Toolbox Brewing Co. - Vista, CA

I wrote this over on the other forum, but I don't think this hurts them at all. If the release isn't a shitshow, then doing it in-house vs BPT rewards your regulars and drives more tasting room and merchandise sales. If they piss you off, they miss the occasional beer trip and bottle sale. If they piss the locals off, they miss a lot of reoccurring revenue.

 

On the flip side, I wasn't buying ANY Toolbox prior. Not even going to their tasting room before the bottles. But once I was able to easily order a bottle online and pick it up in that time frame and make a trip down there, then they started getting my business a lot more.

Now that they stopped BPTing, I have completely stopped making any excuses to go there. Sooooo it has driven less traffic to the tasting room from me and I'm sure others are like that as well. Who is to say I didn't or wouldn't buy something when I'm already there?

There's an easy compromise. You put half your allocation up for sale on BPT, it's free advertising and creates a hype for your beer (which sort of backfired when they cranked out that woodx too quickly out), and you keep half your allocation for in house sell through at a slower pace - You give the locals the ability to buy the beer, but you also advertise and get buzz going for the beer you're making. Win-win.

This way it has completely lost me as a consumer both in bottle sales and in on-site consumption.

 

Good for them.
Locals are what keep small businesses alive.

 

I'm with @Earlycsquid . They stopped filling growlers and now they stopped using BPT. All I can do is drink whatever is on tap the day I show up there (they stopped really posting what's on tap regularly too) .

If I want to drink at a tap room, I'll save myself the 2 hour drive and find something locally. I really wonder if Vista can keep them alive, they aren't selling too many bottles, and you can't buy their beer in stores. No growler fills. All they are really saying to me is "we don't care about your business".

They did send me a pretty condescending email about "doing homework" when I asked about the woodwerx bottle issues. Maybe they don't want to be criticized or questioned, and the 50-100 regulars from the area don't post on the BA forums .

 

That's really lame. I understand that new breweries have their speed bumps and people have bad days, but if you release something before it's ready, you need to be open, honest, and willing to take some criticism for it.

There are regulars/people friendly with the staff on another forum, some of them still post here but not as regularly.

 

They stopped filling growlers?? What was the rationale behind that? I know it takes a long time, which is a pain when they're busy, but I'm confused...

 

They say they don't have enough beer to fill growlers. They'd run out.

 

They stopped filling growlers of anything except their IPA and Mini Mudder stout a couple months ago (which are the final batches of each, so they're just letting them pour until they're gone), they can't produce enough of their sour/wild beers to keep up with demand if they fill growlers of them.

 

Let's be more specific - there are a number of people friendly mostly with their head brewer. Owners - less of a known commodity. I suspect they don't have a lot of experience doing this sort of thing, and reacted emotionally to all the criticism of the Woodwerx. "Do your homework?" Really bad form.

 

@iamthecarlos Wow...do you mind providing a little context to that "homework" quote?

 

I do think they suffered growing pains and just instead of dealing with them rationally, just went the nuclear option. It was odd to hear they had growlers, but then after selling them decided to not continue on with the IPA, which basically means you have a useless Toolbox growler.

They really should have been more concrete on their pick up dates. This "just email us and we can work something out" was ripe for abuse. So now they have bottles that sit for a while where as with BPT, they would have had them sold out faster and a quickier injection of money returned for their investment. Which is smarter for a business.

 

Yeah, my useless growler is irritating. Hoping they bring back growler fills at some point.

 

I kinda just want more Purple Drink...but I think they told me that it wouldn't be ready until late august.

 

It could be lost in email translation, and they weren't trying to be rude. Who knows... here's the e-mail about woodwerx copied and pasted...

Thank you for reaching out to us! We have all our beers tested and NO it does not contain diacetyl. What some are mistaking for this off flavor is in fact another flavor called Tetrahydropyridine or ATHP/ACPY. Its believed to be created when the brett is introduced to the existing yeast elements in some barrels. Its quite common in barrel aged brettanomyces beer. We are not the only brewery to put these beers out there, we just happen to have a newly bottled one. This flavor will die off in time as the brett keeps doing its job. Feel free to enjoy now or cellar it if you prefer. Either way, we hope you enjoy!

Thanks again for the heads up and concern. We appreciate it.

Cheers!

Amanda Elder
Owner & Operator
Toolbox Brewing Company

ps. Please feel free to do your homework. If you come across anything new or noteworthy, we would love to continue the education process.

 

Honestly, not even sure what the hell those last two sentences are supposed to mean.

 

That is great. While I don't think the P.S. part is written well, it is miles away from a condescending email to "do your homework."

IMO, of course.

 

But why would you include that last part.

email is fine until that P.S.

I can see how it can be taken as a dick move

 

Yup, agreed ... I do NOT read it as condescending at all ... I read it as they are encouraging folks to give them more feedback on their beers.

 

Oh for crying out loud.

I'm never believing anybody on this forum ever again!

 

You have 10 toes.