2015 Goose Island Bourbon County Stout $$ question

I see there's a Whole Foods about half an hour away that carries beer. Will check that out. Didn't know they did in PA. I definitely load up whenever I'm out of state. Thanks

 

I bought 2 4packs last year, only bought 2 bottles today

I'm still thinking its a great beer, but too many other good Imperial Stouts that I can drink so much cheaper (understand not BA)

 

I bought one of each against my better judgement. The prices for each varied in my area (Maryland) depending on how bad each store wanted to gouge their customers. Regular anywhere from 14-20, BW and coffee 20-25, rye 25-40, and rare 65-125. Anhueser Busch knows they've got us by the short and curlys with this one, ladies and gents!

 

Pretty big price jump this year and the format really doesn't make a whole lot of sense. 12oz was better. I bought 2 regular at $9.99

 

Picked up a couple at Specs in Houston for around $10 and 1 from Whole Foods that was like $8.49. I was really pissed about the price hike but I have justified it by comparing it to wine. For $10 I can get 26 oz of an ok drinkable red blend that comes in at 14% and it will be ranked in the mid 80's in the wine world. I can get 16 oz of BCBS at 14% for the same price and it is in the upper 90's in the beer world, so I convinced myself with this analogy to pick up a few bottles. Also had it on tap today, it was nice

 

What bothers me about the pricing for Rare is that these were not some sort of highly prestigious barrels they used. Yes, they were old, but by Goose's own admission they were (literally) buried in a barrel junk heap that the distiller had forgotten about. I'm not saying they were "bad" barrels, and I'm not even saying they would necessarily have a bad effect on the beer if they were "bad" barrels. I'm just pointing out their pedigree is not established and the distiller doesn't seem to have thought too highly of them; total opposite of what made the original Rare so sought-after (and allegedly what made it taste good).

 

Check before you go......not all WF carry beer......Plymouth meeting is a pretty good location that does carry beer. Some beer is too much and some is priced well.....

Enjoy

 

My workplace just got the 2015 in, my boss mentioned it to me. I didn't realize how limited they were, we had (have) 6 bottles just sitting on the counter/workstation. She said she was pricing them at $12.99 but hasn't put them in the system yet. I should probably grab one or more. I read the label like 20 times tonight. No limits.

Never had BCBS before.

 

Bought two (Max limits) today for $11. Went to another store here in town and they were asking THIRTY THREE DOLLARS for one bottle. Absolutely ridiculous.

 

We got two cases of regular($9.99), two Barley($9.99), and two Lolita($19.99). I feel a lot of Lolita was pushed on stores this year.

We did something odd at our store this year.. At least something I haven't heard much of.

Being our third year open, and our first time getting BC, and seeing how fast it gets scooped up, we had to switch it up a bit.. Since our BC allotment solely depends on GI cases sold(no, this is not a myth, it is 100% true) we decided if you wanted to get on the list, you had to get a six'er of GI. (discounted at 7.99-normally 8.99) we HAD to do this to even get BC this year.. In early October we had to sell 29 more cases of GI before Nov. 22nd to even get any.. Pretty shitty.. But it is what it is.

To my surprise, this method worked flawlessly. It seemed different to people at first, but once we explained the process, they were right on board. We also posted on FB about this, and the response was very positive. All in all, it was a very successful first year for us with BC! We sold a shit of GI, had a solid turn out, and even gained new customers! Looking forward to the coming years.

 

COSTCO had base $7.99 four bottle limit. My neighborhood store had my case for $124.99 plus tax. I'm set, no variants, another Black Friday in the books.

 

Went to the Bevmo around the corner only 5 minutes after they opened and got the last 4 bottles of regular, limit 2 per person, had 2 other people with me, 11.99 a piece, not too bad a price, and the size is right IMO, drank one tonight gonna cellar the others for a year or 2. People have mentioned the other barrel aged offerings and the price points as rationale for BCBS actually being very well priced (MSRP at least), saw BA Narwhal for $20, BA Rasputin for $25, and Firestone Walker Velvet Merkin for $15.99 just in the 5 minutes i was browsing when picking up my BCBS, it made me feel a whole lot better about dropping around $50 for 4 beers, since I could get 4 really good, but not quite as good BA stouts like Narwhal and Rasputin for ~$100.

The price is right, and while it'd be better if it was in 4 packs like before, the 500ml size is almost perfect for me.

Hope I run into Coffee or Barleywine in the next week or so since variants sometimes show up late, not holding my breath though, either way i'm happy with this years haul.

 

I see some of the prices and I'm a little put off, and I get it that if you don't like the price pass it by. $33 for a bottle of Regulsr is beyond ridiculous. Making customers buy other beer that they probably don't want in order to buy BCBS is equally ridiculous.

Now if your a retailer and you get say 10 cases of Regular, is this going to fill your 4th Q coffers and make your year? No, it's probably more of a pain in the ass vs a financial windfall. I'm sure the margins for specialty releases are a bit higher, but there's not enough volume to make much of it, more than likely that's being paid out with having extra staff on duty to keep things moving.

The guy selling $33 bottles, the guy selling me a sixer of GI IPA to go with my BCBS : I would never spend a dime in your store, never ever. There's to much competition, and I'd just move on.

 

I personally will pay it as long as I can afford it but won't buy as much if its super high.
The reality of it is there will still be lines everywhere and it will still sell out.

 

If a store is selling regular BCBS for $33 a bottle, you should name the store for 2 reasons:
1) Let people know that this store has no problem charging 3 times the going rate,
2) there are plenty of fools that will pay this price, this will aid in separating these fools from their money.

 

$12 ea. at Bevmo - limit one per.

 

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaattttttttt

 

I paid $8.79 and $9.80.

 

I think the consensus, at least in the other thread, is that this sort of pawning off mediocre beers to sell other beers is a true disservice. Yet your shop made it seem like you were doing them a favor.. Nice play on words etc. I don't like that process at all. I understand it. A GI/distributor rep told us the same thing as we were waiting in line last year. You control your own destiny sort of bs speech where it felt like we were being talked down to. We were about tot drop $120 bucks for your product and you talk to us like that? Nah. I don't know a single person who regularly buys any of their core beers, at least among my core group of friends/drinking buddies. The guys in line last year just laughed at the prospect of buying honkers or 312 (their english ipa is not bad. Its on draft at my local race track). You would think buying the product that is good, and a lot of it, albeit limited, that would be enough for stores to get more. Pawning off mediocre beers is not cool though. I always thought the pay to play sort of thing was illegal, especially with booze and liquor laws involved.

 

Costco still has Barrel-Aged Narwhal for 15 dollars a 750 ml. Don't know if it would be considered better than Bourbon County, but I am not complaining.