Anyone going to this? Their website (http://victorybeer.com/news/red-thunder/) says it'll be distributed over a fairly wide area, and I just can't see the demand matching last years' dark intrigue release (people camping out the night before in the parking lot, etc.).
No, but I will pick up some bottles from distro. Just from the convos I heard in line it seemed like a lot of the folks were more Victory fans than all-out beer geeks. I think that's because they pimped the release hard to customers creating an unnecessarily crowded release. Either way, I'm not waiting in line to pay more ($15 for DI last year when it could be found for less in distro) for this beer. I do have somewhat high expectations for it, though.
This. After waiting in line, having Victory deny some who waiting, only for it to be widely distributed at a lower price was very infuriating. When I saw it in Rochester, NY for $13.xx after I paid $15 on release day, I vowed very to wait for a Victory release again.
Sounds awsome. I doubt there will be any malarky involved in this release. Hell nobody said anything when bourbon barrel aged Otto came out and that is a remarkable brew.
Does anyone know which particular Wente wine barrel it was aged in? All I've heard so far is "red wine," but that is not very specific...I'm curious of the varietal...
According to the Communications Manager at Victory, the information written in the thread above about DI is pretty accurate. People were able to find it in distribution after the release and many distributors priced it lower than we did. That was not Victory's expectation and certainly not their intent, but it happened. Supposedly, it won't happen this year with Red Thunder as their pricing message will be more clear. There will have a release party at the brewery on 11/21 and more details about that are coming soon. It will be a fun event for anyone looking to score some Red Thunder before Thanksgiving and enjoy some time at Victory as well. It will be different than either of the Dark Intrigue releases and more information will be published about that in the coming weeks. As for Red Thunder, Victory experimented with Baltic Thunder in a red wine barrels approximately 5 years ago. They acquired a used Cabernet Sauvignon barrels from Chaddsford winery and aged some Red Thunder in it. At the same time, Victory also acquired Chardonnay wine barrels to age Golden Monkey. They were happy with the results of both and are thrilled to be able to recreate that delicious flavor combination for a wider audience this year with the release of Red Thunder. This time, they are aging Baltic Thunder in used Wente red wine barrels. It will aged for approximately 4 months before being packaged in 750ml cork and caged bottles. I can say I had an opportunity to taste both wine barrel aged barrels of Red Thunder and Winey Monkey (as it was called at the time). Red Thunder was very tasty, but the wine barrel aged version of GM was really outstanding. I hope they can recreate that version of Winey Monkey again.
If I had to pay what Victory was charging(at the second release) for DI I would of been irritated. I hope they don't jack up everyones price on Red Thunder.
Dark Intrigue is still on the shelves at some places in Philly. No need to camp out for this one if you're interested in it.
