Mike Pence and the Republicans...what a douchey group

[CO. Hoosier]

How long as Indiana had supermarket beer and wine?

We still don't have it in Colorado so the mom and pops are much more prevalent, although in the last 15 or 20 years or so mega package stores have cropped in places other than metro Denver. Each store has one vote in the associatioin they belong to.

Package stores are going to sell what they sell no matter if it is in 7 or 6 days; Sunday opening will increase their costs some. Grocers are open anyway so they have no additional overhead with Sunday sales.

 

[CO. Hoosier]

When you in the business, how did you determine what draft beer to buy?

Was it determined by what you could sell and in what volumes?

If you ask a grocer why they don't stock this or that (could be anything but this applies to beer too) the answer will likely be "we tried it once but we didn't sell enough of it to make it worth our while".

A craft brewer who is able to start up with product in grocery chains will open and probably do well. Those who can't crack the grocery market will work for somebody else or move to Colorado where startups have an easier time of it. That said, you can't swing a dead cat around here without hitting 10 micro breweries. I think there is a bubble about to burst. But I do know that the high volume producers would squeeze out the small fry as far as the grocery market is concerned.

 

[TheOriginalHappyGoat]

My argument's not against anything.

I'd prefer not to have to go to a counter in the Kroger to ask for booze. I'm just explaining where they are coming from.

 

[TheOriginalHappyGoat]

You can't only stock fast movers.

Everything needs to move fast enough to not go bad, of course, but you also need to offer a variety. IPAs move faster than anything, but the bar that offers only IPAs is leaving money on the table.

One of the slowest moving draft beers in just about any bar that isn't an Irish pub is Guinness. Yet many bars still carry it. The reason is that what few Guinness drinkers there are are very loyal, and if you don't offer it, they'll go somewhere else, and that means they'll eat somewhere else.

I made hummus last week, and bought the ingredients at Kroger. I'm sure Kroger doesn't sell a ton of tahini, but it's worth them having it, because if they didn't have it, I also wouldn't have purchased the chickpeas and garlic from them.

If someone tells you they don't stock something because it doesn't move fast enough to "make it worth their while," they are either very bad at their jobs, or they mean it moves so slowly they have to throw some of it out, or it means they have *extremely* limited space so that they can only afford to have high volume items. At that point, they aren't really a grocery, anymore, they are a convenience store.

A little rambling, there, but the long and short of it is that both well-run bars and well-run groceries will continue to offer craft beer so long as there is a demand for it.

goat

 

[TheOriginalHappyGoat]

Addendum...

...I missed this in my first reading, but on a note unrelated to my previous post, many, many brewers do just fine while eschewing grocery stores. It's true that national brands do much more of their business in carryout, but most of the craft brewers sell primarily to bars, with some specialty beer shops thrown in. In fact, some brewers refuse to sell certain products for carryout, because their "on-premise only" status makes them more attractive to bar managers.

goat

 

[CO. Hoosier]

Taking advantage of the snob factor

There are many micro brewers around here that sell on premises only and if they sell carry out its by growler only. Bottling machinery is expensive so they don't go there. In my experience many of these brews are more expensive and the brews aren't that great. They tend to brew only a few ales and they are getting to be a dime a dozen. But, hey, they are taking advantage of a fad.

Of course, my point has to do with those micro breweries who bottle their product and brew with variety.

 

[TheOriginalHappyGoat]

If they make a good product, they'll be fine.

Let's be honest, most of the people who buy craft beer will continue to buy craft beer, regardless. And most groceries carry a good selection, at least around here. Even Walmart has some interesting brews. The market demands variety in beer right now, that's just the way it is. You might be right about a bubble, but as for right now, I can tell you that at least in indiana and ohio, grocery sales do not harm brewers.

 

[Hoops Cat]

You have no idea what you are talking about here...

just sayin.

Check your facts on this "fad" - craft beer is (from memory, and I think its 2013 numbers, but I'm pretty sure this is close) about 14% of the total beer sales. This is about 10% up from the prior year. And growing. To the point that Budweiser and Miller/Coors are doing everything they can to buy craft brewers. And shitting their collective pants, because the market's preference is changing towards beers that actually have flavor. What a concept!

In your experience Coors is a good beer. But how is it not a dime a dozen?

Your experience means nothing today, and you clearly know nothing about the craft beer industry.

 

[CO. Hoosier]

Actually, you have no idea what I am talking about

There are some pretty crappy over-priced small batch beers showing up these days. If you don't think that; then you are part of the fad, not a serious consumer, and just the kind of drinker the low quality small batch newbies like to separate from their money.

Yeah, I do know a little about good beer. It takes a little more than dark color with a stupid name.

Just sayin'.

 

[CO. Hoosier]

That's probably true

This is now; that was then. It wasn't that long since MGD was considered good beer in Indiana. I know. Been there back home again in Indiana. I had my share of converastions about the lack of good beer in a number of different good restaurants--in Indiana. That's when Fat Tire was considered a rare cult brew back there. Now, for most of us FT is way down the list, but I bet it is a big seller in the supermarkets and maybe the bars in Indiana. Maybe there is a reason why Indiana was so late to the craft beer scene compared to Colorado. Maybe it was because too many distributors were too tied into supermarket retail outlets. Hoosiers simply had no way to access the supply until the public demanded that they be able to buy it in the supermarkets. If there were no supermarket beer sales, you would have had the pleasure of a decent supply and selection of craft beers a lot earlier.

 

[TheOriginalHappyGoat]

Nah.

I appreciate the tale you are trying to spin, but it doesn't work that way. The beers available are the beers people want. Period. Groceries are important, yes, but they are not Soviet Central Party powerful, as you seem to think they are. It is what it is. Indiana has been very... pro-craft brewery. And we have had grocery store sales for years now. So you're original thesis has no grounding. Beer is beer, and good beer is good beer. People will find a way to buy it. Period.

 

[Optimist13]

Bosma and a few committee chairs control the agenda

in the House. If Bosma really wants a bill killed, that particular bill stands little chance
of success unless there''s an overwhelming backlash from Republican legislators.

 

[CO. Hoosier]

180 degrees off goat

There was a time when most Hoosier establishments and consumers wouldn't know a microbrew if they got run over by the New Belgium truck. The chain restaurants that were serving draft microbrews in Colorado were serving MGD in Indiana. When I would ask the servers about that, some would actually know what I was talking about and said "corporate" wouldn't allow it. This concept should be real easy for a democrat to understand. It is much easier to establish a market and demand for a product through a robust system of independent retailers than it is through a mega-corporate distribution system. Many products are like this, it isn't just beer, including ski stuff and bicycle stuff. This is the point. It's been a while since I shopped for beer at a Hoosier grocery store, but I can assure you that there was a noticeable difference in beer selection in states that allowed grocery beer and ones that didn't and this difference lasted for most of the 90' and into the early 2000's.

 

[VanPastorMan]

I am usually libertarian in those kinds of topics. People need to be

responsible and not have government holding their hand. If we truly want freedom and then live by it then we have to live with the consequences. To answer your question, I guess this is a leftover law from prohibition days. Am I right anybody?

 

[TheOriginalHappyGoat]

Eat at better restaurants, maybe?

I don't know about the 90s, but your sense of things simply doesn't reflect reality today.

Indiana has always been slow to adapt to food and beverage trends.

 

[DougS]

I suspect it preceeds Prohibition

although I don't know for sure. Of course, during Prohibition there were seven days when you couldn't buy booze.

Sunday was one of them.

 

[Ladoga]

As in every

other legislative body in America, if the leader (Speaker in the Indiana House, President Pro-Tem in the Senate) and committee chairs want a bill to pass, it will pass. If not, it will die. The detailed content of the bill, however, is molded by the body as the bill moves through the process.

If "Bosma really wants a bill killed" it will never have any action after its committee assignment on 1st reading.

 

[Ladoga]

I did a quick search

and believe grocery and drug stores have had beer and wine sales since at least 1973 - the year of a recodification. However, I know from personal experience that drugstores have had wine for years before that.

 

[WisslerIII]

Pence is just another Columbus dumba## who gets by

on a smile and following the Conservative line. If he was a real Conservative, I'd be all for him.

But he's an idiot and any extemporaneous interview with him puts this on full display.

 

[WisslerIII]

Licensing says you have the basics of a subject.

To teach biology, a BS in that subject indicates better mastery of the subject than a teaching degree.

It doesn't mean you're a great teacher of the subject, but as you noted, neither does a teaching degree.