Steel Toe Brewing

I know this is splitting hairs, but all three of those breweries do sell bombers, although not for their main products/releases, only specialty/seasonal releases. Except for Summit. I've seen bombers of Saga and EPA for like 3-4 bucks at liquor stores.

But they all do use bombers, nonetheless

 

I've purchased a few bombers, but it has always been because I wanted to try the beer and it was not available in a smaller container. I never buy regular repeat purchases in bombers. It has been and will likely always be an occasional purchase for me. Brewers (like Steel Toe) presumably are aware of this segment of consumer behavior and take that into account. If their strategy is good for them but bad for me, then I am not their regular customer.

 

If TG can put out bombers for $6-8 each, why can't lesser renowned breweries hit that mark for their bombers?

King Sue, Sosus, Twisted Galaxy, etc sell out in a weekend, while Size 11 will sit at the brewery for weeks and costs more.

I guess I don't get the economics of it. If you have a competitor down the road making higher quality stuff at a cheaper price, why would you think anyone is going to buy your product?

 

Most of their beer is only $4.50-5/bomber. 750 of sticker fight was $8 I think and 750 of Size 11 is $10. I don't think it's cheap (or as good as 4/6pk pricing), but I don't think it's out of line for bomber pricing.

Edit: Indeed's Double DayTripper was a ridiculous price in my mind; however, I really enjoyed it, so was suckered into purchasing about 4 of them.

 

I can only speak for our store, but Size 7 was our 2nd best selling beer in 2014. Provider and Rainmaker both ended up in our top 20. I'd say Steel Toe bombers are doing OK.

 

I would be very interested in seeing the full list if you're willing to post it.

 

Maybe people equate bomber with better beer due to all the special releases that come with bombers? Or people are bad at math..

 

Or maybe they like the taste of the beer and will buy it even though it's in a bomber.

 

Seriously. A post is started about how awesome Steel Toe's DIPA is, and all we do is bitch about pricing. The beer is phenomenal! If you refuse to buy the bombers, get it on tap. That's how I approach all of Indeed's large format offering.

 

I think its time to finally drink my bottles of B1 of BtD and go buy some Size 11...

 

I completely lucked out that when I moved to MN, I happen to be right near Steel Toe. Nothing like stopping by for a Size 11 and wrapping up with a Dissent.

 

Doesn't matter what it taste like! It's all about value, apparently.

 

I feel like this point has been expressed before but there's so many other breweries out there making just-as-good beers. Value, at least for me, is an important factor.

 

I love Steel Toe, if they made Sticker Fight a regular release my fridge would be full of bottles of it constantly. Instead, I usually just hit up the brewery every few weeks and grab a random bottle every few months.

 

There are, but the level it gets discussed here is just ridiculous. To me, I value a size 7 at $4.50 a bomber more than a six pack of something else that might be just as good as I want something different. Or maybe I don't want 6 of one type of beer. Hell, if it's all about value, I'm amazed people go to the bar at all.

 

Just for fun

Saga = 12oz/$1 = $2.20 bomber ( I think the actual bomber is like 3.50)
Surly IPA's 6.4oz/$ = $3.50 bomber
Indeed Let it ride 7.2oz/$ = $3 bomber
Size 7 4.8oz/$ = $4.75 bomber
Bent Hop 6.5oz/$ = $3.40 bomber

 

A big difference between the two that's missing here is distribution. TG is covering large swaths of Iowa and Wisconsin and within shooting range of the Twin Cities. Steel Toe doesn't even distribute over into St. Paul. Not saying either way is right or wrong, that just seems to be the strategy each brewery has chosen to follow.

As a fan of both, I don't think it's fair to compare any brewery to TG by how long their beers sit on a shelf by comparison. If we have to argue the difference between days vs. weeks of how long good beer sits on a shelf then I'd say we discussing an embarrassment of riches.

 

First off, I agree with the OP. Steel Toe is one of the top breweries in MN. Their recent bottles of Wee Heavy blew me away, & Lunker is a top 5 BA beer from MN ever, in my book.

That said, people might not like the value argument, but it's true. Size matters, too.

Even though I think Size 7 is a better beer, it was Day Tripper that occupied a spot in my fridge all summer. Not only cheaper, but also a more convenient size. Plenty of days I don't want to drink 22 oz. of the same beer, or wander around with a massive snifter in hand. There's also the 'perception' by the less-fanatic public that it's just "one beer" for $4.50, & most people are going to pass that by.

But whatever. Salut to Steel Toe. As long as they keep making kick-ass beers, I'll keep buying them...just not as frequently as I would if they were in four/six packs.

 

Just got off the phone with them this morning, they are having trouble keeping up with production, but stated it might be awhile to find it at more retailers. The waiting list for stores is still back to 2013. Keep supporting the brand to help them amp up production. (Best way to do this is to support them at the tap rooms.) But cleaning out liquor stores of the existing product can help as well (In some cases)

 

In an odd sense, they may be ok with that. As I said before if you go to 4-6 packs with out increasing production, you are essentialy reducing "the wealth" by limiting the total amount of units to be sold , after all, I'd think it would be a breweries objective to get their beer into the hands of as many people as possible. Now I understand that more people would be likely to buy a 4-6pk but as @BeerBuyerBill bill alluded, Steel Toe does sell really well, same at my local.

Id be interested to see their yearly capacity/production and potential for growth.

In a utopian world, It would be awesome if every beer came in 12oz bottles, but thats just not realistic for many reasons.