Where's the Bell's Hopslam 2019 love?

As others have mentioned, I don't think the two are equivalent. But as others have also said, I always found Bigfoot to be a double IPA when fresh, and then morphs into a different beer as it ages.

For what it's worth, I haven't had 2019 Bigfoot either, but I've had a lot of Bigfoot in the past, and I enjoy fresh Bigfoot. I didn't particularly care for Hopslam.

 

You and I are in agreement here.

Cheers!

 

Checked the Bell's stock in two highly BA-rated liquor stores yesterday out of curiosity. Bell's gives their standard ales a 6 month shelf life and their lagers 3 months. All the Two-Hearted Ale (cans and bottles) and Lager of the Lakes (cans) I found were packaged in June or July.

Of course, similar things happened with most other larger craft brewers' beers that hit the state in recent years.

 

That’s unfortunate. Bell’s is reliably fresh around here. I can always find less than 6 week old Two Hearted and it is usually 4 weeks or less.

 

Wow that’s unacceptable. I can get Two Hearted Ale mostly under 30 days, sometimes two weeks old. Trying to pawn off 7 month old beers is definitely bad business.

 

Others have already chimed in but I will provide a +1 comment. The Two Hearted Ales at my local beer retailers are consistently fresh (i.e., less than 3 months old). Now the year-round Sierra Nevada beers are a differing story.

Cheers!

 

Yeah, well I think Bell's in NJ illustrates a different problem than Sierra Nevada in PA.

There was probably a long-built up demand for Bell's here (geez, it seemed like a decade's worth of "Bell's next year - maybe") and both the distributor Hunterdon and many "aware" retailers likely thought it was going to be bigger than it was.

I was surprised at the quantities some stores ordered (yesterday I saw 3 or 4 unopened case of Two-Hearted bottles with June bottling date in one place) - THA's in 4-16's, 12-12's, sixpacks of bottles, etc, for example. The other beers other than Oberon, but esp. Lager of the Lakes and Oarsman were ordered in much smaller quantities - I went to some stores that'd never heard of them. Still, they're sitting now, too. It was easy to predict all that Bell's in all those stores wasn't going to sell out in the first few months.

I always wonder what happens when, say, a dozen different beer geeks hit all the "good" retailers in the same local area and inquire about a new beer about to hit the market. So, say 10 stores each get a dozen inquiries about a beer BUT when it finally hits there's only 12 sixpacks sold, 1 or 2 in each store, not the ideal 120. "Damn, but there was so much demand!"

 

But I suspect there can be some commonality as well.

Permit me to get on my soapbox.

Yes, distribution of beer through the three tier system can be challenging but it is not an impossible task. Even though I lack data I am prepared to state that AB knows how to do this properly. AB has a strict best by date for beers like Bud, Bud Light of 110 days and they have terms in their contracts with their associated Wholesale Distributors to remove old product from retailers’ shelves. I am willing to bet that not a lot of beer is being removed since this represents lost sales and it costs money to destroy beer.

So, what is the ‘trick’ here? Conceptually it is pretty easy: only ship to the Wholesale Distributors the amount of beers that can be sold in a reasonable timeframe (e.g., 150 days for the case of Sierra Nevada beers like SNPA, Torpedo, etc.). Now, predicting demand can be tricky. How about the Brewery sends a small shipment to the Wholesale Distributor and when that is exhausted ship some more? This process can indeed be beneficial from the perspective of the end consumer (i.e., fresh beer on retailers’ shelves). So, why don’t the Breweries and Wholesale Distributors do this? Some of my thoughts:

· It involves more work for both the Wholesale Distributor performing the ordering and the brewery distribution person scheduling the shipping. Instead on one big transaction they need to manage a series of smaller transactions.

· The Breweries likely offer discounts to the Wholesale Distributors to purchase in larger quantities (e.g., a bulk purchase discount). This is beneficial to the Wholesale Distributor since they save money. This may be beneficial to the Brewery since they have a large order. The Brewery salesperson may even have incentives (e.g., a bonus) if they sell x number of cases for a specified time period.

You have worked in the industry; you likely could come up with more explanations to add to the above bullet list.

It seems to me that it really comes down to priorities. As long as it is the priority of the brewery to quickly ship out as much beer as possible and it is a priority for the Wholesale Distributor to order/accept shipments of bulk orders it appears to me that the status quo of lots of old beer will exist on retailers’ shelve.

If instead the priority is to sell beer within the best by window it seems to me it would be a best practice to have lots of smaller shipments from the breweries to the Wholesale Distributors. This practice will require more work by the staff of the Breweries/Wholesale Distributors and perhaps bulk discounts will not be achieved but the end customer will benefits here. I would argue that if this process is performed over the long run it would be beneficial to both the Breweries and the Wholesale Distributors. As long as the retailers’ shelves are clogged up with dusty product no retailer will make future purchases. This is damaging to long term sales IMO.

Cheers!

 

A good "case study" of this is a beer local to us. Victory Dirtwolf. When they first released it it was dropped semi annually about every month or two and it sold out within a week or two. The beer was always fresh and I had folks raving about it who I would have never suspected enjoyed it.

Flash forward a year later they over sold it to the point it began to linger. Less people began buying it at this point and it got lost in the cluster. I am sure you got to witness this also.

 

Well, to be honest I have not been 'following' Victory Dirtwolf closely. Next time I go grocery shopping at my local Wegmans I will look to see how fresh they are now.

Victory very recently added three new beers to their year-round portfolio: Cloud Walker, No Brainer and Twisted Monkey. Three more products to manage from a production, distribution and freshness perspective. Given the ever increasing number of products from recently opened small, local breweries is it wise for Victory to expand their product line?

Cheers!

 

Behold the power of rabid tickers....

 

Part of the blame could be shifted onto retailers too. If a store can't sell 10+ cases of one individual IPA in 2-3 months then they should be ordering less from the distributor, and maybe more product could be sent elsewhere where it could be sold fresher. Either way there is probably just more beer at the wholesalers for them to do with it and not every place that sells beer knows the brands, as it could end up in gas stations or restaurants that don't focus on good beer, or anywhere else. Everyone tries to sell and order as much as possible to get rid of it and get the best discounts that the product ends up being inferior for the customers on the shelf.

 

Well, I didn't mean to turn this thread into the standard "bitchin' 'bout old beer" (a post topic at which I do excel ) - I was specifically talking about Bell's and their June entrance into the NJ market, and the beers, quantities and package mixes that retailers with NO history of the brand ordered. And, of course, the results (and remnants) of that 8 months later.

I don't really pay attention to what happened to the stock from some other larger craft brands with reputations beyond just the geekery that entered the state within recent years, like New Belgium and Shiner - but I suspect those brands haven't done much after the initial release.

Nah, tickers don't buy 4 or 6 packs, do they? And all those Two-Hearted and Oberon 12 packs? Enough beer to make a ticker faint.

 

OK - fair is fair. Stopped into another of my "regular" retailers yesterday and found some Lager of the Lakes canned on Jan. 7th 2019 (tho' the date on the packaging was kinda smeared but the "19" year was clear enough and this being February...).

So, there's fresh-ish stuff out there - there'd be even more if the distributor (Hunterdon) pulled and replaced the out of code stuff at many other retailers.

 

Lager of the Lakes is a nice beer.

 

My local guy just got these in, so he is showing some love..... Have to check on cost, if in line I could handle having this to sip off of lol.
Cheers

 

I saw a mini-keg at a store on Saturday. I considered buying it, but figured that would be unnecessary for one dude.

 

Delicious this year. Not overly sweet- just right. Bravo Bell's