Ames Lager
- Thread starter 2020cy
- Start date
The owners of BWS are great. I was there looking for it a while back and told them about it. Had it soon after.
Where does the money go from all the other beers with some form of Iowa State logo on them? Went to place that had a different ISU beer on tap. I think it was the Back Pocket Clone fest. But there is a couple others like the Trice IPA one, plus the Vodka etc. Where does that money go?
Why do Bars have the swarm beer on tap that supports their NIL but not the Ames Lager that supports our NIL, instead the other ISU beers that support who?
I have not been impressed with the availability and distribution of Ames Lager. Swarm is and has been available everywhere in abundance. It has been near impossible to find Ames Lager anywhere.
Why do Bars have the swarm beer on tap that supports their NIL but not the Ames Lager that supports our NIL, instead the other ISU beers that support who?
I have not been impressed with the availability and distribution of Ames Lager. Swarm is and has been available everywhere in abundance. It has been near impossible to find Ames Lager anywhere.
1. Clone Fest is damn good, just not affiliated with We Will. I think they should contribute to it, honestly.
2. Exile just straight up has more capacity and distribution to get the Swarm beer out there.
3. Knowing ISU fans, we can compete in beer drinking with anyone, if we can get the beer.
Thing is the bar I was in was telling people it was the ISU NIL beer, when as far as I know it is not.
I gave up looking for it, went through the entire FB season and found 1, six pack in the DM area. Would have bought cases of it if it was available. Then go to area bars and they have Backpocket that supports who? and Hawk Swarm, not Ames Lager, but tell people the Backpocket beer is the NIL beer.
I asked the person stocking the Hyvee in DM area why they never have it, and they said they cant get any from West O. They said they had constantly ordered it and had only been allowed 2 cases, total, but had ordered it repeatedly but West O didnt have any nor allowed them any. A couple months later I finally found 1 six pack there, they had a spot for a whopping 2 six packs in the spot they had Ames Lager, While they had a stack of Swarm, both in the cooler and on the floor.
Pretty hard for We Will to get the income from it when no one can get it, then tell people that other beers are the ones that are the NIL beer and confuse people. I really dont understand why ISU decided to license other beers and compete with their own NIL.
It has to be the most popular brew WestO has ever done. Give them time, they will ramp it up if they have the capacity.
The good news is, WeWill knows they can count on the income. If it's sold out, then WeWill is maxing out. Exile Swarm can't say that at all.
The Hy-Vee near here always has a tall stack of Swarm. Hard to tell if they are selling any.
There is a difference in it "selling out" vs not available. Income from 0 sales is still 0.
If they have 20 cases of Hawk swill, and only sell 5, leaving 15 cases on the floor. They still at least sold 5 cases.
If there is 0 cased of Ames Lager available to buy, and they sold 0, that is still 0 cases sold.
The problem is there is 0 cases available and people have wanted to buy it. So they are losing out on the sales. At some point people just stop looking, as I have. And worse when places are selling the other Licensed beers and calling them the NIL beer. So not only is Ames Lager losing that sale, the next time someone looks for NIL beer they will believe the wrong beer supports the NIL.
This probably should have been a consideration before the deal was done, does the brewer have the capacity and distribution to handle this kind of a partnership. And again why is the University licensing Competing beers to their NIL. That seems like a poor idea.
There aren't warehouses of the stuff, as soon as it is out the door it's sold.
Did you think they stopped producing toilet paper in April of 2020 also?
I still have not been able to buy Ames Lager. It’s just not available South of I-80. My local beer shop says Doll Distributing can’t get it from WestO. I emailed Doll today to see if they can make something happen. Each time I’m in the metro, I stop somewhere and the shelf is always empty. Can’t buy it if WestO can’t get it on the shelf.
The sixer of it I got I picked up at WestO now that I know that I like it I'll buy it by the 12 when I find it.
That is the problem. Their production and distribution capacity is not enough to handle this kind of partnership with this kind of demand and volume. This makes for a poor partnership, something that should have been considered when both sides entered into this.
There should have at least been a plan in place to significantly increase production to the volumes needed in the near future.
This is what I have heard too. When I talked to the distributor filling shelves, he told me they cant get it. The distributor got all of 2.5 cases initially to distribute to all their locations. And had continually ordered more and were not able to get it. Said they were told they may get a couple more cases in a few more weeks at that time. Said they continue to try to order it, but WestO cant fulfill the order.
I realize this problem is what it is, but some of this seems like not only is the NIL missing out on a lot of income, but also seems like it was short sighted on one side of the deal or the other in what the demand would be.
I guess it could be the other way around that it sucked and no one wants it. So I guess it is a good problem to have, I just hope they get their production and distribution figured out sooner than later.
I also wish the other ISU beers that dont support the NIL were not available so much more than the one that does, especially when the sales people and bartenders are telling people that those are the NIL beers.
Just FYI, West O was the only larger brewer that had any interest in partnering with us to begin with. The others we approached were concerned about upsetting Iowa fans. West O has been awesome from the get go. The last three months we have outsold the Swarm in sales. Production is ramping up and the distributors are starting to realize people keep buying it which will help with more shelf space. But please don’t give up looking. It’s been three months since we launched, these things can’t be everywhere overnight. And we have received over $50,000 just from Ames Lager for We Will so it’s definitely having a huge impact. Honestly without the beer projection in revenue, we’d be in a tougher spot in the portal right now, so please keep drinking! (responsibly of course).
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I never have trouble finding Ames Lager at the Fareway or HyVee in South Ankeny.
I bought a sixer there a couple weeks backs. Look forward to the other 4 during the Xmas break. But it’s at my in-laws….so probably need a fifth of templeton rye as well.
