Bear Republic to pull out of MA due to drought conditions

Good. Take those dusty bottles off the shelves. Replace them with other dusty bottles from breweries that should pull out of MA as well.

 

I shop all over. I can't possibly be picking the wrong place every single time. There is enough old Bear Republic on the shelves in MA that I would put it head to head with almost any other brewery. I shop at some of the best bottle shops in the state and other very respectable ones as well. I'm glad you've found fresh racer 5 but that store is an anomaly.

I'd love to get rid of all Port bottles, Coranado, Anderson Valley, Butternuts, Steam City, Gritty McDuff, Green Flash, Laughing dog, Hoppin Frog, Mad river, Moylans, Rock Art......I can keep going. There is a ton of beer, some good most awful that cloggs up the shelves here.

 

There are plenty of good beer stores that take care of the beer quality and have good turnover. Be an informed shopper.

 

Gritty's is from Maine. Do you look at dates on beer?

 

Ignore that there is a widespread issue if you would like to. That's your choice. I'm a very informed shopper. I can point you to more than a dozen shops with good turnover and fresh beer where Bear Rublic isn't moving at all.

 

It's mediocre beer for the most part that almost no one would miss. It doesn't need to be here. I'm not buying any of this old beer. I check dates. They might trick some poor person here and there but most people aren't touching it. Maybe you can buy the year old gritty SOB bottles sitting around for me?

 

I agree and see the same usual suspects (most you listed) collecting dust/old dates on just about every packie I'm in. Although fresh Racer 5 on tap has always been damn delicious.

 

Although I do like Bear Republic beers and I have been grateful to have a Racer 5 option at more than one bar or restaurant around New England, I agree that it is very difficult to find it fresh in packaged form around here, and I doubt I will miss it too much. I also would not miss any of the above products (nor Baxter, nor Foolproof), and certainly see a great deal of them at your typical local packie - I don't know their freshness because I would not buy them regardless of when they were bottled. I do wonder if their prevalence (and lack of any other distinguishing feature) is related in any way to that infamous pay to play discussion that is still simmering.

 

too bad Racer 5 is great

 

Big fan of their Stout. I will miss it.

 

Lived in MA for years, moved to Cali for years, then back to MA. Drank the crap out of Bear Republic in Cali, but in MA it's just not fresh. I'm not saying there's never a fresh keg of Racer 5 that someone gets, but as a rule it's not fresh.

Huge fan of the brewery but agree with @Rekrule they won't be missed. Racer moves well at informed bottle shops, but they're still not getting it that fresh. Furthermore, the rest of their lineup sits on the shelf collecting dust even though they're all good beers.

P.S. I saw some Port fresh hop IPA come in that was 3 weeks old but thats about as fresh as I've seen - their lineup of hoppy stuff is also great when fresh, but not available fresh in MA stores...

 

Huge Racer 5 fan, but I never buy it anymore. As @Rekrule mentions above it's dusty for me in West Roxbury as well. Combine that with the comparatively high price and it just doesn't really compete well. I'm not excited to see it go, but I won't miss it.

 

I'll miss the DIPA seasonals for sure. Bye Racerx.

 

Sad. Very solid brewery. Although I didn’t buy bottles that often, I did enjoy them on draft. Place I used to frequent always had Racer 5 on tap and it never tasted old (probably because there were only a handful of taps). I’ll also miss Red Rocket just as much as Racer 5.

I don't consider these guys "mediocre" at all. I'd be happy to dump 10 other breweries distro'd here to have BR stay. Hope they truly come back soon enough.

 

I can blame both. Not Bear Republic, but the others I mentioned aren't making beer that would make people want to buy it regularly and the stores are over ordering it. I wasn't bashing BR with my comment, they make some good beers. I'm just not sad to lose any brewery whose beer I only find out of date or caked in dust. I wish some MA breweies wouldn't distribute here either. MA is becoming a beer dumping ground on many levels.

 

I haven't had a problem finding BR Racer 5 fresh enough. But most of the rest of the CA beers on your list are spot on. Firestone Walker is always old...don't want to lose them as they are great beers, but wish they were fresh. And I don't mean two weeks fresh, but hell, two months old maybe?

 

Too many retailers are afraid of customers asking "Why don't you carry X beer? the guy down the road has it" or being out of stock and losing a sale bc you didn't order enough. Let's be honest, a lot of bars have too many taps and not enough business to rotate their kegs quickly as well. Everyone wants to make a sale by having the best selection, rather than looking long term at building reputation on repeat customers because the beer is always fresh and tasting good.

 

Picked up a six of Racer 5 tonight. Enjoy by March 2015, so should be fine. The bombers of other BR were over a year old though.

 

Racer 5 was one of the first IPAs I truly loved. Can't always find it fresh, but I'll definitely miss seeing it on tap at some of my go-to places. I've never had a bad beer from these guys

 

Have to agree on Racer 5 kegs. A buddy of mine in NYC refers to it as the biggest letdown IPA on the market. It always seems like a great fallback and its usually a good price on draft (overpriced in bottles), but I can't remember the last time I had truly fresh keg. I've had it when fresh and it's great, but just too inconsistent on the east coast.

 

While I only recall having their stout and cafe racer 15, I will be sad to see this brewery pull out of Massachusetts.

 

Racer 5 was one of my favorites in California. Since moving to MA I've taken it out of my rotation. But it's sad to see a brewery have to pull out because of the weather. I wonder who's next.

 

Mine as well!... will miss it...have to agree with the freshness/dust comments on pretty much all the beers mentioned by @Rekrule...............perhaps a Swiiffer could help!

 

Love their IPAs!
Hate their freshness dating system, or lack there of...
And those damn 12 pack boxes were always such a tease, with no aparant date anywhere to be seen and thick tape sealing it closed...

BR please come back soon with fresh beer this time, and make the brew date easy to find

P.S. will they be taking their old IPAs when they leave, or do the bottle shops need to sell those off to craft newbies who dont know its perishable?

 

100% no. So guess what's going to be sitting there when they come back. I saw NEBCO Elm City Lager at a beer store not too long ago and still see wet willy in a lot of shops. Not distributing to the state doesn't make the shop owners any more willing to remove old things from the shelf. THey weren't ordering it anyways, I'd be surprised if most even know NEBCO or BR pulled out of here.

 

Seems like a business that heavily relies on on water would be pulling the company out of California at this point.

 

good point...they should set up brewing ops where the water is pure and plentiful...Rocky Mountains?

 

The Rockies supply water to much of the west and southwest. Best bets are Pacific NW, deep south, and New England:

http://www.unep.org/dewa/vitalwater/jpg/0222-waterstress-overuse-EN.jpg

 

Could Bear Republic just use the water that Anderson Valley uses for our region and just cancel our Anderson alotment???

 

Was pleased to find all their stuff relatively fresh at Craft Beer Cellar earlier, so I bought one of everything to say goodbye.

But yeah, the number of West Coast shelf turds around here is getting out of hand. Thank God, FSW is gonna start canning next year. That might boost sales and prolong freshness at least a teeny bit for them.

 

You are very well versed on some weird stuff. I enjoy your posts.

 

damn, I was upset when Great Divide pulled out of CT and I have a hard time finding it in MA. I love the shit out of some Racer 5 and would always get it when I went into the state. Sad to see them go!

 

Do cartwheels when FW stuff gets here less than 1.5 months old.

 

Hasn't happened yet. I actually will do cartwheels.

 

Racer 5 was my introduction to the "west coast" style of IPAs here in MA, and I will certainly miss their product. I picked up a six pack tonight to reminisce.

 

Their best beer in my opinion is a brewery only sour named Tartare Rogue. The rest of the line up was ok. Its definitely not going to be missed from my part, but I really do hope the drought ends soon.