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The Truth Behind “Limited Release” Beers: Are They Really That Special?

In recent visits to bottle shops, I’ve begun to notice an intriguing trend concerning “limited release” beers. It seems like these special brews, which are marketed as exclusive and hard to find, just linger on the shelves for months at a time.

Take, for example, a barrel-aged stout I spotted on the shelf yesterday. Despite its label boasting of only 500 cases produced, this supposedly “extremely limited” beer has been available since October. Priced at $25, it appears many enthusiasts are hesitant to pay a premium for a taste that’s all too familiar—similar to every other bourbon barrel stout on the market.

Remember the days when high-demand beers like Kentucky Breakfast Stout (KBS) and Bourbon County Brand Stout (BCBS) would sell out almost immediately? Beer lovers used to camp outside shops like Binny’s just to get their hands on a bottle. Fast forward to today, and I can waltz into any respectable bottle shop and find vintage 2020 BCBS just sitting there, almost like it’s a case of ordinary everyday beer.

This leads to the troubling conclusion that breweries are producing such an overwhelming quantity of “limited” offerings that it diminishes their actual scarcity. Many of these beers end up sitting on warm shelves well past their “drink by” dates, waiting for someone to take them home.

The practice of creating artificial scarcity has become a bit embarrassing within the craft beer community. It’s frustrating to pay top dollar for a beer that’s less rare than a local staple.

So, here’s a thought: Either produce genuinely hard-to-find brews, or stop masquerading your contact-brewed, barrel-aged concoctions as exclusive treasures. True rarity deserves to be celebrated, not commodified to the point of saturation.