HopSlam availability - SEPA

They are quite bold about their display of out of date product. Pumpkin beers still in pyramid shape in winter, mix packs featuring winter beers being pushed in spring. I don't doubt that this is happens everywhere, I'm just saying that some of the other places I go to make more of an effort to keep fresh product on the shelves. Certainly buyer beware everywhere, though. One thing about shangy's that I think says a lot about them is their selection of beers that they are not the wholesaler for. Try getting troegs, victory founders or bear republic there. The selection is shit. This tells me that either they are focusing primarily on selling retail the brands they own the rights to wholesale and neglect that part of the retail side (understandable) or their relationship with those wholesalers who distribute beers they don't is not great, likely due to their business practices with the brands they own. (More likely). Either way, if I'm buying frm shangys, its a seasonal beer, and even then, I'm making sure its this years version.

 

Perhaps we could get back to the topic of this thread , and use it for updates on the availability of HopSlam.

 

Ron from NJ, As a BA veteran you know these threads always unwind into Shangy's hate and love fests (mostly hate)! I'm still waiting for Nima to jump on here and unleash a beat-down - it's certainly happened before.

But to your point, here's my take on acquiring HopSlam for those who are new to the fray:

If you live in or near the SEPA region and want a case, your best bet is going to Shangy's. From their Facebook page it seems like HS will be available in the coming week. If you have a problem with Shangy's for [insert you gripe here], then DON'T GO!! Continue to rant and rave on this thread, though, because it's entertaining to read.

Unless you have an amazing connection with your beer distributor/store/guy, I think it will be difficult to acquire a whole case anywhere else (I'm sure some folks will be able to do this, but I think they will be the exception). If you have a good relationship with your beer store, hopefully you'll be able to at least get a 6-er. Whether it's legal or not, many distributors split cases of special beers such as HS.

Personally, I'll make the trip to Shangy's if my schedule allows. It's a haul, but you just have to make the best out of it. Last year, I took one of my sons and we had lunch at the Pizza Hut down the street. It was a fun for him and daddy got to run into the store and get his green box.

May this HopSlam season leave you all fulfilled… Cheers!

 

That seems to be the exact conversation at every distributor that I visit. Once opened they claim that the case is unsellable. The likelihood of finding an obscure brand fresh even at a busy store I believe is slim. We stick to bottle shops, and stalk fb and social media to be the first in line when something gets announced case wise.

That said, I enjoy walking around most distributors and not buying anything almost in the exact way my wife enjoys walking around Kohls or the mall, etc. dreaming of that Tiffany thinga-magigie-jewelry.

 

“That seems to be the exact conversation at every distributor that I visit. Once opened they claim that the case is unsellable.” My local beer distributor permits me to open cases where the dating is on the bottle but not the case. I think my local beer distributor has ethical business practices. Unfortunately my local beer distributor does not carry Golden Pheasant Lager.

Cheers!

 

@JackHorzempa,

The negative: I think you're being completely unreasonable about your desire to open a case of beer just so you can see the bottle dating BEFORE you buy the beer! As you know, PA beer distributors sell beer by the case. What happens if you decide, upon further inspection, that said beer is too old for you and you're not going to buy the opened case? From the perspective of a PA beer distributor owner (which I'm not), such a practice seems like a horrible business model.

The positive: I agree with your desire to know the bottle dating of a beer before I buy it - the onus here is obviously on the brewer, though - not the wholesaler/distributor/bottle shop (unless they're the ones who black-out or wipe-off the bottling date). I consider it a turn-off when a beer that I'm about to buy (whether it's a bottle, 6-pack, or case) doesn't have the bottle dating immediately apparent. And in terms of "best-by" dating - I guess that's better than nothing, but I want to be the one deciding when a beer I'm potentially purchasing is too old.

Anyway, while I disagree with your comments above, you're obviously an experienced home-brewer/beer-advocate/beer-consumer, and I think you add a lot of knowledge and wisdom to this site.

So, if I can find you some fresh Golden Pheasant Lager, it's on me… Cheers!

 

“So, if I can find you some fresh Golden Pheasant Lager, it's on me…”

Thank you for that generous offer! Unless you have a different purchasing experience than me, the ‘challenge’ will be: how do you know the Golden Pheasant is fresh?

The bottles I bought have labels where the Production Code was not available. Where the Production Code should be is a ‘professionally’ printed black square area. In other words, the labels were printed to purposefully not provide the information of the Production Code.

The only way for me to know whether a bottle/case of Golden Pheasant is fresh is via the knowledge that the beer store has. In the situation of Shangy’s they are the wholesale distributor for Golden Pheasant in the Southeastern PA area. They should have some inventory documentation from the importer for this beer. Will they share this information with me? Based upon my prior interaction with two employees at Shangy’s I feel confident that they would not openly share this information with me.

Cheers!

P.S. To repeat, my local beer distributor has no issues with me opening a case of beer to see a bottle date. That business makes it a practice to provide information to their customers. Needless to say but Shangy's has a differing practice in this regard.

 

Yes, but the complaining usually doesn't start until after the initial posts that HopSlam is now actually on sale. I'm just waiting for first word that Shangy's is selling this year's HopSlam...which will be clearly dated on the case.

 

I won't publicly ask who your local beer distributor is, but unless you're one of their Mega-VIP customers (and I'm guessing that you are), I maintain it's ridiculous for them to allow customers to open cases before purchase.

For the rest of the 99% of us, it's simply not an option. If I walked into a beer distributor that I even occasionally visited, I'd expect them to shove an empty case of 2009 Golden Pheasant up my ass if I even asked to open one of their fresh(?) cases on the shelves.

Anyhow, I've never had, nor even heard of Golden Pheasant, until reading this thread. But you can bet you're Golden Pheasant @JackHorzempa, that I'll seek it out when I go up to Shangy's next week!

 

Ron, you're behind the times, my friend. All the Butt-Hurt going on now is over the 2015 release, not the one coming up!

 

“ …unless you're one of their Mega-VIP customers (and I'm guessing that you are),…”
I very much doubt that they consider me a “Mega-VIP customer”. Since I am a homebrewer I do not purchase too many cases. I am in the store a few times a year and I made it a point to get to know the owner since I like to talk beer. We have conversations along the lines of what are the newest beers coming from Dogfishead, Victory, whatever. I have open discussions with him like: “I will never purchase Green Flash beers since they cost too much (> 60 bucks), etc. So, the owner knows me and we chat but I buy very little beer from him.

The last time the topic of beer dating was a point of conversation was a couple of cases of Deschutes beer (they bottle date but do not case date). On both occasions (Chainbreaker and Black Butte Porter) the beers were within the best by dates and I purchased both of those cases.

From my perspective it is better for the business to let me see the ‘goods’ first. If I bought that case of Chainbreaker, took it home, and saw that the beer was old (past its best by date), I would bring back the case asking for my money back (and I would be pissed!). It really is in the best business interest of my local beer distributor to make me a satisfied and happy customer (even if I do not buy tons of cases from him).

Good business practice is good business practice and that good business practice should not be reserved for only ‘special’ customers. It should be available to all customers. Well, that is the way I see it.

Cheers!

 

Yeah, well, I'm gonna guess that most local beer distributors don't see it that way. They would rather listen to the bloke buying his weekly case of Miller Lite than deal with you coming in there a few times per year, ripping open his case of Golden Pheasant, or Monkey, or whatever… and deciding it isn't fresh enough.

You wouldn't be the only one pissed - think about the guy on the other side of the counter - and the owner of the shop! I worked that behind-the-counter job for many years, and trust me, we'd have a few choice words to say about you...

Said no pimp in South Philly - ever.

Jack, I respectfully disagree with you, even after considering your insightful rebuttal [I'm being serious - I'm sorry if that came off sarcastic]. Meet me in the Shangy's parking lot on Tuesday morning - you bring the Golden Pheasant, I'll provide the Hop Slam. It'll be epic!

Cheers!

 

I'll keep my eyes open for you two on Tuesday. Of course, I'll have to look for the Golden Pheasant. Everybody will be carrying a case of HopSlam.

 

“…and trust me, we'd have a few choice words to say about you...”

No doubt. There is a business saying that things would be so much better if we didn’t have to deal with these ‘things’ called customers.

Cheers!

 

My local beer distro has let me open questionable cases for the past 6 or 7 years. Its not a big deal. Best part is if the beer is ass I take it back for store credit. A sucka is born every day.

 

Wait. Am I bringing the Golden Pheasant on Tuesday or are you?

@RonfromJersey really wants to get his Pheasant on. He told me it doesn't matter if the dating on his Pheasant neck gets rubbed off - he actually kinda likes that.

So, the bottom line is that I'm absolutely doing a PheasantSlam if I can get my hands on both!

Cheers, all!

 

That's because you're a fat boy. Who's got swagger.

 

Any updates on whether or not Shangy's got this in yet and started selling/distributing it?

 

I happened to be in the area yesterday and stopped in. I over heard 3 phone calls while at the register (having enough sense to not even ask myself) stating between 1 and 3 yesterday. My wife works right in the area and she stopped by last night around 6 to pick up a case. They said it did not come in yesterday, supposed to be today however "with the weather we have no idea when the truck is going to get here". So there is that.

 

I'm guessing Shangy's Facebook page is the best place to go for the most up-to-date info.

No bottle shop in Philly gets enough Hopslam to give one customer a 6-pack. Everywhere I go limits it to 1 bottle per customer, which likely means they receive 1-2 cases. As I said above, places in NoVA where I used to shop usually got 2 separate deliveries of 8-9 cases every year. Shangy's artificially introduces inefficiency into the marketplace in order to drive business to the retail end of their operation. Hopslam is NOT so limited that, even given store-mandated limits based on supply, I shouldn't be able to buy 3-4 bottles at one store, at the very least. But seeing as how dozens, if not hundreds of cases are sold out of Shangy's retail establishment every year, it is quite obvious that they are artificially restricting supply here in order to increase sales there. And looking at their Facebook page and how big a thing Hopslam is for them every year, it's not hard to see why they do this.