Thoughts on this? Of course for these people to sell online, someone’s has to be willing to pay the high price to buy it.
http://www.wcax.com/story/24133746/burlington-woman-charged-with-selling-beer-online
Thoughts?
Who is the victim? Not the brewer, they got their money. Not the end user unless they aren’t getting their beer. Must be the bureau for not getting their licensing fees.
The problem is you get groups of people hoarding the beer because they can make a huge profit off of it. You can buy Heady by the case in certain retail locations in Northern VT but there is a case limit. The stores are reporting people lining up waiting for the delivery truck. The beer, needless to say, is in high demand. With these people buying to just resell online, the supply gets smaller so the victim becomes those people who just want to get the beer for themselves.
Of course if there are people out there willing to pay a $100 markup on the case, then there will be people acting as their distributor.
I’m just glad I have a business friend who lives just outside New Glarus, Wisconsin. (not that we do anything like this, LOL)
Just makes me glad that I’m a brewer.
Meh. I don’t buy it that people who want the beer are victims because the supply gets limited. All kinds of beer gets bought up and resold at higher prices just like vintage wine. The correlation to vintage wine is not perfect, but some Sam Adams and Goose Island limited releases get bought up and resold at crazy prices. Same with Westvletern 12 when it was released last year.
I want some Dark Lord, but I don’t feel like a victim because I’m not able to get it and not willing to pay $100 for a bottle (I got out bid at the last auction I was at, thankfully).
+1
I think the problem is no oversight. Is she carding people who buy her beer over the internet? probably not.
It’s not the same as someone trading a few bottles of new glarus or a few cans of heady topper to a friend who can’t get them. Generally friends do not turn out to be undercover cops. She was running an illegal business and got caught. so it goes. next time she’ll be more careful or more legal.
Her approach was wrong. She should have been selling collectable containers that happen to still contain beer. Come on people! 8)
You saw a lot of what I’m joking about above when Templeton Rye first cam back on the market. People were asking insane prices for a numbered, limited edition, collectors bottle from Templeton. Just so happens those containers still held rye whiskey but that can along for free.
To me, its beer. Maybe I haven’t had it but I’m not dying to try it either. She was selling alcohol without a license and attempting to distribute across state lines. Personally, she got off easy.
Paul
Regarding carding, True but how do on line beer/ wine “clubs” card customers?
As to customers who want but can’t get being victims, they may feel like victims but they aren’t unless they have a right to the beer they are not getting.
Frankly I’m surprised the law of supply/demand haven’t kicked it. Sounds like the brewer isn’t charging enough out the door.
I’ve had two of these “beer of the month club” things over the years. One was delivered by DHL, in which the driver checked ID. The other, just UPS left on my porch.
Victim may be the wrong word but it is a pain in the ass to try and get some. I don’t feel like I have a right to it. If I really want it, I’ll go and wait in line for it (or send my brother who lives in that area 
)
John and Jen have gone to great lengths to make sure the retailers keep in line with the prices they set. $75 for a case of 16oz cans of Heady Topper. The demand is there for them to sell it at $100 or more for a case, but they don’t gouge their fans like that. They just want people to drink good beer.
Cool.
As to the offender. … if I were the judge the fine would be how ever much the license is that she was supposed to have.
There’s another victim in this… the folks who buy the license and abide by the law. Either she pays or they get their license money back.
+1. One of the clubs I was in just left it on the front porch every single time.
Yeah, it really ends up being the drivers whim. All the clubs I have looked at clearly state that their must be someone of age to sign for the package when it’s delivered. I never was and always got my package.
I had a very expensive piece of electronics delivered once a few years back that was clearly labeled “Adult Signature Required”. I got home and there it was sitting on my front step. I called UPS to find out who signed for it? They looked it up and told me the name and all I could do was ask “Who is that?”. It took them awhile to admit that it was the driver who didn’t want lug it back to the truck. He was an adult after all. ???
Paul
Adult electronic device? This thread took a turn!
That would be quite a device. It was more like a $7000 file server for a high school I was helping out with their LAN upgrade.
Paul
At $75 a case it had better be liquid nirvana. ;) Just sayin’!
$75 / 24 cans = $3.12 / 16 oz can for an Imperial IPA. Pretty good deal. And yes, it is liquid nirvana 