Product that doesn't move

That's true, but I'll bet the brewery would want to know the location of old beer. At issue is, who is responsible- brewer, wholesaler, retailer? In my experience, good retailers move product along, but many wholesalers and brewers shrug and say "keep that crap away from me". It's a damn good brewery that will credit wholesalers for picking up bad product. Generally though, no one wants to take the loss. It's an ongoing quandary.

 

We were getting bomber of Jolly Pumpkin, and they would sit, which was cool with me cause I'd pick one off every time I made a beer run. They just kept getting better, but there was a problem, because they didn't move fast enough the distributer won't bring it back.

 

One that I always see out here is Rouge, I dont really care for thier beers or thier prices, and it appears no one else in AZ does either..... Other than that, we got TONS of Goose Island in when they started to distro here, they put most of it on sale, sometimes as low as 4.99 a six pack, it still didnt make me buy it though.

 

Tommy Knocker is one that I notice ... Brooklyn as well. Other, more surprising breweries would be Samuel Smith and Stone. I heard on my bottling shop's Facebook page that they don't move much Stone, and I've seen by the dates that Tommy Knocker doesn't do well, and Samuel Smith doesn't seem to either (their Winter seasonal is still on the shelf, even).

There are plenty of other beers that probably don't sell much, and I'm one of the reasons why -- Gubna for instance. I'd like to try it, but I'd rather not pay $4 for a single 12oz can of mediocre beer (not really mediocre, but given the price...?).

 

Off the top of my head for central Indiana-

Brux and Shoreline BA offerings

 

Shoreline is just way too expensive for a brewery most people have never heard of.

 

I thought a couple of their offerings at the fest a few weeks were pretty good, but yes way overpriced. They were good enough to make me think about driving up there though.

 

I personally buy out SN and SA all the time at TW...not every one drinks high end beer of week stuff..not to mention I buy allot of ccb mudoro brown....I like those 7 to 8 buck 6 packs....
cheaper prices I can drink more.

 

Its tough out there from a retailor POV, you want to offer the best options/pricing/etc but you cant exactly make a profit sitting on a "dead" product. I try to pull reports every 3months and compare to our "record sale" weeks, usually 4th of July and Thanksgiving time. If I didn't sell a case of bombers or 3 cases of 4/6pks over that 3 months.....time to go. Ill always have my volume movers: SA, Leinys, SN, Blue Moon, etc but it can be hard to get the other brands started. I do a beer club during the winter months, if I do it spring-fall half of my market here are farmers and I just don't get a turnout, I also do various tastings in the store and offer deals that night to try and get people in to at least try it. I also push the mix and match section at our store, got over 100 sku's in that section alone and its really helped out. As others have said too, there is just so many factors. A new brand hits the market but you don't get it for 4-6weeks after everyone else....maybe they bought too much and you cant get a fresh bottling date.....or something goes over really well in your store but none of the other stores in the area and now you cant get it again. Its tough.

 

Goose Island, even BB sat on the shelves forever, 2011 bottles of pere still lurking around here. South Shore bombers don't sell much either, I broke one by mistake once and they didn't charge me since they said it atleast got one off the shelf

 

Stoudt's and Weyerbacher are both overpriced in my opinion. Why is Lagunitas so damned resonable- good common sense or scale?

 

Rereading my post I noticed that I left some room for misinterpretation. When I wrote that FW and Weyerbacher are disappointing I only meant that they are disappointing in that they don't turn over. The product is not disappointing in itself by any measure--I like them both, Weyerbacher being near the top of my list. But every time I see them on the shelf, their bottles are invariably dustier than many of the neighbors. With Weyerbacher, the labels might be contributing, as they simply don't grab attention and many look way too similar in quick shelf assessment. But FW simply makes no sense other than people seeing it as overpriced.

 

The New Belgium down here has been sitting for months, specifically Ranger IPA, Fat Tire, and Rampant DIPA. All of them are selling for like $7.49/ 6 pack but they are all 5-6 months old.

 

Weyerbacher was one of the first "craft" brewers I started buying from, many years ago, when choices were far more limited. And I have to say that I've always felt they're overpriced. I'd go you one better and suggest they knock 2-3 bucks off a sixpack price. I've never found any of their beers to be worth anything near what they charge.

As for FW, however, they just don't seem to do a very good job of promoting their products, at least on the east coast. My first exposure was a 4-pack of Double Jack I picked up as an "experiment." The guy at the checkout told me it's his favorite DIPA and so I felt Ok about forking over the cash (around $13, if I recall). After my first, I came here to write a review and found that I was far from the only one who LOVES this beer. That led me to Union Jack, which is now one of my favorite IPAs. BUT, those are about the only two FW offerings I see in my area (SE PA/Central NJ) and they generally don't get great shelf placement. I have a feeling they don't do much to incentivize their east coast distributors.

 

I've always wondered if Insanity referred to the price of $15/4. But it's fine beer. I wish I could afford more of it. But the 750s are priced comparably to comparable product. Agreed on FW, though--it makes no sense for Double Jack and Wookie Jack just collecting dust on the shelves, but neither FW nor the distributors will move a finger to promote them. And I'm yet to see any of their whales around here, so there's no lead either.

 

It's a bit higher than I paid for them in Colorado, but that's just Wow! Can't compete with Shiner, I guess...

 

I like both Weyerbacher and Stoudt's quite a bit. They are just a bit pricy compared to other quality brands.

 

That's ridiculous.

 

Around RI and SE Mass, FW (DJ and UJ) seems to hit the shelves with at least 2.5 months on it already. SMH!! No reason for that.

 

They send it via Conestoga Express, a new outfit out of St. Louis. Cheap fuel rates but the shit takes forever to get there. Socal to NE, with arrangements, does take a while. I'd drive up to Alchemist, I think.