Maharaja and Ruinten @ Costco HB

[clarkfamilyhb]

Hey all,
Was just in Costco and thought I would pass along their deal, both bombers. Stone Ruinten is $5.49 and Avery Maharaja is $6.59. I stocked up but there should be some stock left. I don't usually get my beer from Costco because I am never sure how rough the storage is but I figured I would give it a shot.
I will let you know how these go down.
Ian

[yl_ryan]

How was the beer?

[bwarbiany]

I don't usually get my beer from Costco because I am never sure how rough the storage is but I figured I would give it a shot.

I would expect turnover on specialty beers like this to be quite high, so I wouldn't expect storage to be any worse than most liquor stores.

In fact, it might be better, as big chains like Costco do a *LOT* to increase supply chain efficiency. They don't want anything sitting in a warehouse for 6 months waiting for a slot on a store shelf. My wife used to have a small dessert business and was trying to do some in-store demonstrations for Costco as part of a "road show", and the requirements that Costco has for suppliers are many pages long. The expect you to have your goods palletized when they arrive in store. They basically want to put it on a forklift, move it into position, unwrap the plastic wrap, and slap a price tag on it.

So Costco is probably getting these delivered direct to the store that will be selling it, on a pallet, right off the distributor's truck. So I'm guessing storage and handling are pretty decent.

[Greywolf]

I have seen the Stone truck delivering beer to the Fountain Valley Costco.

Both of the beers were great, though I had not had either before hand.

[clarkfamilyhb]

The beers are fantastic, I stocked up on Ruinten again yesterday so it is still there, that is a great beer.
Ian

[lexuschris]

I stopped buying beer from Costco 10 years ago... after so many lightstruck, skunked 12-packs, I gave up on them. Perhaps they have changed their storage process for beer since then? I hope so!

However, I did pick up some Ruinten from Wine Styles last week, and only just tried it tonight.. Awesome!!

--LexusChris