BCBS in the Triangle, NC

I've talked with people at 3 different stores. They seemed to have been kept in the dark about when they'll be getting it and weren't sure if they would be doing a black friday release or a later release like last year with BCBW, etc. Could be a front their putting up so people stop asking. But one dude at Sam's said that Raleigh should be getting some of the variants, but Durham won't be. Something about AB selling more bud in Raleigh than Durham. Again, not sure if there's any truth to this.

 

I heard today at Total Wine there won't be any VR in the state. Stores should be selling BCBS, BCBBW, and BCBCS on Friday morning/early afternoon.

 

Did they mention any difference in distribution to their Raleigh/Durham/Cary store locations? Or will all be selling BCBS, BCBBW, and BCBCS?

 

I know for sure anyone in the Harris Distro network will not be getting anything but BCBS. That is Durham/CH/Carrboro/HIllsborough.

Raleigh and everything east uses RA Jeffries, which could be getting BCBW. I know Charlotte got BCBCS, so its not unimaginable that Raleigh will get it.

 

I'm surprised coffee and barleywine were almost no where to be found in the Triangle, anyone have any luck?

 

Same with the Triad. Bestway got a case of coffee and 2(?) cases of BW that were not released today. I do think it's odd that coffee has been so limited in NC considering the bottle counts.

 

The triangle saw 3 cases of coffee and Barleywine I know of at Bottle Revolution, Tasty Beverage, and Triangle Wine. One case at each. It was difficult to get this year.

As for the regular, a few stores were selling them only to their special club members. One store was lying that they didn't get any to save for an event later. One store was marking them up to $9 a bottle.

 

Which store was marking them up $9 a bottle?

 

Yeah, I've got my $9 ready too haha. But $9 is about what I could find coffee for up in Michigan.

Any idea what Bestway is doing with the coffee? Raffle?

 

Last year they released the Barleywine at a later date (I want to say the week after), so I assume they're going to be doing the same thing again this year. Keep a lookout on Bestway's twitter/FB page to see if they give any advance warning. They'll probably make an announcement one morning that it'll be on sale at noon or 5. Next Friday is my best guess.

 

I ended up with 2 four-packs of reg and 1 bottle of coffee. That was cobbled together from several different places, but most I paid was $6 a bottle I'm pretty sure.

 

Paddy O' Beers in downtown Raleigh on Fayetteville rd.

 

Geez...that's disappointing. I'm not surprised, just disappointed.

 

I talked to Roger on Black Friday and he wasn't sure. In a passing thought, he said he might release it in conjunction with a tasting but I really don't think he has decided how to deal with it yet.

I think the distribution of the variants around the country was poorly handled and was reflective of the distributors not having experience with this type of situation - after all, for years all they had to do was stock the shelves with Bud Light. I suspect a lot of folks are feeling frustrated at the poor distribution and even worse about the lack of information they were given. At Bestway on Black Friday morning, for example, there were a bunch of folks that had traveled long distances only to discover that the only beer available was the BCBS.

Since supply of the variants was so limited relative to demand, they should have limited one variant to each market, announced what they were doing, and made the selected variant available broadly enough so that folks knew where they would be able to find them. It would have been better to concentrate specific variants in particular markets rather than to drop a case here and there on a random basis creating a massive headache for the retailers.

 

Pickings in NC were SLIM this year. I'm located in Wilmington, but have some BCBS that I would consider trading for something elite. PM me if interested and we can go over ISO lists

 

I'm not quite sure of the logic of distributing these beers on the day of a release. I literally pulled up to the Bestway parking lot about 8:15AM to see the AB Inbev minivan unloading their supply. These beers have been bottled since October and have likely been at local distribution centers for weeks. Delivering a day or two before the event would give shop owners more of a heads up on how their event was going to go. I can imagine Roger was disappointed by how little coffee he got given the volume he sells. Setting it aside for another event makes sense, even though it was pretty frustrating as a patron on BF.