So I originally came to this piece via a blog I read called HopTalk (
What if your bar didn’t have your beer? What would you do? | Hop Talk).
from:
Where’s My !*#@$% Beer?
Quote:
Chances are, you’ve experienced this before. You go to a bar and ask for your favorite microbrew, only to discover that they are fresh out of it. “We’ll have some more in next week,” they probably said. “Why don’t you have it right now,” you probably thought.
It’s a fair question: why can’t our bars always have our favorite beers? Is it so hard for them to keep a beer in stock? After all, it seems like they never run out of Bud Light.
It’s no secret that most bars stay well-stocked with the popular macrobrews. As Anheuser-Busch InBev and MillerCoors acquire and merge their way to an oligopoly, their low-cost, mass-produced beer will continue to dominate the average bar’s inventory list. Meanwhile, microbrews fight for shelf space because they draw less attention and often cost more money. There’s a reason you pay more for microbrews than Miller Lites: retailers and distributors pay more for them, too.
Because of these high costs, retailers can’t afford to keep large stocks of microbrews coming in at all times. Instead, they usually wait for regularly scheduled deliveries. In the same way that retailers like Best Buy get new DVD shipments every Tuesday, your local bar may receive new arrivals every Friday.
But beers are not Blu-rays. Is this the best way for a bar to do business? In this article, we take a look at the traditional model for beer distribution, which can leave you with the unfortunate choice between going with a macrobrew or just going without. What do you usually do in this situation? Take our survey to let us know, and explain your answers or share past experiences in our comments section.
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If you go to the link above, you can fill out the survey mentioned there.
Here are the survey questions:
Quote:
Buy a more expensive beer - The only way to feel better is to indulge in a little extravagance.
Ask for a similar beer - Don’t have my favorite craft beer? Give me the next closest thing.
Settle for a lower-end beer - Not Bud/Miller/Coors, though. I’m thirsty, not crazy.
Order another type of drink - Mixed drink, soft drink, whatever eases the disappointment.
Go to another bar - What can I say? The heart wants what it wants.
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What would you do? I'm not so interested in seeing numbers, but rather hearing responses.
Personally, I always ask for the next closest thing, or look at it as an opportunity to experiment. It takes me forever to choose a beer if something on tap doesn't speak to me right away. Just a couple weeks ago, I was out and I wanted a Vaporizer from Double Mountain. Alas, they had just run out of Vaporizer. I then spent about ten minutes staring at the choices (this bar has 30 taps) before finally deciding on the Super Goose IPA from Hales. I would have rather had the Vaporizer.