I can’t believe it! WE are a victim of THEIR success! Oskar Blues has announced that they are pulling out of Idaho! No more Gubna, no more Old Chub, no more Ten Fidy, No more DALES!! Patrick Orr from the Idaho Statesman broke the story on his blog here. Seems that Oskar Blues has gotten so popular that they are having to pull out of smaller markets to fill orders in their larger markets. I guess the philosophy is it is better to totally piss off a few people than to moderately annoy many.
I can’t help but thinking that this is a bad business decision to completely cut out a state that you have distributed to for over 5 years. It is like cutting off your leg, when perhaps just a properly placed tourniquet might save it until you could get things fixed. Be that as it may, I guess the decision has been made and Idaho is the biggest loser. So you all enjoy your Dales, Gubna, Gordon, Ten Fidy, and Old Chub. We here in Idaho are a hardy lot and have been through worse. Pestilence, floods, droughts, and fire every summer. We can take it, but next time you take a sip of your favorite OB beer in a can, remember that you have it because I don’t! Think of me and my sacrifice, and I’ll just have to drink… something else…
Beer & Whiskey Brothers 
My guess is they needed more for New Jersey. Thank goodness they have their priorities straight!
F*(k off! You have become my problem! But since when is that new?…
You got a point there…
…but not a pint (of Gubna at least!).
Hmm, I guess it’s understandable, to a degree, but I can’t help but think there has to be a better way to solution this. There’s no doubt as they grow, so should their reach in distribution, but alas, building up the most profitable markets is understandable. Once they grow into their new shoes, and are able to sustain themselves, I’m sure they’ll be back in Idaho.
In the meantime, I can’t say there’s a shortage here in Philadelphia!
😉
I think it is a ham handed way to handle this situation. A little finesse would be appreciated here. Perhaps limit the distribution to Idaho and lower volume states, and perhaps the bigger markets can limp along until they have their capacity back up. But what the hell they are brewers not businessmen. I guess they will learn the hard way.
It’s probably cheaper to ship more beer to a big market than splitting it between several markets. Shipping 1000 cases (or whatever) to Chicago is cheaper than shipping 750 to Chicago and 250 to Boise. That’s might be a factor in the decision to cut bait in the smaller markets.
There might be some truth to that Jim, but I think for the most part the consumer pays the cost of shipping. There may be more logistics with shipping to smaller states, but I’m thinking that is relatively minor. I think what they are trying to do is to maximize product turnover, thus maximizing profit. Nothing wrong with wanting more profits, or doing business in a more profitable manner, but I’m thinking that they might have been able to take a little bit less on the margin in order to keep their customer base loyal. I just wish it wasn’t Idaho that was taking it in the shorts…as usual.
This is happening a lot honestly. When I was up at DL Day. Aaron from the captainschair was telling is that Surly pulled out of a ton of cities due to the huge demand locally. They want to please the local fans first. Which I think is a good idea. If you boys ever have a need for some Oskar Blues ask me, I’ll send you some =)
Well Dave I guess I could buy that but by comparison I am far more local to OB than Jim is. Idaho is about 500 miles away and NJ is about 2500 miles away. Jim gets it and I don’t. Even though I have gotten it for over 5 years. That is because Jim happens to live where there are 20,000,000 people and I live where there are 1,000,000 people. If it was all about local I would buy it, but it clearly is not what is driving their decisions. BTW, went in Friday and cleaned out the refrigerated case of Old Chub and Dales. Had my first Dales ever yesterday and it was very good. I see why Jim likes it so much.
I think the only logic for pulling out is local market demand. Personally, I think the local economy is the hand that does the original feeding, so that’s where they should go. However, I think it’s deplorable to pull out of one place to meet a demand in a larger market. This is the problem with rapid and ever widening expansion. I agree that it’s a bad decision, Don. I like that you are saying so.
Someone had to call them out on this decision. I doubt it will help though. I think I will post the link on their Facebook wall and see if it has any impact. But it probably won’t. 😦
I hope it does, Don.
Me too, but I don’t think either of us should hold our breath for them to make the right decision! I need all my brain cells for drinking!
That really sucks but I can understand it a bit. Allagash is seemingly doing the same thing. They are pulling out of smaller markets to make up for in their bigger markets.
It is a good sign and a bad sign at the same time. It is further proof of the craft beer revolution in this country which we are all lucky enough to be a part of. It is a bad sign because if Allagash is pulling out of smaller markets, I’m sure they will be pulling out of Idaho shortly too! 😦 If only it were easier to expand capacity. The fermenters is where the bottleneck seems to be, so I think they all need to plan their breweries with enough fermenter space to handle the volume if brew they will be asked to make if they become wildly successful. Victory finally figured it out and they have enough fermentation capacity to do 50,000 barrels per year with enough room to expand to 150,000 barrels. This is the kind of foresight that is needed by craft breweries if they want to expand and grow with the demands for their products.
Sad times for Idaho, I can’t imagine not having any Dale’s or Gordon in the Seattle area. While I’m here I may as well poke the bear, you actually like Gubna? It’s possibly the most unbalanced french onion soup I’ve ever had. English style DIPA or not I can’t condone that intense vegetable hop character. At least you still have Alpha Dog close by. I dig the blog, I’ll keep an eye on you guys.
Poke that bear, Luke! I agree that Gubna isn’t a great beer. I also agree that it sucks for Don to lose OB. I’d miss my Dale’s and Old Chub a ton. Hopefully he’ll at least get his paws on Avery’s new canned stuff.