Golden Road Brewing - Dating Issue

The last time I've bought there beer was around July last year and I got burned that time and once before
So i don't buy there beer anymore unless it's draft.Canned options like swamis and Modern Times get my $ now days

 

as if distribution is handled by one truck and one company throughout the state. The closer to the distribution nexus, the quicker it should arrive. In Golden Road's case, it takes them a month.

Here's a better comparison for you then. Stone Enjoy By. You get it within a week in northern California. Russian River Pliny, within two weeks in Southern California.

 

So, a beer that's released every couple months and started out only being released in limited markets cause that was the only way they could ensure freshness, and a beer/brewery that any distributor would bend over backwards to keep? I don't think those are the best comparisons. Though I think Beachwood might be comparable to the situation Russian River is in (if they're not just self distributed).

That said, and all talk of month old IPAs aside, Golden Road definitely does have some sort of distribution problem. I've had a similar situation as the threadstarter, only the Wolf Among Weeds that had just been delivered in my version was three and a half months old. That's definitely too old for an IPA

 

Sippin on a month old Heal the bay instead of having popcorn watching this thread ..

 

glad to hear they finally did this. i talked to someone at pub there a while back and complained about it, and they said they were going to be implementing dating on outside of 4 packs

 

Just to chime in: comparing Beachwood to Golden Road is like comparing apples and oranges. I don't have the exact, current numbers, but it's safe to say that GRB produces 10-15 times as much beer as us. We self-distribute beer to fewer than 200 accounts across 3 counties--this allows us to deliver beer directly to the retailer within 1-4 days of bottling. It is a supreme advantage in terms of guaranteeing freshness, but there are some drawbacks. We send fewer than 500 cases of beer into distro per month (most months far less than that), which means many of our fans/supporters are unable to secure our bottles on a regular basis. We don't want this, it's just the reality or our scale at the moment.

In contrast, GRB because of their scale is able to reach far more consumers, but they have to use (per CA law) distributors--and also retailers who don't know or care as much about craft beer as the rest of us. If you're having problems with the freshness of GRB or Beachwood or any other local brewery, contact them/us. We all care....that is a promise. While a brewery the size of GRB is under some pressure to sell all the beer they make, regardless of timing...it is not they who choose to sell months old beer...that is either the distributor or the retailer. Let them know and see what happens.

 

Any word on an expansion/or bigger production?