Half Acre (2021)

HA updated their earlier post to say that the benthic package is $150. Personally I’m a bit torn about this one, benthic is great but all the variants are more or less the same beer.

 

It’s just the obnoxiousness and wasted energy of having a post to announce you’ll be posting a non-working link in 2 days, but there will no other information at this time, come back tomorrow.

Just post all the info today when you post the variants, price, and pick up dates?

Also this whole paragraph, which is basically a long way of saying proxies are allowed, it will probably sell out.”

“A queue on the ticket link will form based on volume at random. After successful purchase, guest will be emailed a link to schedule pickup. Proxies permitted and can be added at second scheduling event. Tickets may sell out while you're in the queue”

 

Man this all sounds delicious.

 

I actually thought the exact same thing, but man do they sound good.

 

yeah, I love the beer, but nothing about the variants ever really stood out in a good way. The coconut and sweetness always shined, so adding more stuff to coconut just made it taste like…coconut.

 

Agree. Benthic by itself is great. Didn't like the vanilla or xtra dubl last year at all. The actual barrel and beer flavor was masked a ton. Not a huge fan of rum barrel flavor. And Vampira sounds like regular Benthic aged a little longer? Probably going to pass on the 12 pack and just grab regular Benthic packs especially at that $150 price point.

 

Variants are a bit disappointing

 

I kinda get it but that's probably just good marketing to continue to get you to check back for updates. Do they need to advertise a beer that's 100% going to sell out in minutes? No, but neither do most breweries for their barrel aged stouts. I personally don't mind the slow(er) release of information.

 

Agreed. This is not even a first-world problem.
I find it all quite hilarious, and even more so if I miss out on it!

 

I'll be in town during the pickup window, but from what I'm gathering I have to buy my beer and then hope that when I get to schedule the pickup the day I need is still available (or that they're flexible on pickup time/day like most breweries)? I know I can get a proxy but probably wouldn't purchase if I knew I had to go that route.

 

I screwed up last year on my pickup date and emailed them and got a date/time that worked for me. I can't imagine a brewery turning you away especially if you go at non-peak hours

 

Yeah. Old Ben last year was so cool and the brandy barrels have been more intriguing than rum, for me. Ultimately, I think regular Benthic has an awesome balance of coconut and coffee, no need to change it.

 

How long is regular benthic aged? Like, is it a yearish?

I guess I am reading between the lines here a bit, but seems like Vampire is a specialty curated selection of barrels, which consequently also were aged longer. Not to compare this too much to whiskey, but, you know, what they do with whiskey is you are constantly tasting the barrels, and based on the profile and how it is doing you say, “year, we’ll dump this soon” or “yeah, that’ll go for a bit longer”. How much longer is dictated by how that barrel continues to evolve.

So, what I am getting from reading this is that they had a selection of barrels that turned out really nice, and they ranged in age from 10-22 months. And rather than blend this into any variant or the base, we are going to really showcase what these barrels are doing by letting them stand alone.

Maybe I am just excited, especially since all I have ever had was a single can of the “standard” benthic.

 

You are correct....they also did this last year and called it Old Ben Benthic. I think that one was aged 10-36 months.

 

How does one "hand toast" coconut? Does this process differ in some way from popping a cookie sheet of it in the oven for a few minutes? Does it preserve more of the flavor by keeping it from over-drying? Serious questions.

 

I already asked someone this. I think it was last night at like 1am when I sent that text. Like, WTF. I guess they are directly using their hand to toss the coconut over an open fire.

 

I think it's them saying they toast it in house, rather than buying toasted coconut products

 

Ughh, I hate the whole waiting room ticket process. Making me wish this release was on Oznr.

 

I know that I am late to the party, but is Benthic normally this popular of a release - i.e. that it would instasell out in 1 minute if it was just a race to the finish? I'm surprised by this ticket process.