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LCBO Online Exclusives

This forum is for discussing everything beer retail: LCBO, Beer Store, Grocery Stores and Indie Stores.

Moderators: Craig, Cass

Lukie
Posts: 470
Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2010 4:16 am

Post by Lukie »

ChampionsPrerogative wrote:I'd love to hear how successful you will be in immediately returning half the order. Great idea!

Short of splitting orders with others, this is probably the best route. As some have pointed out elsewhere, there should be nothing that stops a customer from returning any unopened LCBO product within 30 days with receipt....aside from cheesed off employees, there should be no issues...just in case, I'll go armed with a copy of their return policy, as they people at my closest location are not especially well informed of store policies.

Lukie
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Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2010 4:16 am

Post by Lukie »

spinrsx wrote:so the special edition baltic porter is sold out on lcbo.com.. but Keep6 still has it listed as available on their website. So keep6 gave the lcbo a portion of their inventory?

Good question. But there must be more on the way shortly. According to a Star article, the store will expand offerings rapidly going from 5000 current products to 16,000 within a year. Unfortunately, there was no word on whether the current 800 online exclusive products will also increase but my guess is that this is inevitable. There would be very little reason for a person from the GTA to shop there otherwise. Also, I really hope that as a result of this store, the LCBO doesn't decrease their actual in-store craft selection.

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Cass
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Post by Cass »

Lukie wrote:
spinrsx wrote:so the special edition baltic porter is sold out on lcbo.com.. but Keep6 still has it listed as available on their website. So keep6 gave the lcbo a portion of their inventory?

Good question. But there must be more on the way shortly. According to a Star article, the store will expand offerings rapidly going from 5000 current products to 16,000 within a year. Unfortunately, there was no word on whether the current 800 online exclusive products will also increase but my guess is that this is inevitable. There would be very little reason for a person from the GTA to shop there otherwise. Also, I really hope that as a result of this store, the LCBO doesn't decrease their actual in-store craft selection.
AFAIK agents don't warehouse their own products, so ones that aren't on the store shelves are kept in the LCBO's consignment area. So likely this was a portion of Keep6's consignment cases, and some were held back for them to sell directly or for bars, etc. which is why they still list it.

Lukie
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Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2010 4:16 am

Post by Lukie »

Wow, almost all the LTM beers are sold. Clearly the quantities were too low. I hope the bars aren't just snatching up most of them. So far the online exclusive section is extremely paltry. Leave it to KGBO to start something with a whimper.

GtownRandy
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Post by GtownRandy »

So far, almost all the exclusive beers were from Keep6. Wonder if Esprit, or Roland&Russell will have any online listings?

GtownRandy
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Post by GtownRandy »

Also the Del Ducato Chrysopolis is sold out, even at the price of $9.60 per 330ml bottle!

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Craig
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Post by Craig »

GtownRandy wrote:Also the Del Ducato Chrysopolis is sold out, even at the price of $9.60 per 330ml bottle!
A lot of the initial rush might just be bars snapping them up to toss in the cellar. A place like Volo or Barhop can happily pay 10 bucks a bottle because they can retail it for 25.

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Belgian
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Post by Belgian »

Oh that one's sexy, look at it.

Image

I guess if Thin Man is selling smaller pours of good Sours for about $15 CAD, this is a steal. I'd grab a few myself.

Any of you order this, was it much difficult?
In Beerum Veritas

Lukie
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Post by Lukie »

Ordered my LTMs July 26th and still no word of it being shipped....Amazon, this is not.

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Keep6 Imports
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Location: Toronto, Ontario

Post by Keep6 Imports »

Lukie wrote:Wow, almost all the LTM beers are sold. Clearly the quantities were too low. I hope the bars aren't just snatching up most of them. So far the online exclusive section is extremely paltry. Leave it to KGBO to start something with a whimper.
The LCBO launched with a maximum allocation of 5 cases per brand on lcbo.com. We have a lot more stock in our consignment warehouse but unfortunately the turn around time for re-stocking their online store (amongst other things) is very slow. Should be more up next week.

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atomeyes
Beer Superstar
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Joined: Fri Oct 14, 2011 1:39 pm

Post by atomeyes »

Belgian wrote:Oh that one's sexy, look at it.

Image

I guess if Thin Man is selling smaller pours of good Sours for about $15 CAD, this is a steal. I'd grab a few myself.

Any of you order this, was it much difficult?
first, as always, kudos to the Moranas for getting Ontario beer that most of the free drinking world can't get. the 3F order, the once-a-year Cantillon and, now, Del ducato.

i picked up a case of the gueuze and the chrys. splitting it with friends. you kind of can't go wrong with those 2. and yes, those bottles are sexy.

Tomas can speak up from the backend point of view, but i'd give the online ordering experience about a 7 out of 10.
some clunkiness (buttons you have to click on that aren't always obvious or redundant, such as selecting your only address on file as the delivery/billing address confirmation).

the worst thing about the LCBO website? it's designed by a person who's never, ever had beer, and the browsability is pretty much non-existent. unless you're on twitter, i have no idea how you could discover any of this beer.

for starters, their splash page doesn't have a menu bar option for shopping online. you have to see the scrolling ad and click on it.
once you do, you get the most ridiculous (as per usual) options for styles of beer. wine is pretty stupid (Red, White, Rose), but beer's the ultimate in dumb.
Ale, Lager, Specialty beer. where will Sammiclaus be come xmas time? Lager or specialty? who the fuck knows.
once you click "ale", you choose to shop by category. one of the options is "Flavoured ale". so, basically, anything that isn't Molson Canadian and Coors Lite?

anyways, the browsability and spontaneous purchaseability is non-existent on here. if they're smart, the LCBO will remedy this...likely by forcing guys like Keep6 to pay to have their beer come up on a splash page.
this marked my first LCBO beer purchase in a long time and it will likely be the last in a while. Buffalo and Michigan still get my money. another fail for the LCBO.

on the bright side? this will hopefully make Keep6 a bit more money and inspire them to get more brands in. it's a step forward, but still not ideal.

Provost Drunk
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Location: Toronto

Post by Provost Drunk »

atomeyes wrote:
for starters, their splash page doesn't have a menu bar option for shopping online. you have to see the scrolling ad and click on it.
once you do, you get the most ridiculous (as per usual) options for styles of beer. wine is pretty stupid (Red, White, Rose), but beer's the ultimate in dumb.
Ale, Lager, Specialty beer. where will Sammiclaus be come xmas time? Lager or specialty? who the fuck knows.
To add to the confusion, "speciality" seems reserved for gluten free beers and sake - so irrelevant for most beer drinkers. It would be much better if they actually broke things down into more meaningful categories. Granted some beers would straddle multiple categories (is a Belgian IPA an IPA or a Belgian strong ale?). Here,the easy solution is to erron the side of caution and list the beer under both/multiple categories. Some beers might defy categorization all together but there could always be some sort of catch-all category for the misfits.

Lukie
Posts: 470
Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2010 4:16 am

Post by Lukie »

Yeah, the Speciality beers is the first category I clicked on the first day the store opened, expecting all micro craft, only to find sake concoctions lol. Yeah, just stick to universal categories LCBO, but most importantly make your online exclusive selection much larger as so far it is bleh and rife of failure....kind of like the Ontario debt at $350 billion you're hoping to decrease with this venture.

atomeyes
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Joined: Fri Oct 14, 2011 1:39 pm

Post by atomeyes »

Provost Drunk wrote:
atomeyes wrote:
for starters, their splash page doesn't have a menu bar option for shopping online. you have to see the scrolling ad and click on it.
once you do, you get the most ridiculous (as per usual) options for styles of beer. wine is pretty stupid (Red, White, Rose), but beer's the ultimate in dumb.
Ale, Lager, Specialty beer. where will Sammiclaus be come xmas time? Lager or specialty? who the fuck knows.
To add to the confusion, "speciality" seems reserved for gluten free beers and sake - so irrelevant for most beer drinkers. It would be much better if they actually broke things down into more meaningful categories. Granted some beers would straddle multiple categories (is a Belgian IPA an IPA or a Belgian strong ale?). Here,the easy solution is to erron the side of caution and list the beer under both/multiple categories. Some beers might defy categorization all together but there could always be some sort of catch-all category for the misfits.
so let's add to the confusion. the Del Ducato beer's a collab with Berseel, right? so shouldn't it be under both Belgium and Italy?

Anyways, they just need someone with a fraction of a brain who actually enjoys beer to point out their flaws and for them to listen. but they won't.
it's the LCBO and they know best. and when i say "best", i mean that they're the best at milking the 1 prized cow in the barn, but do a great job at ignoring all the other cows that can be milked.

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Belgian
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Post by Belgian »

atomeyes wrote:so let's add to the confusion. the Del Ducato beer's a collab with Berseel, right? so shouldn't it be under both Belgium and Italy?
Not sure. Might only need to list the nationality of the 'final' producer & bottler, just like when people use barrels from another country that 'season' the aged product with wine port sherry or scotch flavors from France, Portugal, Spain or Scotland.

I also had the impression Collabs are often done on the premises of one or the other brewery, because traveling is easier than shipping! 2¢
In Beerum Veritas

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