Every year, the Portsmouth Brewery releases Kate the Great. It’s a Russian Imperial Stout that people line up around the block to get. Hardly 2 years ago when this beer was released you could walk in and get a growler filled or buy a few bottles from the cooler in the brewpub’s store. No lines, no hassles, no hype machine leading up to the release day. All it took were a few gushing reviews and the beer nerd community ran with it. Now you have lines, mob scenes, and of course the nitwits that only care about getting the latest release up on eBay. (Insert whiny pro-capitalist rebuttal here.) Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should. But I digress. I’ll rant about greedy beer tickers another day.
Yesterday, Allagash Brewing up in Portland released the second beer in a limited series. The first release, “Gargamel,” was back in May and I wasn’t able to get there for it. There was a bit of drama surrounding my attempts to secure some from afar but needless to say, I didn’t get any. This really bummed me out for the simple reason that I knew what I was missing. In most cases, the people buying this stuff have never had it before. They are going on hype and reputation. Breweries like Allagash aren’t exactly plastering ads in national magazines for this stuff. Maybe a little blurb on their website, a few articles in beer-centric blogs, and the all-powerful hype machines also known as the BeerAdvocate and RateBeer forums. This how most people get their interest piqued before a beer release.
Since Allagash is “local” beer for me, I was fortunate to be able to sample Gargamel at a beer festival earlier this year. It was amazing. I had seconds and thirds. When asked if it would ever be available in bottles they told me it would be released “in a few months in limited quantities at the brewery only.” Other life commitments didn’t allow me to make that first release day, but for this latest release, I planned ahead. Went up Sunday, spent some time at The Great Lost Bear and Novare Res and on Monday morning, I headed over to Allagash.
I didn’t even get there when they opened. I strolled in, bought my bottles, and left. No crowds, no lines, no problems. However, I am not sure this will last. The first release was still available for sale after a few days. This second release, known as “Vagabond,” sold out by lunchtime. If memory serves, there were 800 bottles of Gargamel up for sale to Vagabond’s 500 bottles.
So why do I say “hype light?” Because it seems like each release is getting more publicity. The insanity that a Kate the Great Day ushers in hasn’t arrived here yet. I am going to bet at the next release there will be more people and it will sell out sooner. Crowds and craziness will ensue. Luckily for me, I can easily get to and stay in Portland and have flexibility with my job. Getting to these events (when I really want to) should not be a problem. I’m just not sure I want to deal with the congestion that accompanies these popular releases. Perhaps I just need to suck up and deal, but in the meantime, I will enjoy what I can get on my terms.
Actually, I should just brew this kind of stuff and ignore all the hype and crowds…
