Do you think JS or MB will ever releases any more bottled seasonal? With LC and Feral and to some extent (and who would have ever though I would say this) GR providing some pretty tasty bottled special releases, I am a little surprised the other appear to have stopped, any opinions?
Could be off the wall and say that both are rewarding venues that stock them on tap. Read something where Hahn said the Hop thief was not going to be bottled as it was so heavily dry hopped. That is a fair call for that type of style.
on the JS blog I recall seeing a while back that the team were 'so busy' cranking out the JS that they had no time for Mad Brewers. I am not a brewer but this is not the first time I have seen this happen (e.g. Murray's flat out on supplying ever-expanding pub-list therefore less time for new bottled releases) Seriously folks, drink less Squire (!)
I would imagine that the keg profit ratio it a fair bit higher too, for both retail and thier wholesale, A shop near me still has thier rasberry wheat beer in the fridge,
last mad brewers release 'wee highlander' was one of their better releases i reckon, quizzed the bloke at GABS why it wasn't a bottle release and if i remember correctly the issue was tank space. last gage roads limited release that ended up at GABS was also their best beer yet.
Its called Aye Aye PA, a rum barrel black ipa. The Sail had it on tap at the beginning of the dark beer fest too.
If that was the one I was thinking of, then it tasted like Bubblegum Ice Cream and I offended one of the brewers.
I know one thing - Matilda Bay is making some fine small batch beers (brown ales, saisons, etc) and serving them on tap over at the Port Melbourne Brewery. Was very surprised given their base range has become complete rubbish (Helga, IGP, Fat Yak, etc). Also a shame they decided to marginalise Alpha, Dog, etc and bump up the price to absurd levels. Mad Brewers were putting out some great beers - I also wonder when the next one might be.....
They (Dog, Rooftop Red, Alpha, Bohemian) used to be about $60 a carton, $18 a 6 pack and on tap all over Perth. And it was my favourite brewery probably in Aust. Very solid beers - better than most similar style examples being brewed in Australia now. And there are no Vienna lagers around (Rooftop). Now Dog, Alpha, Bohemian are $90 a carton, $25 a 4 pack, and barely on tap anywhere. As soon as they were rebranded this happened overnight. And then appeared the comparatively cheaper Fat Yak, then Helga and more recently the horrible IGP.
Fair enough, I believe you must be referring to a time which preceded my craft beer drinking (so ~4 years ago)
Yeah it would be good if they could sell the Alpha in six packs and at roughly the same price as LC Pale. Selling Alpha in this form for most likely 2-3 dollars more than Fat Yak a six pack still distinguishes the products IMO.
