When it comes to beer shopping away from the friendly confines of a good, local bottle shop or brewery taproom there is a dark distribution underbelly to getting a craft beer onto a shelf so that you and I can see it and buy it.
This MSN article points out a new plan that looks like a new way to squeeze money from the makers of beer, wine and spirits. And it has all the major players (who generally don’t see eye to eye) aligned against the Kroger chain.
Right now, the less than ideal situation is that the stores ask for “captains” to analyze sales and shelf allocations. Those captains are usually Bud or Miller and the allocation is usually to the detriment of craft beer. Don’t believe. Check out a Ralphs or Vons. Not a lot of choice. Sunset Beer Co. has more variety in one cooler. The new even worse plan is to have a distributor do the analysis and charge those who want to be on shelves for the privilege of being part of that analysis. Effectively cutting out the small players who don’t have budgeted money to “buy their way” onto a shelf.
The fees are called “voluntary” but us consumers know that voluntary means temporarily voluntary until people stop grousing about it and they install it permanently.
The sad thing is that maybe if the chain grocery stores took a little responsibility for their own actions they could be nimble competitors who focus on local beers. They could hire their own damn analyst to cover 10-20-30 stores in a region and be able to buy new releases and rotate their stock. That ain’t happening right now. I don’t buy craft beer from a grocery store because it is usually old and dusty. And the only local nod about the stores are some haphazard art work with my town name near the door out.
The other sad thing is that it can be done. Whole Foods has selection and it is literally a block away from the local Ralphs Visit Portland and head to a New Seasons grocery store and they have growler fill stations. The beer is there, you just need an industrious person to stock it.
