At 2 pm this afternoon, Deschutes Brewery released the 2009 edition of The Abyss, a pitch-black seasonal imperial stout that’s developed a cult following since it debuted in 2007. Over 100 drinkers lined up outside Deschutes’ Portland pub to get their hands on the much-coveted brew, which retails for $12 per 22-ounce bottle and resells for about $36 on Ebay. All but 18 were men. Steve, at the front of the line, had been waiting for an hour and 15 minutes to get his six bottles (the per-person maximum). He wasn’t alone in buying the legal limit—the first dozen customers all purchased the six-pack. Want a bottle for yourself? You’d better get there quickly. The Pub expects to sell out before 5 pm, and the brew won’t be available from other retailers until the end of the week.
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Tags: Beer, Deschutes Brewery, The Abyss
You can buy this all over town–Fred Meyer’s, Beer stores, etc. in the coming week. They get a huge supply. I’ve got as much as I want at Freddy’s the past three years. It’s a gimmick, folks.
And that eBay story? rarely happens.
Yeah, the eBay bit is BS. I bought last year’s Abyss at the store well into the Spring. Oh, and I stopped by the pub last night at 8 PM. I bought six bottles. They still had plenty to sell.
The bottles are on eBay and people are bidding on them. Where’s the BS?
Yep, this stuff is available all over town. What’s the big deal? It’s good beer, but it’s not something extraordinary. What part of “marketing gimmick” is confusing to people? Sometimes I think hipsters sit around with their cell phones, earnestly texting each other and waiting for something to line up for.
Seriously–Portland used to be cool and didn’t have to have an 8-ton marketing machine to make it true. Now, a schizophrenic influx of hipsters run around like children on a candy sugar rush, clutching the latest hat style, wearing the latest jeans. I swear to god, it’s like everybody has become a 13-year-old girl.
The BS is that you make it sound like people are crawling all over themselves to get the stuff, when it’s very accessible. The ebay sideline is clearly minimal at best. As usual, WW jumps the shark by playing the tabloid fools. Seriously, how is it not BS? Or are you so insulated in your fake “reporting” that you can’t step back from your non stories?
BTW, check your link. There is one bid on 2007 bottle, and no bids on the 2008s. Yeah, the ebay stuff is BS.
the first release was 2006, and the bottles are 12 a pop at deschutes, like they were last year. Deschutes even has 08 available in bottles, I grabbed one yesterday. Another important fact to know is that this year, Deschutes is releasing just shy of DOUBLE what they released the last two years, so it should be pretty available for some time. The bids on ebay are from people in other markets that this beer isn’t distributed to. Usually they’re traded for at a cost equal to their sale price.
It was definitely 2007, according to the brewery: http://www.deschutesbrewery.com/brews/reserve-series/the-abyss/default.aspx
It first came out in 2006.
http://beeradvocate.com/news/876788
Maybe call the brewery next time, rather than just take a haphazard look at their web site.
It was definitely 2006. At deschutesapalooza at the horsebrass this year, I had an 06, 07, and 08 vertical. Still have the receipt and a copy of the taplist from the night. In 2006, the release was small, they upped the amount in 2007, did the same amount in 2008, and then almost doubled it this year.
this link list the amount produced for each of the years from 2006 through 2008. 150, 400, 400, and for this year, it’s unlisted, but I’ve read 780. Would make sense given the extra capacity the new pub would have allowed them.
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/63/34420