Resist the silly Chocolate Ale hype
Yael T. AbouhalkahCombine Christopher Elbow’s overrated chocolates with Boulevard Brewing Co.’s savvy marketeers and what do you get?
An incredible amount of hype, among beer geeks and others, over Chocolate Ale.
The beer is now being sold in Kansas City at the outrageous retail price of $8.99 a bottle, according to this Ink article. (Clarification: The price for some water, hops and chocolate apparently may not be so outrageous; see some informative comments below from readers.)
Folks, it’s only beer.
Yes, it’s chocolate and beer, and it seems as if Kansas Citians are going to lap up every single bottle at an amazing pace, if you believe the Twitter hype about the product.
A bit of advice: Resist the marketing behind Chocolate Ale. If you want some, go out calmly and buy it. But don’t make yourself look silly chasing after an alcoholic product laced with a little chocolate.
Mark Hastert
1 year, 3 months agoHey, all they need to do is make a chocolate (Elbow), espresso (Roasterie) stout and we’ll have the best of Kansas City. Mmmmmm, Beeeeer!
Joe Hoffmann
1 year, 3 months agoWhile I completely agree that it is only beer, have you been in the beer section of a liquor store in the last decade, Yael? $9 for a 750mL bottle is a bargin.
Also, I would say the hype is more with the soccer moms of the city who barely know Boulevard exists than with beer geeks. I’d rather drink chocolate in beers more suited for the style like a stout.
Josh Steinmetz
1 year, 3 months agoBoulevard hasn’t marketed this beer at all. While the beer may be overhyped, it came about this attention organically: consumers used word of mouth, Facebook, Twitter, etc. to spread the word. It’s gotten ridiculous, but don’t be so cynical as to think it’s some devious cash grab by Boulevard.
Brad Isch
1 year, 3 months agoWith all do respect Mr. Abouhalkah, The beer geeks aren’t the problem with this release. The people active in the beer community have been, for the most part, very polite and supportive of store policy & bottle limits. The problem comes in the form of people that have no understanding of craft beer or limited release beers. You have demonstrated this yourself in your opinion of the price point. Do you honestly have any idea what it takes to bring a beer like this to market? Are you aware that the mark-up on beer is far less than wine or liquor? Show a little respect for the men & women that have worked for months to make this happen, not to mention the boost to the local economy. I will agree with you on one point, it’s only beer. A limited release beer. Limited release beers are exactly that, LIMITED. Not everyone will get a bottle. So to those that are out looking for it I would ask that you keep that in mind & be polite tho the staff wherever you may be, please & thank you are very easy words to use and go a lot further than you might think on days like this.
Kara Steele
1 year, 3 months agoNeither Boulevard, nor Christopher Elbow’s chocolates are overrated. Show some KC Pride!
Ryan McNair
1 year, 3 months agoI agree, show some pride! It’s a KC-wide scavenger hunt…and the winners get to enjoy a rare glass of beer. $9 is a very fair price. They sell for $50 easily on the secondary market - check craigslist and ebay.
Patrick Joseph Mullin
1 year, 3 months agoBut guys, isn’t it his job as an editorial writer to be negative and a curmudgeon about everything? Why be optimistic and encouraging about something that is beneficial for Boulevard, for Kansas City’s economy and for the local craft beer scene, which has been exploding over the past year?
Yael, before you decide to dish out a negative opinion that is uninformed and clearly not researched in the slightest, maybe you should do your job as a journalist and do some homework. But what do I know, I’m just a lowly blogger, right?
Mark Logan
1 year, 3 months agoHave you tried it? I’m sitting at The Brick, enjoying a glass of Boulevard Chocolate Ale as I type. Unable to find a bottle at two liquor stores, I decided to give the draught version a try. To be honest, I was expecting to be a bit disappointed and anticipated that the product would be overhyped. It is not. This stuff is delicious! It may be hyped, but it is definitely NOT overhyped.
Ray Cyst
1 year, 3 months agoWait. He gets paid for writing this? And the BEER’s overpriced?
Chris Fiedler
1 year, 3 months agoIt’s not the price that bothers me. What I find most disappointing is that Boulevard is willing to create all this hype and mass hysteria by producing such a limited supply. What are they trying to prove? We get it. Chocolate Ale is amazing. So why do they have to torture their customers this way? I’ve been loyal to Boulevard for years and I have given them a great deal of support by buying their products. I don’t appreciate being jerked around like this. That’s why I started the Anti-Boulevard Chocolate Ale League on Facebook. Join up if you feel the same way.
http://www.facebook.com/groups/170279816414323/
Jordan Paul Wendland
1 year, 3 months ago@Chris Fiedler They’re producing a limited supply because they’re at capacity. The laws of physics are jerking us around, not Boulevard.
Danny Porter
1 year, 3 months agoAs someone who buys a ton of craft beer, I can safely say that I have seen many beers sell for twice as much with only half the hype. $8.99 is the same price that regular Smokestack beers of that size are sold, and note this is not a typical 12oz bottle but a 750ml bottle (same as most wines are sold). I got myself on a list 3 weeks ago and have my bottle secured for enjoyment probably Thursday night. I did not get any last year so hopefully it is as good as I heard.
As for the ‘hype’ that Blvd ‘created’, this is mostly hype built up from the public. If you want self-created hype in beer see breweries like 3 Floyds which sells a beer (Dark Lord) with an event that requires line tickets (at the brewery only) with a tiny number of bottles that they know is a tiny fraction of the demand.
Blvd could have done one thing better…not release beer to any other distributors until the KC distributors have it so KC gets the first release.
Danny Porter
1 year, 3 months ago@Mark Hastert…that would make us say “Founders Breakfast what?”
Kent Mueller
1 year, 3 months agoYael seems quite bitter (pun intended!) about the success of two local businesses. Bitter to the point of rashly talking down a locally produced product.
Evidently, Yael doesn’t care for Christopher Elbow’s chocolate. Not being a chocolate fiend, I haven’t tried his chocolate myself. Obviously, it sends Yael’s nose in the air.
Yael also apparently is miffed that a company positions itself to have brisk sales of a product. In what is undeniably a negative column he uses words such as “savvy”, “incredible” and “hype”. It seems that marketing ins a bad thing to Yael.
When Yael called the price of the ale “outrageous”, he was corrected by readers leaving comments. He admitted so, but in a backhanded way. While admitting the price may not be so outrageous, he referred to the specialty ale as “some water, hops and chocolate”. Yael, how much are you getting for your newsprint and ink these days? The market is good at assigning prices commensurate with value.
Yael, is this a fit of jealousy? Or, are you playing Carry Nation as you did when you tried to deny the Ward Parkway corridor of Two Buck Chuck?
Matt Henry
1 year, 3 months agoSaid the elitist opinion writer as he sips his thrice-daily $8 double-tall organic blonde-roast fat-free mocha-frappa-cappuccino.
David Templeman
1 year, 3 months agoWith all due respect to Mr. Abouhalkah, this opinion was written out of ignorance.
Yael - what’s your beverage of choice? Perhaps you’ve enjoyed a $300 bottle of wine at some point? I enjoyed a glass of a $400 bottle of red over Christmas. It was good, but I wouldn’t spend that kind of money on wine. Is single malt more your speed? I’ve had a sip of scotch out of a $200 bottle. It all tastes like Jack Daniels to me. Do I think they were over-hyped or over-priced? No, its all a matter of taste.
Someone who makes their living from the local community should have a little more respect for the people and products of Kansas City. To call a locally produced and distinctly Kansas City product ‘over-rated’ or to insinuate that another relies on savvy marketing rather than a quality product is a slap in the face to all of us who support our local community and the quality products produced here. Who’s next on your ‘hit list’? Gates?
Kent Mueller
1 year, 3 months agoGot your hat handed to you, huh, Yael. Do you still believe the same way? Or, were you shooting from the hip when you wrote the piece?