Furious Black

It seems like Omar is too rich to give a damn about new and exciting beers...

 

What's even more strange about the $14-15 Furious Black in Iowa is that Damien is $7.99. Wouldn't that be the more costly of the two to produce? Really think this is a case of mixed margins if not outright pricing error. I know we sometimes see more expensive products and are a different market but we are talking about nearly 2x here ($15 vs 8) not even like 25-40% like you might see with an additional tier, not that there is in MN since Surly changed to JB/Artisan.

 

I thought that Damien was the second runnings of Darkness. Essentially it is a way for them to produce another beer from the mash, I would assume it is actually pretty cost effective from an ingredient standpoint if you factor the grain cost already wrapped up in Darkness.

 

Yeah, I was mistaken about the $12.99 price. It was 14.99.

 

There have been a lot of changes over the last couple of years that haven't particularly sat well with a lot of the old die hards.

 

I picked up a Furious Black for $7.99, and even at that price it was a one and done. At $15, it would have been an easy pass. I much prefer Damien anyways.

 

MG Costco has them for $5.49

 

Crazy to see the vast price range for this Surly release . I saw it for $6 in Saint Paul and passed on it . I had this on tap a couple times last year and it’s good but I can’t think of a single reason to buy this over any other Surly release.

Now if I could get the new Darkness for $6 I’d be quite happy.

 

We are seeing bombers sales in this market drop like dead flies. Less and less people are willing to purchase over priced bomber choosing to spend their money else where. Heck, even Bauhaus has decided to discontinue all bomber sales. Smart move Bauhaus!

 

Source?

 

Wow. The co-head brewers are really showing off their talent by adding some darker malt to get Furious Black. Just killing it over there...

 

Pretty sure this is not their recipe. Furious black has made previous appearances at the last couple of Darkness days. The Cooper I had yesterday probably is theirs and I thought they did a pretty good job with it!

 

It's posts like this that erodes BA credibility in the industry. At industry meetings, general brewer 'get togethers, or other times that owners/brewers gather together, BA posts become a humorous talking point because the comments tend to be sooooo far off base. I mean, so far off reality that it is almost sad. Almost all brewers and owners I know laugh at what this site had become.

I'm sure I'll get ripped, but what the heck. I use this site for business recon, but I find it almost worthless for that purpose now... so I'm done.

When I get on here asking (or bring negative opinions) about a situation, I'm usually talking about the realities of a new brewery making it. I'm purposely looming at and correlating responses. This comes from experience.... I've been in the industry a long time and currently am involved in a number of efforts consulting into the industry (M&A diligence or financial guidance). Most here would be shocked at what really is happening behind the scenes.

It ain't rosy folks.

But I digress. Comments like above.... do you brew? I don't mean homebrew... I mean brew for an entity that is trying to pay the bills to keep people employed? Trying to make supply chains work? Busting your tail until 2am to fix a mechanical problem? Working intensely to make sure quality efforts are in place - things that the average person has no clue about? And don't let size of the brewery fool you.

Ben and Jerrod are TOP NOTCH.

What most brewery owners, brewers or others in the craft world say is something like this... my words but definitely a common thread....

"BA folks forget that there are real people on the other side of their negative posts they launch. And even more frustrating, BA people think they know what is going on, but in so many cases, are so, so far away from reality that it's comical".

Now, you can read my above and think, "what an A-hole".

Do you know Ben or Jerrod? Do you know the history or the decisions that resulted in this beer? Please... enlighten us in your knowledge.

The two human beings are awesome brewers, even better people. (No, I don't work for Surly).

You really must not understand how incredibly incompetent your comment make you look to the industry you supposedly love.

 

I'm happy you are so established in the "industry" which make me wonder, why are you here? Since when did this site have any credibility? Its just anonymous people with too much time on their hands talking about beer. Nothing to take seriously. Stop trolling us and move on!

 

Thanks for the info. Always good to have some perspective. We are all people as well though, 'anonymous industry consultant'. Maybe you should be a better example of what you are asking for and not paint with such a broad brush? If you notice, another BAer took issue with the post in question almost immediately.

Furthermore, it's the consumers role in the marketplace to seek value. We are telling you that Furious Black (particularly in IA) is not valuable. I would not suggest that this reflects on the brewer's skill, but rather business decisions, something you supposedly know something about. I would think you still value customer feedback, even if it's in the form of how many bombers are turding up on the shelves.

 

Two thoughts. One is you're right, the Furious Black comment was simultaneously stupid & accurate, because Surly hasn't been much of an innovator the past several years. Two is that just because there are "real people" behind breweries, ergo they should not be criticized, is just silly. Real people sometime make bad decisions & shitty beer. If they do, as consumers, we have every right to come on a beer-oriented website & call them out for it.

I mean, did you ever see "Gigli"? If you force me to pay money for the beer equivalent of that train wreck of a movie, I'm going to be irritated.

 

Obviously there's probably some additional recipe formulation, but you can go on Surly's website and literally see that the ingredients are exactly the same except for the addition of Carafa 3...

http://surlybrewing.com/beer/furious/
http://surlybrewing.com/beer/furious-black/

 

There's certainly some industry elitism toward the lowly laymen with untrained palates who dare to criticize what the experts have so generously provided them (see, the derision can go both ways). You can cherry-pick the baseless snark, but a lot of the antipathy for BA derives from industry participants understandably not wanting to experience negative public feedback, even when it is well-informed.

Overall, BA and similar sites drive consumer interest and help to guide the industry to produce what customers (i.e., the people who pay good money for this stuff) want to drink. It's no accident that the craft beer explosion occurred in the social media era. BA is far from a perfect forum, but to view it as a net negative for the industry as a whole is naive.

I encourage brewers and others in the industry to wade through the garbage, overcome their disdain, and chime in to keep us better informed. If there are myths being propagated here, don't just mock BA users "[a]t industry meetings, general brewer 'get togethers,' or other times that owners/brewers gather together." Set the record straight.

 

Like $8 in St cloud, picked up a bottle, enjoyed it. Saved one for the old collection and called it a day.

 

So...I actually really like this beer and I generally avoid black ipas like the plague. Really nice, smooth and chocolately