Brewery Hype/Supply and Demand

[LandoLincoln]

Very true!! But this is what gets me....the exact same scenario can play out when people on BA, HBT, RateBeer, or any other beer site trade beer. There is no guarantee that the beer you receive has been well taken care of....if you get a bad beer you will blame the brewery and they will get a bad rap. Same scenario without the money exchange. So why doesn't RR try to put an end to beer trades? Which are in all likely hood illegal in the first place..

How are they going to stop a beer trade? Sit at the post office?

 

[geoffey]

Someone on another thread suggested that if I believe RR and the Alchemist don't produce more beer because they are concerned about quality going down then I MUST believe Stone, DFH and Lagunitas have bad quality beers.

While I believe that's ridiculous I will say this: the Pliny and Heady I've traded for on this forum (some of which may be old or not kept well in transit, etc) was far and away better than anything I've had from those other three breweries. That doesn't mean I think they make bad quality beer. It means I like the others more.


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[normonster]

Someone on another thread suggested that if I believe RR and the Alchemist don't produce more beer because they are concerned about quality going down then I MUST believe Stone, DFH and Lagunitas have bad quality beers.

While I believe that's ridiculous I will say this: the Pliny and Heady I've traded for on this forum (some of which may be old or not kept well in transit, etc) was far and away better than anything I've had from those other three breweries. That doesn't mean I think they make bad quality beer. It means I like the others more.


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If you think Pliny is better than Lagunitas IPA you are tripping man. And there is not a single beer at Russisan that beats a SN Pale Ale.

 

[hunter_le five]

If you think Pliny is better than Lagunitas IPA you are tripping man. And there is not a single beer at Russisan that beats a SN Pale Ale.

Them's fightin' words...

 

[campbellmike]

Price is based on supply and demand. The super high demand beers are sold at a high retail price by the producer. They obviously make much more money for the smaller volume with fewer headaches.

With that said, the guys with big ambition have a better chance of becoming very wealthy. Either by creating a empire or selling their mini empire to an existing one.

A side note: Lagunitas is one of my favorites and I can get it locally. I personally love Three Floyds beer but didn't care for any at Russian River but to each his own. I'm ready to try Heady Topper now.

 

[geoffey]

If you think Pliny is better than Lagunitas IPA you are tripping man. And there is not a single beer at Russisan that beats a SN Pale Ale.

Everyone is entitled to to their own opinion. I like Laguanitas ipa. But I LOVE Pliny. I could really care less if I ever have a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, but I also respect the hell out of that brewery. Those two can brew a crapload of good beer. But they aren't in the discussion for best beer in America according to AHA.

So I thing the relationship/balance between quality and hype is pretty interesting.


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[dcHokie]

I'm just surprised this thread wasn't a treatise on Hill Farmstead...

 

[Calichusetts]

I'm just surprised this thread wasn't a treatise on Hill Farmstead...

I'm sure it will be. Just wait til their expansion is done and we get the old "its not as good as it used to be" tsunami of comments on here

 

[Phunhog]

How are they going to stop a beer trade? Sit at the post office?

They could "try" and go after the websites where people set up trades. As much as we like to think it is ok.....trades are more than likely illegal on a couple different levels. If the breweries are against people selling their beer on the black market because they lose control of the product....well the same thing happens when people trade beer. Here is another article on the black market for beers......http://money.cnn.com/2014/11/19/luxury/black-beer-market-price-gouging/

 

[dcHokie]

They could "try" and go after the websites where people set up trades. As much as we like to think it is ok.....trades are more than likely illegal on a couple different levels. If the breweries are against people selling their beer on the black market because they lose control of the product....well the same thing happens when people trade beer. Here is another article on the black market for beers......http://money.cnn.com/2014/11/19/luxury/black-beer-market-price-gouging/

How is trading beer 'more than likely illegal'?

 

[mtnagel]

Well this is the fact that you don't know for sure if the person you are sending to is over 21.

And are you notifying the carrier when you ship over state lines? http://www.fedex.com/us/developer/p...elp/Services/Options/c_AlcoholShipping-2.html

There's probably other reasons as well.

 

[Phunhog]

How is trading beer 'more than likely illegal'?

Well for starters there is no age verification. So you could be potentially shipping beer to a minor. Breweries/wineries have to have some sort of age verification before the beer/wine can be dropped off.
Next...you can call it trading but it is really bartering. Unless there is some sort of exemption for "like products"? If I can barter/trade beer for beer why can't I trade beer for any other products/money? Of course that would require licensing.
Don't get me wrong....I am all for beer trading but let's not think it's legal.

 

[Callacave]

I'm sure it will be. Just wait til their expansion is done and we get the old "its not as good as it used to be" tsunami of comments on here

So true Cali! I feel like Shaun would never let out stuff that isn't up to his standards, but you know they'll be some people out there trying to be a wet blanket.

I think he's doubling his production? I can't remember to how many bbl/year...maybe 3,000 now?

At any rate, it's still extremely small, and I'm sure he knows his limits as far as what he can handle on his own.

Let's hope this increases his circle of distribution slightly, so you don't have to drive too far to get a pint of Edward on tap.

 

[thefost]

Couple of notes regarding russian river and scarcity marketing.

Right now they are upgrading their 50 bbl brewhouse to... a nicer 50bbl brewhouse. So it appears they are not trying to increase capacity to meet the demand that currently exists for their beers.

While they are upgrading right now, Firestone Walker is currently brewing Pliny the Elder for them. They seem to be keeping Pliny in as short supply as ever, even though they could significantly increase production without any difficulty.

So it seems to me Russian River definitely could better meet demand and expand production if they wanted to, but they continue to keep their beer scarce and hyped mainly for marketing purposes.

 

[LandoLincoln]

So it seems to me Russian River definitely could meet demand and expand production if they wanted to, but they continue to keep their beer scarce and hyped mainly for marketing purposes.

It seems to me that you really aren't good at speculating.

 

[jplowe]

Its nice to get a beer from a well known brewery that kicks ass but there are local breweries that need loving too. Three in central Wisconsin I love are Central Waters, Oso Brewery and Blue Harron Brew Pub. At the Oso tap house, Funky Lady sour ale blew me away. If you are in the Plover/Steven's Point area you gotta try it.

 

[Phunhog]

http://www.cleveland.com/drinks/index.ssf/2014/12/beer_trade_underground_and_ill.html

 

[geoffey]

Thought I'd add this to the conversation:

Was at the new Surly brewery taproom grand opening last night. Both myself and my brother found it quite odd and a little annoying that they funneled everyone into two different lines to purchase beers, even though there is a large size bar. The lines were both very slow moving, so it was a half hour wait to get a beer. We just thought it could have easily been handled in many other ways in order to reduce the time required to stand in line. I speculate that that was precisely their plan: that this was their marketing dept at work again with a plan to create more hype by purposely getting people into long lines. On the one hand I can't blame them, it works. On the other hand I just get annoyed knowing I'm being manipulated and inconvenienced.

Then again no one made me go, it was my choice to go stand in line for half an hour.

 

[idylldon]

Right now they are upgrading their 50 bbl brewhouse to... a nicer 50bbl brewhouse. So it appears they are not trying to increase capacity to meet the demand that currently exists for their beers.

While they are upgrading right now, Firestone Walker is currently brewing Pliny the Elder for them. They seem to be keeping Pliny in as short supply as ever, even though they could significantly increase production without any difficulty.

Was just there on Friday and was told this as well; however, the guy I talked to said that they haven't dialed Pliny in yet using the FW system yet. From what he said, I got the impression they were still in the experimental phase of developing more production for Pliny.

Cheers,
--
Don

 

[chemman14]

Was just there on Friday and was told this as well; however, the guy I talked to said that they haven't dialed Pliny in yet using the FW system yet. From what he said, I got the impression they were still in the experimental phase of developing more production for Pliny.

Cheers,
--
Don

I don't believe this is a permanent arrangement at all.