Oppermanns vs. Tippins vs. Brass Mug

If it's true it's quite a boneheaded error on behalf of DH. I believe it's likely an issue with labeling as they were trying to sell a different beer in normal PT5 bottles (Oppermans had a sticker if I'm not mistaken) which is a big NO-NO.

Without reading the legislation, I know Short's used to distribute bottles of Hanging Frank exclusively to City Park Grille in Petoskey. This was the only place you could purchase bottles before the rebrand to ContriversiALE and the beer seeing wider distribution. Additionally, Short's brews a beer called Pub's Moose Tale Ale that is available at Mitchell St. Pub in Petoskey. I have seen a keg of this once, several years ago, at the Pyramid Scheme so I know it must go through some type of distribution tier.

As for breweries brewing beers exclusively for accounts, look at what Right Brain just did for Rishi's International Beverage in GR with Benevolent Friend so I'd imagine it would be possible for a brewery to do a special brew for individual accounts and get away with it. Breweries do work with distributors when it comes to allocations.

 

Wax it, relabel and sell at general store as their bbpt5


But who knows.

 

That's a good point, didn't think of that. For some reason I thought they were in BBPt5 bottles, just without the wax. Just changing the types of barrels used probably wouldn't require a new label. But yeah I could see them getting in trouble for using regular Pt5 labels, and especially for Opperman's adding their own, I would assume unapproved, label.

 

The other posts seem to say that Tippins was at least in normal PT5 bottles.

 

Tippins and Brass Mug were both in normal Pt5 bottles.

 

The hue of the label was more pink on one (regular or Brass, can't remember which)

 

Pretty sure DH applied the Opperman's sticker directly to the bottles themselves. If you catch a glimps of a bottle or have had one, you can see it used the same font, color, design as the original PT5 label. It just had Opp's name on it in order to differentiate it. And BTW, I'm pretty sure your right referring to bypassing the three tier system. Every beer sold in MI needs to go through a distributor. However, I'm pretty sure I remember that Fabiano (a big distro in Mid MI) delivered the pallet straight to the shop. So maybe they were cut in somehow to avoid issues?

 

Sorry. Just realized Kyle was the one who called out the three tier thing.

 

Yeah, I think it would be a pretty dumb mistake for a brewery the size of Dark Horse to make. I'm sure they've got a legal or two on payroll.

I bet it to do with labeling as regardless of the same recipe as I'm sure in the Fed's eyes, barrel aging significantly alters the beer and therefore couldn't be marketed in the same bottles.

 

Do we know if the alcohol content of either variant is different than regular Pt5?. I think the regular is 11%

 

Can't imagine it not having a variance in ABV. Some websites say BBPT5 goes as high as 15%.

 

The guy at Brass Mug pointed out the difference in color with a bottle of regular, when I got home, I did the same and it is different.

 

The neck also has a stamp with the letters 'BB' at the end.

 

Simply replying to this so it doesn't get burried. If anyone has any Dark Horse insider information, let us know what's going on.

 

Agreed. This is my favorite active thread on BA right now. Come on everyone, we need details!

 

What insider info you wanting? When and if the last of the beers is getting shipped?

 

I spoke with Oppermann at a recent tasting and asked about the label. He said they didn't need to go through the label certification process because the main beer recipe was Pt5 and that label had been certified already. However he said they had to identify that the beer was aged in Oppermann's barrels (which explains the sticker). Jeff also mentioned that ABV can have a +/- 2% tolerance and still remain legit.

 

Yeah, mainly when and where it will be available.

 

DH did not apply the sticker themselves. I went the night Oppermann's got their cases (4/3 I believe) and they were in the process of putting stickers on the bottles when I walked in.

 

^This sounds most likely to me, but I have zero inside information on the whole situation so take this for what its worth.

Considering how reasonably priced (IMO) the bottle I bought from the Brass Mug was, it lends a little credence to the idea of direct delivery to the stores. Since the bottles never passed through the hands of the distributors, they wouldn't have received the middle tier mark-up, and therefore savings were passed on to us whether they meant to or not.

Step 1: collect underpants
Step 2: ?????
Step 3: profit

Slightly related side note; since i was late to the game on these and Brass Mug was sold out when I got there, the guy working the register sold me a bottle out of his personal stash. Cannot thank him enough for his generosity especially considering how this is going down now.