Thomas Hardy Ale (2015-)

We currently have two listing for Thomas Hardy Ale for the 2015 and onward vintages, since Interbrau took over the brand.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/5062/262497/
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/46312/238356/

The Thomas Hardy Ale website does not give a brewery at all and if you google this you will find both italian articles that claim it is being brewed at Brew Invest and english articles that claim it is being brewed at Meantime. The bottle label only lists the Thomas Hardy Ale website and Interbrau, making no mention of either Brew Invest or Meantime. Neither Brew Invest nor Meantime's websites make any mention of it. Also, since it's contract brewed and the brand is owned by Interbrau, shouldn't they be listed as the "brewer", as they are on both Untapped and Ratebeer?

The two listings above definitely seem to be duplicates of each other, I'm just trying to figure out how to best correct this. I already suggested an edit to delete the Meantime listing and consolidate the reviews, but I'm not entirely sure where to go with this anymore. Since the brand is no longer associated with a specific brewer and contract brewed for the brand owner Interbrau, it seems like they should be listed, even though they are not technically a brewer. Not sure how to handle this, suggestions?

 

I think this is a fairly unique case, as Thomas Hardy Ale has pretty much become a brewerless brand that is owned and contract brewed by a large beer conglomerate. Even if we can figure out if it is being brewed at Meantime or Brew Invest, it's not part of their portfolio, it's merely contract brewed there, so they shouldn't really be listed as the brewer by Beer Advocates own standards. Then again, should we really list a beer conglomerate like Interbrau as the brewer? Like I said, both Untapped and Ratebeer do this, but it's a bit of a pickle, to be honest. Interbrau is also the only entity listed on the label.

 

Having done a bit more research, most sources actually point towards Meantime being the contract brewer here. The best solution is probably to list Meantime as the brewer and add a note saying "Contract brewed for Interbrau SpA".

Like I said, this kinda goes against BA standards for how to handle contract brewed beers, but short of creating an entry for Interbrau SpA as a brewer, which would be kinda ridiculous, this seems to be best solution.

 

Great, thanks a lot. These two should probably be switched over to Interbrau SpA as well then:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/5062/267881/
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/5062/330541/

Also, how did you mark the other entry? I can't seen any mention of Brew Invest or Meantime.