Firestone Walker introduces Double Mind Haze

Didn’t see a response to this

it’s practically the same exact beer as the original. Firestone wanted to drop the price of the UJ 6pk 6 or 7 years ago and decided to do that by lowering the ABV from 7.5 to 7.0. As far as I know, the hop profile was never edited. But this ABV reduction allowed Union Jack to sit on shelves for 9.99

 

Still worth the trip for FWIBF, but disappointed that I can no longer roll in and grab a case of Pivo when I happen to be in the area for work.

 

Yep, I don’t like it either, you just lose that crisp snap of bitter that finishes clean.

 

So Pivo is no more? If you can’t get it at the brewery....

 

Dale, it will no longer be a year-round beer. They did state it might be available in seasonal/rotating variety packs.

Cheers!

 

Mistake.

 

Well, I personally wish they did not decide to discontinue production of Pivo Pils as a year-round product but frankly it really makes no difference to me in that I have been unable to purchase Pivo Pils in a long time (over two years ago I think) since this beer was always old on my local beer retailers' shelves.

It seems to me that Firestone Walker has differing business priorities:

1. Maximizing sales of their 805 product line on the West Coast.
2. Now a series of Mind Haze beers

Maintaining fresh FW brands like Pivo Pils, Union Jack, ... on retailers' shelves was a low business priority in the past and remains a low priority today.

Cheers!

 

If they can’t pull off fresh product in state they need to rethink and retool their business model. They already make great beers that are terribly abused somewhere, and their responsibility to their products doesn’t end when it leaves their shipping docks, it needs to get to me in better order. Introducing a new beer when the old ones sit and rot somewhere is imo ridiculous, it’s a waste of resources. And yes, fresh Pivo here was 4 months old never better, an easy pass for me. If I’m in SEPA there might be 5-6 that are as good or better plus fresh.

 

Dale, Firestone Walker and old beers on retailers’ shelves has been an issue for many, many years. Below is something I posted several years ago:

“For a significant period of time (over a year) I was unable to find any Firestone Walker beers in any of the multiple beer stores in my area that were less than 5-6 months old. One of my local beer stores conducted a Firestone Walker beer tasting which was hosted by the Philadelphia area sales rep for Firestone Walker (she was/is a Firestone Walker employee). I reshuffled my schedule to make sure I could attend this event. While I was there I sampled the beers she poured and chit-chatted with her for a while. After about 5 minutes I started asking pointed/detailed questions about Firestone Walker Brewing Co. She pleasantly entertained my questioning for about 5 minutes and then she blurted out in an unpleasant tone "Are you a beer industry person?" I responded with the truthful answer that I was just a beer customer and I was just trying to learn about Firestone Walker and their distribution system (which absolutely sucked in Philly at that time). At this point she would not answer any more questions from me. I then walked her over to the retailer’s shelves to show her several cases of Firestone Walker beers that were over a year old. She looked at me with a dirty look and stated: "They shouldn't be there". I was about to ask her: "Are you personally going to remove those cases?" but at this point I had enough of her attitude and nonsense. I simply stated "It was a pleasure speaking to you" which was a lie and I walked out of the store. It was apparent to me that she had zero interest in truly recognizing and fixing this issue."

Cheers!

 

If the company doesn’t give a shit why should she? But in sales if beers sit she doesn’t make money either. But that attitude sucks, especially to customers. I bet shes not much of a sales person.

 

Dale, how about this for irony. A few months after I had my conversation with her I was informed by one of the owners of a local beer retailer that she got promoted by Firestone Walker and she moved to the 'corporate' location in California.

Cheers!

 

just had a 4 week old double mind haze , solid NE DIPA in 6x 12 oz cans at i think $11.99 . for this style of beer what's not to like?

 

This conversation takes me back in time when Double Jack was only available in bombers and I would consistently look at the bottled on dates at the WF nearest to where I lived at that time. Finding a bottle within 2 months of bottling was like hitting the lottery.

 

@John_M Indeed. DJ was one of the reasons I always visited HQ in Paso at least once a year. It was always fresh at the source!

 

They no longer distribute to MA, correct?