RJH wrote:

I forget the line of reasoning. It was something along the lines of your next
production run is determined by your previous. Wetherspoons would hold out
until the last moment and hoover up beer that had to be sold at wholesale
auction events. This meant the beer was sold, informing the next run of
brewing, but not at the expected price.

Can't blame Wetherspoons for that; if the brewers don't like it, every
now and then they could sell it cheap to someone else so that
Wetherspoons miss out, encouraging them to buy earlier or pay more next
time ...