esprit wrote:To my knowledge, no one in the forum has ever purchased from us.
Don't be so sure!
But I concede that three dollars for a Rochefort or a Westmalle is stupidly cheap - mainly for its intrinsic qualities - let alone comparing US prices or the cost/value ratio next to mainstream beers, bla bla bla.
I often feel people are gratingly "penny wise" (um, a tad hypocritical?) about these Gargantuan cost differences in beer. I mean what is the total net difference, per year you could really spend for GOOD stuff? You could easily spend that amount on one bad dinner out, and probably have many times over. But this is no Info-mercial.
The main reason I haven't purchased *often* from Esprit (in these few years being an Enthusiast) is I seem to have a perpetual supply of cases of (your?) beer that I bought from the Seasonal programs. A buying pattern you encourage.
Certainly if (and I know you can't but rhetorically, IF) you could match a LCBO store's instant convenience, super-low price point, and semi-guaranteed availability* of items, then you could cry at me for not supporting you directly. (I know you were not 'crying' at this but bear with me here...) For your direct sales, it so happens we're your second-tier customers - by the practical necessities you've detailed & by OUR general low demand. It's wonderful that we CAN buy directly from you (some things, some times, if there's enough); however you can see for us small-order Plebes the esprit order is rarely the path of lowest resistance, if we can get our groove on pretty good from the Seasonals. That's our human side of it so you know.
Anyway nice chatting, nothing prfoundly new said here I'm sure. Keep on swinging for good beer, we'll keep drinking it.
JK.
(* meaning if it comes in, I can immediately see it and buy it without reservations... we can take that last one with a dash of salt, given the regular 'irregularities' of the (out of) seasonal releases! )