The Bar Towel

hops are your friend wrote:

esprit wrote:The freight on a small Consignment/Private order of Phillips would be twice what it is from Antwerp, Belgium if not more...it's simply not worth it unless you're prepared to pay $7 for a 650ml bottle...any takers?

Yes, I'll take a case, maybe two. $7 isn't much more than I'd pay for a bomber in Syracuse (or Canton, NY which is my closest decent beer store), and if I don't have to drive to get good beer, then I'm in.

I'm sure I paid > $6 per bottle for the ST Back Burner in the last order (and I don't want to think about how much I paid for the Doggie Claws that arrived upside down, etc a year or two ago).

Many of us are lucky enough that price is not a significant barrier to enjoying good beer. Why not put out a 'call for orders' and see what the response is?

As you can see, there may be more interest than not....I was grumbling about the price of Rogue, I admit, at about $6 a bottle (650ml), but did do some follow up and agree with some other posters about the quality of the beer and why it's more than say Anchor or Brooklyn products. Would I pay $7 for a bomber of top quality BC beer....yes.

lagerale wrote:As you can see, there may be more interest than not....I was grumbling about the price of Rogue, I admit, at about $6 a bottle (650ml), but did do some follow up and agree with some other posters about the quality of the beer and why it's more than say Anchor or Brooklyn products. Would I pay $7 for a bomber of top quality BC beer....yes.

I'd take a case of Amnesia and one of either Black Toque, Double Red Dragon or The Hammer (if they were available). $7 isn't that bad for a bomber, especially for one with a high ABV that would last for a good part of the evening.

detritus wrote:

bujubanton wrote:and if you read Esprit's last post, you'll figure out why we shouldn't "chill" anymore..."dude"

Why, cause the LCBO rejected a shipment of Kriek four years ago? Yeah - that's old news and the decisions was soundly bashed about here when it happened. I'm still upset, but I've preety much got over it. There are a lot of places in the world other than Ontario where Kriek is unavailable.

Not to mention that beerbistro has recently completed a private order of several beers from Cantillion - including, I believe, the Kriek.

My understanding is that they convinced the powers-that-be that the Cantillion beers are closer in style to a champagne than a traditional beer, and the testing criteria was adjusted accordingly.

GregClow wrote:Not to mention that beerbistro has recently completed a private order of several beers from Cantillion - including, I believe, the Kriek.

They did? How did I miss that?

Know if they've got any left? Who was the agent - still Esprit/Peter?

-Josh

detritus wrote:

GregClow wrote:Not to mention that beerbistro has recently completed a private order of several beers from Cantillion - including, I believe, the Kriek.

They did? How did I miss that?

I only found out about it a couple of days ago when chatting with Brian about a couple of things. The beer might not even be in at the restaurant yet, actually - might still be going through the LCBO process. I'll try and find out more when I'm there for the DFH dinner tonight.

detritus wrote:Who was the agent - still Esprit/Peter?

I think it might've been a completely private order. Brian mentioned that it took come convincing to get Cantillion to ship to Ontario again after what happened the last time, which suggests that they might have given up their agency representation.

GregClow wrote:I think it might've been a completely private order. Brian mentioned that it took come convincing to get Cantillion to ship to Ontario again after what happened the last time, which suggests that they might have given up their agency representation.

Hm. I thought I'd read somewhere that licensees were only allowed to deal through agents, not directly with producers. Maybe I have something confused.

In any case, this is good news. Its just too bad there's no way to get these beers locally at retail, rather than bar, prices.

-Josh

detritus wrote:In any case, this is good news. Its just too bad there's no way to get these beers locally at retail, rather than bar, prices.

Don't forget about Buffalo. It's pricey but many Cantillon brands are available.

Cass wrote:

detritus wrote:In any case, this is good news. Its just too bad there's no way to get these beers locally at retail, rather than bar, prices.

Don't forget about Buffalo. It's pricey but many Cantillon brands are available.

Yeah, I know. I don't count Buffalo as "local" though, and those Cantillon bottles at Premier get very pricey quite quickly if you get hit with duty/taxes on the way back in.

It'll have to do for now though.

-Josh

detritus wrote:In any case, this is good news. Its just too bad there's no way to get these beers locally at retail, rather than bar, prices.

Is it not possible to do what beerbistro did and do a private order amongst us? I know my girlfriend would be all over that for a case or two.

detritus wrote:Hm. I thought I'd read somewhere that licensees were only allowed to deal through agents, not directly with producers.

Nope, there doesn't need to be an agent. beerbistro, Volo and other places have placed similar private import orders in the past. Everything still goes through the LCBO, and in cases where there is no agent repping the brewery in Ontario, the LCBO would basically be serving that role by placing the order with the brewery.

lister wrote:Is it not possible to do what beerbistro did and do a private order amongst us? I know my girlfriend would be all over that for a case or two.

GregClow wrote:Nope, there doesn't need to be an agent. beerbistro, Volo and other places have placed similar private import orders in the past. Everything still goes through the LCBO, and in cases where there is no agent repping the brewery in Ontario, the LCBO would basically be serving that role by placing the order with the brewery.

The same way as the private orders people here have done, presumably. The Hair of the Dog order was done this way, right?

How does one go about initiating something like that?

-Josh

I'd be in for a case or two of Amnesiac if Esprit can make it happen.

detritus wrote:

lister wrote:Is it not possible to do what beerbistro did and do a private order amongst us? I know my girlfriend would be all over that for a case or two.

The same way as the private orders people here have done, presumably. The Hair of the Dog order was done this way, right?

Great Divide also. Very much paperwork and organizing, required minimums from some brewers etc, but it's possible. You can start a new post in 'private ordering' if you want to take the lead in arranging an order amonst BarTowellers, or to gauge interest.

It was actually extremely affordable. For all the hassle though you might prefer ordering beers through an Agency if possible.

Bobbyok wrote: Bell's is a good example of a brewery that has chosen not to sell in a number of areas. Illinois, for instance, doesn't have Bell's, though I understand that's a distributor issue.

Since I'm about to head to Chicago, it is disappointing to hear there is no Bells. A quick search led to this interesting, but long article that discusses why Bells is no longer in Illinois.

http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/bells/

This ties in to the discussion here about needing a distributor/importer, and the problems that this has caused in some states.

detritus wrote:

lister wrote:Is it not possible to do what beerbistro did and do a private order amongst us? I know my girlfriend would be all over that for a case or two.

GregClow wrote:Nope, there doesn't need to be an agent. beerbistro, Volo and other places have placed similar private import orders in the past. Everything still goes through the LCBO, and in cases where there is no agent repping the brewery in Ontario, the LCBO would basically be serving that role by placing the order with the brewery.

The same way as the private orders people here have done, presumably. The Hair of the Dog order was done this way, right?

How does one go about initiating something like that?

-Josh

Other orders were done without agents being involved.

When I organized the Hair of the Dog order I basically started by taking a list of breweries that people had been interested in and started emailing them to discuss the possibility of doing an order. Of the set I polled Bear Republic wanted nothing to do with the LCBO, Three Floyds and Anderson Valley never got back to me, and Hair of the Dog said they'd be willing for a minimum order amount.

With the agreement in place it was then a matter of contacting LCBO Private Ordering and they took care of most of the rest. inertiaboy helped me out by hosting copies of the forms so that everyone could submit their order.

I believe the instructions on the HOTD and Great Devide private order posts (too lazy to look up right now) had some other outlines of the steps involved, too.