Three Floyds is Coming to MA

If you like traditional styles but can’t find anything from Bell’s you enjoy, I find that hard to understand. Their Amber and Best Brown are absolute style exemplars, and Two Hearted is a classic. They have a well-defined style and are really good at what they do.

I’ve never had anything from Three Floyd’s, so am interested to check them out. I do agree that they will run into the same problem as a lot of entrants to the beer scene here. A large number of beer drinkers of the sort that seek out new things will quickly move on to the next hype NEIPA, flavored stout, and fruited sour.

 

Haven't had the amber or brown. Ultimately Bells fell to my 3 strikes and you're out guideline. Too many breweries these days to waste my time with one if I dont like 3 beers out of 3 or 4 I tried. Didn't love Two Hearted nor Black Note, and really didnt like Hopslam. I generally don't bother with a brewery anymore after 3 beers that dont do it for me. I did think Oberon was ok.

 

Didn’t really care for Oberon or Hopslam either, along with Two Hearted.

Been wanting to try the Amber and Brown as I love simple classic styles, but like you there’s just so much beer out there I never seek them out.

 

Don’t forget about Lost Nation Mosaic on the cheap end

 

The other thing I don't get is why a new, unestablished brewery jumps straight to elite-level pricing. Why would I buy an IPA from a brewery that hasn't earned my trust when it's two dollars more expensive than beers like Fiddlehead IPA, Sip of Sunshine, etc.? I want to support new breweries but I'm not paying $17/4pk for something I've never seen before.

Hopefully pressure from breweries like Three Floyds will help correct this trend and push newer local breweries to sell their IPAs for $12 and lagers for $10.

 

Back in the day, I loved Dreadnaught IPA from 3 Floyds! Wonder if I still will, with so many IPA's consumed since...

 

Same. I used to geek out on Arctic Panzer Wolf too when I could get it. So absurdly bitter.

 

I don't know about the other posters but I was talking about $12 4paks from a brewery.
I realize buying from a packy is going to add a couple more bucks but what are they supposed to do if a brewery is selling it themselves for $16 to $18? What is the actual cost for a small brewery to brew a DDH DIPA for example? I couldn't imagine it being more than $10 but they sell for $20. Is that a normal margin in the business world?

 

A bit back to topic. Three Floyd’s, LLC was registered with the CT Secretary of State on 8/31/20. Hmmmm.....

 

Another data point on the 16oz 4-pack of IPA topic. Night Shift Santilli is $10 for a 4-pack.

 

Generally breweries don't undercut the prices sold through distribution. Anything sold through distribution just has lower margin. You don't see prices at an Apple store lower than Apple products sold at Best Buy even though the margins at the Apple store should (theoretically) be higher.

Margins for a $20 4 pack will vary greatly across breweries. I'd guess right now the biggest cost is hops and the margins will also be dependent on the specific hop or hops used (lets ignore non IPA's for now). Hops will cost different for every brewery and will be based on the overall volume of hops purchased by the brewery and the demand/supply of the particular hop. A brewery may or may not have different prices for a 4 pack based on the hops used in each individual beer. Margins on a specific beer aren't always the most critical thing. If you have a lineup of 5 beers, 4 being your core beers and one being a special release then that special release might get more people coming to your brewery to buy all your beers. The average margin is more important than the individual margin. Brewery only releases are more about selling the other beers so even if you have little margin on that beer you've increased the direct sale of other high margin beers.

Mystic Brewery is a great case study that shows the importance of direct to consumer sales and the effect distribution has on margins. They cited the decrease in brewery traffic as the main reason they closed, even though their demand through distribution was at an all time high the margins at their volumes weren't enough to keep going. Now I think they exaggerate a bit that they couldn't keep going but I think the kernel of truth there is that without more direct to consumer sales they didn't have enough capital to move or expand. I'm sure they had options, they just decided that the headache and risk weren't worth it.

Anyhow the top line price of an IPA is less about margins and more about positioning and supply/demand. A brewery that wants to be scene as a "top tier" brewery prices their beers in the top tier range, regardless of the margin. The margin determines if they will succeed or not. Any manufacturer needs to determine how to make their product at an internal cost that allows them to succeed, the consumer really sets the sale price. Night Shift has gone the route of increasing volumes to decrease costs. They have low volume "top tier" priced beer but also high volume "mid to value" priced beer. It's incredibly hard to grow and stay in the top tier market, in any industry. Jacks Abby went a similar route to Night Shift. Tree House is an outlier. They have stayed in the top tier while massively increasing volume and increasing margin at the same time. Julius is a bit cheaper now than it used to be, around $3.80 per can vs I think maybe low $4 range before but I can guarantee you their margins now are much higher given their current volume.

The importance of direct to consumer sales can also be seen in the investments all these breweries have put into either full locations or the seasonal beer gardens they each have. Trillium has what, like 500 locations now in MA When's the last time you've seen Trillium at a non Trillium retail location? They used to do the occasional drops at craft beer stores, its been probably 2-3 years since they did that. Since Covid they delivered beer directly to people's houses rather than sell in liquor stores. That's probably the clearest sign that the distribution model isn't very profitable, especially given Trillium's current volume which is high enough to make distribution viable for them.

 

This is some welcoming news! I can't wait to try their brews! I remember when I saw Surly on the shelves here and beyond excited to try these beers that I've only been hearing about for the last 10+ years

 

When am I gonna be able to get my hands on zombie dust?

 

The brand is supposed to launch (whatever that means now) on October 15th, so assuming everything has gone according to plan you may see FFF on shelves by the weekend.

 

My buddy pick up some cans at DeCicco’s on his way back to Mass yesterday. They were dated 8/16. I’ll be curious what shows up here. Considering the brand launch @braineater mentioned could be some 2 month old product showing up.

 

Two week-old Zombie Dust? In. Two month-old Zombie Dust? Out.

 

lol the first page of the thread has the date, I’m sorry. Really wanna crank a few zombie dusts on Halloween

 

EDIT: canned 8/19.

 

The Kappy's near me gets Fiddlehead, TG and Battery Steele stuff super fresh. Like a week to 10 days after canned date. It's hard to beat that freshness and makes drives to Tree House happen less often. I really hope the Floyd's stuff comes in with only 2 weeks or so on it. Zombie Dust is great!