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Monday, February 2, 2009

Help get Stone Brewing to St. Louis...

We need to try to push Stone Brewing into distributing in St. Louis.
I think if we give them a nudge with emails showing our desire to get "Arrogant" in St. Louis it might happen. I have sent my email!
Send them an email----
email@stonebrew.com

This is on their website:
"How to get the Arrogance in your area:
This proceedure can potentially take a bit of time and effort, but success will be its own reward.

In order for Stone or Arrogant Bastard Ale to be available in a particular area, it is necessary to obtain an existing distributor of beer for the that area. This is often problematic. Most distributors are overloaded with items and have scant time to review and analyze new things. Much of their decision making is based upon "old-boy" contacts. As you might guess, brash young upstarts like us at Stone are not part of the old-boy networks.

Every time we contact the distributors in a new area, we get comments like "We're overloaded on items," "We don't have the time to consider something new right now," and "I've never heard of Arrogant Bastard Ale, [I cannot imagine somebody saying this] besides people want imports right now and that 22oz micro segment is dying." How sad for them to be so unaware of the Arrogance.

We have won out over Ignorance in many areas based upon the following theories:
(1) Smart business people listen to their customers. (2) Most distributors are actually fairly smart people, and their customers are pubs, restuarants and markets. (3) If these customers are asking for the Arrogant Bastard Ale, the distributor will be more interested in carrying the beer.

Of course, this only happens because the customers of these bars, restaurants and markets are demanding the Arrogance! If enough people ask often enough, the message will eventually get through to the powers that be.

Don't be shy. Let your message be clear. Tell the MANAGEMENT (don't waste too much time talking about the Arrogance to non decision makers) at your favorite pubs, restaurants and markets that you would like them to ask their distributors for Arrogant Bastard Ale. In the meantime, you'll get it through mail-order or other methods which means lost dollars for them. Always make
sure that you are polite with your request. Remember, there is a fine line between being an Arrogant Bastard and an Obnoxious one. Smart managers won't be interested in going out of there way to bring something in for somebody who
is a jerk." -- Stone Brewing

Thanks for helping to spread the Arrogance! - Stone

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