Beers that Breweries keep silent about

I’ve recently had to add a number of beers to the database. [ In fact a total of 6 in the past couple of days ] Obviously, I wanted to add official descriptions for them - and I couldn’t believe how diffirecult that turned out to be ! Very few of them were mentioned by the brewery - either on their website or Facebook. You would have thought they would want to advetise that they have a new product available. Have other people come across this problem ?

[ Only 3 of the beers could I find any info for - and one of those was nicked off Untappd ! ]

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Yes, I just normally copy & paste from UT - easier than typing manually. I’ve never had a beer that’s not on UT but quite a number are not on RB.

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Presuming they were primarily from more traditional breweries?

What were those 6 beers? Interested to know whether they’re new beers, or just older ones that have been overlooked from years gone by

Yes, the beers are (almost) always on Untappd, but often just say things like “Golden Ale” in the description.

The six beers in question were

Peakstones Rock Peggy’s - no info
Littleover Here Comes The Sun - no info
4T’s Busmans Classic Blonde Ale - description came from a wholesaler’s website
Totally Brewed Grand Papa Jangles - description came from a wholesaler’s website
Salopian Looks Great on a Spreadsheet - description nicked from Untappd.
Three Tuns Hoptimism - no info.

So yes new beers from a range of different breweries. All the breweries did have websites and (mostly) Facebook pages - with list of their beers. They just didn’t include these beers …

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I can’t tell for these breweries, but there are a lot of breweries that don’t have their website/facebook/untappd/tiktok/etc up to date. And for all those one-off, limited releases, why should they put in a lot of effort in that? Someone will add it to untappd (and yes, eventually ratebeer too). The breweries probably don’t have the time/focus to get that done.

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I feel your pain, very frustrating not being able to find any details of a brewery’s beer - but often it’s their social media that has the relevant information, for example the Three Tuns beer was described on their Facebook page back in May:

And plenty now use Instagram as their first choice for PR, before it might have been Twitter (and some sue them all). Shame they can’t just stick it all on their website really

There are plenty of old school breweries that don’t put anything on their website or social media. They seem to rely on local pubs and garden centres picking up their beers and aren’t bothered about any additional promotion. There are also a couple who I can think of who use their social media to post random stuff but rarely ever mention their own beer.

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Apologies. I did look on the Three Tuns Facebook page - but didn’t go back that far. @admins - please add this description

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Oh man… it’s insane. I can see brewery being hush-hush about beers which haven’t turned out right, but released them anyway, maybe in limited venues where they count they can sell them without (m)any complaints. Since I run a FB page where I try to present every damn craft beer that comes out of Croatia, I’d experienced that, even after contacting brewers (even those I know in person).

But releasing beers basically undercover, with no info? Okay, it might be tricky to set up graphics and a fancy description for what might be an experimental one-off if you have a lot going on, but man… in 2021 it seems lazy not to write anything about it anywhere, acknowledge it’s a thing with a couple of sentences, pic or no pic. And it happens from macros to brewpubs.

Brewpubs are indeed frequent offenders, especially if beer’s not their only gimmick. I can think of at least one brewpub in Prague that never ever mentions its new beers, with its staff being pretty clueless if I remember correctly and their social media focusing solely on its restaurant part (and talking about beers only globally), but when I asked in a Facebook direct message - they provided fantastic detailed info about the beer we’d had there. And that leaves me baffled why they don’t publish that regularly in posts… oh well.

Also, one thing to keep in mind when admining here is that the Untappd entries might also be made by random people, sometimes with little knowledge, just winging it faced with zero info, especially in areas where breweries don’t focus on it, so we might be propagating bad info. I’d try contacting brewers in questionable cases - of course, if possible.

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No need to apologise - I was lucky I found it, had a vague recollection of seeing it way back so had a look, was not easy to find in amongst all the dross they post! I just find it weird that they’ve spent time making it, putting it out to the market etc. but then keep it pretty secretive - suppose if it’s a one-off or seasonal, they need publicity at the time and don’t really care about the future.

You make it seem like it’s the duty of a brewery to globally publish information about each and every beer they brew. Why is this so important? What if the beers are only sold regionally, or even locally like in a brewpub / tasting room? What if they just don’t have the time? Keeping up with socials and a website takes quite a lot of time, so if it’s not needed for sales purposes / branding, why would they (all) bother? And you also make it sound that if they’re not publishing information, it’s because there’s something wrong with it.

Really, having an complete and error free database of all beers that are ever released is not really a priority for breweries.

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And you make it seem like it’s some sort of a chore when in 2021 it really isn’t / doesn’t have to be as long as they have a FB page - and I’m only talking about the cases which do have one. It doesn’t take a lot of time to make a short FB post along the lines of “On tap now - Kabul Taliban Pilsner, brewed with poppy seeds, 5.5%, come see us at the pub!”. They don’t have to promote it actively, just note to people following them that there’s a new beer around. And I clearly used an example of a pub that’s actually ACTIVE on social media, just choosing to neglect its beers.

I don’t make it seem that not publishing info happens because something’s wrong with the beer, I clearly said it happens, at least sometimes, when there’s something wrong with the beer and that it’s one of possible motives for doing that - which it does, and I never state anywhere that that one necessarily implies the other - you’re the one drawing that conclusion out of thin air.

If you could copy and paste the text, I will add it. Cannot use IG.

Paste it where ?

Here

Here you are then

Meet our new limited edition brew and May’s Ale of the Month- HOPTIMISM. 🍺 Brewed to mark more optimistic times ahead, HOPTIMISM is a 4.1% smooth golden ale with honey-like sweetness and a deliciously delicate hoppy bitter finish. Available in cask and online in mini-kegs while stocks last, don’t miss your chance to sip our special edition this season!

That’s the whole FB post - you’ll need to edit it a bit.

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I’m surprised how determined you are! I’ll add the descriptions when I see them, but given that in the D.C. area breweries release like 5 new beers a week often without much description other than a style and they disappear forever 2 weeks later never to be brewed again I’d say it’s not a huge problem to lose sleep over. If the beers ever get to the point where they have a huge number of ratings, someone will usually add the description if it’s missing. Not saying not to do it - I do when I have them - but I wouldn’t stress about it all the time if you miss one or two.

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I’ve certainly added beers on here with no description, or stolen it from Untappd. If an Admin or anyone else wants to add or change the description or style they can. I’ve just added a beer to the database, I often get it wrong, so it’s fine by me!

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