Washington Post article by beer columnist (and Mid-Atlantic Brewing News editor) Greg Kitsock here.On tap at Max's Taphouse last night.
Sticker shock:
The 12-ounce bottles may cost in the neighborhood of $10 per four-pack. As Bob explains, St. George turns out fewer than 3,000 barrels a year (about one-tenth the volume that Old Dominion pumped out) and can't take advantage of economies of scale when buying malt and hops. "They bought tanks for us. We have to cover the costs of investment and labor."I was told a price of $51.50 a case by one Maryland representative.
9 comments:
I don't begrudge them the price. I'm irritated that the beer is going right past me on the highway from what I'm hearing none of it will be stopping here (I live in Richmond, VA).
Picked up 3 X 4 packs at Total Wine in Chantilly for $8.99. So excited. Now if we could somehow get New River Pale Ale back as well!
I had Tupper's on tap in November in Williamsburg, they had it first how is it missing Richmond?
St. George is in Hampton - I assume they sent a keg or 3 of the first batch to the green leafe. From what I'm hearing though, nothing for Central VA right now.
Tupper's is a contract brew, so the contractee (the Tuppers, in this case) get to call the shots on where it goes. There have been several beers brewed locally that we never saw around here--I remember Clipper City was doing beers for Terrapin in Georgia for a while, and we never saw that beer, in spite of the potential sales around College Park!
What's with local breweries doing Terrapin and us not getting here in the "terrapin" state? Flying Dog now does Terrapin and we still can't get it. Boooo.
Read what I said again. It's TOTALLY beyond the control of the contractor--Flying Dog, in this case. (My apologies if I mixed up Clipper City and Flying Dog as contractors for Terrapin.) The control of the beer produced for Terrapin is in that hands of Terrapin, and Terrapin ALONE, as it should be. You have an issue with Terrapin not being distributed here? Take it up with Terrapin. But don't be surprised if they all but politely laugh in your face.
Look at it the other way: Should Sly Fox sell off some of the Brewers Art bottles they bottle under contract for BA up there in Pennsylvania? What if that meant half the product they produced in limited quantities never made it to Maryland shelves as a result? Wouldn't you, as a Brewers Art consumer in Maryland, be a little peeved at that happening?
Personally, I'm not saying that the Tuppers shouldn't have control over where the beer goes. I'm annoyed they're not sending any to Richmond. It's just an extra kick in the junk that it literally passes me by on the way to the DC area.
Go beg Bob and Ellie. They seem to be kind of nice folks.
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