The Bar Towel

The response to this private order has been pretty amazing. Including the order from some of my friends who are not on the BarTowel (heaven forbid!), it looks like we are coming in at around 72 cases and will be able to order everything that we wanted except the regular Yeti Imperial Stout. I think this only affects Hamilton Brian and myself.

Final totals:
- Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout: 15 cases
- Hercules Double IPA: 21 cases
- Old Ruffian: 9 cases
- Titan IPA: 17 cases
- Hotshot ESB: 5 cases
- St Bridget's Porter: 5 cases (go porter!)

To complete the order, can everyone do the following before Thursday?

1) Either PM me or email greatdivide0406@inertiaboy.com with your BarTowel name, real name, and phone number. Also, include the final order that you will be placing with the LCBO (this should match what you've posted previously). I'll pass these on to Sylvia at the LCBO so that she can contact you if your order doesn't arrive by the deadline.

2) Download the file from here and print out "order form page 1", "order form page 2", and "lab waiver".

3) Fill out the two order form pages with the quantities that you want. You will need to pay a 25% deposit to the LCBO to complete your order, so calculate it using the prices from the original thread. I didn't see a place for your credit card information on the form, so I wrote the card type, card number, and expiration in the "Other Information" field on the order form. If you are outside of Toronto, you will also need to write the store number for delivery in section 7. You can find the numbers by using LCBO's Store Search.

4) Fill out the lab waiver form. This is important as it is required for us to avoid the $150 lab processing fee per product.

5) Mail your completed forms to:
Sylvia Ramirez
Quotation Clerk, Specialty Services (Private Ordering)
LCBO
33 Freeland Street
Toronto, ON
M5E 1L7

You can also fax the form to her at 416-365-5934.

Let's hope everyone steps up to their commitments that they previously made so that this order is a complete success and the start of many more over the coming years. Perhaps 72 cases will get a little bit of attention from the LCBO buyers!

And hopefully the message isn't: "private ordering is working too well and causing a lot of work so let's cancel it"

Awesome work. 72 cases!

Just out of curiousity, does it pose any kind of problem for you or the LCBO to *increase* our orders at this point?

A wrote:Just out of curiousity, does it pose any kind of problem for you or the LCBO to *increase* our orders at this point?

Nope, not that I know of. The numbers I will send to Sylvia will be approximate just so she knows what orders to expect in the mail. She will only order what she has received paperwork for by the 26th. If we come in higher, then that's fine. If anything, that will help to decrease the transportation costs per case, meaning a lower final price for everyone.

If you do increase your order, be sure not to order more than 5 cases of any one product. If you order 6, then the lab fee will kick in regardless of whether they have the lab waiver form. That will increase everyone's price for that particular product as the fee will be shared across all orders.

Decreasing orders will pose a problem for Hotshot ESB and for St Bridget's Porter because we need to order a minimum of 5 cases. Currently, they are are 5 and 6 respectively, so it is important for people to live you to their commitments especially for these ones.

Cass's recent addition has bumped the number up to 75 cases.

Thanks. Thinking of adding a case of Titan IPA. That shouldnt affect any quotas at all.

THat is great work! So...what's the focus for the next order? If we have a vote I vote for Bear Republic or maybe even New Belgium though the latter may not go for it if my pleading emails to them are an indication.

Done and in the mail. Now just sitting here waiting.

faxed!

Faxed... with an additional case of Oak Aged Yeti and Titan IPA. That should bring the totals to around 77 cases!

Speaking of the next order, how do we want to go about organizing this? Inertiaboy's done an amazing job, but I'm not sure if he signed up to be the permanant organizer for private orders. Although if he wanted to, I wouldn't complain...

Do we want to set up a more "formal" private ordering system or rely on volunteers? If this order ends up being successful and the LCBO doesn't tell us to beat it would it be worth trying to set up a consistent channel of communication with the LCBO for our private orders?

I would suggest leaving enough time in between orders, in order to get the best response, as people are dishing out some serious beer cash for this one.

And of course, if we wanted to do another one like this, we would need to find a brewer who does not currently have an agent and who is willing to do business with the LCBO. I suspect that narrows the list down a bit!

So...what's the focus for the next order? If we have a vote I vote for Bear Republic or maybe even New Belgium though the latter may not go for it if my pleading emails to them are an indication.

I've already got the paperwork and the O.K. for Fireweed Brewing 'Tree Hophead India Pale Ale' if anyone's interested? It's not cheap though, it's $151.60 per case of 24.

inertiaboy wrote:And hopefully the message isn't: "private ordering is working too well and causing a lot of work so let's cancel it"

Naw, I'm sure people like Sylvia are pleased and amused at our piddly little 80-case order. Why not.

They're from the Government & they are there to help!

Hey and thanks again, inertiadude.

FAXED!

$150 for Tree Hophead is not worth it. Its a pretty good hoppy beer for a canadian market, but unexceptional compared to the US offerings.

More California beers should be explored to take advantage of the low shipping cost. A public Sierra Nevada order (hopefully at a time of year when Bigfoot and Celebration are both available) would be an obvious choice.

I wonder if an 80-case order would get Alesmith's interest?

Tree Hop Head is a good beer, but agreed on the price - kinda funny that it seems to be a lot more difficult (and expensive) to bring in decent Canadian beer than it is U.S!

A wrote:I wonder if an 80-case order would get Alesmith's interest?

You've got my attention with that one. Same goes for Three Floyds, although the shipping, though closer, would probably be more problematic. Bell's would pose the same problems.