Why does Founders never have any Class 3 on tap?

glad founders doesnt have jampics2 as a decisionmaker

 

I'd expand this to say I'm glad no breweries do. I like being able to get beer that isn't brewed next door to my house.

 

Our New Glarus is named Shorts.

 

Good stuff. Saw on the shelves in Madison back in August for GTOM.

 

Probably because that is how they have always done it, and it works for them.

There will never be enough KBS, and similarly hyped beers, to go around. They make more every year and there is never enough. This probably wouldn't change even if they stopped expanding the distribution and ramped up production of the limited beers such as KBS.

 

Right, because every single brewery out there is distributing beers at a level drastically lower than the demand and disrupting the marketplace. Oh, nevermind, they're not - it's just a handful of breweries, one of which is Founders.

Once again, you have to "argue" by twisting everything I say into a generalization then taking it to an extreme instead of coming up with valid retorts to the points I made.

So, to be clear - I didn't say every brewery has to save EVERY beer for their home market. I said IMO it's irresponsible to distribute a beer like KBS that, according to everyone's opinion in this thread, doesn't even have enough supply to last on tap for a month if it was brewpub only.

 

I think it might last a month and you have a good point in addition to pleasing the locals founders would make more money this way since they wouldn't have to give a cut to both the distributor and retail store.

 

It isn't a handful of breweries. Its LOTS and LOTS of breweries. Seriously, stop and think for one minute about the great beer that you'd love to have access to all the time that you can't have because it doesn't come to OH or, if it does, it comes in really limited quantities. You've chosen to focus on Founders, for whatever reason. Even the biggest craft brewers brew beers that are distro'd at a level below actual demand.

As far as Founders being irresponsible, you'll pardon me if I trust their judgement on what they think is best for their business. Building brand awareness and loyalty in other markets must make good business sense for them. They've grown by leaps and bounds in the last 15 years. I think it's safe to say they know what they're doing. I think it's safe to say that the vast majority of craft brewers that have been successful know what they're doing. Just because most of them brew at least a few beers that are put into distro at a level below demand doesn't mean they're bad business people.

 

I'm going to expand upon earlier comments and say that I'm glad that you're not in charge of any part of the craft beer market at any level, because this type of logic and practice would gut everything that's great about the craft beer scene and the craft beer movement as a whole. The ability to be able to obtain and taste some of the best beers from around the country and even the world is most of the reason I, and likely everyone else here, is in this hobby to begin with.

 

This thread needs some Xanax

 

Another thing to consider is how much has Founder's expanded their distribution since KBS really got big. It used to sit on the shelves a little bit. I venture to say they havent expanded too much since KBS got on the crazy hype train, but they keep making more. The market has changed a lot, demand for those types of beers has gone up astronomically. Should they have pulled back their distribution of KBS? Of course there is no right or wrong answer.

 

However there are regional answers, as we have found today.

 

I can't disagree more with your assessment of what the craft beer movement is about, so I'm going to stop here. I don't think we'll ever see eye to eye, so I won't waste your time.

 

See, I'm happy with what I have. I'd love Deschutes or Firestone Walker to distribute to Ohio, but they will when they're ready. I guess I just remember a day not more than 5-6 years ago when I had 1/3 of the options on local shelves that I do now. I'm very content having the options I have every day.

 

Upright has a new barrel aged beer for locals on tap almost weekly. Its simple. Founders has already won over it's local audience and cares more about expanding their market than focusing on their local crowd. Totally different approach than many of my other favorite breweries. Look at their line-up for the past several MI beer fests. It's embarrassing. Cheers to a new batch of Solid Gold!

 

There is a lot that was said that I do not necessarily agree with but I will focus on this statement. This is one of my pet peeves, people give Founders far too much credit and then they hold it against them.

We really need to chill out on the Founders being "innovative" or "creative". Yes, they have been at times but usually they are simply recycling a once creative idea into something that does end up being a fine product but it not innovative or creative. People continue to claim Founders is on of the most creative or innovative breweries in the country. Throwing everything in a barrel is not creative.

Now this sounds like I am ripping on Founders here but I am just being realistic. People put Founders on some sort of ridiculous pedestal and then try to knock them off just as soon as they are disappointed. Come on now people.

Founders has expansion plans, they have goals and sometimes sacrifices have to be made to achieve those goals. I think it is too early to be claim the Founders sky is falling.

 

What exactly distinguishes a beer as Class 3?

 

-I'm a local and damn glad that these aren't always on tap. The place is hard enough to get a table in already.
-They might not be barrel aged but I often find cool and unusual things there. I would always guess there's 3+ tap room only beers.
-If they did as suggested what do you think the local GR bars would do? Well, they'd never carry a Founders product again that's what. Founders is actually smart by trying to give their tap room only as much supply as the local market gets. Everybody runs out together. There's already a little bit of contention with how busy their tap room is.

 

Founders MI Winter Beer Fest lineup:

Centennial IPA
Red’s Rye PA
Dirty Bastard
All Day IPA
Porter

12pm: Frangelic Mountain Brown
1pm: KBS
2pm: Blushing Monk
3pm: Curmudgeon’s Better Half
4pm: Bolt Cutter
5pm: Canadian Breakfast Stout (CBS)

You're right, that was an embarrassing offering at the most recent MI beer fest that happened.

 

Why don't we just let the brewery do what they want? It's their beer. If I owned a brewery I'd want it to reach as many people as possible.