2015 Michigan BCBS & Black Friday Thread

I've had little to no success finding Bourbon County around these parts aside from a loose bottle here and there and somehow, miraculously, stumbling into a liquor store selling two bottles of cherry rye at $24 a piece...Now that I think of it I'd love to get my hands on the security footage of that entire interaction. I slipped in to some state of euphoria, so my memory is fuzzy but I definitely remember going wide-eyed and yelling at the clerk to ask where the ATM was (apparently having lost the ability to control the volume of my voice).

Can't provide hard numbers, but I know Bourbon County & friends were mighty hard to find in SE Michigan last year...near as I've been able to figure Oakland County gets a little more love than the rest of Metro Detroit, but even then its two bottle limits a buck or two over MSRP.

We've all heard the stories around KBS release...stores that sell more Founders get more KBS...I'd have to imagine its the same for Goose Island. You've got to pay to play, and I'm sure not willing to throw down money for honkers or 312.

 

Metro Detroit had 2014 BCBS into either February or March of 2015...because it was $40 4/pack.

As a beer trader, I regret not paying the $40 4/pack when I could have. I end up forking over $20 in shipping just for a 4pack or 2 for BCBS anyway.

The only places I saw that had reasonable prices were gone instantly.

 

Hell, I would have paid $40 for a 4pk if I'd seen it. Only place I've ever seen selling 4pks was Washtenaw Liquor in Ypsi, and they were charging a cool $60.

 

I got zip in 2013, and last year I lucked into a bottle each of regular and BW ($8 each) because someone else turned down their allocation. I'll ask my usual place if they're doing a list this year, but there's enough other stuff around that I'm not gonna chase it or wait in line.

 

Whether true or not I have no idea, but have been told that small BCBS allocations in Michigan have at least something due to the fact that our Goose Island distributor in Michigan does not distribute the entire InBev lineup, including Anheuser Busch. I don't know how the distributor system works and who controls what, just relaying good speculation fodder.

 

I don't think that's true. My next door neighbor works for west side who is the distributor for goose in my area. And they definitely distribute AB. Thats where they make their money. So much so these craft beers they do distribute are just an annoyance and he could care less about them. Regardless, he's my only "in" to BC and delivered the only case of it that I'm aware of to my local bottle shops.

 

Oddly enough, I've had great success on Black Friday without too much running around. I'm not in SE MI, so that may have something to do with it. But I can generally take my wife and hit up 5-6 stores within 2 hours. I think I ended up with 4 coffee, 4 barley wine, 8 stout, and a vanilla rye last year (granted the Vanilla Rye was not on Black Friday).

Of course, all shops are different. Some limiting to one bottle, some with lists, others we were able to both get a mixed 4-pack. Maybe there just aren't as many "mouths to feed" where I'm at.

As others have mentioned, I think the bottle-format change will be really interesting to keep an eye on this year.

 

Last year in West Michigan the stores around me (GR area) all got it the week after Black Friday. Varying days based on delivery and all with limits of 1.

 

Gotta be the Lansing area, right?

 

If the allocation of bcbs to stores is based on the the stores total sales of GI, meijer then would have the most of bcbs.

 

I will neither confirm nor deny.

 

I would be amazed if it was from what I have seen. People are almost foaming at the mouth for any sort of release, coupled with small quantities actually being distributed in our area, and usually last on the list, so people are just waiting for it to drop. Bottle shops are running out of releases faster and faster.

just my own thoughts.

Love the woman I saw yesterday bouncing from foot to foot waiting, trying to not really stand in line because maybe she could get what she wanted faster (the guys in front of me were buying a lot of different things) as I chatted with the shop guys. She finally gets up there and loudly and bluntly says "i'm here for my allotment" and that was all.

As of now unless magic happens, I really doubt i will be getting any. Have yet to ever try it, so maybe i'll get lucky.

 

I bought some in Lansing last year on Sunday, two days after it was released by that store. The year before that, I passed it up a week after the release. Lansing, at least in past years, has been a less shit-showy, less "aggressive" place to buy beer, and it's refreshing.

In any case, if you strike out this year @Jmorey, i can hook you up with some from a previous year

 

I was out of town last year (someplace with even less beer options) and didn't live here the year prior. Just thinking along the lines how over the past year it has just seemed to be getting exponentially crazy to snag the big name limited releases. Then there are things like No Rules which I still wish I would have gotten another bottle (as there was a good amount around here), that sat a bit because the hype chasers didn't know what it was.

 

This is OT, but the best example of this is Hopslam. Used to be able to buy it at will for a month, now it seems like people are hoarding it (and inexplicably cellaring it) to the point where it's often difficult to find.

 

I love BCBS and all the variants I've been able to buy or trade for but the juice just isn't worth the squeeze for me anymore. Lists and lotteries to buy 2 bottles for $8+? Naw. Luckily, I've developed a good enough relationship with a bottle shop owner who will save me a 4-pack at least. The hauls of multiple cases, 10 bomber variants and how much work it must have taken is so unfathomable to me.

 

Can't really speak to BCBS, as I've never really sought it out, but these are my exact observations on limited releases in the Lansing area. Horrock's is really the only store west of US-127 that gets all of the major limited releases in volume and gets hit up accordingly so, usually within 1-2 days of the release. You have to ask for anything they limit and I've noticed even some of Short's one-offs are being held back now. After working in Grand Rapids for a year and seeing these in Meijer over there, it is really frustrating.

 

Funny you mention this. I visited some friends about a month ago that I hadn't seen in a while and who had recently got big into craft beer. They both had a CASE of Hopslam in their beer fridge. Makes no sense.

 

Just moving from SW Michigan not too long ago. I am not sure what all the complaints are about. Bourbon County or variants hasn't ever been easy to get, except back in like '09 when bombers were a shelf turd (god that was a great spring).

We want more people to get into craft, but production can't keep up. Simple stuff really. And honestly, SE Michigan distro of all beers in general is always been terrible.

Coming from SW MI, I was always able to get at least a 4-pack of BCBS at each of the major beer stores without much of an issue. The variants.. Well if you wanted those you needed to do a little chasing, but that's always been the case.

This isn't going to change, so deal with it, or just spend Black Friday in a nice turkey coma and not worry about it.

 

I've tried at horrocks a couple times, but never get anything. I rarely make it over there and then it is only on a weekend as i work on campus and live east. The few things I've asked about like woot stout, they're like no, that's long gone, or when my friend called about KBS they were like oh we have a list and it is 100+ long. The woman that is usually in the beer section there is super nice. But I know i'm not going to win there. Not a fan of their single pricing premium either.