Small gripe with Golden Road

Are you serious? Do you think other brewers regularly recall beers simply because they're old or something changed?

Most of the time if a beer doesn't move, breweries don't give a shit. Been to a BevMo lately?

Thanks for the heads-up on the recipe change.

 

Not entirely true. Have a very good friend who is a brewer at a Nor Cal brewery and when we're out and about together at stores he always looks at the bottles of his brewery's beer on the shelves, looks to see how old they are and quite often buys them (even though he can obviously get it unlimited for free) just to see how they're tasting, get an idea of how they've been stored, etc. Not saying they would do a recall on beers that have been sitting or past their prime, but they definitely do give a shit. They don't want a potential new customer to get an off beer and assume that's how it is meant to taste.

 

You said you wanted to try the new recipes. Going to the brewery and trying it there is a lot quicker than waiting for all the old product to clear off the shelves, and a lot cheaper than buying a full six-pack of new cans.

 

Besides, if you want to make sure you're getting NEW product, just look for the 12 packs. That's the new recipe and they're sitting right next to the old 4 pack 16oz cans. It sounds like JasonFROMLA is just lazy and wants everything catered to him. I may not like the many offerings they have, but sure as hell I went to the last bottle share there (great bottles showed up) and before the bottle share, they offered us a taste of any of their on tapped beers. It really opened my eyes to seeing that under the new head brewer they are making those steps to correct the recipe issues of the past.

It's off the 5, for fucks sake. Stop on by for five minutes if you really want to try them.

 

I have yet to see the NEW 12 packs, and if they are seriously just throwing those on the shelves right next to some year old product, that's awful. And yes, I do like fresh beer, and if wanting fresh beer is catering to me then I am most definitely advocating that. I know I'm the only person who drinks IPAs fresh, but I really do believe it will catch on at some point.

And for the record, if you're using my username to determine I'm FROM (living in) LA, I'd love to know how a squid is commenting on a forum.

 

I'm not in LA currently, but I imagine they'll make it down to the other Whole Foods soon then. I'll be watching.

 

So.... has anyone emailed Tony yet? I chatted with him and his wife at Tony's Darts Away anniversary shindig this past weekend, and he seems like a very nice guy. The email address ([email protected]) is publicly available, and he might be interested in feedback. Either way, couldn't hurt...

And for what's it's worth... I've never bought any of their cans before, but I've really enjoyed Wolf Among Weeds on tap recently. It's changed my opinion about Golden Road. Oh, and Get Up Offa that Brown (with Hazelnuts) on cask was really enjoyable too. I'm glad I tried them.

 

That kind of feedback usually comes from dedicated, loyal fans of a brewery.

 

I cant speak for the cans you are referring to, but they told me at the brewery that they had cans left over and were still canning the 16oz cans into March with the new recipe. I purchased a four pack of the new recipe at the brewery and enjoyed.

I also liked the "It's always sunny in LA", the Big La Brahski, and the new Darts Away DIPA they had at party this weekend was good.

 

Getting back to OP and attempting to keep this on track.

If GR doesn't recall, or WF refuses to send back 1 yr old IPA that has probably spent half its life in a warm storeroom... Here is an option.

Keeping in mind that Whole Foods has a no questions asked policy ( not to pin this on WF) but every time you go there to get your grass fed goodness or west coast whalesbro, pick up a can of PTW IPA. Next time you go, return said can. When customer service asks the reason for the return,reply that "it is an old IPA". Enough wasted paperwork could shine to corporate that they should pay more attention to bottle dates & limiting inventory instead of bringing heaps of shit you can't guarantee will move off the shelves fast enough.

 

Here's the thing. You are asking for others to do your job for you. You want fresh IPA's, because oh man, your sarcastic wit is so cutting edge, then you should take the time and look at the bottle dating yourself.

No one else's job other than your own to make sure you are getting the product you want. Much like if you're at the meat counter and they try to sell you a steak that looks past its prime. You need to say no thanks and ask for a different cut.

WF is getting new product. Be it in their 12 pack package or in their 4 pack. YOU need to actively search and all this talk about a retailer not sending back old product is pretty old news and seldom do stores do it. As evidence of Bevmo's stock of Sculpin and Racer 5.

In short, this "small gripe" is all on you. I wasn't referring to your location, I was simply calling you out for being lazy on your part on being active in seeing if you have new product on the shelf or not. Hell, does Golden Road even get further than L.A. county? I know they barely pushed to S.F., but the motto was to keep it in L.A. for the longest time, so clearly you had to be in the L.A. area if you were seeing it to begin with.

 

Do the old cans have an ABV on them? Not that I'm interested in contacting the ABC, but putting a 5.9% ABV beer into a can labelled 5.2% ABV seems like it would run afoul of packaging laws.

 

I too have been disappointed with Golden Roads beers so far (love the pub tho, I usually drink guest taps). I will say the Big Lebraski Imperial Stout is really good. Also, their barley wine was great

not giving up hope

curious to try the Darts Away IPA

 

Whole Foods (in Pasadena, at least) isn't great at cycling through product. They consistently have really old IPAs on the shelves, both refrigerated and not. I'm assuming they just don't care, since they have several pretty knowledgeable beer people on staff.

 

I've never been to a store that actively checks dates and sends old bottles back, nor have I heard of a craft brewer pulling old product from the shelves with any regularity unless the beer was infected. I've talked to people at Whole Foods and BevMo about it, and they definitely don't worry about bottle dates.

It just doesn't happen often in the beer industry. To assume your favorite local, high quality brewery would be any different is to be optimistic, at best. The only time I remember a brewery getting this involved with retailers is when Vinnie pulled RR from BevMo because they wouldn't put Pliny in the cooler.

That doesn't mean it shouldn't happen, but in an industry with low profits and relatively small margins, taking a hit like that is asking a lot.

 

Agreed. Seems like just another thread piling on Golden Road, as I've seen often in this forum.

I don't get the constant hate for this brewery on BA. Not saying I'm a big fan or anything, only been to the pub once and have had their beers on tap a couple times along with a few cans.

Why don't people criticize other breweries for this very same "problem"? There is old stock from many breweries on shelves at a store near my house. Seems like people just look for any reason to diss this brewery, no matter how trivial.

 

Sure. It's not specific to Golden Road, although they stock quite a bit of it. I think most of it is a function of their stocking such a massive amount of beers, with low turnover and lack of refrigeration. Seems like a subpar business model.