This post begins, as perhaps all blog posts must from this day on, with disclosure. I did not pay for the bottle of beer that I’m about to write about.
BrewDog in Scotland brewed it. Katrina Taft from the Rose Group arranged for it to be sent to me. A friendly UPS guy delivered it, the truck making its way up a dirt road maintained by the village of Corrales, New Mexico. Our daughter, Sierra, alerted me that UPS had left a box at the door so the beer did not linger in the New Mexico sun.
Thus, to satisfy the FTC, I’m alerting you that if I write anything nice about any of the folks above it could just be the beer talking. Did I mention how clever I think Sierra is?
As you can see I wasn’t the only beer blogger to receive a bottle of this rare and expensive beer (960 330ml bottles for all of the United States, suggested retail price of $25.95). It’s not like I’m special, it’s not like BrewDog needs the publicity, given the attention heaped on Tokyo* and Nanny State, it’s not like I don’t already know I like BrewDog’s beers . . . and it’s not like I wouldn’t have posted this video, which tells the story of the beer better than any words, and mentioned an obvious link to Pete Brown’s Hops & Glory.
Taft really didn’t have to volunteer to send me the beer. But she did, I said yes and so a few words about the beer and then the $26 question.
Atlantic IPA is, or maybe I should type was, an exceptional beer. I’m geeky enough I wish they’d done a “control” batch, that is bottling an equal number of beers that didn’t get on the boat. Then it would be easier to suggest what character the time at sea added.
It’s malt-rich and spicy hoppy, with wonderful depth — a little like Firestone Walker’s Double Barrel, but more intense — and layered flavors. Seems salty/briny, but perhaps that is the power of suggestion. A sipping beer, one bottle easily enough for two. A contemplative beer, so there’s time to think about . . .
Is it worth $26 for a little over 11 ounces?
I couldn’t make the decision on a relative basis. I wouldn’t trade Hops & Glory (about the same price if you have to get it shipped from Canada) for it. A bottle isn’t 24 times “better” than one of Stone IPA, relevant because I can buy a case of Stone at Costco for a little more than $27 or so.
Yada yada yada . . . let’s cut to the chase. I’d have to feel richer than I do most days to spend $26 for a bottle, but $7 for 3 ounces, I could do that.
You bring up one of the points I always use. Is it REALLY that much better? Like Westvletrn 12. I very much like this beer. But for the $30 you get a 33cl bottle of it around is it really 10x better than St Bernardus Abt. No…no its not. Once beers start hitting $30 I start thinking about the Scotch I can buy. 🙂
Is there any beer worth $2.72 an ounce?
Globalisation. The idea of everything being available everywhere has costs. Are they reasonable? Clearly not.
Kristen, you can thank Ratebeer for the Westvleteren situation. Even here in Amsterdam, the prices of Westvleteren 12 has gone up about 350 percent since Ratebeer sent out it’s self-promotional press release. Incidentally, the Westvleteren 12 still sells at the pre-Ratebeer price at the monastery: €1,58/bottle (in a crate of 24).
Clark and Kristen. We take pleasure from wine in our house. In fact, that’s what goes with dinner tonight. But I see myself paying $50 for a 750ml bottle of beer (I guess that’s what $26 for 11 ounces converts to) before I do for wine. Retail, that is, restaurants change the equation.
And Mike, as much as I like Westvleteren I figure I have to go there to drink it. Making it even more expensive ;>)
If you were a brewer seeing it bring that much in the secondary market wouldn’t you – as BrewDog has done – decide to charge more out of the chute? So that more of the profit ends up with you rather than the moneychangers?
I meant to comment on this last week and somehow got distracted. You had a similar reaction to this that I did–right down to the question of “worth”–and even posting that video.
One of these cliches fits the occasion: “Great minds think alike” or “Even a blind squirrel [me] finds a nut from time to time.”