How does distribution work?

What is your definition of "old" here? How can beer coming from a brewery be "old"?

Cheers!

 

No names Jack, but we're talking about some very well known breweries here! We'd occasionally receive beer that was 3 or 4 months "old" already. That aggravated the owner because putting it out at that point meant it either sold immediately, or would soon become a candidate for return. If we got it all out of our doors in 2 to 4 weeks it would only have a month or so at the retail level before it was out of code.

How or why that happened, I'm not sure, but it was a different time in the industry. Breweries were trying to grow, going into markets that they probably shouldn't have been in. Part of it had to be error, some was probably 'unloading' older beer to a far-flung market, and some was definitely due to beer going from the brewery or original importer to a main distributor that then shipped it to a secondary distributor (to fill a trailer with a mix of beers those distributors probably had to wait until they'd received all of the items needed).

 

The fact that breweries had 3-4 month old beer on their hands is mind blowing to me. Those breweries must have had significant warehousing to store beer like that.

Thanks for your reply!

Cheers!

 

It wouldn't be "multiple shipments", but one "whole shipment" (i.e. one truckload) to avoid LTL (less than truckload) extra shipping charges that are not discussed up front with the supplier before a distributor agrees to take on a product.

Another thing is, to keep from running out, distributors usually want to keep at least a two to three week supply. Sometimes they can only get one shipment a month, or if they get weekly, the supplier might cut or move cases to make room for others, which endangers running out if your inventory is too tight.

For the one that mentioned TW - ditto here. By wanting to carry everything under the sun, they really act as a big bully and demand stuff that is: discontinued, about to be discontinued, very slow moving, hasn't even been approved by a distributor to carry, recently approved but hasn't made it to the warehouse yet.

 

I should have also noted, I think a lot of it had to do with certain brands within the portfolio, things that didn't sell as well, or things that were only produced once in a while. Again, no names, but a certain brewery that I once worked for produced a porter that was great, but was also the slowest seller in the portfolio. Only 5 to 10 cases of it would go out the door for every 500 to 1,000 of the flagship brand!!!

 

From your description it seems there's a good chance that occasional 3-4 month old case might well have been one of the ones being shuffled around quite a bit among various distributors. I've regularly bought beer from at least one retail distributor in PA who once mentiond that to get a particular beer delivered would take a couple of weeks as he had to order at least 100 cases from the portfolio that particular wholesale distributor handled.

 

Just so we're clear: How you like it = just fine. How I/others like it = entitled and asinine.

 

Not knowing much about the Kansas beer market, but this is probably a case that these beers your mentioning are just not selling anywhere in your market. A distributor will not bring in fresh stock if say the first 20 cases they brought in didn't sell, why would you? eventually it goes out of code then you dump down the drain and decide whether to re order it and make another push at selling the product. I do agree with other guys on the board that unless the brewery is within say 500 hundred miles of your location it can take a week or more with shipping to move beer around, plus any international brands tend to sit in NY customs for at least a week before they are released for transportation company... just a few thoughts!

 

International beers are challenging in general due to the multi-segment supply chain: European brewery to European customs warehouse to getting the shipment loaded on a ship to ship crossing the Atlantic to US customs warehouse to US distribution locations to arrive at a Wholesale Distributor to trucking to retailer. The beer will be 'sitting' at various locations and depending on the cargo ship the travel across the Atlantic could be a couple of weeks depending on locations.

Cheers!

 

Certainly not, that's quite a reductive takeaway from my comment. I think a person who looks down their nose at IPAs more than a week old definitely makes me scratch my head. Declaring, as the post I originally quoted did, that there are folks who consider anything beyond a week to be "old" comes across as a bit pretentious and snobbish. I'm all for freshness in beers but if you (and I say that word broadly, not to single anyone out) scoff at beers after such an unnecessarily short and seemingly arbitrary period of time, you're limiting yourself so much and really setting yourself up for disappointment. I think that's asinine.

 

For your information what a person likes in his enjoyments cannot be, and is not, snobbish. Calling someone asinine and entitled for their subjective opinions is snobbishness.

 

Agree to disagree perhaps? I think a person can come across as very snobbish with their preferences. In either case, I don't want our conversation to derail this thread so I'm going to wish you good day and cheers my friend. My inbox is always open if you wanna chat!

 

This is why I only buy from the Seasonal/New In Stock section when I go there.

 

I think one difference that divides your comments and those of @cavedave is that snobbery does not really have to do with what a person chooses to consume or why, but rather their attitudes towards others who have or make different choices. The essence of snobbery is feeling you are superior to others. While that can be reflected in choices the choices themselves do not necessarily indicate snobbery. There seems to be a difference in interpretation of what snobbery means.

 

Google beer wars a good documentary

 

This is exactly how it works. I work as a warehouseman/loader for a distributor and we keep all the beer roated so that the 'oldest' beer is put out first so as to reduce the number of 'out of code' returns to our facility. They refer to it as the 'First In, First Out' rule.