Beer purchase limits at the beer store

I share/split most all my bombers. If its a 12oz/375ml bottle....well sometimes those don't make it out of my casa. It's all about sharing the love, bottle shops and beer drinkers.

 

Would say any beer that has a release event would qualify as an intentional inflation of demand. Of course, it still has to a quality beer.

 

I'm all for spreading the wealth,there's a good chance a friend will share the beer w/ me at a later time !
That being said I know people that are literally insane when it comes to getting a specific beer,case in point. Westvleteren 12 neighbor didn't know it existed before I asked him if he was trying to get some,he replied by asking if he should,"is it a good beer?"... Ahhh yeah,widely touted as the worlds best (beer).Instantly went to WE NEED THIS BEER ,where can I get it !!! Also the guy went to every store in the area and bought out every Dissident available..
Yes,I support restrictions.
P.s.- I was In a wealthy ski resort area (CO.) last winter and started talking to the clerk about beer,when he realized I had a decent knowledge and an obvious passion for beer he told me he had a bunch of beer in the cooler he doesn't put on the shelf if I was interested,I asked what he had and why he was holding and he flat out said if I put out a Pliny on the shelf some rich prick would come and buy every single one of them only to say "I bought every single one of them".He told told me,I'm a beer guy just like you,I'd rather see you get one than a some rich prick buy him out...

 

I limit limited beers or beers that I have cellared. One bottle per person. Obiviously the same person can come back for another bottle but at least it will slow them down. Beside, my store isn't over run with people thinking I've got goodies, but I do.

 

The only problem I have with it is when one store has a 1 bottle limit and it may cost $5 a 12 oz bottle and then I go to another store right down the road and I can buy an entire 4-pack for $13. So I guess it's the (in)consistency that bothers me.

 

I don't think there's a clear answer. Yes sometimes, no others. A lot of the monster beers, especially the barrel aged ones, take more time to make. They also tend to be more expensive to produce, making the profit margin about the same as the regular beers despite the higher price tag. In fact, I've even heard rumors that some of the more popular releases are sold almost at cost due to the high expense of ingredients. Add in the cost of storing a bunch of barrels in the right environment too. I'd also venture to guess that sometimes brewers just don't have the facilities to brew to demand on special release batches at the same time as brewing flagship beers.

Then again, I'm sure there are also plenty of brewers out there limiting release for the publicity. It really is brilliant marketing, though I don't think I've seen many brewers capitalize on it to the full potential...

 

In the true capitalist framework the issue is that the price on rarer beer is not properly adjusted for supply and demand. As those Westy bricks have shown (and beers like rare bcbs, barrel aged dark lords, etc...), there is a much higher ceiling for pricing than what is being realized on the market right now. There are in fact a number of BA's who have expressed a desire for prices to go up significantly to reduce competition for rarer beers, but most of us believe that doing this could alienate the rest of their regular customer base and in the long run potentially hurt their business which usually relies on moving a lot of their flagship beer to remain profitable. They want to keep their special releases available as a treat to their regular customers, so keeping prices lower than the traditional supply/demand model would suggest is the only way to do this.

Also beer is somewhat unique when considering other markets for rare items. Usually sellers of rare/high price items (jewelry, luxury cars, etc.) are doing all of their business selling only high priced exclusive products to a well defined customer base who can afford them, whereas the majority of beer is sold to a very wide ranging customer base that, to keep them happy, needs to keep all of their products accessible to their entire customer base IMO.

I'm sure there are a few brewers who do this on purpose, but from what I've read from brewers discussing these rare releases they are generally producing these special beers to be bottled as a treat to their customers, and the actual production of these beers are not very cost effective. Many of them lock up fermenters for long periods of time, use more ingredients to make, and if they're aged in barrels they have to find space to store them and often occupy areas of their brewery for a year or more in some cases, so making large volumes of these beers usually isn't very cost effective.

I would agree producing these beers is intended to create more interest and hype for their breweries in general, but I don't believe most of them are limiting production purposefully to raise the demand even higher, it just doesn't make sense logistically to produce boatloads of their rarer beers.

 

You should not shop at the store that you felt overcharged anymore. Vote with your dollar. If you bought it and keep shopping there, it tells him he can charge that and it wont affect his business. The BA mentality is to buy overpriced beer, complain on BA, and hope somehow that changes things (I am not saying that you are doing that here). I am pretty sure shops wont care if people complain if they continue to sell out.

 

No bottle limits in my town ever. And...that's the way, uh huh uh huh I like it.

 

The only bottle limits I've run across are some limited releases at cigar city and the Westy bricks

 

Concert tickets come to mind.

And, of course, many wines have an implicit limit by virtue of only being available as part of a club shipment.

 

I don't mind limits. I buy beer to enjoy or to fairly trade. So many people who buy large quanties of limited releases do so just to resale on craiglists. I can't believe that today I saw someone selling a Westy Brick for $500.

 

Purchase limits are all good until you find an amazing score that you know you will never find again that is one bottle per person and then you do a Darth Vader "noooooooooooooooooooooo" in the middle of the store.

 

I understand and agree with bottle count limits. The reason a lot of places keep the bottles for limited releases behind the counter is so there is not a total grab and also so the clerks know there is a limit. I just hate hearing the people that will go crazy on the sales clerks because they won't "hold a bottle" until you get there. If you want it, get there! I hate waiting in line for an hour to grab a release but I will if it is something I really want - don't be a DeltaBravo and expect everyone else to hold something for you because it is inconvenient for you to get there. I also keep around one or two bud light drinking friends that will pick me up a few extra of the limited ones....