Don't believe the hype...

I was intrigued by the hype in the US around the Founders KBS 2015 release and more recently in the UK the Magic Rock Brewery's UnHuman Cannonball 2015  launch, and the twitter discussions it raised, see #UHCDay2015.
They follow the same set-up; organised your launch day and venue, limit availability to the wider beer community through geography and volume, sell your beer!

Perhaps nothing new if you are living in the states, where this sort of thing happens quite frequently, but relatively new to the UK. But it is starting to happen more often, off the top of my head Sirencraft Brewery even released a video heralding the release of their Maiden 2014 barley wine. In Ireland, a similar experience can be seen with the release of Galway Bay's 200 Fathoms but not to the same extremes.

So is this type of thing good for the beer market or more importantly the consumer?
From a marketing perspective, no one is reinventing the wheel here and it makes perfect business sense. Generate some hype, limit the stock, raise the price and you are almost guaranteed to shift units. But the product has to be at least good if not great to make it more than a one-off. If the beer is rubbish no one will return, if the beer is good you will be forgiven but probably forgotten, if the beer is great you can create a yearly release where the hype will grow and grow. In the latter case, you will create a great white whale, for the whale hunters in the beer community to go on a quest for. I have been lured into this myself, mainly by Founders KBS, which I finally managed to get a bottle of and may review in the not too distant future.

Photos courtesy of Rick Fortier

This turns my attention to the effect on the beer consumer. A bit of hype generates excitement, creates a bit of buzz in the community and encourages friends to share the odd hard-to-get beer or two. With particular launches, a whole day (for KBS this is a whole week) is set aside including music, food and beer. A bit of community building is never a bad thing, so all good? Well, when you look at it like that, it is hard to see the issue. But one problem is that due to the limited availability not everyone will get the beer, and some of those people will invariably take to the internet to pay large sums of their hard earned cash to obtain these legendary beers at over-inflated prices. Or end up in a very lopsided beer trade. So what? That is their problem if they are willing to pay the price or are willing to trade the beer. But what if the people who are buying up this beer, don't even like the beer and are looking to make a few bucks or use as currency for beer trading. Much like the modern day ticket tout, who I have a deep-seated disliking for, but that is a different story. I suppose that is a moral question for the beer tout and the whale hunter.

Another fallout of all this is hype and legend being built around a beer that isn't actually that great, it is simply just a good beer. Or a beer that was awesome but hasn't moved on, and in amongst the current raft of beers wouldn't even register. Yet queues of people turn out every year to get that one allocated bottle or four pack. You can actually see this happen with Stone Brewing (http://www.stonebrewing.com/) who have taken it upon themselves to admit this with such beers as Ruination IPA which they are stopping production of. This will be replaced by Ruination 2.0 (http://blog.stonebrewing.com/index.php/goodbye-stone-ruination-ipa/) which will up the game for the current market and will ensure the legend continues. Should more breweries follow suit and move with the times, or would that ruin some of the nostalgia for that particular taste people want from that particular beer? File this one under thoughts and musings.

My name is Bruce!

PS) I recently read a similar, if not more eloquent opinion on this by The Beer Nut read it in his post Why beer doesn't matter.

Galway Bay Brewery the arrival....

So finally beer-heads north of the Border get a chance to purchase Galway Bay Brewery’s offerings right on our doorstep. Twitter nearly had a fit as it followed the first shipment from Galway to the bottle shop shelves and quite rightly so! This is a great thing, not only because it is a wider variety of Irish produced beer on our shelves, but in my opinion their Of Foam and Fury is currently the best core-range beer produced in Ireland.

So it is with a celebratory tone I have decided to do my first review post on these three beauties from Galway Bay: the aforementioned Of Foam and Fury, their recent pilot beer Desperate Mile and last but not least the legendary 200 Fathoms.

Desperate Mile

Let's start with a 5.4% hoppy sour beer from their pilot series.

Pours bright golden with a puffy white head that doesn't stick around. The aroma of this is that lovely funk that comes off sours, mixed with a bit of grapefruit. The taste really wakes up the mouth with a mix of sherbet, more grapefruit and lime. That initial mouth puckering sour gives way to a long dry finish that makes you want to take another mouthful. A cracking beer that I hope becomes a staple, it is definitely a summer beer and one you could drink all day long.

Of Foam and Fury

Up next is their Imperial/Double IPA, clocking in at 8.5% ABV.

Definite caramel colour in the glass with a slightly off-white head, it gives the appearance that it is packed with flavour and unsurprisingly it is. Big tropical fruit smell, think oranges and pineapples, and sweets (yes like sticking your nose in a 10p mix... which probably don't exist anymore). That nose follows through into the taste with lots of orange and pineapple which is followed by a big whack of piney bitterness. All of that is balanced by a strong caramel malt backbone. Altogether this is an awesome beer that fills all the senses and belies the 8.5% ABV. It is even better on draught but be warned, you may have walked into the bar, but you will stagger out.

200 Fathoms

Finally is a beer of legend 200 Fathoms. An annual limited release Imperial Stout, weighing in at 10% ABV and this year aged in Teeling Whiskey Small Batch Rum barrels.

This just oozes out of the bottle completely pitch black with a brown head. You don't even have to stick your head in the glass to catch the aromas of booze, coffee and chocolate. But once you do, you pick up more subtle vanilla and molasses notes. Completely lost for words on the first mouthful! Thoroughly coats the mouth in an oily boozy hug. Lots of that coffee, chocolate, vanilla and molasses from the nose but with the addition of dark fruit and a more pronounced whiskey flavour. This is completely up my street, totally my type of beer and stands shoulder to shoulder with the big named imperial stouts I have tried. As awesome as this is, a bit of aging will mellow out that big booziness that you smell, taste and feel. Glad I have another 3 bottles because this will just get better and better. This is currently like gold dust but if you are looking, McHuges Off License may still have some - but be quick!

To have these all in one sitting was a great way to start my weekend and to say I had a good night would be an understatement. So welcome to Northern Ireland Galway Bay Brewery, can't wait for more of your pilot series to arrive up here but for now I will be content with more Of Foam and Fury!

My name is Bruce.