Three Floyds changing distributors?

It’s true

Those of us that live in Chicago had seen this coming for a while. The way it was distributed was very uneven. Stores that dealt mainly in wines got 10-15 cases of ZD while shops that specialized in craft beer got none. It doesn’t take a genius to see the pattern and the fact that Glunz have two different websites, one for beer and one for wine hinted something was not right.

I personally welcome the change even though I regularly have ZD and Alpha king in my fridge and that may change now. I say that because there is a chance more of my money goes into the hands of smaller shops that genuinely care about craft beer. I don’t have to go halfway around town to pick up a 6 pack of ZD with a 50% mark up from retail. I can just go to a few places that not only have my favorite 6 pack of pale ale but also the other beers I drink as well.

Good job Three Floyd’s

 

Right, because out of the 5 states that sees their beers, the state of Chicago is the great foreseer. It's cool that more of your money will go to beer shops but if you want to be a weapon of the greater good, you'd have put your money there to begin with. I understand going with the flow, but it seems there are far too many outstanding beers in Chicago to chase some ZD at a wine shop two neighborhoods away.

Honestly, you've probably got it figured out if it's that easy so I retract most of what I said previously.

As far as this "take care of Indiana first" person goes, their bombers hit my local shops regularly, ZD sixers occasionally, and the extra rare shelvers from time to time. Hopefully the same frequency happens with any new distributor, now or in the future.

 

Huh?

It's entirely likely that they're ditching Glunz because wine shops (terrible, terrible places, by the way) were getting a disproportionate amount of beer compared to beer stores. People going to one store over another would not have made a difference if the distributor was allocating beer poorly. Glunz got paid regardless.

Also, Glunz didn't distribute in Indiana. CBS (the new distributor, if I read that right) won't distribute in Indiana, either. Unless FFF changes how much beer each state gets, I don't see how your local shops could possibly be affected.

 

How do you know it is true? I'm waiting for proof, not just a random person saying it is confirmed. I remember when it was confirmed that dark lord day was at centennial park, which clearly did not happened even though people here said it was a fact.

 

Well I for one will take the word of the manager of the largest beer department in Chicago confirming it. I think he's a reliable source, but I wonder why the skepticism? Does it really matter?

 

It's the word around town in Chicago. Along with Patrick and Catherine O'Leary cow's milk is the main ingredient in Apocalypse Cow and Kim Kardashian really baby's daddy is Michael Jordan. You are not going to get "confirmation" until… as us Mid-West folks say “it comes from the horse’s mouth" but that is what the liquor store managers are saying.

 

I have read a lot of things that were confirmed here on beeradvocate that ended up not being true, especially when it comes to FFF. A lot of people are saying this is true but no one posted a source. I don't really care what happens, I don't wanna spread false rumors. I work closely with LG and I haven't heard this yet, I'll make sure to ask next chance I get.

 

Eh, depends on what a brewery wants their business to be. To be perfectly honest, i dont know why FFF is moving. Frankly, it's none of my business, so i didnt ask, and i'd rather not speculate.

Well, it was announced August 16th via Craft Beer News/Beer Insight (sort of an industry email trade rag) though it hasnt really gone public public, i dont think...i've been out of the loop for a few weeks. I'd be happy to bet you $500 cash though if you'd like though. I'll even give you odds

Wow, that's a lot of nonsense.

For one, many distributors sell a variety of products...almost all of them, in fact, sell more than just beer. River North has Beer, Energy Drinks, and Spirits, as an example. Cream Wine brings in Upright Brewing. Stoller has Wine, Beer, Spirits, Ciders, Sodas.

Two, in regards to sending FFF to "wine shops": Nope. FFF has been on allocation for forever and a day now. Everyone gets a little bit. Period. Granted, some reps do a better job of spreading it around than others, but i cant really say i've seen any issues with *how* the allocations are divided up.

Three, and i'm just being honest here, if you're buying ZD for 50% above, then they didnt get that case from Glunz.

 

Sorry, didn't mean to be so confusing. All I was trying to get across was that I don't think Chicagoans have the right or authority to anoint a distributor worthy or not, when it comes to any beer distributed outside of Chi-town proper. The Indiana stuff, in particular the availability I pointed out, were just examples that things work, even when people think they don't.

Folks bitch all the time about FFF availability where I live but I've found it to be pretty accessible and in the times I can't grab what I want, there's always something more than acceptable a shelf or two away. It just seems silly to me to travel or hunt for FFF beers, when there are so many fantastic alternatives.

 

It's for sure true. I was told by multiple people, including those at FFF and Glunz.

Nobody know where they are going, but word on the street is that Reyes wants them badly. Guess we'll see. In the mean time, I'm expecting not to see much FFF at all. Sucks for me I suppose.

 

Thank you for the source, that is all I wanted. I work in the industry and I don't wanna spread false rumors. It seemed like it could be true, but now I feel more comfortable telling other people about it. Beeradvocate is filled with alot of hearsay and false rumors, and its always good to back it up with a source.

 

That's exactly what he said, but he's obviously wrong. Good to know for the future when he tells me something. And the tide turns: now, things you read on the internet are true, and the things people tell you to your face are false.

 

Oh, I had no idea that Lincoln left Glunz.

 

Reyes Holdings purchased Windy City. Chicago Beverage is a distributor in Chicago that is also owned by Reyes.

Honestly, the big question is, if they go with Reyes, who gets it? CBS or Windy? If it's Windy, it's the first time Reyes has directly competed with itself. If it's CBS, then the Cluster will scream bloody murder if they dont get product too spreading the available beer even thinner than it is now.

 

Just talked to a pretty solid source myself that said it FFF was going to be handled by Windy City. The rest of the conversation was very bitter about how much money was offered and awful lessons in humility by Nick Floyd.

 

On that point, I think we agree.

Cheers!

 

I agree with you 100%. Drink more Pipeworks, Half Acre, Revolution, Begyle.

 

This will be interesting to see how this affects their distribution. With the current setup, it seems certain shops get more - is this right? There is a spot next to me that used to be my go-to for Zombie Dust but I never understood why they seemingly got it more often than other stores. It's a pretty standard liquor store. In the last couple months they really haven't gotten any, but they still get regular shipments of Gumballhead.