Ballast Point beer name changes

That's a $1,000,000,000 name change

 

I wonder if this will also include their other beer names such as Sculpin and Big Eye.

 

As a rehearsed Michael Scott might say - the timing is nothing short of predominant.

 

A case of don't fix what isn't broken. If the names were better I'd think otherwise, but they're extremely generic. Hopefully Sculpin remains the same.

 

Interesting. These are two styles which I don't believe have any historical association with California. I don't see any obvious marketing benefit to this change, which if anything refutes BP's branding. But then, BP can afford to hire lots of marketers far smarter than I.

 

I saw this on Facebook, not sure how I feel about it. I think the aquatic theme is a strong brand that BP has developed...it works with the names, the brewery location, and their art. These names are generic and don't continue the theme at all. I guess I can see them worrying that the fish theme might turn some people off, or maybe they're trying to be more descriptive about their styles. But still, I'm sad at the thought of them moving away from the fish names.

 

This reminds me of an old Saturday Night Live skit about NBC changing their logo:

“On the January 10, 1976 edition of NBC's Saturday Night (now Saturday Night Live), Weekend Update host Chevy Chase and Gilda Radner mocked the new logo and its $1 million design cost (at the end of Chase's comments, Radner appeared as the "Dancing 'N'", with an NBC logo-shaped costume covering her head and upper torso).”

They changed from the Peacock to just a “N” and that costed them $1 million?

Cheers!

 

These are two accessible beers/styles for people not deep into craft beer. Makes sense to change the name to something easily grabbed from the shelf from those not "in the know". My guess is the majority here don't drink either of these two.

No way will they change Sculpin, Dorado, VaS etc.

 

Apparently, the marketing department thinks there's no way fish names on beer are going to appeal to the masses. Chelada, anyone?

 

Maybe, California IPA and Another California IPA sounds awfully catchy.

Besides who wants to confuse the mass market with fish names.

Sorry for the sarcasm, but I am unimpressed by this.

 

These name changes aren't for you guys. Let's not be dumb here.

 

For those of you who have had it, how much of a Pale Ale was BPs Pale? Kind of weird for a Pale Ale to be rebranded as a Kolsch.

 

Anyone figure out the BP six pack price thing yet? Maybe if they lowered the price the beer wouldn't turdify on shelves

 

55° is warm for an amber. No?

 

I believe it was always in the kolsch style. I found it to be very bready and sweet. Almost no hops for me. Especially if they use kolsch yeast, Idk if they do, its a better representation than calling it a pale.

 

It always was a Kolsch style pale ale but people had to read the fine print to figure that out. That's probably why they changed the name. Too much confusion. Perhaps the third name change will work better for them.

Be interesting to know if the ratings go up now that folks can more quickly and easily tell it's a Kolsch style rather than an APA. :-)

 

Name changes are not important to me..it's what's inside the bottle that I care about..keep that the same and we are good to go

 

They will never change the name of Sculpin IPA. They've been bought but they negotiated with being still having free reign over their brewery. They still operate over their breweries and still have the ease of distribution.

 

We knew that the Pale Ale was more like a golden ale, and a bit Kolsch-like. The Pale Ale struggled to sell in a market craving big, strong beers. Renaming Pale Ale as Kolsch is a great seasonal and permanent move.

 

Did you regularly buy Ballast Point Pale Ale? It has never been like many excellent American Pale Ales. Labelled as a Kolsch, BP Pale Ale should sell better. Are they tweaking the recipe?

 

This "Pale Ale" has always been a "Kolsch." All they simply are doing is putting kolsch now on the can. The beer is still the same.

 

Big companies have big marketing departments. That big department has to at least appear to be doing something, so...

 

It appears that they think the word "California" has some kind of marketing value?

 

It always was (in the fine print) labeled a Kolsch style. The name change brings that up front and centered.

 

Satisfies (?) the BAs who loudly shout that Kolsch can only be brewed in the Koln area of Germany.

 

I had forgotten that, but it wasn't my type of "Kolsch". I still wonder if the recipe will be changed at all?

 

Actually I'd like see them improve the recipe since I've had Kolsch and Kolsch-style beers I liked better.

 

I believe they want to market BP globally as that "sunny beach California dreamin' " brewery. I see where they're coming from. Now at every tap they have strong holded (holding corona prices hostage), your average consumer will see these "California" themed beers. It truly fits in the theme that Corona tries to play with their commercials and whole marketing campaign.

Can one even include a state name in a trademarked name of a beer?

 

Absolutely. Not only that, but a city as well. Great Divide Denver Pale Ale, for example.

 

Don't understand the name changes unless they feel that they will boost sales. I thought the original names were just fine........

 

I rarely buy Ballast Point, but when I do, it's usually one of these two... and I'm in "deep" but perhaps not a majority.

 

Good point I never tried their pale ale it seemed just another pale ale. Now that I know it's a Kolsch I'll pick some up.

 

Due to the brewery and packaging, it's easy to go into this beer expecting an "American pale ale," but when tried "blind" it reveals itself to be better than that. It's not a bad kolsch-esque beer. I've had other American kolsches that were more pale ale-ish than this one. I know you like Schlafly's, and personally, I like Schlafly's better.

I think it might have been more dominantly labeled a kolsch two packaging iterations ago... but I can't remember exactly. As has been stated, this switch is really a switch between the title and the subtitle/fine print... since it still says "pale ale."

Pale ale was a bad fit. A real kolsch isn't an ale, and consumers looking for a typical "American pale ale" would be let down.

 

I don't think they are changing all their beer names-just more of a retro reboot-would you get rid of 'sculpin'???IDTS....

 

Not sure why they ever called a Kolsch a Pale Ale anyway...

 

It's weird. As an APA I had no interest in it, but as a Kolsch, I want to pick it up and try it.

 

Looking at images of old bottles is telling me that I remembered that wrong.

 

The renaming of Calico seems silly.. But in all honesty, "Pale Ale" was not doing their Kolsch any favors. I'm not sure why they ever called it Pale Ale considering there's plenty of California breweries that clearly established what a "Pale Ale" was, so it's not like BP could have ever said that 'Pale Ale" means something different in Cali

 

Pale ale should definitely change it's name. Thought it was APA and man it was just a lager like kolsch.