Panzanella: our next small batch is in the tasting room this Sunday 7/13/14 at noon and in the bars that get it starting next week. Draft only. Let us know what you think. PANZANELLA SALTED FRUIT/VEGETABLE ALE ABV: 3.8% | IBU: 15 | SRM: 9 You only have to see so many pumpkin beers showing up on shelves in mid-summer before you do a seasonal reality check. Being from the Garden State we are fully aware the flavors of midsummer are. With Panzanella we play that game. A salted ale built around malts chosen to play croutons, Summit hops chosen for their garlic/onion pungency, dry hopped with tomatoes and cucumbers evoking that classic midsummer salad. Drink Panzanella at a picnic table and save the gourds for the harvest.
Got very excited about this when i read the write up in the latest issue of Draft magazine... know if any will make its way down to your South Jersey or Philly accounts?
It is the same size batch/distro as the last couple small batches so the places you saw, Comma, Rickey, Gorp should get it. This Thursday 7/10/14 at Maloney's we will bring 1 along as well as a Regular Coffee, 07747 and a couple other things if that's easy for you
Jesse brewed it he is pre-disposed to "great." what it tastes like is a bready beer with oniony hop aromas and a finish of cucumbers and tomatoes, you tell us if its "great." (i do love it thought)
I love myself some Carton, but the "Find our beer" list on your website is an eyesore. Anyway you could put up a map?
The answer to that is "it's in the works with a bunch of other things that keep falling behind 'we need more beer" but I get it and it's being worked on. For now you gotta know your counties and bear with us. Thanks.
thurs/fri 5-7:30 fri/sat noon-5 we fill growlers of everything and currently have boat, dub and mctw in cans
Carton just tweeted this interview. @augiecarton talks about panzanella in it. There is a cool Hill Farmstead interview on there too.
@augiecarton do you guys self-distro or is it done via a distributor? I see Torst is serving Panzanella @ $6 for 5oz ($1.20 per ounce), which is considerably higher than any other bar that has it listed on beer menus (inc some others in NYC), all of which are in the $0.50-0.70 per ounce range. Just curious what your thoughts are as a brewer with regards to how much bars charge for your product.
In general when it comes to all business i am pretty hands off. Outside NJ I have come to my decisions on what i charge my distributor, he has come to his decisions on what he charges his customers, his customers have come to their decisions on what they charge their customers, and finally their customers decide what they will pay. If at some point someone gets it wrong along that chain the market will make sure that link goes away. In NJ we self-distribute and i have taken beer away from some accounts because i feel they are behaving improperly, but it wasn't just for overcharging. Like i said i believe the market will sort that out, but in these cases people were approaching us with ideas like "make us your only small batch bar in Asbury and we will not carry other local brews." When I saw this place was charging $7 dollars for a shaker of Boat when a legitimate pint was available close by for $4 i decided our dealing with them would in the long run hurt our reputation so we severed ties. All that being said we make some very unusual beers that require some hand selling. In the case of Panzanella its a 3.8% beer that is made to taste like a light summer salad. In places that don't take the time Torst does to learn the beer and explain it it is often misunderstood. A bartender elsewhere says "its a tomato beer" or "its supposed to taste like a salad" the customers order it and expect something that tastes like ketchup or ranch dressing, or or something else. They are left with the feeling it just tastes like a lighter beer with maybe some tomato or cucumber or onions or salt, which is exactly what we want, yet they are let down. As a customer i appreciate the value of the experience of the establishment and server trying harder, i know they cost more and am willing to pay for it in most cases. Nutshell: as a brewer i pay attention but try to give people the rope to hang themselves as a customer seeking out beers this small and unique i prefer the interaction the cost affords.
that was getting a little long so i gave a courtesy flush. but to finish up "the city" which to Carton is Kings, Queens, and Manhattan got 8 sixtels of that beer. So 5120 ounces for 8,405,837 people is $1.20 anywhere near as crazy as some people would handle marking up some beer?
Your longer post definitely makes sense - thanks for the thoughtful response Re: your last sentence in this one, what you're saying is given how little beer made it to NYC then $1.20 / ounce could have been a lot worse? I mean I guess I get what you're saying. Still - charging almost double the average price vs elsewhere is a little extreme - the great explanation from the Torst bartender isn't worth quite that much to me. But anyway thanks for explaining - Torst IMO is bad with pricing and I was just curious to get a brewer's thoughts directly.
Yes, what I am saying is there are bars in town that would charge much more. There are brewers selling in town that would use words like "rare" to hype. And there are distributors that would work to make 1 guy take the whole allocation taking away your ability to compare and decide. I get your concern but to me you can't consider this question without the intangeable costs of things like aesthetics. In my drinking about town I view Torst as a clean, quiet, properly lit place that takes beer seriously. It is a different experience than the other NYC places I love. I can see how making the desicion not to hype rarity or releases and not trying to jam a room full of excited bodies is an ineffective cost desicion in the NYC world of beer service. Not trading on hype by treating things like the most prescios liquid in town proabably requires them to charge a little more. In some cases that's the perfect room to spend a couple dollars and drink a couple brews. Other times you'll find me at Mission D or Tiger or Jimmy's or 2x Windsor ... You see where this is going.
Totally agree with everything you say except other places in town potentially charging more - nobody charges more than Torst except possibly Proletariat. But you're right - it's a very different type of drinking experience. And while the decor, draft system and knowledge are definitely worth a premium, to me personally that would stop at say 20-25% extra. 100% extra is just too much (for me). But I know I'm in the minority - most BAs seem to love the place. The last place you mention (2 x Windsor) is my absolute favourite. Reasonable prices, helpful staff, well-curated selection and zero hyping. And a f**king good burger too! Double Windsor and Owl Farm are the two closest NYC beer bars to my apartment, so I feel fortunate.
Panzanella is the perfect response to this pumpkin-in-July thing. So out of control. Keep the hits coming, Augie!!
Isn't it amazing what a great cheeseburger can do for a straight forward beer bar? Come to Barnacles down by us and definitely hit Fountain Porter next time you're in Philly. Solid beer bars with decent beer and an amazing cheeseburger VS multi tap craft meccas needs to be a BA thread of its own.
