Cheers beer-loving folks!
As you two or maybe even three readers of my blog know, I live in Finland. Actually I live in the middle of Finland, far away from the capital, in a small town of some 36000 people, but at least we have a train station and actually even an airport. So, we are not in a most remotest place in Europe, but still faraway from the big cities and lots of traffic. So, I got bored of my hometown's liquor stores range of beers and thought of ordering something somewhere. I know it's not gonna happen here in Finland, in Finnish, although our beloved alcohol monopoly Alko does have a few beers that can be ordered to your nearby Alko from other Alko's in Finland or in bigger quantities these products:
Stallhagen Brown Ale 12 x 0,5 litres 56,88 EUR
Stallhagen US Red Ale 12 x 0,5 litres 58,92 EUR
Stallhagen Baltic Porter 12 x 0,5 litres 61,80 EUR
Chimay Tripel 24 x 0,33 litres 74,40 EUR
Huvila X-Porter 20 x 0,5 litres 103,80 EUR
Arctic Circle Ale 20 x 0,5 litres 104,40 EUR
Olvi Special III keg 30 litres 183,80 EUR
Karjala III keg 30 litres 185,00 EUR
Lapin Kulta III keg 30 litres 187,60 EUR
Koff III keg 30 litres 195,70 EUR
Karhu III keg 30 litres 198,60 EUR
Lapin Kulta IV A keg 30 litres 210,90 EUR
Obviousyly there are not a lot interesting choises as the latter 6 of those are basic bulk lagers and while there are interesting beers among the first 6 (for example Chimay Tripel and amazing Finnish craftbeer Huvila X-Porter), I don't want to order big amounts of those, but to have different varieties and tastes, as I don't drink beer daily (anymore).
So, what to do? There is of course the "flagship" store of Alko in Helsinki, but it would cost at least 60 EUR to go to Hell and back, at normal rates even more. It would take time and money. I could ask my friends living in Helsinki to go and buy some beers for me, but it is still a bit difficult, so I don't want to burden them with my drinking hobby :)
Internet shopping then. I found that mainly Finnish have been buying from German web stores. One of the most mentioned is http://www.bierzwerg.de/ but I am either blind or too dumb to find directions in English, just German everywhere and when going to cash my order, I just seem to be able to choose Deutchland as destination of the delivery. So I give up, fuck it.
I visit few other German shops, but don't find anything interesting, so I am ready to give up the search also. Then I remember http://www.brewdog.com/ which is one my favorite breweries. At least I can shop in English. They also sell abroad. Prices seem to be higher than in German shops (though BrewDog does sell mainly their own products), but if compared to Finnish prices, they are not high at all. And you have to remember, this is still a small brewery in comparison to giants. So I click and browse and find out, there are also "guest beers" sold there, mainly American. Nice. It would be a bit cheeper to choose more bottles at once, but I want a good variety for my shipment, so I click one bottle of every interesting beer I can find and then start to think about ordering.
I registered to BrewDogs webshop in 23rd of January and made my first order the same night. Here's what I ordered:
Green Flash Double Stout (330ml Bottle) x 1 @ £3.49
Anarchist / Alchemist (330ml Bottle) x 1 @ £9.99
Tokyo* (330ml Bottle) x 1 @ £9.99
Teku Glass (Teku BrewDog Glass) x 1 @ £2.99
Flying Dog Horn Dog (355ml Bottle) x 1 @ £4.99
De Molen - Tsarina Esra (330ml Bottle) x 1 @ £6.49
Ballast Point Black Marlin Porter (650ml Bottle) x 1 @ £6.99
Rooie Dop - Utrecht Strong Ale (330ml Bottle) x 1 @ £5.89
Green Flash Hop Head Red (355ml Bottle) x 1 @ £3.15
Green Flash Barley Wine (650ml Bottle) x 1 @ £8.99
Punk IPA (330ml Bottle) x 1 @ £1.69
Paradox Jura (330ml Bottle) x 1 @ £7.99
San Diego Scotch Ale (330ml Bottle) x 1 @ £10.99
Total inc. VAT £83.63
Shipping £25.00
Total Cost £108.63
Shipping costs were not too high in my opinion, if you think that they must ship a box filled with beers (and one glass) abroad, over the sea or seas, and by land, if they are not transported via airplane/s. I don't know the transportation costs, but via land its a hell of a long journey for a box of beers. Well, as I write this, I actually don't know, if the shipment will come directly to me, or will the customs stop the package and ask for some additional payments. I have ordered earlier some clothes from America, so I know the drill, but this transaction is made inside EU as Scotland is a part of UK. I hope there will not be any additional costs, so the the lovely package brought to my home door costs total of € 127.55.
It might sound expensive, if you think that I will get 12 bottles of beer, roughly a 10 EUR a piece that is, but there are so many beers I would never get in my hometown or without traveling or without the help of friendly souls, so I'm not complaining.
I might be complaining, if the order never comes to my home door or the bottles are broken, but that I will propably know in a week or so. There is a tracking system to follow the journey of my beers and at the moment that system tells me this:
Date Time Location Tracking Event
26-01-2013 02:12 International Hub Forwarded for export
26-01-2013 02:06 International Hub Received and processed
25-01-2013 21:51 National Hub Received and processed
25-01-2013 16:47 North Essex Depot Forwarded for processing
25-01-2013 15:43 North Essex Depot Collected from customer
24-01-2013 09:37 WDM Online
I'll post my final shit after the shipment arrives (or not), so the story continues...
Here's the BrewDog-tank which comes to my door soon (actually that is from the streets of Camden) :)
Update 29.01.
Date Time Location Tracking Event
28-01-2013 23:58 Delivery Agent - DENMARK Forwarded for export
28-01-2013 23:57 Delivery Agent - DENMARK Received in destination country
Serious waiting at home, told my son and ex-wife, who visits us couple times a week, that this package is coming. Hope I'm home, when it arrives, as I don't know how it's delivered and when...
Update 31.01.
Wow, it's really coming :P
Now, is someone just going to come to my door or what?
Update 01.02.
Yeah, this is interesting, it's somewhere in Finland all right :)
Fuck, it's coming, should I go home?
Fucking asswipes don't know how to use phone - although I gave my mobilenumber specifically for the delivery...
Final update of this interlude 01.02. 14pm.
Jiihaa, Woohoo! I had my package/order/parcel and it's not broken, everything seems to be there and I'm a happy dude! :D
After the earlier update it came to my mind, that the "Finnish Delivery Agent" might be Itella, which is a national postal service of Finland, and they usually make rounds to deliver packages to homes, but after that leave a note to the recipient and the package goes to the nearest Itella post office. So, I drove home and yeah, found it. First I thougth, wtf, behind the note there was an address and "after 12". I did not first understand that it was the Itella post office in downtown, but maybe I was a bit overwhelmed, because it's friday and I got my package and kids are going to their grandparents, so I have a free night to taste my new beloved ales :)
I took some pictures with my cell phone, but the fucker is not connecting to PC right now, so the final report of this endeavour is gonna happen later tonigt.
Everyhing's ok, cheers!
As you two or maybe even three readers of my blog know, I live in Finland. Actually I live in the middle of Finland, far away from the capital, in a small town of some 36000 people, but at least we have a train station and actually even an airport. So, we are not in a most remotest place in Europe, but still faraway from the big cities and lots of traffic. So, I got bored of my hometown's liquor stores range of beers and thought of ordering something somewhere. I know it's not gonna happen here in Finland, in Finnish, although our beloved alcohol monopoly Alko does have a few beers that can be ordered to your nearby Alko from other Alko's in Finland or in bigger quantities these products:
Stallhagen Brown Ale 12 x 0,5 litres 56,88 EUR
Stallhagen US Red Ale 12 x 0,5 litres 58,92 EUR
Stallhagen Baltic Porter 12 x 0,5 litres 61,80 EUR
Chimay Tripel 24 x 0,33 litres 74,40 EUR
Huvila X-Porter 20 x 0,5 litres 103,80 EUR
Arctic Circle Ale 20 x 0,5 litres 104,40 EUR
Olvi Special III keg 30 litres 183,80 EUR
Karjala III keg 30 litres 185,00 EUR
Lapin Kulta III keg 30 litres 187,60 EUR
Koff III keg 30 litres 195,70 EUR
Karhu III keg 30 litres 198,60 EUR
Lapin Kulta IV A keg 30 litres 210,90 EUR
Obviousyly there are not a lot interesting choises as the latter 6 of those are basic bulk lagers and while there are interesting beers among the first 6 (for example Chimay Tripel and amazing Finnish craftbeer Huvila X-Porter), I don't want to order big amounts of those, but to have different varieties and tastes, as I don't drink beer daily (anymore).
So, what to do? There is of course the "flagship" store of Alko in Helsinki, but it would cost at least 60 EUR to go to Hell and back, at normal rates even more. It would take time and money. I could ask my friends living in Helsinki to go and buy some beers for me, but it is still a bit difficult, so I don't want to burden them with my drinking hobby :)
Internet shopping then. I found that mainly Finnish have been buying from German web stores. One of the most mentioned is http://www.bierzwerg.de/ but I am either blind or too dumb to find directions in English, just German everywhere and when going to cash my order, I just seem to be able to choose Deutchland as destination of the delivery. So I give up, fuck it.
I visit few other German shops, but don't find anything interesting, so I am ready to give up the search also. Then I remember http://www.brewdog.com/ which is one my favorite breweries. At least I can shop in English. They also sell abroad. Prices seem to be higher than in German shops (though BrewDog does sell mainly their own products), but if compared to Finnish prices, they are not high at all. And you have to remember, this is still a small brewery in comparison to giants. So I click and browse and find out, there are also "guest beers" sold there, mainly American. Nice. It would be a bit cheeper to choose more bottles at once, but I want a good variety for my shipment, so I click one bottle of every interesting beer I can find and then start to think about ordering.
I registered to BrewDogs webshop in 23rd of January and made my first order the same night. Here's what I ordered:
Green Flash Double Stout (330ml Bottle) x 1 @ £3.49
Anarchist / Alchemist (330ml Bottle) x 1 @ £9.99
Tokyo* (330ml Bottle) x 1 @ £9.99
Teku Glass (Teku BrewDog Glass) x 1 @ £2.99
Flying Dog Horn Dog (355ml Bottle) x 1 @ £4.99
De Molen - Tsarina Esra (330ml Bottle) x 1 @ £6.49
Ballast Point Black Marlin Porter (650ml Bottle) x 1 @ £6.99
Rooie Dop - Utrecht Strong Ale (330ml Bottle) x 1 @ £5.89
Green Flash Hop Head Red (355ml Bottle) x 1 @ £3.15
Green Flash Barley Wine (650ml Bottle) x 1 @ £8.99
Punk IPA (330ml Bottle) x 1 @ £1.69
Paradox Jura (330ml Bottle) x 1 @ £7.99
San Diego Scotch Ale (330ml Bottle) x 1 @ £10.99
Total inc. VAT £83.63
Shipping £25.00
Total Cost £108.63
Shipping costs were not too high in my opinion, if you think that they must ship a box filled with beers (and one glass) abroad, over the sea or seas, and by land, if they are not transported via airplane/s. I don't know the transportation costs, but via land its a hell of a long journey for a box of beers. Well, as I write this, I actually don't know, if the shipment will come directly to me, or will the customs stop the package and ask for some additional payments. I have ordered earlier some clothes from America, so I know the drill, but this transaction is made inside EU as Scotland is a part of UK. I hope there will not be any additional costs, so the the lovely package brought to my home door costs total of € 127.55.
It might sound expensive, if you think that I will get 12 bottles of beer, roughly a 10 EUR a piece that is, but there are so many beers I would never get in my hometown or without traveling or without the help of friendly souls, so I'm not complaining.
I might be complaining, if the order never comes to my home door or the bottles are broken, but that I will propably know in a week or so. There is a tracking system to follow the journey of my beers and at the moment that system tells me this:
Date Time Location Tracking Event
26-01-2013 02:12 International Hub Forwarded for export
26-01-2013 02:06 International Hub Received and processed
25-01-2013 21:51 National Hub Received and processed
25-01-2013 16:47 North Essex Depot Forwarded for processing
25-01-2013 15:43 North Essex Depot Collected from customer
24-01-2013 09:37 WDM Online
I'll post my final shit after the shipment arrives (or not), so the story continues...
Here's the BrewDog-tank which comes to my door soon (actually that is from the streets of Camden) :)
Update 29.01.
Date Time Location Tracking Event
28-01-2013 23:58 Delivery Agent - DENMARK Forwarded for export
28-01-2013 23:57 Delivery Agent - DENMARK Received in destination country
Serious waiting at home, told my son and ex-wife, who visits us couple times a week, that this package is coming. Hope I'm home, when it arrives, as I don't know how it's delivered and when...
Update 31.01.
| 30-01-2013 | 20:24 | Delivery Agent - FINLAND | Received in destination country |
Wow, it's really coming :P
| 31-01-2013 | 10:22 | Delivery Agent - FINLAND | HANDED OVER TO DELIVERY AGENT |
Now, is someone just going to come to my door or what?
Update 01.02.
| 01-02-2013 | 05:29 | Delivery Agent - FINLAND | HANDED OVER TO DELIVERY AGENT |
Yeah, this is interesting, it's somewhere in Finland all right :)
| 01-02-2013 | 08:26 | Delivery Agent - FINLAND | Loaded to vehicle for delivery |
Fuck, it's coming, should I go home?
| 01-02-2013 | 10:14 | Delivery Agent - FINLAND | Delivery attempted - premises closed |
Fucking asswipes don't know how to use phone - although I gave my mobilenumber specifically for the delivery...
Final update of this interlude 01.02. 14pm.
Jiihaa, Woohoo! I had my package/order/parcel and it's not broken, everything seems to be there and I'm a happy dude! :D
After the earlier update it came to my mind, that the "Finnish Delivery Agent" might be Itella, which is a national postal service of Finland, and they usually make rounds to deliver packages to homes, but after that leave a note to the recipient and the package goes to the nearest Itella post office. So, I drove home and yeah, found it. First I thougth, wtf, behind the note there was an address and "after 12". I did not first understand that it was the Itella post office in downtown, but maybe I was a bit overwhelmed, because it's friday and I got my package and kids are going to their grandparents, so I have a free night to taste my new beloved ales :)
I took some pictures with my cell phone, but the fucker is not connecting to PC right now, so the final report of this endeavour is gonna happen later tonigt.
Everyhing's ok, cheers!
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