Where is Our Draught Avery?
June 30, 2008 8:58 am Beer Musings
I was in Champaign, IL on business last week and I decided to stop into The Blind Pig and have a pint or two (or three.) One of the first things that caught my eye on the list was that they had Avery’s Maharaja on draught. Which got me to thinking, where is our draught Avery?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to have Avery now available in St. Louis, but why are we limited just to bottles? Is it a supply issue from the brewery? Is the local distributor not interested in bringing in kegs? Is there not enough local interest? I don’t know the answers to these questions but I’d love to find out. Is anyone from Major Brands or Avery able to step up and answer some questions for us?
Tags: avery brewing, draught, kegs, major brands, st. louis
scotty p :
Date: June 30, 2008 @ 9:25 am
maharaja draught blew my mind. im 100% with you. I asked this question in the forum some time ago. left hand blew into town in bottles and draught but why not avrey?
Dave :
Date: June 30, 2008 @ 10:21 am
They may not see the demand, and/or people haven’t bother asking.
I called Great Divide after they arrived in bottles and asked about kegs. They were extremely accommodating, and said they weren’t doing full-out draft in MO yet, but would be happy to do special order kegs that they’d just send with the next shipment of bottles.
Have you tried just calling Avery? Most of these breweries are pretty small places and happy to help out. Heck, when I e-mail Victory about kegs that come into Illinois, Bill Covaleski himself e-mailed back! And Victory is a whole lot bigger than Avery.
scotty p :
Date: June 30, 2008 @ 10:25 am
where in IL is victory on draught?
Dave :
Date: June 30, 2008 @ 10:31 am
Chicago eats most of it, but kegs do come available to Andrew at Bon Vivant from time to time. Half barrels only of Hop Devil and Prima Pils for now. I’m looking to get a half of Prima for my kegerator.
Mike :
Date: June 30, 2008 @ 11:18 am
I’ll be honest, I didn’t really care for Maharaja on draught. I thought it was a bit soapy.
scotty p :
Date: June 30, 2008 @ 11:34 am
maybe they just cleaned the lines? : )
Larry Avery :
Date: June 30, 2008 @ 3:16 pm
Please be patient with us and our distributor, Major Brands. There is no supply issue with the brewery, but rather Major Brands has to be somewhat conservative in ordering kegs from us until they can judge the demand. You can help in that regard by e-mailing donnie.matthews@majorbrands.com and let him know your interests.
Keep spreading the word about us. Our advertising is 100% word-of-mouth.
Larry Avery
Joe :
Date: June 30, 2008 @ 6:41 pm
Once the water goes down Rotten Apple is getting a Hop Devil 1/2
Derek Bean :
Date: July 1, 2008 @ 1:01 pm
Mike,
Major Brands has Avery kegs in Kansas City (I’m surprised you didn’t drink some at Flying Saucer this past weekend!).
Larry, just an aside, Donnie Matthews is the Beer Director for Major Brands-Kansas City; Rick Bakersmith is his counterpart in St. Louis.
So, for all of you e-mailing Donnie Matthews, he’ll probably be confused as to why a bunch of folks from STL are e-mailing him about Avery draft. You might want to bug Rick Bakersmith instead.
Mike, back to Major Brands, they are an excellent distributor; especially, at selling, as their name suggests…major brands. If their sales force got a hold of Avery draft, they would probably start selling it everywhere they could–much like what we saw a couple of years ago when the A-B distribs. began selling brands like Widmer and Goose Island. Then, what usually happens in these cases, a beer like Avery won’t sell EVERYWHERE and the salesmen lose interest in selling it. Avery is definitely a special beer that needs to be strategically targeted to specialized retailers.
Mike :
Date: July 1, 2008 @ 1:06 pm
Come to think of it, I did see it draught at the Flying Saucer.
Derek Bean :
Date: July 1, 2008 @ 6:57 pm
Haha, Mike, you must have been pretty lit–or lit up from the New Belgim mis-pour your received!! But, Flying Saucer K.C. has like 3 different Avery beers on tap! Dude, you totally missed out Mike!
Mike :
Date: July 1, 2008 @ 8:38 pm
Heh, the more I think about it, I had the Avery IPA on draught. (And dare say, I may have liked it more than Two Hearted.)
Paul :
Date: July 2, 2008 @ 6:46 am
I have also been trying my best to get Major to bring in other beers from Avery in package. We are finally getting some Samaels, 14er ESB and the Redpoint hopefuly today.
Paul
The Wine and Cheese Place
Derek Bean :
Date: July 2, 2008 @ 8:43 pm
Paul, please, please, please bug them about getting Kaiser when it becomes available (probably August or September)! So, please bug them in advance for me!!!