I just got back from Cairo Wine Liquor carrying my very own six pack of Bell’s Hop Slam. For those of you who still don’t know why the beer enthusiast crowd has just gone nuts, Hop Slam is Bell’s Brewery’s Double IPA which comes out every year in January and promptly dissappears. It’s one of the best Double IPA’s aound and tastes even better because of its rarity. The brewery calls it a ‘biting, bitter, tongue bruiser of an ale.” I agree, but it is also the hop nectar of the gods.
Sadly with rarity also comes ridiculous prices!
Fear not. Cairo Liquor told me that if I send you their way, they will give it to you for $18.99 a six-pack. Tell them DC BEER SENT YOU. (Hopefully they honor the deal!) They are supposed to be selling it for $19.99 which is still quite a deal around here.
Cairo is next to Safeway in Northwest DC, sorta near Dupont. Check it out at 1618 17th Street NW. Go there today before they forget they promised me deals!
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FYI – Cairo charged me $14.99/six and $54 for a case on 1/12 at 6pm (I bought a case because of the deal and let them know it was very generous considering the present demand for HopSlam). Seems according to Beerspotter that they have now raised the price. But as of yesterday they had no sense of how the rarity or popularity of this beer.
I wouldn’t say $18.99 is generous at all considering it is retailing $14-16 throughout the Midwest (and I believe that is the suggested retail but could be wrong). I understand the demand (hype/fluff) is there to sell it at much higher prices, but I wonder what Larry Bell would say…
At least they’re not selling it at $5.33 a bottle like D’Vines in Columbia Heights. $32/sixer! I bet they still sell out though (if they haven’t already).
haha, I am not saying $18.99 for a 6 pack is a great deal, I was just saying it might be as cheap as you are gonna get! I hear the beer is going for $10 a glass at bars! Anyone tell Cairo DCBeer sent them and get the discount? I am interested to hear…
I went to westover market. If you think 19 is bad, they wanted 24.99. Talk about $#%#%#$. went for the great divide Hercules double ipa instead
Fair enough Mike, but I’m gonna let the hysteria die down a bit before I purchase any. I got a case last year for $60 flat including taxes at an undisclosed location.
Also, a pint of Hopslam was just $8 at Churchkey on Monday and they weren’t even that busy when I left around 7p. Where did you see it for $10?
Personally, I might be even more excited for Nectar. George from D’Vines said his distributor had it in stock but wasn’t shipping it yet (wtf). Has anyone seen it on shelves yet?
Lol if you mean nectar nugget, they had 22oz bottles at westover market for 6.99.
Yup, got the Cairo discount. Things were a little vague but I got a case for $65.
And at $10 a pint at Black Squirrel, you can test it out one delicious glass at a time.
William, be thankful, the $15 six-pack you got was somehow wholesale price–Hopslam costs stores in DC $60/case, so they literally made no money on that sale. Talking to several other stores around town, $20 is about standard, and $25 is overpriced. Grover, the Midwest prices are definitely enough to make me jealous, but I’m afraid it’s just because they get a better deal on Bell’s out there. Don’t hate the stores; hate geography.
What’s your source on the $60/case wholesale price?
I have a real hard time believing that.
Hard time or not, I can confirm $60 a case on the Hop Slam.
Fair enough; you guys would know better than I would.
I guess I’m a bit surprised retail prices aren’t *higher* then considering the high demand and typical mark-ups of about 50% if I’m not mistaken.
Is it safe to say the distributors are the ones marking up these cases considering prices are that low elsewhere (assuming transportation costs can’t make up that much of the difference)?
Anyone care to try to explain it?
bells seems to always cost a lot, and is often worth the price. Anyone know why? yes this beer has tons of hops and is 10% abv, but there are tons of my beer has more hops than your beer out there. i remember feeling the pain of buying the dogfish palo santo for 17$, but i can understand the price there. i guess this area has a larger beer culture and higher demand for good beer….the high price won’t stop me from going to get some hopslam as soon as i get off work though.
Got it at whole foods for 20$ just had my first one. It\’s yummy. Not sure it tastes like 20 bucks. The thing that stands out to me is how light and crisp it is. Unlike other DIPAs, it\’s not a thick meal in a bottle. Dangerous as my glass is empty, and I\’m on to round two
Kelly, I also got a sixer at WF tonight. First time trying it. I’m really impressed. As you say, light and crisp. Very unexpected, and very welcome.
Tom Cizauskas just posted the following.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cizauskas/4274699943/
Given this is @ a Wine Store your chances of getting some should be fairly high.
Bought a case way out in Gainesville VA today for $75. Though I admittedly don’t know a lot about distribution, I think the bulk of the blame for our higher prices belongs with the distributers in our area. Hopslam was definitely a lot cheaper when I first discovered it four years ago…probably because there was a lot less demand since most of us didn’t know how good it was.
Can’t believe it, a friend called me about a grocery store selling it for 8.99/six. I just picked up two cases at $9 a six. Obviously miss-priced in thier computors, I should tell them but…..think I’ll grab another case insted!
not gonna share the location?