Abyss Sightings

That beer has a wholesale cost of $10.Nice little margin over 50%. It's one thing to price it at $21 but then to require that many other purchases is asinine. I doubt them selling beers this way is keeping them in business. Must be spirits and wines that keep them moving.

 

They're a corner liquor store, so craft beer isn't even their primary focus...perhaps that allows them to price more aggressively on limited releases, since it's not their primary revenue stream. I'm not privy to their books, so I couldn't tell you, but the model obviously works since there are stores who have been doing it for years and are still in business.

As long as craft beer continues to increase in popularity and more people seek out limited releases, stores like this won't have any incentive to lower their prices. The days of limited releases staying on the shelf at MSRP for more than 24 hours are pretty much gone. Yes, there are exceptions (BA Old Rasputin, for example), but demand has increased far more than supply over the past 3 - 5 years, and that doesn't bode well for the consumer.

 

They were putting a case on the shelves at Whole Foods in Pasadena on Arroyo on Friday. 14.99 I think

 

Thanks for the heads up. Picked up two bottles.

 

Looks like it's starting to hit shelves at BevMo in the Bay Area.

 

Again? Are you sure?

 

It didn't end up in a few East Bay/Central Valley BevMo's that I know of. Maybe they finally got their shipments? In any case, if they have some I might buy a few more. I have 2 and I haven't opened any, wouldn't mind having another 2-3 to have just to cellar and have

 

Would love any tips to score one or two bottles at a reasonable price here in San Diego.

 

I'm sure a lot of people would, it seems like we get even less of it this year than last year, and it came and went quickly.

 

dec 3 2012- talked to the new female beer stocker at Oakland wholefoods. She said deschutes hasn't bottled abyss yet. I thought she was on drugs...

Dec 5 2012 Took this picture at san ramon costco- $10.99

 

I've found it on tap at a few places. Hollister, Santa Cruz, and Big Sur.



My local, craft bar/take-home-beer-shop, will have this on tap also.

 

What is a reasonable price? I paid $21 recently in North County.

 

usually its 15, 21 isnt outrageous

all the places i go to were out so fast ughhh

 

This place tends to raise prices as the beer sells out. I have 3 bottles in my cellar of a limited collaboration beer that have 3 different prices on them from the same shop.

 

did they start high and then start marking it down to get it off the shelves?

 

If you're on the Central Coast, Chris Dunbar had some (not sure if he still does) at Dunbar in Santa Margarita. That's where I got mine for 20 bones.

 

The opposite. They put some of the limited beers out at a reasonable price. If they sell quickly, they mark up another set by a few $ and see how that goes. By that time, BevMo and most of their competitors have sold out so they have a monopoly on the last few bottles.

Unfortunately for them, they tend to do this with other beers that aren't so limited and a lot of their beer sits on the shelf longer than it should.

 

Randomly walked into a 7-11 in Reno on a ski trip last week and found an entire shelf of abyss for 12.99. Best 7-11 experience ever!

 

That's at the upper end of my limit for reasonable pricing, but not outrageous. I guess if I can't get it for cheaper than that, it's better than nothing.