I heard some rumblings about Hop and Wine no longer carrying brands like Founders and Bell's and that the distributor taking them over isn't getting these beers and others lined up efficiently. I think this primarily effects SE VA but I know there are folks here with a solid grasp on the goings on of the distributors in the state. I was just curious if anyone has more insight as to what this might mean in terms of limited releases (Hopslam, KBS etc.) or year rounds making it back to the shelves? Thanks in advance for any info!
I believe, and correct me if I'm wrong people who know, Hop and Wine sold part of their portfolio in VA to Blue Ridge Beverage. Which means they would be handling it now. It's been awhile since that happened, so I kinda forget the details. But I'm friends with a guy who was with Hop and was absorbed by Blue Ridge.
Okay, that sounds about right. Thank you for that! Assuming that's who we're up against and they follow suit - what sort of horrible is to be expected? I guess at the root of my question is do we have something to worry about beyond incompetence? I don't mean that as a knock on distributors - most do a fantastic job and there can always be mistakes or oversights due to human error. But is this an instance of a Macro type/owned/focused distributor coming in and pushing aside even the "standard" craft stuff like 2 Hearted or All Day IPA to try to force MBC stuff into coolers?
I just shop at the specialty shops around town, and at one point there was a sign apologizing for ALL of the Founders flagship beers being out of stock due to a distributor error. I also know that we have gotten ZERO One Hitters from Laguntas series, which we previously received. They will randomly deliver specialty releases from weeks and months prior that were "lost" in the system or warehouse. Being in SW VA the options were already somewhat limited and this change in distributors has only made it worse, in my opinion.
I have no info about this but have noticed no founders imperial stout yet in Hampton roads area and NOVA had it over a week ago. I never saw any project pam personally or posted on any social media, but I could have just missed it. Ugh....
They sold Lagunitas and Stone to Premium/Reyes recently for the whole state Those brands are with Reyes in all adjacent states so not that surprising of a move. They still have Bells, Founders, Dogfish in NoVA, as of right now.
Loveland has Stone and Lagunitas for at least central VA. M. Price for Hampton and Chesbay (Reyes company) for the peninsula has Lagunitas for SE VA but not Stone. This would lead me to believe that SE VA will depend on Loveland for Bell's, Founder's and Stone since Chesbay, Hoffman nor M. Price carry any of those three either.
Kinda old news, but not everyone follows the distro game closely (pro tip: don't). Hop and Wine sold their rights off in 6 markets. In May, they sold their rights in Richmond (to Loveland) and in the SW part of the state (to Blue Ridge). Later in the year, they sold their rights in Norfolk to M Price and Virginia Beach to Hoffman. Later on, they sold their SE territory to Chesbay and their East-ish territory to Copa/Al Pugh. With that kind of influx of brands, it's taken a bit of time for everything to sort out. Most brands are currently being distributed in the Blue Ridge and Loveland market. A good amount (but not all) are going through M Price and Hoffman. Not sure about Chesbay and Al Pugh. If Hop and Wine had the rights to that brewery in those territories, they now belong to the above distributors. The Stone/Lagunitas deal was completely separate of this. Hope that helped.
Bumping this to ask a semi related question: has anyone seen Founders imperial stout in SE VA? This is usually pretty easy to find for a month or so, but no one in Hampton Roads seems to have it. Did it show up in RVA?
I have see it in Central VA and Trinkin shows it may be at a couple spots in RVA. Founders also has a beer finder that could help in locating it I think.
Ahhh thanks - of course, I totally forgot about the beer finder. Pretty weird between the 5 solid beer stores within 30 miles of my house in HR it is at zero of them. It is listed however, in a shop on the way to OBX & one Portsmouth grocery store.
Was told that the distro change was delaying the SE VA release of Hopslam and others . Bells , Founders and Avery are affected by this . We don't get much Hopslam here anyhow and it's hard to find . Clown Shoes Space Cake is a great substitute , I think I like it better . Only available in bombers or on tap though .
My bet is that it's coming, just the new guys are slow with Founders. Azacca showed up bottled about a month earlier. The Hopslam that is dropping right now (because Bell's is affected the same way) was canned 2/3/16 so there is hope. Hopslam was about a month, if not older actually, when it dropped last year so that at least is an improvement.
