Surly Abrasive

I'm not the least bit frustrated. First world problems. I'll drink all the Abrasive.

 

as long as it isn't under carbonated as it has been in the past, I dont care
Abrasive holds up for 4-5 weeks imo

 

Yeah...not really the same thing here. Born Yesterday is a limited run of a fresh hop beer that doesn't necessarily go to every store at the same time. I had to go to four different stores to find some just days after it hit shelves. When Surly releases a mainstay or seasonal, every store in their distribution market is going to have enough supply to get them by for weeks if not months, from Big Box Chain Store all the way to Ralph's Obscure Family-Run Boozemart. They may not be within a week or two of canning but I'll be damned if those same four stores I went to last week aren't all fully stocked of what Surly's pushing at that time.

 

To be fair, that was an exception to what I've been seeing-- in Iowa at least. Over the past year when I've seen cans come off the truck, they've almost always been ~2 weeks or so old. It's definitely getting better, but I'm now seeing 2.5 month old Pompeii hitting shelves so that worries me as well.

 

Bunch of babies. 2 week old abrasive is fine.

 

You're missing the bigger point. In the self-distributing days, I could get 5-7 day old Surly anything just about anytime. Now, if I want Furious fresher than a month old, I have to hunt & hope. And as a result I buy a LOT less Surly that I used to (though plainly the company is doing just fine without my dollars).

It's easy to call everyone complaining names, but that's also denying reality of what's happened over the past several years. Fresh Surly is harder to find, & that drives people to other breweries beers.

 

Word. It's just a reality. It doesn't make people whiny or whatever other folks want to say. It just means more of us buy less Surly and more of other things. I don't think that matters at all to Surly's bottom line, but I am usually then buying stuff from smaller guys which hopefully does impact their bottom line a bit.

 

2 week old steaks are fine too.

Not the point, but others above stated the real point, so I'm not going to.
I get how bigger breweries do things. They brew a mountain and get it out when it's needed. Unfortunately, that mountain goes behind the small hill that is still there. Go to any Costco or Sam's and you will see 2 different dates with a little looking. Either way, I just want week old local IPAs. That's not that much to ask. Growlers would be a start, but the laws are dumb.

 

You mean like how Stone or Lagunitas find it impossible with their massive distribution footprints to get their fresh beers onto shelves around the country in days instead of weeks?

 

What if people want better than fine?

 

Unfortunately voicing your opinion is more likely to be successful with your wallet, than with your beer advocate account. Surly has out-grown its "core" base.

I agree, I would prefer to drink fresher stuff, but the reality is such that it isn't going to happen unless they scale down production. I think the problem is more with their business model and less with distribution issues.

@BeerBuyerBill - Are you willing to share your inventory turn times on the standard Surly releases? I see pallets full on a regular basis, so I can only assume you guys are flipping a lot of Furious/Bender/Hell/Cynic still or you are trying to keep your order volumes up to appease the distributors and get more of the limited release stuff.

 

I just don't understand people's "I want it now" mentality. Yeah its kind of stupid that they dont immediately distribute this stuff, but that's out of our control. Either drink the 2-week old stuff, or hold your horses for the next wave to hit, which will undoubtedly be "fresher".

People complaining isn't constructive. Discussing the mechanics of why the system is breaking is constructive. My commentary was more around the nonsensical complaining and whiners than it was the people actually discussing what's changed and what's wrong with Surly's distribution and production models.

 

People complaining can be very constructive. Admittedly doing so on BA forums is probably less constructive than complaining at the store (where the complaint can be channeled up the distribution pipeline) or directly to the brewery (via email or social media). Complaints let businesses know their current operations aren't good enough.

While far more interesting from a conversational standpoint, there's nothing constructive about a discussion in this forum about the likely causes of Surly's distribution issues, as we don't have a complete picture of their organization (and organizational challenges). And also, even if we did, it's incredibly unlikely anyone at Surly would look at the discussion, see an answer that would miraculously solve their problem, then implement. I'm not against the discussion, it is more interesting than complaining, but complaining is more likely to raise red flags.

 

Also, I don't see what's so hard to understand about people's "I want it now" mentality. Consumers saw in this past month brewers get beers on to shelves nationally within days of bottling (Stone Enjoy By, Lagunitas Born Yesterday). People love Abrasive, people love fresh IPAs, and as you admit, it's kind of stupid they don't immediately distribute this stuff (or at least it FEELS that way even if there's nothing stupid about the logistical challenges for Surly).

If people feel passionately, they are more likely to effect positive change by letting Surly / the beer community know their displeasure, rather than waiting silently for Surly to correctly guess the meaning of declining sales from their silent audience.

If you, or others, have no issue with two week old beer being the freshest you can get, the people complaining will not impact your ability to drink that beer.

 

Your logic and sensible posts confuse and infuriate me!

 

Abrasive was in stores in Chicago beginning on 10/25.

 

Oh, so Todd self-distributed that himself on his way to his new job?

 

[QUOTE="@BeerBuyerBill - Are you willing to share your inventory turn times on the standard Surly releases? I see pallets full on a regular basis, so I can only assume you guys are flipping a lot of Furious/Bender/Hell/Cynic still or you are trying to keep your order volumes up to appease the distributors and get more of the limited release stuff.[/QUOTE]

Surly is still our #1 selling brand in the store. Furious has been our #1 selling beer for many years, this year is no different. So far this year, Todd is our #2 selling beer, it's been a machine. We will probably sell enough Abrasive in the next 2 months that it will end up somewhere in our top 20 selling beers for the entire year. People go nuts for it. I keep Surly permanently stacked because it sells. Buying a ton of something that doesn't sell doesn't do the customers, the store, the distributor or the brewery any good. BTW, last Tuesday's (the 25th) delivery we got in 14 day old Furious--(canned on the 11th). Tomorrow's delivery should be even fresher. I have ZERO complaints about that.

 

Where?!? I haven't seen it, though I haven't been looking since I'd assumed it would be a bit

 

I still saw some pretty good beer stores selling October Abrasive well into January last year. Is the likely issue that these stores over ordered and stocked more than they could move or more an issue with older product shipping from the distributor and they accepted it.