FIB War Room

[disapowzment]

**** clyborn. This place feels like a corporate meeting room for ****** bags.

 

[trickytunadicky]

**** clyborn. This place feels like a corporate meeting room for ****** bags.

It went downhill years ago.

 

[disapowzment]

It went downhill years ago.

Dagger to the heart now. Brb taking a steamer on the floor


For legal reasons - this is all talk.

 

[Scalzo]

The Beer Temple has ADWTD bottles... for the low price of 125$!!!!!

Merry Christmas yah filthy animals.

 

[disapowzment]

The Beer Temple has ADWTD bottles... for the low price of 125$!!!!!

Merry Christmas yah filthy animals.

Lol factory just sent me some for the low cost of free

 

[vav1]

The Beer Temple has ADWTD bottles... for the low price of 125$!!!!!

Merry Christmas yah filthy animals.

Wait what

 

[ClCardinal84]

Wait what

This. Much confusion. B2 had zero carb btw.

 

[Scalzo]

Wait what

There are bottles of b2 ADWTD for 125$ at the Beer Temple. about 3x what I paid at the Beer Cellar a couple years back...
I saw Framboos! up for 140$ if I remember, also about 3x retail. Sure both of those beers dropped in 2014 and a small cellar fee is applicable, but 125$ is higher than secondary.


.... however I'm sure theres some totally reasonable explanation im just missing

 

[ChicagoGuy]

Is it unreasonable of me to feel kinda yucky about the concept of bottles being sold with an inflated "cellaring fee" tacked on? Is this a normal practice? Seems kinda MBC/CCBE/Ticketmaster "convenience charge"-ish to me.

 

[dgoogle]

Is it unreasonable of me to feel kinda yucky about the concept of bottles being sold with an inflated "cellaring fee" tacked on? Is this a normal practice? Seems kinda MBC/CCBE/Ticketmaster "convenience charge"-ish to me.

Not at all. I'm of this same mind. Unfortunately, it seems to be common practice now. Mostly with Bourbon County vintages from my experience.

 

[Scalzo]

Is it unreasonable of me to feel kinda yucky about the concept of bottles being sold with an inflated "cellaring fee" tacked on? Is this a normal practice? Seems kinda MBC/CCBE/Ticketmaster "convenience charge"-ish to me.

I dont mind a place charging a reasonable fee, like 3-5$ per year or two.

 

[ChicagoGuy]

I dont mind a place charging a reasonable fee, like 3-5$ per year or two.

I wouldn't mind that either. But $30 per year?! Seems very out of character for BT.

SonIAmDissapoint.jpg

 

[vav1]

There are bottles of b2 ADWTD for 125$ at the Beer Temple. about 3x what I paid at the Beer Cellar a couple years back...
I saw Framboos! up for 140$ if I remember, also about 3x retail. Sure both of those beers dropped in 2014 and a small cellar fee is applicable, but 125$ is higher than secondary.


.... however I'm sure theres some totally reasonable explanation im just missing

Is this the 18th Street/Anchorage A Deal With The Devil Barleywine? I remember having that at Binnys, I think I was charging like $25 for a 750ml. Anchorage stuff is expensive, but not $125 expensive.

Is it unreasonable of me to feel kinda yucky about the concept of bottles being sold with an inflated "cellaring fee" tacked on? Is this a normal practice? Seems kinda MBC/CCBE/Ticketmaster "convenience charge"-ish to me.

Yes and no. Buying things and not selling them is expensive for a small business. Then you gotta factor in energy costs of the cellar, labor of counting inventory every quarter or whatever, a percentage of cellared inventory not working and being dumped or staying unsold, etc. Also, that business pays taxes on inventory so if it was held for over a year, taxes were probably paid increasing the cost per bottle again.

My formula at Binnys for everything except Orval was something like $3 per year + $0.50 per quarterly inventory rounded up, with some going higher or lower based on rarity, reasonability, Black Friday, or bulk packs (e.g the Bigfoot multi-year 6pks)

 

[ChicagoGuy]

Yes and no. Buying things and not selling them is expensive for a small business. Then you gotta factor in energy costs of the cellar, labor of counting inventory every quarter or whatever, a percentage of cellared inventory not working and being dumped or staying unsold, etc. Also, that business pays taxes on inventory so if it was held for over a year, taxes were probably paid increasing the cost per bottle again.

I didn't know you have to pay tax on held over inventory that you were already taxed on...not surprised though.

Seems like it'd be cheaper and easier to, I dunno, just sell **** at retail when you get it. But what do I know? Plus then you don't have to tell your customers, "sorry, we're 'sold out', but if you come back in four years we'll sell it to you for quadruple today's price!"

My formula at Binnys for everything except Orval was something like $3 per year + $0.50 per quarterly inventory rounded up, with some going higher or lower based on rarity, reasonability, Black Friday, or bulk packs (e.g the Bigfoot multi-year 6pks)

That still seems perfectly reasonable to me. Hell, even double that seems downright charitable compared to $95 added to a $30 2014 bottle.

 

[vav1]

I didn't know you have to pay tax on held over inventory that you were already taxed on...not surprised though.

Seems like it'd be cheaper and easier to, I dunno, just sell **** at retail when you get it. But what do I know? Plus then you don't have to tell your customers, "sorry, we're 'sold out', but if you come back in four years we'll sell it to you for quadruple today's price!"


That still seems perfectly reasonable to me. Hell, even double that seems downright charitable compared to $95 added to a $30 2014 bottle.

Yeah you know, i was told we paid tax on it at Binnys but you’re right, it sounds fishy. Maybe it was a “shut Adam up” kinda thing, which wouldn’t be the first time. Maybe it has more to do with the balance sheet and/or unsold inventory next to bank loans and **** like that. Still stuff that adds to the cost per unit but isn’t actually a tax.

Huh. Weird how I never really questioned that before.

 

[quinnsi]

The Beer Temple has ADWTD bottles... for the low price of 125$!!!!!

Merry Christmas yah filthy animals.

Funny enough, we don't actually have ADWTD anymore - someone bought the last one last week.

 

[thewimperoo]

Assuming this was on-site at the bar pricing?

 

[quinnsi]

The Beer Temple has ADWTD bottles... for the low price of 125$!!!!!

Merry Christmas yah filthy animals.

And to clarify for those who may not know, this was on our taproom bottle list, not sitting on the shelf. Those prices you guys are calling out are 3 or 4 bottles in a list of about 500, the other 496 of which are basically retail plus $4 to $5.

Those prices were chosen by us as a group to have them stick around for a while. Believe it or not, that was the primary factor in determining the cost. Is the extra $85 nice? Sure, but it's not keeping the lights on. The $4 pint of burning river makes us much more money than the ADWTD does.

I mean, let's be real - the members of this forum alone would have cleaned us out opening weekend if we charged retail plus $5 for these bottles. We wanted a few hard to find things on there and will continue to drop things like this on there. If we don't mark them up then they will be gone the day we add them.

And let's not even get into the cost of the ADWTD we tasted out for free, or the 6 bottles of OG rare, the 5 bottles of king henry, the KEGS of Hillfarm Double Citra, BA Agamemnon (only one to come into the States that year I believe), Tilquin, Tired Hands, OxBow, BCS Prop - All tasted out for free*. Let's just say the two most expensive sixtel kegs the 12 Percent distributor here in Chicago has ever sold were both purchased by us - and given away for free.

*Full Disclosure - we did ask for a donation to Doctors w/o Borders but did not mandate it.

 

[quinnsi]

Assuming this was on-site at the bar pricing?

yeah

 

[lb304854]

I actually like it when bars have expensive on premise bottles that last awhile, even if I'm not always in a position to afford them. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

One of my favorite beer memories was quietly drinking a Deviation at Brouwers in Seattle in 2009. That wouldn't have been possible without the markup.

 

[vav1]

I actually like it when bars have expensive on premise bottles that last awhile, even if I'm not always in a position to afford them. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

One of my favorite beer memories was quietly drinking a Deviation at Brouwers in Seattle in 2009. That wouldn't have been possible without the markup.

You know what’s funny is I charged below some off premise retailers for bottles of prop/north woods etc this year precisely because I want to try to level the playing field on pricing. I agree wholeheartedly it’s nice to see things sit longer so you know it’s a special occasion when it does get popped open, but the thing that annoys me the most is that, by and large, it’s not the breweries seeing the returns from the market accepting higher prices.

 

[ChicagoGuy]

And to clarify for those who may not know, this was on our taproom bottle list, not sitting on the shelf.

That's an important distinction.

 

[trickytunadicky]

But I wanted a pitchfork rave!

 

[quinnsi]

the thing that annoys me the most is that, by and large, it’s not the breweries seeing the returns from the market accepting higher prices.

They also charge $6 for a beer in their taproom that costs them .07 so it all equals out.

BTW I’m a fan of tap rooms so don’t read this as sour grapes.

 

[vav1]

They also charge $6 for a beer in their taproom that costs them .07 so it all equals out.

BTW I’m a fan of tap rooms so don’t read this as sour grapes.

Of course not, and know you do a great job too and price your stuff appropriately. I'm speaking to the market at large though and the way the landscape has changed overall. Consumers will, by and large, pay a higher price, so the prices have inched higher. This is great for me and you, and our distributors, but not necessarily the brewers. It's interesting to look at old invoices and menus and such to see what stuff cost 5-10 years ago vs. now on a price-per-ounce basis, and who benefits. 99% of breweries don't have Taprooms outside of their home markets, and if they do, they still gotta go through that second tier. That's alls i'm sayins.

 

[Scalzo]

I actually like it when bars have expensive on premise bottles that last awhile, even if I'm not always in a position to afford them. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

One of my favorite beer memories was quietly drinking a Deviation at Brouwers in Seattle in 2009. That wouldn't have been possible without the markup.

Couldnt they just randomly put out bottles without much fanfare and receive similar results?
I've seen places do that quite often. Seems like a better way to spread the love. Hooking up the community instead of the wealthiest percentage of their clients.... Lets not even mention that the worst of the shitlord secondary flippers wouldnt even try to sell it for 125$, let alone 100 or 90....

Putting it at that price makes it unavailable to 90% of people, including me.

For instance Consume in Lake Zurich just had OVRW, I happened to show up and got a pour for a reasonable price. Sure they could have marked it up, but why not reward your local customers with something special?

 

[trickytunadicky]

Of course not, and know you do a great job too and price your stuff appropriately. I'm speaking to the market at large though and the way the landscape has changed overall. Consumers will, by and large, pay a higher price, so the prices have inched higher. This is great for me and you, and our distributors, but not necessarily the brewers. It's interesting to look at old invoices and menus and such to see what stuff cost 5-10 years ago vs. now on a price-per-ounce basis, and who benefits. 99% of breweries don't have Taprooms outside of their home markets, and if they do, they still gotta go through that second tier. That's alls i'm sayins.

Hey, if you want to support a brewery with a cellar bottle, I think Superstition Meadery in Prescott, AZ still has their $1700 bottle of B1 Blue Berry White. Go for it.

 

[trickytunadicky]

I have seen it both ways, random bottles coming out, and having cellar prices. They have storage costs, too, and lord knows if you are getting it directly from the brewery you expect them to have stored it perfectly. 55 degrees, perfect humidity, low cellar, the works.

 

[quinnsi]

Couldnt they just randomly put out bottles without much fanfare and receive similar results?
I've seen places do that quite often. Seems like a better way to spread the love. Hooking up the community instead of the wealthiest percentage of their clients.... Lets not even mention that the worst of the shitlord secondary flippers wouldnt even try to sell it for 125$, let alone 100 or 90....

Putting it at that price makes it unavailable to 90% of people, including me.

For instance Consume in Lake Zurich just had OVRW, I happened to show up and got a pour for a reasonable price. Sure they could have marked it up, but why not reward your local customers with something special?

We do both I feel. We pop stuff on the shelves randomly at no extra charge all the time. Including ADWTD & Framboos. Last month we put several cans of alchemist stuff on the shelf with a price of $0.00. We do exactly what you are saying, more than most places.

 

[quinnsi]

We do both I feel. We pop stuff on the shelves randomly at no extra charge all the time. Including ADWTD & Framboos. Last month we put several cans of alchemist stuff on the shelf with a price of $0.00. We do exactly what you are saying, more than most places.

Also, people scour our bottle list every single day looks for rare loot. Anything added gets noticed immediately. Friends would be texted and it would be gone that day. It’s just my opinion.

Edit: ****, we have DELIVERY drivers combing our place for Easter eggs etc.

Edit edit: true story - one time when we popped Framboos (unannounced) on the shelf, word got out and a guy came in and tried to buy the last two bottles, and got upset when we said limit 1. He then left and moments later his Uber driver came in and bought the last bottle with his CC. This is what we deal with.