Firestone Walker Parabola 2016

So I am in Northern California and I've never seen any Firestone Walker beers in Costco here. In fact, when I give them the item numbers that I see you guys post on here and they look them up to check local store inventories it doesn't even come up in the computer. Apparently, Northern California and Southern California's computers don't jive up with one another's and the numbers for items aren't even the same.

 

They were available in a sacramento costco...

 

When was this? Same item number?

 

Picked up 3 yesterday at BevMo in Sac- Arden. Got the 20% off of 3 which was nice. Came out to $40 with tax and CRV. I think the clerk may have snagged what was left.

I have never seen it at Costco, but I have to go today. I'll be on the lookout.

 

I like to believe in beer karma lol. Locally this beer has a great following that goes way back with the people that just "drink beer" after work or on weekends, far from the nerds we are, so I didn't want to clear the shelves of it all.

This was in Santa Maria, usually the Central Coast Costco's get all FW Vintage releases, not sure about the rest of CA.

 

I

would be that guy. Last week there was 15 bottles of tweak on the shelf and I bought them all

 

I heard yesterday that Citrus Heights BevMo may have some.

 

That is awesome! I couldn't find one in Vegas. I take that back. Public House had some for $57/bottle

 

$57? Damn, that's a high price! I was hoping to get one in Lee's Discount Liquor (the day they received a case), but it was gone in hours. Now I have to wait till next year. lol

Also, you're the first that I've seen from Vegas, in BA.

 

Drooling.....especially at $11 !!!

 

Anybody know if New York got all of theirs yet?

 

Slim pickins in StL this year (not surprised) Seems most accounts are only getting 6 bottles

 

I guess what I don't understand is when we question a price or mention we found a particular beer (barrel-aged or not) that is unintentionally priced "low", the morale police come out in full force.

In other words, here is the classic argument......."you're screwing over the brewery by getting this particular beer at such a low price!" "At this particular price, the brewery isn't covering their cost" and yada yada yada.......

Sorry, but this just goes to show how much some of these beers are being marked up. Period, end of statement!

Oh BTW, que up the price justification on this particular Firestone Walker beer because big dog conglomerate Duvel Moorgat is now controlling the company and able to brew at a much lower cost of production.

Now which is it, you want to keep the brewery's small and labeled "craft" with higher prices or you want cheaper beers.

 

Forgot to mention, I have paid anywhere from $17.99 - $24.99 for the 2016 FW Parabola like many others have. Now its being sold at $10.99. This is a real head scratcher.

Don't get me wrong, most of us would rather pay $11 vs $18+. Just tired of the message board monitors (distributor reps, brewery reps, fan boys, etc) screaming foul when a consumer lucks into a beer priced below what it should be.

 

Did I miss where someone questioned it in this thread? It looks like everyone was pretty happy about that Costco price - I know I was jealous since Parabola was $15.99 to $20.99 in most places in the Chicago area. (of course, a few jacked it up even more)

 

Paid $16.99 at the grocery store here in Austin last week. Much better than the $21.99 I paid at the deli in Mendocino,CA last year. Price is relative; great beer is delicious...

 

Pricing for alcoholic products, especially beer and wine, are not directly controlled by most brewers or winemakers. There are suggested retail pricing but it all depends on the account and distributor.

If a company like Costco or Bevmo is buying, odds are they're working directly with the supplier and purchasing quantities at a cheaper price that will allow them to sale retail at a lower price.

The mom and pop bottle shop who buy their one case through a distributor are paying the full, standard wholesale pricing which is far more than a discounted bulk price, therefore they need to mark up to cover their cost. If I see a couple dollar difference at smaller shop I can justify that, if I see an outrageous markup then clearly the retailer is exploiting the product, but to blame the brewer is wrong. It's the distributors job to check on those things and most the time they won't say anything because it's their account and they want them to keep buying and making their commission check.

 

I'm sure this is pretty generic, but it's probably pretty accurate.

 

Parabola in chicago burbs ran about 18 bucks, my buddy runs a liquor store, his cost was 12, just for reference, not a terrible mark up