them not wanting to tip or only wanting to leave a buck or two. Enjoy
Slightly off topic, but I was at Hill Farmstead two years ago, picking up an order, & asked the guy ringing it up if there were limits. He said no, so I asked what the biggest order was, that he was aware of. $9,000, Ordered by a foreign company, for a corporate event in NYC.
This is me (well, except for the fun to hang around comment). If I'm going out, whether by myself or with my long suffering wife, tipping is part of the cost. If money was a big concern (at one point it most definitely was), then I'd drink at home. It's definitely cheaper to just drink at home, but I like going out... airing myself out and using my limited social skills. My wife and I travel quite a bit, so I'm aware that the tipping culture in this country is much more aggressive than it is in other countries. But this is where I live. In THIS country, it's expected that you leave at least a 15% to 20% tip for a variety of different services, including restaurant table service (you can Google this if you don't believe me). Stiffing the staff because you're unhappy with the prices or hate the culture isn't an option (imho). If you feel the prices are unfair or that you shouldn't have to leave a tip, don't eat/drink out.
John, when you are overseas (e.g., Czech Republic, Poland, etc.) do you use a smaller percentage for tipping? Cheers!
