Hop Head IPA coming to an LCBO store near you soon!

dutchcanuck · Post by **dutchcanuck** » Fri Jul 22, 2011 2:53 pm

Thanks for keeping us up-to-date Chris. Greatly appreciated.

Chris Stirling · Post by **Chris Stirling** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 1:49 pm

We are proud to announce that North American Craft will be representing Tree Brewing in Ontario. I know Claude and his team are excited to have Tree in their portfolio and will do everything in their power to make sure Hophead IPA 6 bottles are in all LCBO stores and that it stays in stock.

for those not familiar with North American Craft here is their Facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/northamericancraft

and website
http://www.northamericancraft.com/

Pub Style · Post by **Pub Style** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 4:39 pm

A little blog post about the news: http://bit.ly/pNTxEA

The Mick · Post by **The Mick** » Thu Aug 11, 2011 10:37 am

Chris Stirling wrote:TheSevenDuffs - you won't have to wait much longer - we are told it should be in stores by the week of August 8th

I will post exact date and store lists in this thread when I have the information

Anymore on this? As per above, I will assume not, but I'm really looking forwad to it, so please forgive my back seat "are we there yet?" attitude.[/quote]

Derek · Post by **Derek** » Thu Aug 11, 2011 12:45 pm

If you're on facebook, you should be 'friends' with North American Craft. They're starting to post stores and today they posted:

Tree Hophead IPA will be released late next week and we will inform you what stores will be forced the product. Cheers!

(plus they represent a bunch of other GREAT breweries)

TheSevenDuffs · Post by **TheSevenDuffs** » Thu Aug 11, 2011 2:34 pm

I assume that the first batch will be much like the first batch of Smash Bomb - slightly less fresh than we'd like. I wonder what the brewed on date will be on these....

The Mick · Post by **The Mick** » Thu Aug 11, 2011 3:44 pm

Derek wrote:If you're on facebook, you should be 'friends' with North American Craft. They're starting to post stores and today they posted:

Tree Hophead IPA will be released late next week and we will inform you what stores will be forced the product. Cheers!
(plus they represent a bunch of other GREAT breweries)

I do have the 'book' so I will do that. Thanks for the suggestion and info though. Can't wait! Even if the hops have mellowed a bit from warehousing it's still a great brew and the more support it gets the sooner we can get a fresh batch in.

Chris Stirling · Post by **Chris Stirling** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 12:37 pm

The Mick wrote: Anymore on this? As per above, I will assume not, but I'm really looking forwad to it, so please forgive my back seat "are we there yet?" attitude.

yea - we just cleared the LCBO lab tests and have been told by the LCBO that we will be in stores by end of next week.

North American Craft has been selling it like crazy into the LCBO stores and I suggest you follow them on Facebook as they post every day which stores have agreed to list Hop Head IPA as soon as it is released. here is their Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/northamericancraft

you can also follow our Tree in Ontario Facebook page for updates
http://www.facebook.com/TreeInOntario

We will also post here as soon as we hit the shelf!

the wait (for all of us) is almost over!

Cheers

Derek · Post by **Derek** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 2:22 pm

TheSevenDuffs wrote:I assume that the first batch will be much like the first batch of Smash Bomb - slightly less fresh than we'd like. I wonder what the brewed on date will be on these....

I don't know, the hopping is a bit different.

Tree's recipe is more than a decade old and I think they use more flavour (mid-boil) hops, which don't seem to diminish as much on the shelf. Though the dry-hopped aroma certainly will.

The 'new-school' Smash Bomb gets a plethora of late hops in the whirlpool, which produces an awesome aroma. It's REALLY great when it's fresh, but the flavour seems to change more with time.

But that's just my opinion.

North American Craft · Wed Aug 17, 2011 10:47 pm

Good Evening Bartowel,

We have been slugging it out in the field working hard at making sure Tree is not a 'One hit wonder". We promise to deliver and keep pushing the envelope for distribution and work the fridge and the floor at your Lcbo's. We are also training all Lcbo staff members on a per store basis so they understand and know how to sell Tree Hophead IPA in their own retail outlet! We will break our backs for craft beer and I also made another investment with hiring yet another person to service the Golden Horseshoe. We are almost 7 months old and are the only Agency Focusing on selling Craft Beer all the time at retail! Our goal is to increase the awareness for small breweries and allow them to be competitve at the Lcbo level. Tree has become a very big part of our business and we will not fail this amazing brewery from BC. Outside of the core list we have added almost 50 new stores which will be outside of the Toronto market. We were planning on having 150 stores by the end of the year and we will crush this target for our friends out in BC!

Much appreciated for all your support for Tree Brewery. If you can't find us in your local store, let us know and we will do everything we can at getting this beer listed. Cheers!

SteelbackGuy · Post by **SteelbackGuy** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 1:00 am

This is great news. Thank you so much for your hard work and dedication to expand your business and allow more Ontarians to taste this great beer (and others from this brewery).

One point of advice I can give is this.....

Please do not send 90 % of your stock to the Queen's Quay LCBO and make it very difficult for the rest of the populous to access your product.

Chris Stirling · Post by **Chris Stirling** » Mon Aug 22, 2011 11:16 am

OK - Hophead IPA 6 bottles is now on the LCBO website so you can see the store list (when they get product this week) of where you can pick it up. Claude and hiss team at north American Craft have been doing a great job at informing LCBO store staff of the release and we expect to be in over 100 stores within the next 2 weeks. If we are not in your local store let us know and we will do what we can to get it listed for you.

here is the link for the store inventory
http://www.lcbo.com/lcbo-ear/lcbo/produ ... ber=256586

Also - I just want to let everyone know that although i originally posted Hophead 6 bottles would be listed at a retail price of $12.95 Due to some unforeseen costs in transportation and taxes the new retail price is $13.50.

Thank you everyone for your support and excitement around the launch of Hophead 6 bottles in Ontario - we are excited to finally be on the shelf in LCBO stores!

cheers

TheSevenDuffs · Post by **TheSevenDuffs** » Mon Aug 22, 2011 11:24 am

Thanks Chris. We are all looking forward to this release and hopefully more of your products to follow.

Also, thanks for addressing the price change. Most people who have just avoided the issue all together. I think most of us can live with an extra $0.50.

icemachine · Post by **icemachine** » Mon Aug 22, 2011 2:49 pm

Can't wait, have added it to my drinkvine list

Chris Stirling · Post by **Chris Stirling** » Wed Aug 24, 2011 1:53 pm

the wait is over!

Hophead IPA 6 bottles is now on the shelf and the first LCBO store is reporting inventory

http://www.lcbo.com/lcbo-ear/lcbo/produ ... ber=256586