Appearances can be deceiving....
Yesterday, Amber and I spent the day in Boston (to watch the Bruins...who won...and we had really amazing seats 2 rows back from the ice...oh yeah!). Side note: we had winter hook and blonde ale from Red Hook while were there. I love the fact that you can get Red Hook there.
Anyhow, after a day of hockey and getting around really well on the "t" we decided to head to the Bell in Hand for a beer before we called it an evening and headed home.
Upon examining what was on tap....something caught our eye. Bell in Hand Ale. What a find! Something that could only be had there at the Bell in Hand. Very excited to try this new brew, we each ordered a 22 ounce. Eagerly, we took our first sips. We were both pleasently surprised with the flavor. Oh yeah...we'd found something totally amazing and unique and were so excited to share it with the rest of the 2 beer guys crew.
Amber, taking a picture of the tap handle to show Sean, drew the bartender's attention back to us and he walked over in our direction. He never asked anything, but Amber offered up that her husband was really into beer and she wanted a picture of the tap handle for him. The bartender then asked if we were enjoying the "Bell in Hand" ale and in unision we conveyed our pleasure with this delicious beer. That's when the bar tender let us in on a little secret.
He said that the Bell in Hand ale wasn't their product at all. It was, in fact, made by the Sam Adams company. Amber and I looked at one another, slightly miffed, but not entirely suprised. Our enthusiasm slightly ebbing, we enjoyed yet another sip. Then he dropped the bomb.
This unique beer that we thought we'd discovered was anything but. It was, in fact, a clever marketing scheme by the Sam Adams company. Turns out they make unique tap handles sporting local pub names, indicating a product that you can only find at said local pubs. And then they distribute this "unique" beer to the local pubs under these "unique" aliases. And if you look over at the next tap...the secret is then revealed, because they also sell this "unique" brew under it's real name. We'd been had! Our small moment of beer triumph came to a screeching halt as this Bell in Hand Ale was exposed for the imposter that it really was. For all along, we'd been enjoying.....Sam Adams Boston Lager.
Anyhow, after a day of hockey and getting around really well on the "t" we decided to head to the Bell in Hand for a beer before we called it an evening and headed home.
Upon examining what was on tap....something caught our eye. Bell in Hand Ale. What a find! Something that could only be had there at the Bell in Hand. Very excited to try this new brew, we each ordered a 22 ounce. Eagerly, we took our first sips. We were both pleasently surprised with the flavor. Oh yeah...we'd found something totally amazing and unique and were so excited to share it with the rest of the 2 beer guys crew.
Amber, taking a picture of the tap handle to show Sean, drew the bartender's attention back to us and he walked over in our direction. He never asked anything, but Amber offered up that her husband was really into beer and she wanted a picture of the tap handle for him. The bartender then asked if we were enjoying the "Bell in Hand" ale and in unision we conveyed our pleasure with this delicious beer. That's when the bar tender let us in on a little secret.
He said that the Bell in Hand ale wasn't their product at all. It was, in fact, made by the Sam Adams company. Amber and I looked at one another, slightly miffed, but not entirely suprised. Our enthusiasm slightly ebbing, we enjoyed yet another sip. Then he dropped the bomb.
This unique beer that we thought we'd discovered was anything but. It was, in fact, a clever marketing scheme by the Sam Adams company. Turns out they make unique tap handles sporting local pub names, indicating a product that you can only find at said local pubs. And then they distribute this "unique" beer to the local pubs under these "unique" aliases. And if you look over at the next tap...the secret is then revealed, because they also sell this "unique" brew under it's real name. We'd been had! Our small moment of beer triumph came to a screeching halt as this Bell in Hand Ale was exposed for the imposter that it really was. For all along, we'd been enjoying.....Sam Adams Boston Lager.
posted by Anonymous @ 1:41 PM
2 Comments:
At Tuesday, January 16, 2007 at 4:20:00 PM EST,
Andy said…
They also brew for Picadilly Pub, but at least there it's not hidden, it mentions the brewer in the beer menu...
At Thursday, January 18, 2007 at 10:02:00 AM EST,
Ignace said…
This is what they call 'label beer'. It's essentially the same beer as a well-known beer, but they've slapped another label on to it.
You could be chided for the fact that you could not discern the taste of one versus another, but I'm not going to do the chiding. It is -very- hard to blind taste beer.
Goes to show that you want to know what you're drinking.
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