Firestone Walker XVIII

Please keep us posted on what you end up deciding!

 

Had this tonight with the 17. Both were really good. I was amazed at the smoothness of the 18. Not boozy at all compared to the 17.

 

You're wrong, 17 was the one you enjoyed the most.

 

Anyone seen this at any bay area bevmos yet?

 

Yes, it hit the South Bay ones already

 

East Bay BevMos have it as well. I don't think it's hit the city proper yet, but I can't verify that.

 

Just came back from my drive up the 101 from LA to SF. Stopped at FW Paso and I picked up a few 18's for $24. Then stopped at the Bevmo around the corner in Paso and saw it for $21, so naturally had to pick up a few more just to dollar cost average! They also just put Abyss '14 out on the shelves at that Bevmo.

 

I paid $18.99 at BevMo in Brea; $22.99 for the winter bundle.

 

This is as good a time as any to let you know that I don't care about getting the anniv releases and will keep only buying the Parabolas, Sucabas, Sticky Monkeys

 

Any time I can get an update on somebody's poor taste, I gotta have it. Keep 'em coming.

 

what i don't understand is why all bevmo's charge different prices (besides the obvious sales tax which is Not what im referring to) in regards to the msrp

 

Quoted for truth. I bought several bottles of Stickee Monkee and Sucaba at the brewery and the prices were higher than Whole Foods and several other retail stores I purchased them from.

 

Not sure about FW, but when I get the "more expensive" bottles at breweries in San Diego (e.g. Alesmith), they often are including tax and that alone balances things out. Also, I've heard it said that places will often boost the price a bit in order to not be "undercutting" the distributor.

 

FW is always more expensive at the brewery. Never fails.

 

Tis true, they got mad at me when I asked about it once

 

Yeah that kind of annoys me that it's more expensive at the source especially since they didn't incur any expense to ship/distribute. Maybe FW picked that up from the wine world. Wine is always cheaper if you don't buy it at the winery.

 

Few things:

It's not necessarily more expensive at FW. It's selling for MSRP. Some retailer locations will choose to discount off MSRP, others will charge it, others will charge more. FW DOES seem to have a fairly aggressive, and steep, vintage-ing price markup, but for new bottles, they aren't flat out more expensive.

Further, they didn't "take this from the wine world" this is pretty standard practice for any good manufacturer. You don't undercut the businesses that are going to sell most of your goods.

Last, wine is not always cheaper if you don't buy it at the winery. Just off the top of my head, Brander, Melville, and Alma Rosa wines are all ones I purchase for less at the wineries when I visit them than they do when I see them in stores down here in LA. And a virtual universal truth of all wineries is that you can join their wine club (which typically involves nothing more than a commitment to buy a small portion of bottles throughout the year) and receive a discount.

Further, purchasing direct from the brewery, while not a guarantee of freshness, almost always ensures a beer that has been handled less that is closer to its date of brewing. If at the end of the day you're still irritated you're not also getting a discount even though it would be a bad business practice for your brewery of choice, you're certainly entitled to.

 

How are they? couldn't get to BP yesterday