I don’t know how widely distributed ReaperAle’s beers are, so it may be that a lot of you have never had the opportunity to try some truly kick-ass ales. (And by “kick-ass” I mean “club you like a baby seal and leave you for dead.”)
Unfortunately, if you haven’t been able to sample these tasty brews, you may never get the opportunity, as ReaperAle is now on a “brewing hiatus“.
You see, Reaper’s goods were contract brewed for them by Green Flash Brewing (see Molly’s weekend round-up for more about them). But because Green Flash is going gang-busters, they just don’t have the capacity to keep brewing Reaper’s as well. So Reaper is out looking for new digs (and an investor or two), meaning what Reaper product is already out there is going to be the last for a while (a short while, I hope).
From the statement on ReaperAle’s website:
We regret that there will be an outage of product, but we feel these steps are necessary for ReaperAle to continue long term. At its height ReaperAle was distributed in 8 states, with 4 additional states waiting to sign up. We received regular inquiries from military bases, movie studios, broadcast radio, and numerous social and charitable establishments wishing to obtain our beer. Because we could not guarantee availability our commitments and options became limited. Having our own facility will give us needed control over our product and our business so that we may finally realize our full potential. Thank you for your understanding and support during this transitional time.
Sure enough, the supply of ReaperAle’s goods, including my favs — Deathly Pale Ale, Sleighor and Ritual — has slowly dwindled and disappeared from the shelves of my local retailers.
Lucky for me, however, the lovely Beer Molly was rifling through the back of a cooler in one of our better stocked adult beverage outlets (they let her do that if her skirt is short enough) and came up with a couple of bottles of Ritual; one of which I am enjoying at this moment.
Hopefully the Brewing Duo (Erik Taylor & Todd Kendrick) at ReaperAle will land somewhere quickly and get back to brewing what I think are some of the best big, bold, ballsy beers out there right now.
In the meantime, let’s all lift our glasses and offer a toast to ReaperAle. (And don’t forget to spill a little for the gods &mdahs; it’s good luck.)
» Read the full ReaperAle Hiatus Statement
» Visit the ReaperAle Website (warning: Spooky Flash site)
