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It’s not often that a brewery takes such strong action against the selling of its beers on the Black Beer Market, but that is what the Cantillon Brewery of Brussels, Belgium did in response to the sale of its annual release of Zwanze. In 2010, the release of this traditional lambic saw the bottles of delicious brew have an Ebay mark-up of over 1300% (Retail price – $6, Ebay Price – $80), forcing the brewery to change its release tactics. The brewery turned to 21 bars in 2011 to hold special release parties across the world on the same day, resulting in Zwanze Day. For the second annual release day that number has increased slightly worldwide and there are 16 bars in the US hosting the 2012 event which is this coming Saturday December 1st. (Locations Available on Cantillon’s Website).
This year’s release is a Rhubarb Lambic and after reading the description provided by Cantillon I am excited. “… had been brought about by soaking rhubarb in Lambic. The ultimate result of that experiment was a very delicate and complex product in which the beer’ acidic taste struck a very nice balance with the plant’s tartness and then lingered long on the palate.“
Lucky for me one of the locations is nearby, only 85 miles south east of my house in New Orleans. Unfortunately last year I was unable to attend to event due to some random event that I actually do not remember. What I do remember is that my dad and brother and law who went didn’t like theirs (not big sour beer guys) managed to pour theirs into a water bottle to allow me to at least taste it. This year my Saturday is free of other commitments so unless something crazy comes up, my plan is to be at the Avenue Pub around noon.
While I am excited about this event and it gives me a reason to go down to the Avenue Pub (not that I really need a reason), it does bring up the thought about this happening more in the future for American craft breweries. Russian River does a similar thing with their Pliny the Younger release and other breweries are forcing Ebay’s hands with enforcing their alcohol sales policies. Is this good for the industry or the consumer or both? Will the demand for these special release beers start to raise the retail price of the beers that the local communities have grown to love? Goose Island’s new Cherry Rye Bourbon County Stout is being sold for $45 a bottle due to the demand. The stateside release of Westy 12 saw the price increase from just over 2 dollars a bottle at the monastery to 22 down here in LA. I assume that the market will continue to support these prices. My wallet may not be able to continue to support these special releases at the apparent market value. What I do know is that this weekend will be good for my pocket book. While I will not get a full bottle of Zwanze 2012, I will get a six ounce pour for roughly 6 dollars. Not bad.
Look for a recap of the weekend’s events next week on ACB.
