Beer Release Frenzy

I have avoided the frenetic, special canned beer releases. I have purchased a few Modern Times Beer and Mikkeller Brewing special can releases, but have not yet waited in line to buy beer.  That sort of changed Saturday.  I read on Facebook last week that Pizza Port Ocean Beach was releasing its Bacon & Eggs Imperial Coffee Porter in cans along with a special coffee mug full of the beer at 11:00 a.m. Saturday morning.  I wanted the camp-style mug, not the beer, because the thought of a drinking high alcohol beer, or any beer for that matter, before noon has no appeal to me.  I had been to Pizza Port the night before and was told there were only about 35 mugs, so I knew I had to arrive early to get a mug.

I timed my Saturday morning chores to put me in Ocean Beach before noon, but I arrived earlier than expected and stopped at Pizza Port around 11:30 a.m., lucky for me.  Pizza Port was packed.  Its picnic style tables were nearly full, and there were stacks of Bacon & Eggs six packs on every surface.  I saw one old dedicated drinker hunched over his mug of beer, holding it with two hands, focused only on getting that mug of precious beer to his mouth.  Galileo did not have as much concentration studying gravity.  The bearded boozer was not alone, and if you did not know better you'd think you were in a coffee house with all the people sipping dark beer from their mugs.  I snagged the next to last mug a mere thirty minutes into the beer sale.  It looked like there were still plenty of six-packs of Bacon & Eggs available, but Pizza Port had blown through its mug supply in about the time it takes to order and get a pizza.

While the lines were not out the door - at least by the time I arrived - I still I found the enthusiasm around Bacon & Eggs' release encouraging.  It is not a rare beer, at least I don't think it is, or a one-off release.  I have seen it on tap numerous times at Pizza Port.  The craft beer world continues to evolve, and special can releases are one aspect of this evolution.  Good for Pizza Port creating a buzz for an established beer's can release, especially a beer that is not some hazy IPA.