Looking for the original Bar Towel blog? You can find it at www.thebartowel.com.
We have a trivia question in order to register to prevent bots. If you have any issues with answering, contact us at cass@bartowel.com for help.
Introducing Light Mode! If you would like a Bar Towel social experience that isn't the traditional blue, you can now select Light Mode. Go to the User Control Panel and then Board Preferences, and select "Day Drinking" (Light Mode) from the My Board Style drop-down menu. You can always switch back to "Night Drinking" (Dark Mode). Enjoy!
instantkamera wrote:it looks like 4pk is still the standard. Does that mean the listing for the LCBO is wrong? Who knows, it's just an open box, so it's pretty easy to put em in/take em out...
I hear stories of people in the states swapping more expensive beers to similar 'cheaper' cartons. Bad! Bad! Actually I have to point out to our own LC cashiers that they're ringing in several similar but different single bottles at the same price, so that isn't helping.
Back on topic - I agree four-packs are a nice format if it improves selection and turnover/freshness without the added shelf space. I don't like if the four-pack price creeps up to the old six-pack price in a few years, which seems to be a common gripe down stateside. I am willing to pay slightly more per bottle but not 50% more.
Agree on all counts. I think 4 packs are the perfect compromise between bomber(or larger) and 6ers; I'm committing to less beer than a 6er (I don't drink often) and I can have one drink without trying to decide if I should cork or finish a beer (especially relevant on a Monday night with 10%+ beers).
I would never swap cartons, even with same-priced items. I bought a pack of smashbomb in a moment of diminished awareness and came out with 4 bottles of Hoptical (a fine beer, but not what I paid for). Ticked.
Droogy wrote:6 pack of breakfast stout! Sweet.
(Normally a 4 pack)
I think they recently changed Breakfast Stout to 4 packs. So it's not an Ontario-specific thing.
i think you meant to say they recently changed it to a 6pack, and yeah, you're right. they announced sometime last year that it'd be in 6 packs when it switched from "specialty" to "seasonal". I can't recall if last year's BS release was in 6's or if this is the first time 'round.
grub is correct. always been 4 packs was mention of 6 most recently due to brewery expansion allowing for more production.
I called the LCBO info line and asked about the Founder's brewery feature and the LCBO said the ales were in lab testing. Hope they are released soon and in one of the LCBO's in Mississauga.
Publican wrote:I called the LCBO info line and asked about the Founder's brewery feature and the LCBO said the ales were in lab testing. Hope they are released soon and in one of the LCBO's in Mississauga.
I'm sure it will show up at the Meadowvale store, as all of the other features have.
I've been looking forward to this feature, but $15.20 for a 4-back of FBS is a bit pricey. That's a $91 per case. I seem to recall paying USD 10 for a 4-pack of FBS last time I was in Buffalo.
I'll still buy it, but that's definitely going to put a depressing damper on how many I get.
Edit: Look's like Premier Gourmet has it listed as $12.50 per 4-pack online. $15.20 still looks costly to me, but at least we've actually got ACCESS to it now. I'll stop my complaining.
heebes wrote:Nah I hear ya, that is a legit bullshit price gouge because they know it will sell out.
I don't get why people are surprised at this. It is the same reason that a case of Coors Light costs $40 here and $15 in the US - taxes!
I think we've been spoiled by some recent listings that have been relatively cheap in Ontario (Rochefort), which likely was due to preferred pricing provided by the breweries, which Founders obviously isn't providing.
heebes wrote:Nah I hear ya, that is a legit bullshit price gouge because they know it will sell out.
I don't get why people are surprised at this. It is the same reason that a case of Coors Light costs $40 here and $15 in the US - taxes!
I think we've been spoiled by some recent listings that have been relatively cheap in Ontario (Rochefort), which likely was due to preferred pricing provided by the breweries, which Founders obviously isn't providing.
I've absolutely been spoiled. This is especially the case because I moved here from Alberta, where good quality beer is excessively expensive.
It really isn't so much that a handful of listings have been cheap, and that this Founders feature is one of the many that isn't. From my viewpoint, the majority of listings are impressively cheap, and this one just doesn't make the cut. This is likely because I have no ready comparison in my mind to the price of Founders in Alberta, since it was never available there. The only comparison I have is the US price, which makes me feel like we're being gouged a bit.
As I said, I'm not going to complain about the pricing. It's $3.80 per bottle. Not wonderful, but certainly not prohibitive.
For comparison, some of the per-bottle prices in Alberta: $7 for Rochefort 10; >$10 for Nogne O; $8 for Samichlaus and Renaissance; $5 for Fuller's London Porter.
JProulx wrote:
Edit: Look's like Premier Gourmet has it listed as $12.50 per 4-pack online. $15.20 still looks costly to me, but at least we've actually got ACCESS to it now. I'll stop my complaining.
I know what you mean! Just to do one more comparison, to show the impact of the taxes.
If you went to Premier to grab a case of this, you'll pay duty of roughly 25% of the cost of the beer plus you'll pay about an extra 8 cents on the dollar in foreign exchange (since the $15.20 is priced in CAD and the $12.50 in USD), which brings your $12.50 US 4 pack up to about $17.00 CAD (all in).
JProulx wrote:I've been looking forward to this feature, but $15.20 for a 4-back of FBS is a bit pricey. That's a $91 per case. I seem to recall paying USD 10 for a 4-pack of FBS last time I was in Buffalo.
I'll still buy it, but that's definitely going to put a depressing damper on how many I get.
Edit: Look's like Premier Gourmet has it listed as $12.50 per 4-pack online. $15.20 still looks costly to me, but at least we've actually got ACCESS to it now. I'll stop my complaining.
Actually Wegmans, a food store, has it for $10.49 for a 4 pk which like you was what I paid for it a year ago there.
I guess if you are only interested in a 4 pk but if you want more.....
I was looking forward to this release, but being a feature it wont be in Hamilton so I was going to road trip, now I'm rethinking and may pass entirely.
That markup plus gas could definitely kill a trip from Hamilton.
Would the LC stores here IST you one full case to Hammertoe I wonder... you could then split that with your buds, or you could always return any 4-packs you don't want for the next happy customer. Worth dropping in to ask!
On a side note, the FBS seems priced a bit out of proportion, however we don't know why - these small, first-time orders seem to vary a lot in how certain costs get passed on (lab test? labeling and red tape? how to spread out small-order shipping costs?).
I expect Founders brewery to stick around Ontario a while and the prices to normalize. This happened with Dieu du Ciel! brews like Corné IPA and Péché Stout.
Belgian wrote:
Could THIS be the reason the LC may be applying unusual costs to FBS, to blank out the baby picture?
Otherwise this label may lead to infant experimentation with alcohol, which is a concern because it might look bad.
Ahahah. I can only imagine how a "sanitized" label for FBS might look or might be received by American beer enthusiasts.
"ISO: Nanny State Label FBS, FT: FBS."
I'd pay extra just for the hilariousness generated by the ironically puritanical LCBO. Maybe a picture of Rob Ford with "more than enough to eat" would be more appropriate.
Actually I have to point out to our own LC cashiers that they're ringing in several similar but different single bottles at the same price, so that isn't helping.
