How Much?
Alright loyal readers, here's a great chance to make your opinion known. Based on our web traffic I know that there's only 1-2 comments per 100 readers, but I'm hoping that some of the lurkers will give me some feedback on this one. We've been given a chance to pre-order some cases of the Ola Dubh series from the Harviestoun brewery in Scotland. Essentially, it's an 8% imperial porter aged in Highland Park casks. For the first run, they've aged the beer in 12yr, 16yr, and 30yr Highlannd Park Single Malt barrels. If the project is well received they'll continue the series with 40 year and 60 year barrels.
My question to you is this: How much should we get? Outside the reviews, the only information I have is that the bottles are 11.2oz and will apparently cost $10-11 for the 12yr, $11-12 for the 16yr, and $16-18 for the 30yr (Don't quote me on that, prices subject to change, blah,blah blah). I would assume that the more we order the lower the aggregate shipping cost will be, and I'm not sure we'll be able to get more than one order, so I was hoping I could use this post to gauge interest in this series.
Please don't get me wrong, I'm intrigued enough that I'm going to order at least a couple cases of each no matter what, but I want to make sure we get enough for everyone who'd like to try it. Considering the recent frenzy around barrel-aged beers like Abyss and Top Sail, I figured I'd do what I can to keep people informed.
Labels: barrel-aged beer, Harviestoun, Highland Park, Ola Dubh
posted by Chris @ 9:31 PM
21 comments
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21 Comments:
While I'm usually a big fan of English beer, this one doesn't sound like something I'd buy (unlike Old Engine Oil, or the other Harviestoun beers). I wouldn't say no to a sample of Ola Dubh, and I might pick up a bottle, but the review doesn't make it sound like something I'd like.
Let's put it this way, if there was a way to pre-pay/pre-order I would come in today!
(I would happily pick up 1 of the 12 yr, 1 of the 16yr, and 2 of 30yr).
Can't wait!
Thanks guys, that's exactly the type of input I was looking for. Please keep the comments coming folks...
~Chris
I'd certainly be interested in at least a bottle of each!
As a fan of porters and stouts, I would love to get a bottle of each. Just make sure I know when it comes in so I can get some!
I love Old Engine Oil, and would like to try at least the 12-year, and heck the 16 isn't much more, so yeah, I'm into trying them
I would certainly be interested in picking up a min. of 3 of each vintage. Let us know if we can place our order/reservation ahead of time (so we don't miss the opportunity if you don't order that much)!
-Jeremy
Thanks again guys. As far as reserving/pre-ordering stuff goes, it's kind of tough when it comes to stuff like this because I won't know the actual cost until the delivery hits. My estimates were based on prices I've seen quoted for these beers elsewhere in the country, so it could veary by as much as $1-2 per bottle, hopefully on the low side :)
The best I can offer right now is that anyone who's interested should send an email to "hopstar2 at gmail dot com" and I'll create a lsit of who's interested and how much you'd like. Then when it arrives I can send a group email to everyone who contacted me.
Last but not least, please keep the comments coming. If you live somewhere where the beer is already available, and you've had a chance to sample it please let us know your thoughts...
Now I'm off to the Firkin fest!
Mmmmm delicious petroleum.
I'll cancel my Netflix and then pick up one of each.
Highland Park is one of my favorite whiskies in the world. I'm in for one of each, no question.
-Gordon
I would definitely go for 3 of each, and age those babies.
Man, all this talk of beer is getting me thirsty...
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I'd buy 1-2 of each...!
Love Scotch and a Porter Casked in Scotch Cask sounds good to me!
Sounds interesting, but I would have to see some trusted reviews or taste one before buying more than one.
I too love the ideas involved with these beers -- sadly the price is out of my range.
Sorry, I'm slow in commenting, but I'd go for a bottle or two. Hell, I spent twelve bucks on Abyss (or whatever it was), and that was shipped just three hours.
Dunno if this is in your budget, but if you could lay some of that down, it would probably fetch twice the price or more in a couple years.
a lurker weighing in here... i'm hoping to get a bottle - just to try it out. Since this style has been getting so much attention i'm intrigued.. personally i try not to spend too much on beer, especially beer shipped across oceans, but i have been known to make exceptions if it is really good. $10-12 would be worth a try at least once.
i would totally grab 2 bottles of each, one to taste and one to cellar. after trying top sail I am pretty fascinated by this genre.
Lurker McGee
I'm a regular customer. I called twice trying to get some Abyss. The first time I asked about pre-orders but was assured there would be plenty, and it was sold out by the time I got there. Then word got around that more arrived, but again, sold out. Meanwhile, By the Bottle in Vancouver limited sales to 3 bottles each and still had product a day or two after they received it, so I managed to buy some there.
All this is a long-winded way of saying that I'm wary of trying to deal with you for low-volume specialty beers like this so I'd probably pass unless you had either a way to honor pre-orders or at least limits per customer.
I'll watch for any replies...
fwiw,
Mateu
Mateu: I can appreciate your frustration, and I'm sorry you had a bad experience, but I feel as though we did the best we could given the circumstances. Admittedly, we probably should have put a smaller bottle limit on the first run (it was set at 1 case per person), but we were as surprised as everyone else by the frenzy that the beer generated. When we got our second shipment we decided to limit people to 3 bottles each in hopes of spreading it around a bit more. Those 30 something cases (received on Friday morning) lasted until noon on Monday, and over 120 people had a chance to come in and purchase a few bottles.
As with any limited release there are no guarantees as to how much each store will get. We didn't want to run the risk of taking orders we couldn't fill, so we decided that the best thing we could do was post something on the blog when we got confirmation of delivery and send out an email as soon as we got some in the store. For almost a month leading up to the release we informed everyone who inquired about the Abyss that we would be sending the email, and encouraged folks to sign up on our mailing list to receive notification.
I'm sorry that you're frustrated with our policies, but as I said I feel like we did the best we could to get the beer into as many people's hands as possible.
Lastly, I love By the Bottle (and I wish them nothing but success), but Vancouver isn't exactly known as a craft beer hotspot, so I'm not really surprised that it lasted longer at their store. There were also numerous QFC stores in town that had some in stock for over a week after it was released, for the same reason: most people didn't think to look there.
What it comes down to is that after 11+ years in business, beer lovers in Portland expect us to carry everything (especially the special stuff), so when something rare comes in we're usually the first place to get cleared out. Case in point: We received the same amount of Full Sail bourbon-aged Top Sail as John's Market did. We set a three bottle per person limit and ran out in less than 2 days; they didn't set any limit on it and still had close to 10 cases on display yesterday (3 weeks after the release).
In any case, I'm glad you managed to find some Abyss, and I hope your frustration doesn't prevent you from visiting us again. Thank you very much for your feedback, and if you have any ideas as to how we should handle limited release beer I'd certainly entertain suggestions. we haven't been able to find an easy solution, but I'd love to hear one.
Thanks,
Chris
Chris,
Thanks for all the thoughts. Don't worry, I never said I had stopped shopping at Belmont Station. You guys still have the best selection in the city.
That said, nobody told me to get on any mailing list either time I called. And it might not have done any good if I couldn't get in the day the bottles arrived.
How you handle limited releases is of course up to you. My only experience dealing w/ this kind of scarcity was helping organize an ultimate disc tournament. The first 2 years we used 'first come, first served' signups, but the tournament would fill up in 6 hours, penalizing anyone who happened to be busy that day, so we switched to a lottery system w/ some spots set aside for friends or whatever. If it were me, I'd accept pre-orders (initial limit of 3) w/ credit card #'s or a cash deposit, and see if I could fill those orders and still have some in the store. If not, I'd knock the pre-orders back to 2 or even 1 bottle, and tell the pre-order people there will be more in the store if they want.
Or you could have a "frequent customers" thing where they get dibs on limited releases. Or even let people know where else has beers you've sold out. I respect places that do that and keep coming back. Heck, it was one of your people that mentioned By the Bottle to me. I didn't stop going to Belmont Station then and I haven't stopped now.
I imagine you've thought of all these things and made your decisions. My ideas all take extra work, and anyone who cares knows it's hard enough to run a business. The effort and interest you all put in shows through just by asking these kinds of questions, and answering the rants. ;-)
adeu,
Mateu
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