Beau's Greener Futures

ritzkiss · Post by **ritzkiss** » Mon Aug 15, 2011 11:05 am

I'm very curious to hear how this has gone so far. I think it is a fantastic idea and wish I was close to take advantage of it. At the same time, I think trying to find 600 people who are willing and close enough to drive out to Vankleek Hill multiple times a year might be difficult. Hope it's going well though.

TJ · Post by TJ » Tue Aug 16, 2011 11:48 am

I think a bar in Toronto should step up to act as a hub for Toronto area people to pick up their Futures beers.

Assuming they could ship it to a bar for people to pick up, wouldn't it have to be consumed on premises?

And even if you could walk away with an unopened bottle, what would be in it for any bar to engage in the logistical nightmare of receiving and distributing bottles to their respective owners?

I'm very curious to hear how this has gone so far. I think it is a fantastic idea and wish I was close to take advantage of it. At the same time, I think trying to find 600 people who are willing and close enough to drive out to Vankleek Hill multiple times a year might be difficult. Hope it's going well though.

I agree and wish them the best of luck. I have much love for this brewery and I love the idea.

But it sounds like a tough sell to me based on their remote (for most) location. Heck, even if I lived in Ottawa I don't think I'd have it in my to drive an hour and fifteen minutes just to pick up a bottle of beer once a month or so for three years.

That said, I'm guessing most of the 600 people would come from Ottawa...or even farther? 600 people driving for a couple of hours ten times a year for three years seems like an awful lot of fossil fuel to burn just to help Beau's go green.

Kel Varnsen · Post by **Kel Varnsen** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 12:00 pm

TJ wrote: Assuming they could ship it to a bar for people to pick up, wouldn't it have to be consumed on premises?

Yea I am not sure how it would work at a bar. I think the ideal thing for me would have been to work out something where you could pick it up at the LCBO, some sort of delivery system. I mean I live a couple of blocks from an LCBO that almost always has lug tread. If they could have set up a system where they just told me that the delivery driver would be at my LCBO on a certain day and I could pick up my bottle then that might have worked better.

TJ wrote: But it sounds like a tough sell to me based on their remote (for most) location. Heck, even if I lived in Ottawa I don't think I'd have it in my to drive an hour and fifteen minutes just to pick up a bottle of beer once a month or so for three years.

That was one thing I asked about when I first heard about this. I mean if they had it set up so you could just go up 2 or three times a year and pick up 3-5 bottles a year, that wouldn't be too bad. But the way they explained it it sounded like they would only be releasing one bottle at a time, which would mean 10 trips to Vankleek Hill a year.

TJ wrote:That said, I'm guessing most of the 600 people would come from Ottawa...or even farther? 600 people driving for a couple of hours ten times a year for three years seems like an awful lot of fossil fuel to burn just to help Beau's go green.

I never thought about that. I wonder if Beau's considered that when thinking up this program.

Queef · Post by **Queef** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 12:23 pm

also its beaus.....they seldom have hard fast rules for doing things, and will probably adapt the program accordingly if they missed something or something isn't working 100%.

Sil · Post by **Sil** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 12:39 pm

I talked to one of the guys at the Hart House Festival about this and he indicated they were working something out to get people in Toronto their beer. I believe he said they have some storage space in the GTA.

That said, I've been slacking and haven't signed up yet >.<

TJ · Post by TJ » Tue Aug 16, 2011 12:58 pm

Kel Varnsen wrote: I think the ideal thing for me would have been to work out something where you could pick it up at the LCBO,

I think it would be ideal for the people who are part of this scheme, but not for Beau's and especially not for the LCBO. Assuming all 30 of these beers don't have to go for lab testing before shipping, I can't in a million years imagine the LCBO would be amenable to 18,000 single bottle deliveries to what could be a very large number of their stores.

ETA: I misunderstood. You'd want to meet the driver at the LCBO. Again trying to arrange for one person to meet the driver at a particular time sounds problematic. Scale that up a couple hundred times and it becomes beyond cumbersome.

Anyway, Beau's are awesome and I love what they're doing, but man do I wish they're brewery wasn't in the middle of nowhere.

Sil wrote:I talked to one of the guys at the Hart House Festival about this and he indicated they were working something out to get people in Toronto their beer. I believe he said they have some storage space in the GTA.

That would be great if they could. But I was under the impression that breweries could only distrubute through the actual brewery where the beer was produced, the LCBO, TBS, or licensed bars/restaurants for consumption on premises.

andrewrg · Post by **andrewrg** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 1:35 pm

Sent an email to Beau's this morning and got this response re: Greener Futures in Toronto:

"At this time, we have not been able to extend it to the Toronto market for delivery. I'm hoping that is something we can strive for."

Alas.

Kel Varnsen · Post by **Kel Varnsen** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 1:39 pm

TJ wrote: ETA: I misunderstood. You'd want to meet the driver at the LCBO. Again trying to arrange for one person to meet the driver at a particular time sounds problematic. Scale that up a couple hundred times and it becomes beyond cumbersome.

Anyway, Beau's are awesome and I love what they're doing, but man do I wish they're brewery wasn't in the middle of nowhere.

I don't know I could see a how a once a month bottle pick up day where they say that the delivery truck is going to be at a specific location for like an hour and if you notify them in advance you can come down an pick up your bottle, that system might work.

TJ · Post by TJ » Tue Aug 16, 2011 1:53 pm

Kel Varnsen wrote:I don't know I could see a how a once a month bottle pick up day where they say that the delivery truck is going to be at a specific location for like an hour and if you notify them in advance you can come down an pick up your bottle, that system might work.

In Ontario? I'll believe it when I see it.

JerCraigs · Post by **JerCraigs** » Wed Aug 17, 2011 7:44 am

That's essentially how Tsarina Katrina was first distributed. Beau's has sales reps who could do this... whether its worth their time to do it and deal with the coordination and whining ("I'm busy that day!!") is another story.

Kel Varnsen · Post by **Kel Varnsen** » Wed Aug 17, 2011 8:25 am

JerCraigs wrote:That's essentially how Tsarina Katrina was first distributed. Beau's has sales reps who could do this... whether its worth their time to do it and deal with the coordination and whining ("I'm busy that day!!") is another story.

Beaus did something like that last year with their "My Community Brew". It was a beer to raise money for charity, and you pre-ordered it at some charity event then when it was ready it was delivered to the United Way offices on day where you could pick it up.