With Dia de La Muerta on Saturday, we’re getting flooded with various questions about the release, so I figured a FAQ was in order. Here is everything you need to know about Dia de La Muerta, a lot of which pertains to bottle releases in general.
Wait, I thought you couldn’t couldn’t bottle your beer?
In Texas, we are prohibited from selling our beer for resale (so we can’t sell to distributors, restaurants, bars, grocery stores, etc.). However, our brewpub license explicitly gives us the right to manufacture, brew, bottle, can, package, and label malt liquor, ale, and beer. We’re happy to take the state up on this right and we’ve been bottling and releasing beers since right after we opened. We’re also one of the few on-premise only brewpubs in the world (maybe the only one?) with a bottling line. Hopefully one day the law will change and we’ll be able to distribute beers that come off of it.
Okay, so what is Dia de La Muerta?
Dia de La Muerta is the annual bottle release for our imperial stout. La Muerta is released on draft every year on November 1, with the bottle release always on the first Saturday of November (this year, November 3, 2012).
How early do I need to show up to get in line?
In years past, La Muerta has sold out quickly and generally required you get here early to get your “ticket” (basically your place in line) and get your allocation of bottles. Last year we sold approximately 750 bottles and essentially were instantly sold out (it took two hours, but everyone was in line when we opened). This year we have upped production to somewhere between 1500-1700 bottles (we’ll find out tomorrow when we bottle), so we don’t anticipate an “instant sell-out”. However, we cannot make any promises, and recommend coming early.
What time to they actually go on sale?
Bottles go on sale when we open at 11am.
What the hell do I do while I’m waiting for bottles to go on sale?
Through the years, a really cool event has evolved for many of our bottle releases. Freetail fans from around the state show up early and have a bottle share while waiting for us to open. Many rare and amazing beers (WARNING: DO NOT DRINK THE GHOST SCORPION PEPPER BEER!!! IT HAS GHOST SCORPION PEPPERS IN IT!!!) are opened at these bottle shares and are attended by a lot of really cool people. You can come, drink epic beers, and mingle with beer-loving friends old and new. We do not organize this event and take no responsibility other than making sure everyone is comfortable and has access to water and restrooms and we monitor to make sure no one over-consumes. This is a fun event and we’d like to keep it that way by making sure it never gets rowdy or out of hand.
Okay, so how much do these bottles cost?
For 2012, bottles will be $10/each.
That’s it, can I buy a pallet load?!?
Well, maybe not a pallet. We reserve the right to place a limit on the number of bottles a person can purchase. Our goal is to make sure everyone who is here when we open has a chance to buy bottles. This year, because of the increased production, we do not anticipate the need to have a bottle limit, but we still reserve that right.
What about on draft? How much does it cost? Will there be anything else on tap?
2012 La Muerta costs $7 for an 11oz pour. In addition to what we have on tap, we’ll also have La Muerta 2011 on tap in addition to a few other surprises (both from us and from our friends around the state of Texas).
