The Revolution at the counter of a store

[Bobby Beerman]

Greetings one and all,

Hello to members and visitors alike. I must beg your forgiveness. This act is indeed selfish and local. I realize that this great society is international but I want to first change the local market. I can think about taking over the world – er… changing the global market after southern Illinois. However, if your local market suffers like Carbondale, IL then by all means start something going where you live.

Now, down to business. To the local Aleuminati and the almost 10,000 visitors from the Carbondale, IL area I say unto you it is time. It is time for us to enact a revolution at the counter of our favorite beer stores. It is time for the not so secret society of better beer drinkers to stand up and be counted. It is time we try to get things to change for the better.

As we all know the packaged beer market in southern Illinois is hurting. All to often I found myself going to a store with a particular beer in mind only to find it not available or not available any more. I then choose to get something they have in stock and try to enjoy that. Now, don’t get me wrong, what I get is OK but it isn’t what I had intended to get in the first place. But still, all too often I – we – make due with what they have on hand. This is a bad thing. If we are to ever have good beer here, then we must recognize and utilize one of the basic principals of economics: supply and demand. Every time we go into a store to buy beer we should let them know that we want good beer. Have a particular been in mind and ask if they have it and, if they don’t, ask if they can order it. We need to let them know there is a demand for good beer in southern Illinois. If there were demand then (hopefully) they would supply. If we do not voice our opinion – our beliefs, our desires – then they will never know about the demand and never start supplying and all that good beer is consumed by someone else.

Remember the immortal words of Ben Franklin, “Beer is proof that God exists and wants us to be happy.” We deserve to be happy. We deserve good beer and we deserve to be able to get it easily. Let our voices join as one and echo, “We want good beer!”

[William Brand]

Great post Bobby. One tiny problem. Ben Franklin didn't actually say that. But that's an aside. Your problem in Southern Illinois isn't unique. I live in Oakland in the San Francisco Bay Area and write a beer columan and a blog. We have a handful of stores with really vast, excellent stocks of beer. Let's see, in honesty, two in Contra Costa County, one in Berkeley in Alameda County and two, maybe three in San Francisco, two on the San Francisco peninsula, one in Santa Cruz and not a damn thing in Silicon Valley-San Jose. And we have a population of 10 million people.

I believe you're right. We need a revolution. We need to stand up and fight. Problem is the vast majority of beer sold in America is light lager. Period. The problem's equally vast.

We simply have to stand up for what we believe. Talk to friends, talk to retailers, celebrate good beer. Yes it's a revolution Bobby, but these are early days. Keep the faith baby. william brand/www.ibabuzz.com/beer.

[Eli the Mad Beer Man]

Great post, Bobby. While we don't have that problem here in Colorado (almost every liqour store carries good stuff and if they don't, we know where to get the good stuff)... that doesn't mean I'm going to turn a blind eye. No! REVOLUTION!

Might I add one thing to your suggestion. If the place you regularly haunt doesn't want to help out a fellow beer lover (many liquor store owners aren't beer lovers) by getting the beer YOU want... don't settle for second best. Simply walk out without buying anything and go somewhere else. When you get to that somewhere else tell them you just came from "Blah Blah's Place" and they weren't willing to accommodate you. Ask them if they want your business. The store's bottom line is the quickest way to get their attention.

Long live the BeeRevolution!

[The Beer Philosopher]

I am all too familiar with Bobby's plight and in fact encouraged him to do exactly what he's doing. Eventually the retailers will have to listen, insofar as they're able with excessively restrictive beer distribution laws in these parts. I have been where Bobby is, literally and figuratively. Things are improving ever so slightly and the more voices that join the outcry for better beer, the more likely the local retailers will be to put pressure on their beer reps to supply them with better stuff. After all, A-B, for example, is finally loosening their stranglehold just a bit on their distributors and allowing them to carry beers they couldn't heretofore. This is a start.

The idea of supply and demand is an important one. If we stay silent, the stores won't stock what they don't think will sell. For my part, I try to buy as much as I can locally, although the pickins are slim as Bobby pointed out. I can get some of the staple imports here (Saison Dupont, Chimay Grande Reserve, Unibroue and even Orval, for example) and do so as often as possible to help keep the stock moving in the stores. If it sits there on the shelf for a year and doesn't sell, what are the chances that the retailer will reorder that beer? The outlook on the domestic craft beer scene is much more bleak, however. While we are blessed with access to the terrific beers from Schlafly (The St. Louis Brewery) and O'Fallon (in somewhat limited supply), there are scarce few other "good" craft beers making their way here (notable exceptions being Boulevard, North Coast and Goose Island). I believe this is where we can make the most progress locally.

I have made it a matter of habit to be in dialogue with the local retail store owners and they've been receptive, for the most part. I even got one of them to stock Bell's Two Hearted ale (one of my favorites) for a little while (until Larry Bell made his stand and pulled his beers from the Illinois market). It can be done ... Bobby, I suggest you make a list of beers you'd like to see available here and let the store owners/managers see if they can get 'em for you. They'll either tell you they can't get them from their distributors or they'll actually get them for you ... as I said earlier, the availability is getting a little better and it is possible that there are a few beers that they can obtain now that they couldn't before. Keep trying; keep asking!

I have resolved myself to the fact that, for now, I have to travel to get my beer ... and travel I do. I go to Granite City, IL (a nearly two-hour drive), Fairview Heights (about an hour and a half) or Paducah, KY (also an hour and a half) typically. Although I wish I didn't have to do this, it's really not the end of the world. I also make it a point to let the local guys know that I'm willing to drive two hours for better beer. This is money I could have spent in their place of business, and would have, had they had the beers I want to buy. This has to be food for thought for them.

So, let's fact it ... we won't be seeing Russian River beer in Carbondale anytime soon, but we might be able to get some others that are in wider distribution! You're doing the right thing,, Bobby ... keep it up and I'll do whatever I can to help!

[Chipper Dave]

Good topic. Along with demanding better beer be stocked and sold, we also have to keep in mind that we need to get our local breweries producing better beers for us. Local beer means lower shipping costs which means better beer prices for the better beer. Support your local breweries first but also demand variety! As gas prices head up up up, it will become more important to support the breweries that are in our own areas. If we can't keep our local breweries going then nobody will be able to get that beer.

While I find it sad to see so much shelf space being dedicated to the macro beers, in order to keep the micro and craft beers in stock we need to keep buying them.

As Eli said, we do have a lot of good beers in stock here in Colorado, but I'd still love to see a bigger variety of US and international beers available in my local liquor stores.

Everytime I walk into my store and fail to see the beer I wanted - I ask for it and request that they stock it. Trust me, I've been to other stores to find the beers I want. The store with the best variety usually gets the bulk of my business.

[Deege]

Wow. I feel guilty. I'm in Colorado, and I feel like a kid in a candy store every time I go to the liquor store.

It sounds like there is something else going on. Perhaps there is some legislation which makes it difficult to sell beer in your area? If I were a smaller brewer, I'd be looking for places like this. That's what makes me think your problem may lie in the distribution, laws, or some unnoticed monopoly which is being protected.

[Virgil G]

The monopoly is AB; and it's noticed, but is protected.

[Rob DeNunzio]

So what do they say to you at your local store when you ask for a beer they don't stock?

[Rob DeNunzio]

I'm not sure I'd equate the Bay Area retail shelf scene with what Bobby's talking about. I mean, granted, San Francisco's only got three shops where you can get hundreds upon hundreds of Belgian ales (!), but can the market honestly sustain many more than that? I think the variety of high-caliber (not to be confused with Kaliber) ales and lagers we have access to here has spoiled us a wee bit. I could probably throw a rock through the window of the local Safeway (I've been tempted!) and hit a better selection of beers than what Bobby can get his hands on.

Actually, I'd be really interested to know what beers Bobby *is* referring to. Maybe I'm wrong...

Bobby, what would you like to see on your local store shelves, but can't? And what do you consider "making due with what they have on hand"?

[Bobby Beerman]

Just like tonight, I walked into the Illinois Liquor Mart and asked if they had anything from Young’s or Ommegang. Of course they said no. I asked if they could order some and they didn’t even try – they just said no. I just said, “I’ll go buy it elsewhere.”

I can make the drive up to Wood River, IL where Corral Liquors is located – two hours one way. I’m glad I have occasional trips for either of two jobs to St. Louis, MO or Edwardsville, IL. I can easily justify stopping by Corral then. I know I’ll stop by ILM at some point again this week and make the same request.

[Bobby Beerman]

Help me out, Virgil G. I'm not really educated about the distribution monopoly. How is it protected (or more to the point, how can I attack it)? I'm dead serious about being able to get good beer locally.

[Rob DeNunzio]

Okay, no OMMEGANG?

That, my friend, is a travesty. And a call to arms.

Even out here in West Marin, where a lot of folks can't even get cable tv, DSL, cell phone reception, or a decent burrito, I can run into the grungiest corner store and walk out with a Three Philosophers and a Duvel (hence my reply to Bill's comment above).

I think the message from everyone here is the same: Your best influence is your dollar. I don't know anything about distribution laws in Illinois, but can only imagine that smart retailers will work to bring you what you want when they realize that's their only hope for making sales. Good luck!

[The Beer Philosopher]

Ommegang is available here, so it was a case where the particular retailer (Illinois Liquor Mart) didn't want to go to the effort to order it ... sad. For what its worth, Bobby, I have found the Illinois Liquor Mart stores to be the least cooperative local retailer, so I can't say I'm surprised. Pinch Penny Liquors carries several of the Ommegang beers - Witte, Hennepin, Rare Vos and their namesake ale to name a few. I've not come across the more obscure brews like Chocolate Indulgence or Ommegeddon, though. I'd be willing to wager they could order 'em for you ... just don't try to get 'em through ILM. Pick's Liquors is generally pretty helpful too and will at least try to get what you want. As I said before, I'd encourage you to actually write out a list of beers and have these retailers see what they can do to get them. If they're not willing to stock them for the general public, at least you could special order a case of something you really like ...

As far as the Illinois beer distribution laws are concerned, I don't have time to go into the dirty details, but suffice to say that the "big boys," particularly A-B, have enjoyed a longstanding stranglehold on this market. See this article for a little more detail. A recent development looks to loosen this hold just a bit, but its too early to tell what the real impact will be in terms of actual bottles on shelves. All of this mess is what led to Larry Bell pulling his fine beers from the state as well. If you care to read about that debacle, I documented it right here back when it happened.

Hopefully, retailers will have access to a wider range of beers ... even beers not directly affiliated with, or produced by, A-B or Miller-Coors. Hopefully.

I'm with Rob on this one, Bobby ... post a list of the beers, in particular, you'd like to see available in the 'Dale. I might be able to tell you which ones are out of the question and which ones you might be able to obtain. At the very least, we can pare down your list to one that you stand a good chance of getting some results from. Like I said before, I don't have a lot of pull but I do know a lot of the people who do ... we'll get to the bottom of your beer befuzzlement!