Sede Vacante

Confirmed, rip off.

 

Ripoff and also illegal. I'd contact the ABC.

 

What is the store's name?

 

at dawn large hot gases formed a cloud, descending upon the cairn of glass bottles, frothing and writhing in bravado of their presumed glory...tentacles reached forth from the cloud dropping baubles in exchange for a small fragment of the majestic cairn. No heed paid to the stern warnings of their fallen brethren.

as the gasses cooled, so did the once sumptuous vessels, the gaseous forms no longer fraught with glory but a questioning gaze; uncertainty. What malevolence is this? The vessels, once presumed glorious, just a hollow husk that whose glory only a memory. filled with a corporeal liquid but lacking vibrance, an....emptiness that recalls ancestral graves. The hot gasses dispersed, rarely to whisper of the folly.

One day soon, the hot gasses and torpid pools shall congregate again.

 

sounds like a hell of a deal

 

Legality aside you can't expect ANY place to sell a brewery only release for retail. If you want a bottle then line up. There is a cost associated with acquiring a product like this. Same goes for trades. I do $4$ all the time Pliny for HT etc.... No one has ever traded me a midwest or east coast brewery release for equivalent value of West coast shelf beers. Ever! Life is not fair it's just reality.

By the way I have never been to this shop.

 

Especially because it's illegal. Although it's sort of surprising that they consider ~$500 worth their time and putting their license in jeopardy.

 

Agree which is why I said legality aside. Would anyone be complaining if some our local stores were selling Hill Farmstead, Founders, ThreeFloyds, Cigar City etc.... at retail prices? Still illegal but we would ALL be snapping it up quick!

 

The only way they could do that is if they were acquiring it legally.

 

Not entirely true. Increasing traffic at the store buy offering beers from undistributed breweries can be beneficial by itself without making any profit on those beers. See freebie marketing.

 

Much like communism, that's a lovely theory - have you ever actually seen an undistributed beer sold at MSRP?

 

Undistributed has nothing to do with the argument - stores sell loss leaders all the time to get you into the store - 12 pack of coke for $2:50?

 

Hell, this wasn't even worth the $35 it was sold at Lost Abbey for.

On a side note, why is this surprising to anyone? Vendome Bev Hills always does this. They had Sour in the Rye w/ Peaches for around $50.

 

Undistributed absolutely has to do with the argument - selling a 12 pack of coke doesn't run the risk of the ABC paying you a visit and dropping the hammer on your business. Selling undistributed beer carries two important factors that separates it from other products:
1) The risk of fines or sanctions from the ABC.
2) Acquiring the product requires more effort and more expense (in almost all cases) than a distributed product.

On top of that, any liquor store owner who's well-versed enough to know the demand for undistributed beer will be well aware that people will pay a premium for it. Christ, more and more stores are charging significant premiums for limited distributed beers, but you expect them to be cutting deals on undistributed beers? Combine all of these factors, and it becomes rather clear that selling undistributed beer at a loss (which MSRP would be, since they have to pay MSRP + shipping just to acquire it), with the risk of legal issues, seems an odd choice.

So I'll ask again - has anyone actually seen a store sell undistributed beer at MSRP?

 

Can't argue with that...

 

yea vendome is known to do this. they tried selling me marshal zhukov for like 40 bones. so illegal

 

Someone should alert MikeTen.

 

It seems you keep going back to worrying that the store will break the law and get in trouble. Unless you own the store who gives a crap. Sour in the rye with peaches for $50? Awesome, I would be all over that.