Carlsberg’s announcement that it has found customers for its $400 a 375ml bottle of a new beer known as Vintage No. 1 has sparked plenty of conversation in the online beer space.
Basics about the beer from Denmark:
Brewmaster Jens Eiken said only 600 of the bottles will be produced, and most will be sold through three of Copenhagen’s most exclusive restaurants.
The first 52 bottles were sold last week.
“We believe that there are people out there who are willing to part with this amount of money just so that they can taste an amazing beer or to keep it on their mantelpiece,” he said.
Eiken said part of the secret of the 10.5 per cent alcohol beer is the way it is stored in special Swedish and French oak casks in a dimly lighted crypt 15 meters under the company’s old brewery.
The brew’s taste hints of prunes, caramel, vanilla, oak and cherry port bitterness, he said, adding that it is best consumed with gourmet blue cheese or on its own with “a very special friend.”
Some Copenhagen residents, despite the Danish capital’s high standard of living, expressed doubts that any beer would be worth that much.
“Only showoffs will buy this beer,” said TV journalist Marie Grundtvig Buss. “There can’t be any justification for such a price for a single bottle of beer.”
And some of the reaction:
– Price vs. Value
– Are You and Utter Fool?
– The discussion at Beer Advocate
– The discussion at Rate Beer
– Who’s threatening us now? Bling beer!
That’s nice, but hardly the 25% behemoth of (did I say 13 year old?) beer that is Sam Adams Utopias now is it?
I totaly agree with Gene, and will add that not even one of the first batch bottles cost $400. Sam Adams rules.
That’s some expensive piss.