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Re: Bellwoods Brewery
Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2015 11:17 pm
by TheSevenDuffs
-Liam- wrote:
I admit 'fanboy' was probably the wrong term to use, I didn't mean it in a derogatory way (believe it or not).
I just think that if people continue to pay these prices then it could start a trend that is copied by other breweries that already have a fan base. They could think "Jeez, BW get the public to pay through the nose for their beers and people are literally lining up around the block to buy it. Let's stick another buck onto our offerings and get on that gravy train". This starts to ruin things for everyone.
GLB don't do that; They are selling Apocalypse Much Later Barrel Aged BIPA (10% ?) for $6.50. Their bottles of aged Porters and Stouts (650ml) are around 9 bucks. Yearly released and new IPAs 3.50-4 per can. People line up for these too and are willing to buy up the stock and yet they never get taken advantage of. I have more respect for the company that respects their clientele. I'm much more inclined to spend my loonies with those guys for what are also, I may add, more consistent products.
Those are all fair points, but I would counter that (in my opinion of course) with the argument of quality. Great Lakes is a solid brewery that I have a lot of time and respect for, but I think that people often give them a little more credit than they deserve. The make AMAZING IPAs, but have yet to show anywhere close to the breadth of styles (with quality of course) that Bellwoods has shown. More specifically, I would say that they have yet to produce much in terms of barrel aged beers that really impressed me (save for Stalin's Choice, which is INCREDIBLE). If GL charged what Bellwoods charged for their barrel aged stuff, it just wouldn't sell.
That all being said, I won't sit here and attempt to argue that Bellwoods prices aren't high, because they are. But I think the quality justifies it. I can accept that not everyone agrees on that point and if the market as a whole feels that the quality doesn't justify the price, the prices will come down in time.
Re: Bellwoods Brewery
Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 9:25 pm
by portwood
-Liam- wrote:I just cannot see how they justify their prices though, as they don't even go through a middle man. Can you imagine the cost of their beers if they were in the LCBO?!
The way alcohol pricing works in Ontario, iirc, price at the brewery must be the SAME as if it sold at LCBO.
The term "middle man" applies only to traditional retail, LCBO is not traditional retail. It is a tax collecting agency. A LARGE chunk of the $12 goes to the government in various forms of tax (least of which is lcbo markup)
Re: Bellwoods Brewery
Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 11:23 pm
by -Liam-
portwood wrote:A LARGE chunk of the $12 goes to the government in various forms of tax (least of which is lcbo markup)
A large chunk of every other brewers retail price also goes to the Government. They don't pass that on the consumer, though.
Re: Bellwoods Brewery
Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 1:12 am
by gordonpeterwiebe
portwood wrote:-Liam- wrote:I just cannot see how they justify their prices though, as they don't even go through a middle man. Can you imagine the cost of their beers if they were in the LCBO?!
The way alcohol pricing works in Ontario, iirc, price at the brewery must be the SAME as if it sold at LCBO.
The term "middle man" applies only to traditional retail, LCBO is not traditional retail. It is a tax collecting agency. A LARGE chunk of the $12 goes to the government in various forms of tax (least of which is lcbo markup)
That is IF you're selling the same thing, in the same format, in both outlets at the same time.
For example: a 500ml can of thrust at glb is $3.50 therefore the 650ml bottle should go for about $4.50 (maybe a bit more for the fancy bottle)... but, at the LCBO that 650ml actually goes for about $6 because brewers must up their price to keep their share and account for all the distribution/bureaucracy/LCBO headache/etc... costs (does the LCBO charge listing fees like TBS?). That's a 33% price increase.
Also, I'm a little drunk so please excuse any math mistakes!
Re: Bellwoods Brewery
Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 9:51 am
by AugustusRex
Kentucky Bastard (14.95/750) and 3 Minutes to Midnight (12/500) are a similar size and similar price point. Compare either of them to Dragon's Milk (7.95/650). I think its just the size of our breweries.
Re: Bellwoods Brewery
Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 12:10 pm
by jeremyg
have ZERO issues with bellwoods' pricing. think it's very fair. the certain few $12 offerings that they have are generally worth the money as they're excellent beers.
Re: Bellwoods Brewery
Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 12:12 pm
by skootles
According to the latest newsletter, a new IIPA is coming out Friday and Bring Out Your Dead 2015 will be released late November.
[...] come Friday, unless a sink hole swallows our brewery, we'll be releasing a new, super drinkable, juicy IIPA.
Re: Bellwoods Brewery
Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 12:15 pm
by jeremyg
they love to do this when i'm completely broke
Re: Bellwoods Brewery
Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 1:13 pm
by MeltedOzark
skootles wrote:According to the latest newsletter, a new IIPA is coming out Friday and Bring Out Your Dead 2015 will be released late November.
[...] come Friday, unless a sink hole swallows our brewery, we'll be releasing a new, super drinkable, juicy IIPA.
Excellent news. I hope they release Barn Owl 3 soon as well. It was really tasty at Cask Days.
I've signed up for this newsletter 7 or 8 times and never seem to get it sent to me. Looks like it's time for me to send them an e-mail.
Re: Bellwoods Brewery
Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 1:43 pm
by jeremyg
MeltedOzark wrote:skootles wrote:According to the latest newsletter, a new IIPA is coming out Friday and Bring Out Your Dead 2015 will be released late November.
[...] come Friday, unless a sink hole swallows our brewery, we'll be releasing a new, super drinkable, juicy IIPA.
Excellent news. I hope they release Barn Owl 3 soon as well. It was really tasty at Cask Days.
I've signed up for this newsletter 7 or 8 times and never seem to get it sent to me. Looks like it's time for me to send them an e-mail.
check your junk mail
Re: Bellwoods Brewery
Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 3:49 pm
by Provost Drunk
Whoever took the "over" on how long 3 Minutes to Midnight would last was correct. I noticed yesterday that it was still listed online as being in their bottle shop. I didn't get a chance to stop by last Friday or over the weekend but took an extended walk over on my lunch (great day for a stroll in TO) to pick up a couple of bottles. Apparently, there are still around 10 cases left.
I like that these recent releases by Bellwoods have actually stayed available for a little while. It can be touch-and-go for me get there on a Friday during the day and I've missed out on older releases when sales were brisk. Definitely hoping the BOYD 2015 lasts long enough for me to get my hands on some!
Re: Bellwoods Brewery
Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2015 6:36 pm
by napoleon
Donkey Venom on sale Friday at 11 AM. $10/bottle. Just over 3,000 bottles. No limit specified.
Curious to see what this batch is like. The first couple batches were super sour. The last batch was less so.
And I would like to award a gold star to BakaGaijin for having the closest (although still way off) guess for how long the beers would stick around. I'm sort of regretting buying my limit of 3 Minutes...I don't love it as much as I remembered.
Re: Bellwoods Brewery
Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2015 7:33 pm
by TheSevenDuffs
napoleon wrote:
And I would like to award a gold star to BakaGaijin for having the closest (although still way off) guess for how long the beers would stick around. I'm sort of regretting buying my limit of 3 Minutes...I don't love it as much as I remembered.
I think this batch is a lot more cherry-forward than the last batch, so perhaps you just prefer less cherry.
Re: Bellwoods Brewery
Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2015 10:26 pm
by MeltedOzark
napoleon wrote:Donkey Venom on sale Friday at 11 AM. $10/bottle. Just over 3,000 bottles. No limit specified.
Curious to see what this batch is like. The first couple batches were super sour. The last batch was less so.
And I would like to award a gold star to BakaGaijin for having the closest (although still way off) guess for how long the beers would stick around. I'm sort of regretting buying my limit of 3 Minutes...I don't love it as much as I remembered.
This release and the Cask Days version is my first time having it. I love it, went back to buy more. It must have been crazy awesome back then.
Re: Bellwoods Brewery
Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2015 12:00 pm
by jp_jkl
In the newsletter, there was mention of new "super drinkable, juicy" IIPA being released today.
Did anyone happen to see what this is while grabbing Donkey Venom today?