Parabola in Rochester

Even last year Parabola seemed sparse in Rochester. Sucks!

 

Considering Rochester has received every FW release since they entered our market, I find this possibility very unlikely. I guess we'll see soon. Parabola was in shorter supply than any other FW release and it would not surprise me if that was the case this time as well.

 

So I guess Bill will be making a trip to Syracuse!! Fell like a being a mule??

 

I hope it's refrigerated for all the Parabola you'll be bringing back for us

 

So this didn't end up being true although I don't think any store in Rochester received more than once case... Also seems like some stores were shutout completely.

 

Nathaniel's and Hegedorn's received one case apiece. BOTW 2. Not sure what Hegedorn's charged but Nathaniel's charged $13.75. BOTW $22.99! I was fortunate to land one at Nathaniel's - no way in the world was I going to reward BOTW for a sale at that price. People have debated price gouging on these boards many times in the past. But I've always thought, everyone knows price gouging when they see it.

Whether you consider what BOTW did to be price gouging or not, I've always questioned their business practice of pricing limited release beers at a much higher price than Nathaniel's or Hegedorn's. Yes, they make more than those 2 stores on limited release cases. But they lose far more in sales of other products because beer enthusiasts would rather reward Hegedorn's and Nathaniel's for offering a good selection at always fair prices. They never boost the price of special release beers. And people remember them for that and they remember what BOTW does on a regular basis. I know several people who will never step foot in their store because of these types of practices.

I hope they get the message someday for their benefit and our benefit as well. But for now, Nathaniel's and Hegedorn's are clearly the best beer stores in the city. And if you need a bigger selection at prices better than BOTW, head to Premier Gourmet in Buffalo - by far the best overall beer store in Western NY.

 

Here ... an unpopular opinion:

I've gotten exactly two special release beers at Nathaniel's in 4 or however many years. How many of their case was actually put out today? In my opinion That's more frustrating than botw price gouging since, to me, Nathaniel's has mythical beers with made up prices.

 

Come on willy! you're striking out in this thread. One case = 12 bottles.

 

I think half of the case was put out. It's a great store but I can never get there in time. I can't just leave my job (and I'd have to).

I heard BOTW only got one case... Their prices are terrible but I'd pay it for these limited bottles. I'd rather pay more than not have a bottle. I'm part of the problem. But if I didn't pay that price someone else would...

 

Most special releases go very fast these days and you have to be in the right place at the right time to get them. And that fact does not seem likely to change.

BOTW generally gets more allocated to them of each special release due to their size, long term presence in the market and the pressure they exert on distributors. If other beer stores got as much as BOTW, you'd have a better shot with them to obtain special releases.

What we really could use here in Rochester is a competitor of the same size with similar pricing practices as Nathaniel's and Hegedorn's. Even then, I would not expect BOTW to change their business practices. And that's their prerogative.

But numerous beer enthusiasts in our area do not like those practices and have far more choices than in the past. I've been shopping at BOTW for 20 years. And I'll continue to shop there because of the singles collection and I enjoy seeing a number of employees there who are great guys. But I don't give them nearly as much of my business as I used to. And that's not likely to change either.

 

BoTw has the same practice, they only put out about half of what they receive on the limited releases. I can't really blame either store. If I worked at a shop I would want the same perk.

I really don't get the price gouging on these releases at BoTW, though. With the amount of beer that they move how much of it is limited releases like this? Less than one percent, maybe? Do they really need to make that extra few bucks off ONE single case of beer? I still shop here because of the convenience and the selection of single bottles. I live in Henrietta and it's very close. I wish there was a competitor. Good business practice would seem to be to reward your loyal customers with a fair price on these and draw others in for future sales. I still put up the extra money so I can get my hands on some of these bottles which I guess is part of the problem.

 

That's the problem - even if everyone on BA made a point of boycotting BotW for their price gouging on special releases, there's enough people not on BA (or enough people that want a particular beer badly enough) that it doesn't matter, they can still charge whatever they want and still move their product.

However, as ineffective as a special release boycott would be on the surface, the hidden cost to them in that respect is when I want to drop $50 on a general beer run, Hegedorn's or Nathaniel's is getting my $ (not to mention my special release $, if I can make it there in time)

Of course, the "big guys" always have too much arrogance and don't pay much attention to these hidden costs of doing good business (see Kodak for another great local example)

 

Nathaniel Square got 6 bottles, at least for public sale that is. BoTW had 24 total, and 8 went to employees.

I know a lot of people, myself included, like to complain about the prices at BoTW but the fact is that they do sell out of these limited releases almost immediately. And they do a ton of volume so if they piss off a few people on Beer Advocate it's really no skin off their back. Basically we just have to sit back and deal with it. They're the big boy on the block and that's not going to change.

 

I think the confusion is that their anniversary cases are 6 bottles, the other reserve series are still 12 - and of course, there's always the potential "half case allotment" dillemma that a lot of stores end up dealing with anyways on super limited releases (BA Bigfoot for example)