It has always been our aim to keep in stock all the bottled beers, ciders and meads that we list as being available on a given day, but in fact, availability sometimes has been a problem.
Part of this problem owes to simple geography, in the sense that New Albany does not lie at the crossroads of the beer and brewing world.
A larger part of it stems from the institutional peculiarities of America’s mandated three-tier distribution system.
Since the end of Prohibition more than seven decades ago, malt beverages, wine and spirits in the United States have been distributed according to a three-tier system, which is composed of:
- Licensed producers and suppliers (brewers, vintners, and distillers).
- Wholesale distributors, which are the middlemen.
- Retailers like pubs, restaurants and package liquor stores, which sell alcoholic beverages directly to the public.
The main purpose of the system is to insulate retailers from direct and indirect control by brewers, distillers, and vintners by means of an independent wholesaler tier.
While seemingly innocuous, this arrangement can pose difficulties for those seeking to step however gingerly outside the Bud. As a retailer of specialty beers, and one located in a part of the country that remains solidly in the grip of mass-market, industrial beers, it soon becomes apparent that a premium is placed on the wholesaler’s ability and/or willingness to understand and supply specialty beers.
Well into the decade of the 1990’s, local beer wholesaling businesses were prone to slothful and shameful disinterest in specialty segment customer service. By virtue of the non-competitive provisions of the three-tier distribution system, a “back up the truck and unload cases of aluminum-clad swill” monopolistic mentality reigned supreme. Such is the inevitable result in any business in which a truly free market is avoided by institutional design.
Furthermore, because each state has its own regulatory regime, we’ve always been prevented from buying from Kentucky, even though Louisville is only a few miles away.
Fortunately, after many years of frustration, the regional market for specialty beers has grown to a point where Indiana’s largest mainstream wholesaler (Monarch) has spun off a specialty division (World Class Beverages), and another plucky independent (Cavalier) has emerged with a specialty-only portfolio and no ties to the tentacles of mass market swill.
More microbrews and imported brands are available than ever before, and with the concurrent emergence of local package stores willing to stock prominent examples of these, we’re able to concentrate increasingly on the rarer and more eclectic choices.
Look for this trend to continue, and revel in it. Until recently, it simply wasn’t easy, and there continue to exist those beer barons who, if given a chance, would revert to the primeval.
