Quote:
Originally Posted by Bearcat
If their craft beer hating ownership doesn't ax it first, maybe demand will drop to the point where they'll stop making it ridiculously hard to find their beer on the absolutely worst day to go shopping.... considering how much good beer is being made now.
A few of them do sounds pretty damn good though, at least the regular stuff has been easy to find the past couple years here, still have some from two years ago and last year sitting around.
|
They'll never ax it but I could see the regular BCBS becoming more of a shelfie nationwide. They love the Black Friday thing though. I don't know the decision making process on their distribution strategies, but it seems like more of the variants go out each year. I know they make a ton of it so hopefully that continues. Like you said, nearly every market either has their own breweries with solid barrel programs or have good ones coming in, so the hype is definitely fading. I'm not sure Bourbon County and their variants are the best barrel releases in Chicago anymore. Not because they've dropped off, but because others have caught up.
On a related note, and regarding their craft beer hating ownership, Josh Noel's (Chicago Tribune writer) new-ish book, "Barrel-Aged Stout and Selling Out" is a decent and easy read. He had access to John Hall (Goose founder) and basically wrote the Goose Island story which includes the history of Bourbon County, but also with a parallel story of Anheuser-Busch's attempts to kill off craft beer. It's a really interesting look back at the craft beer landscape as a whole in the 90's, which I was oblivious to. It's recommended even if you're not interested in the craft/big beer storyline, but just like reading about beer and key moments in beer history.