Celebration, Mystery, Saison & A Look Forward

First and foremost – HOLY CRAP! You guys and gals, and your support, are simply overwhelming and awesome! As if the passing words of praise, the emails of inquiry and general appreciation weren’t enough, we found out this week that Odonata’s first release, Rorie’s Ale, has been named to the RateBeer Top 100 Beer of the World list! Folks, that’s incredible! To put that in perspective a bit there are more than 110,000 different beers listed on RateBeer, brewed by more than 9,600 brewers from around the world! To be considered by anyone as one of the world’s best is truly an honor, we can’t thank you all enough for the ratings, for helping us get the word out and for generally being super people. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Mysterious Ways

Recently we’ve been seeing some comments online about our mysterious nature, about how our blog and tweets don’t necessarily reveal a whole lot about where you can find our beers and when/where we’re doing special events. As one commenter posted, “Why are they being so cryptic?” There’s a reason for that, a reason that is pretty simple and absolutely boring: we can’t. You see, by law (according to the ABC) we can’t tell you on this forum where to find our beers, not in the format we have currently, anyway. Yes, there are sites out there that list where to find their beers, and maybe sometime in the future we will too, but for now know that we can’t really publicly announce retail locations that carry our beer, as that would fall under the ‘promotional’ rules restricted at this time, in this state. Sorry. If you do want more specific information, we certainly can field questions sent by email. Additionally, keep an eye out for our Email Subscription link on the website and sign up for updates (promise, we won’t abuse your email box).

How About That Saison?

Would you believe us if we told you it’s IN THE TANK! Yes, we’ve done initial sampling and the beer seems to be right where we want it for a March release! Right now we’re busy working on label approvals, marketing materials and all the behind-the-scenes work required to legally get beer to the market (did you know you have to buy UPC codes?).

Here’s a tease: The beer has a decent amount of wheat in the grist, which lends a fantastic lemony tartness that is incredibly refreshing. We’ve also tweaked our recipe a bit from our pilot batches to be sure the body is full, but not heavy, with notable texture and depth. The color is a shade darker than you might expect; a tawny-golden hue. The kicker? The yeast if friggin’ amazing! The aromas that you’ll find in this beer are wild and fruity, with a hint of peppery spice and a subtle earthy note. The beer doesn’t shy away from the traditional Belgian yeast, it’s in your face and proud of its heritage. We’re certain you’ll appreciate this; Saison is not your run-of-the-mill beer.

The Near Future

Odonata Beer is more than a little pleased to announce we’ll be pretty involved in both the San Francisco Beer Week and the Sacramento Beer Week celebrations. While we can’t necessarily tell you ‘where’ we’ll be for each (see above), we can say that SFBW has received enough kegs of sour beer from us (Rosa Beersel) for two events, along with a keg of Water Witch for another celebration! So, if you’re a fan of sour beer or beers aged in barrels, be sure to check out the SF Beer Week website for more information. Yes, SFBW starts in just a few days!

Odonata will also be celebrating closer to home, at Sacramento Beer Week. We’ll have some pretty special events that will be listed on the SBW site in the coming days and we’re still working out some details for additional events. Trust us, we’re gonna party that week! To help the move the festivities along we’ve already got a handful of Odonata Work Shirts printed and a bunch of glassware on the way!

Additionally, we’ll be working with area retailers, cafes and bars to line up the big launch of our first year-round beer, Saison. As mentioned before, we want to be really comfortable here in Sacramento – we’d love to see our beer in as many local establishments as possible. If you have any place in mind that you think would be a good fit for Odonata Saison, please let us know.

That’s all for now. Thank you again for your continued support. We’re excited and love that many of you are too. Cheers!

- Peter & Rick