Variety Packs

I like trying new beers; I like it quite a lot. So it's probably not going to shock anyone when I reveal that I really like the availability of "variety packs," those boxes of twelve bottles of beer from a single brewery, but a mixture of, typically, six or four "varieties." My first exposure to these twelve packs of mixed beers from a single brewery was via Sam Adams. I used to look forward to the variety pack every fall, because it usually included Sam Adam's seasonal offerings, and their fall and harvest ales have been reliably good beers. I note that this year the "Brewmaster's Variety Pack" is a collection of their standards: Boston Lager, Black Lager, Scotch Ale, Brown Ale, Irish Red and Honey Porter, but it's still not to be sneered at.

Washington's own Pyramid Brewery offers a "Winter Variety" 12 pack including Pyramid's Haywire Hefeweizen, Audacious Apricot, ThunderHead and Snow Cap, three bottles of each. Flying Dog Brewery in Maryland's Variety Pack includes two bottles each of their Classic Pale Ale, Hefeweizen, Amber Lager, Porter, Golden Ale and India Pale Ale.

I'm more likely to try a variety pack from a new brewery when it has seasonal ales in it, personally. I notice that some of the brewers I would look for in New England just don't ship to the left half of the country. River Horse Brewery in Lambert New Jersey isn't to be seen locally, though they have a seasonal variety pack containing Hop Hazard Pale Ale, Special Ale, Lager and, depending on the season, either Tripel Horse Summer Blonde (from April thru August), or Belgian Freeze (from September on). You could find them pretty reliably even in Maine.

I've been watching the local chain grocery stores for one of the frequent "build your own six pack" offers, wherein they split a bunch of cases, and let customers pick a six pack or three of individual bottles of beer; it's a lot of fun to try three different Harvest ales, or a collection of Pumpkin ales, and this is a pretty easy way to do it for a flat fee. A lot of British micro breweries do this all the time, though it's usually a "buy a 12 pack box and mix and match your own beers," rather than a six pack. I suspect one reason the create-your-own-12-pack is so popular in British microbreweries is that growlers don't seem to be available.