major distribution changes in VA

Just to clarify H&W held the rights to Stone for the entire state (including Richmond) except Hampton Roads, where Specialty controls the rights to Stone. Assuming Loveland purchased the entire H&W catalog they would take over Stone in Richmond. Which may have been part of the reason you saw this deal happen, since Stone most likely wanted a wholesaler with a warehouse in Richmond to sell their product.

RE: AleWerks, the issues facing availability of their product in any market, and Richmond in particular, are more symptomatic of the issues facing a small brewery that is able to produce good beer in small batches. I think its easy to cast blame but the heart of the issue is supply and demand, namely AleWerks is a small brewery with limited resources. It is only able to produce limited amounts of beers that are incredibly popular, so realistically they may only produce 60 cases of BV for the entire state in single batch. You can vilify whomever sells their beer but that doesn't eliminate the issue that AleWerks doesn't have the production capacity to brew enough of their popular beers to meet demand. This issue is not unique to AleWerks, we've seen breweries across the country that struggle to meet demand for beers that are over night sensations (AVBC Gose) or have long production times (KBS, any barrel aged beer).

 

Didn't know that Specialty only held Hampton Roads. Given that bit of info, I'm surprised that Brown didn't' make a full court press for H&W portfolio. They carry most of that portfolio in Florida, so it wouldn't have been a real stretch to see them carrying it here. Unless of course Stepanian outbid them. Again, the spy v. spy aspect of the relationship between Loveland and Brown is awesome....

 

I also wouldn't be 100% surprised to see a few of those brands try to get out of that contract. It'd be a "we don't want o be with Loveland, and if the choice is Loveland or no one in Richmond, we will just not be down there." Just a feeling. This is a very fascinating move (although the intrigue is more for us distro folks).

 

Yes! For us it's like a cross between Inside Baseball and soap opera.