GatewayRedbirds.com

Freed Roger wrote:Take my word for it- When you run out of beer and resort to that Leinenkugal Grapefruit Shandy in the back of the fridge, it is time to stop drinking for the day.

Or time to send someone on a B-double E-double R-U-N!

I had a few of these last night - quite tasty actually... Horny Goat's Chocolate Peanut Butter Porter. It comes in at 55 IBUs, which is normally waaaaaay past my comfort zone, but luckily the heavy doses of chocolate and peanut butter being thrown in offset the bitterness pretty well.

Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA......all I can say is whoa....and I'm not sure if that's good or bad.

They don't list the ABV because each batch can vary between 15-20%....or at least that's what I was told.

cardinalkarp wrote:Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA......all I can say is whoa....and I'm not sure if that's good or bad.

They don't list the ABV because each batch can vary between 15-20%....or at least that's what I was told.

Too much for me. I really like 90 min ipa. 7ish abv but smooth.

I had a Boulevard Scotch on Scotch last night. OMFG

Swirls wrote:I had a few of these last night - quite tasty actually... Horny Goat's Chocolate Peanut Butter Porter. It comes in at 55 IBUs, which is normally waaaaaay past my comfort zone, but luckily the heavy doses of chocolate and peanut butter being thrown in offset the bitterness pretty well.

yesterday, their rep told me it was selling like crazy this summer in St Louis and I found that a little hard to believe. To each their own, but I can't imagine ordering something like that in July when it was an average high of 9 billion degrees.

haltz wrote:yesterday, their rep told me it was selling like crazy this summer in St Louis and I found that a little hard to believe.

Reps will tell you anything. Here are a few things they've told me in the last several years.

"Dude, people crush Watermelon Dorado all summer in Chicago."--Ballast Point rep

"The Blackberry Tart Wheat is killer on nitro. I've got it placed all over town."--3 Sheeps (sic) rep

"Most people tell us they like the Blood Orange Gose more than the standard one."--Anderson Valley rep

"But the mango isn't, you know, cloyingly sweet or anything. People love this beer."--Anchor rep

haltz wrote: yesterday, their rep told me it was selling like crazy this summer in St Louis and I found that a little hard to believe. To each their own, but I can't imagine ordering something like that in July when it was an average high of 9 billion degrees.

Yeah, a few days ago the high here was in the mid-50s.

It was like 65ish and sunny when I had my few cans. I agree I can't imagine drinking something like that when its above 90 outside.

themiddle54 wrote:

haltz wrote:yesterday, their rep told me it was selling like crazy this summer in St Louis and I found that a little hard to believe.

Reps will tell you anything. Here are a few things they've told me in the last several years.

"Dude, people crush Watermelon Dorado all summer in Chicago."--Ballast Point rep

"The Blackberry Tart Wheat is killer on nitro. I've got it placed all over town."--3 Sheeps (sic) rep

"Most people tell us they like the Blood Orange Gose more than the standard one."--Anderson Valley rep

"But the mango isn't, you know, cloyingly sweet or anything. People love this beer."--Anchor rep

I would love to be on your beer sampler group. And when one of those reps oversell that piss, we throw the remainder in their face and smash the bottle to bits. Cost of doing business with us.

Freed Roger wrote:I would love to be on your beer sampler group. And when one of those reps oversell that piss, we throw the remainder in their face and smash the bottle to bits. Cost of doing business with us.

Ha, not a strategy I've ever considered.

The reps on the street, it's not them in a lot of cases. They have to go back to their bosses and show that they've knocked on doors and tried. There is incredible pressure. Ballast Point got bought for like a billion dollars and Constellation, their owner, just completed a $87 million write-down on the value of the BP brand for the first fiscal quarter of 2018. An 8.7% drop in value in less than 3 years is a kick in the groin. Constellation is riding the brewery to grow via more SKUs, the brewery is riding the top dog at the distributor to sell those beers, the top dog is riding the business manager, the business manager is riding the channel manager, the channel manager is riding the reps on the street, and the reps on the street are hustling to get the beer in front of buyers in the hopes they will like it and buy it.

When I do have feedback on beer I give it to the rep as honestly as possible. "I won't buy Watermelon Dorado because I don't like the taste of it and my guests are not asking for sweet fruity beers." He can run that up the ladder, so his bosses know he tried, and that actually buys me some emotional equity with a good beer rep because when boss says "not enough placement on Watermelon Dorado" he can say "You've seen my reports, like 50% of my accounts have told me directly they don't like it, so tell Ballast to make a better beer." It doesn't help the rep if I'm like "Yeah, Watermelon, interesting, I'll think about it" and then never order it. Maybe I just forgot to order it. Maybe he should come try again to sell me some. Maybe, he thinks, I'm not selling it well.