All participants of the European Beer Blogging Conference which took place back in June of this year were offered a complimentary box of beers from conference sponsor, Beer52, an online beer delivery service which operates in the UK. Naturally, I availed of the opportunity.
As delivery is available only to the UK (and not to Belgium), I arranged for these beers to be sent to some friends. It was also a good opportunity for me to garner some independent feedback on the Beer52 service.
WHO ARE BEER52?
Beer52 is a monthly beer subscription service that delivers 8 bottles of ‘specialty, hand-crafted’ beers from around the world to your door for £24 per month.
They describe themselves as “the UK’s most popular craft beer club”. On their welcome pack, they claim to “handpick the best beers from the world’s most pioneering independent microbreweries” and assert that they are “fuelling the craft beer revolution by helping our members to discover them”.
James Brown from Edinburgh founded Beer52 last year.
The story goes like this. Scottish Brown took a motorcycle expedition with his dad a few years ago from Edinburgh all the way to Faro. From the back of his dad’s Harley Davidson he encountered beautiful landscapes and amazing craft beers. After the adventure, he drew parallels between the spectacular landscapes he experienced on the motorcycle and the uplifting nature of the brewing achievements he was fortunate enough to enjoy. James believes that: “the world of craft beer is inspiring because it’s creative, passionate and free from the boundaries of tradition”.
Returning from that epic motorcycling trip, James developed the concept of Beer52 and took it to a crowdfunding platform called Angelsden in December of last year. He raised £100,000 in 38 days from a total of 23 investors. Such was the success of his crowdfunding campaign, he had 22 days remaining to raise the cash he needed. One investor contributed £30,000. The reward was free beer for life.
Beer52 has big plans. At the start of 2014, they had 2,500 paying subscribers and they aim to build a community of beer lovers around the business through a subscription model. At the time of their successful crowdfunding campaign, Brown stressed how important the money raised would be. “The investment will allow us to launch a really engaging new website and acquire 10,000 members,” he said. “That will allow us to help the best independent craft breweries reach thousands of new drinkers in the UK.”
CRITICISMS
There has been, however, a series of complaints about their customer service of late and one particular issue relating to a Groupon offer for which customers were signing a continuous payment order that required them to give the bank one month’s notice to cancel.
It seems that many people had difficulties cancelling their subscriptions, whether this was an issue in finding contact information, getting through to Beer52 on their phone lines or long delays in receiving email replies. Some even accused Beer52 of ‘delaying tactics’ to force another payment from the subscriber, describing how they were only able to suspend an order on the website, but not to cancel it.
When I put these issues to James Brown of Beer52, he responded as follows:
Some background is that in the terms on Groupon and Beer52 when redeeming the offer we clearly stated customers would automatically receive monthly boxes after the 14 day trial if they did not cancel. Cancellations can be made right away by giving us a call on 0330 223 0599.
We sold many deals in a short space of time and as small startup team the increase in customers overnight meant we were stretched and working 18 hour days to keep everyone happy. Admittedly we were not able to keep everyone happy.
In response we offered all customers who did not cancel on time and subsequently received another box of beer in the post, a free return and full refund back on their card, so nobody was out of pocket. We took the hit and did the right thing by our customers.
One thing that we learned from this experience was that we needed a bigger team to cope with peaks and I’m delighted to say that we’ve added Karisma, our Customer Experience Superstar.
James Brown, Beer52
It’s a fact that companies will have teething problems in their infancy. Perhaps Beer52 should have been more realistic in their undertaking of the Groupon offer and it is very disappointing that so many people encountered a bad experience with buying craft beer. But could they really have predicted that 5,000 deals would sell out in 40 minutes for a new unknown craft beer club?
WHAT DO YOU GET?
The box arrived in immaculate condition. It was easy to open and included 8 craft beers, a bag of nachos, a Beer52 bottle-opener and a small booklet with some information about the business, their philosophy and their ways of working.
The booklet included the Beer 52 manifesto which stated that they feature only their favourite beers and that subscribers learn about what they’re drinking. The manifesto re-iterated their support of independent microbreweries and highlighted their desire to create a community of people who love craft beer.
The boys welcomed the inclusion of a bottle opener: “The bottle opener is a nice touch. Ergonomic, balanced, solid.”
THE BEERS: THE BOTTLES IN THE BOX
The following is a summary of the thoughts of the boys on the beer.
RANKED #1 of 8: GOOD ORDINARY PALE ALE
Alcohol: 4.4% a.b.v.
Style: Golden Ale
Brewery: Barney’s Beer, Edinburgh, Scotland
Boys’ Tasting Notes: “A caramel, amber colour with a sweet, flowery summer afternoon smell. It tastes like a polite old fashioned beer. You could be staring at fur-clad women on the streets of Boston. Our favourite from the box.”
Commercial Description: “A pale ale that isn’t afraid of flavour. Generous helpings of English and American hops add citrus & pine notes to the dry, toffee-nutty taste. Ok, maybe not so ordinary, but definitely good.”
RANKED #2 of 8: SHOREDITCH TRIANGLE IPA
Alcohol: 6%
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Brewery: London Fields Brewery, London, England
Boys’ Tasting Notes: “This has a mahogany varnish colour with small prickly bubbles. Its aroma is a short-lived experience of freshly cut grass and the taste is a sharp bitterness which makes you feel like you’re both a shackle-laden escapee at the back of a steam-train and at the same time you’re picking an obscure fruit in the jungle”.
Commercial Description: “Our brand new IPA launching at The Pigs Ear Beer Festival. 3 different malts and 3 different hops join together, inspired by the mystical Shoreditch Triangle lay lines. It will be a new permanent beer for us with the single hop IPAs taking more of a back seat.”
RANKED #3 of 8: 3.1.6.
Alcohol: 3.9%
Style: Golden Ale
Brewery: Grain Brewery, Norfolk, England
Boys’ Tasting notes: “A thin clear colour with a honey woody smell. The taste is earthy, kind of familiar and it goes down easy. It’s a blue-collar beer – you’re atop a trawler on a summer day. The branding veers towards the religious and might be found on the side of an old-school biscuit tin.”
Commercial Description: “Brewed with lager malt and ludicrously light, ‘3.1.6.’ has a glorious hoppy nose and taste.”
RANKED #4 OF 8: 24/7 SESSION ALE
Alcohol: 4.9%
Style: Session IPA
Brewery: Rooie Dop, Utrecht, the Netherlands (collaboration brew at De Molen Brewery, Bodegraven, the Netherlands)
Boys’ Tasting Notes: “It’s got a cloudy clementine colour and smells like a bowl of citrusy fruit. The taste is fiery and almost tart – the citrus hop aromas and flavours are such that you feel like you have just picked oranges all day and are on the way to a rugby match.”
Commercial Description: “Lots of people said to us we should make a lower alcohol beer, a more easy drinking session-like beer. We at Rooie Dop agreed and made a promise. Here it is: The 24/7 Session Ale! This member of the Rooie Dop family is clean and very hoppy. Saaz hops from the old world balancing out the epic Citra hops from the new world. A beer with less than 5% alcohol, session drinking all day long!”
RANKED #5 of 8: MUSSELBURGH BROKE
Alcohol: 4.5%
Style: Bitter
Brewery: Knops Beer Company, East Lothian, Scotland
Boys’ Tasting Notes: “The name is a real mouthful, the colour impenetrable red. It smells alluring, a nice ‘first beer’ to kick off a night. The taste is energising, fizzy and deceptive. But you feel like you’re betting in Ladbrokes, and the label makes it look like you’ve ordered Tabasco sauce.”
Commercial Description: “A delightful Scottish beer inspired by a brewing book from 1847 where there is a story about a beer that is clear and very brisk, and, consequently, very agreeable to the palate. Our modern interpretation of this beer uses four different malts (Pale Ale, Crystal, Chocolate and Roast Barley). Hops are added in small quantities in two stages to ensure that the malt character typical of Scottish ales is not overwhelmed.”
RANKED #6 of 8: SUMMIT WELLBREW ALE
Alcohol: 4.9% a.b.v.
Style: English Bitter
Brewery: May Hill Brewery, Gloucestershire, England
Boys’ Tasting Notes: “It’s got a dark-chocolate colour appearance with only a one finger head and a light haziness. Surprisingly big bready yeast aromas. The first sips reveal a creamy mouthfeel and chocolate malt backbone. The bitterness in aftertaste is greater than expected, hitting the back of the throat after a few seconds.”
Commercial Description: “Smooth to the palate, Summit reflects the dark, clear water pools at the top of May Hill – the highest point in Gloucestershire. Our highest strength, dark malty ale, combines Warminster Pale and Crystal malt with a trio of Challenger, Northdown and Bobek hops.”
RANKED #7 of 8: PACIFIC PALE #49
Alcohol: 4.9%
Style: Premium Bitter / Extra Special Bitter (ESB)
Brewery: 360° Brewing, East Sussex, England
Boys’ Tasting Notes: “A luscious cloudy caramel colour with a subtle caramel aroma and smoky orangey flavour. Sophisticated ‘nouveau riche’ branding. We reckon that this would be fantastic with cheese.”
Commercial Description: “Full of hops from the USA and Australia. This is a chestnut-coloured, modern pale ale with fruit and floral flavours and crisp bitterness.”
RANKED #8 of 8: BROKEN DIAL
Alcohol: 4.5% a.b.v.
Style: Amber Ale
Brewery: Harviestoun Brewery, Alva, Scotland
Boys’ Tasting Notes: “The appearance is that of muddy water from a stirred up brook. The aroma is of a springtime fruit farm, a ploughed field. The flavours are all bedroom whisperer, with the butteriness of a yawning dusk and the plastic smokiness of a tangy skirting board. Although the flavours do match the agricultural theme and make you feel like you’re sitting on a combine harvester after a tough days toll, the label has a medicinal theme that more resembles a cough syrup bottle.”
Commercial Description: “This gloriously amber coloured ale is one of our brewer’s timeless classics. Made with what is often considered the finest hop on the earth, namely the Simcoe Hop. The result is a fruity finish with distinctive malty undertones. Take a sip and whilst time stands still discover this thirst quenching and palate enlivening ale. (Hops: Celeia, Citra, Simcoe, Liberty; Malts: Lager Malt, Wheat Malt, Oats, Chocolate Wheat).”
FINAL THOUGHTS ON BEER52
The conclusion from the boys was that the Beer52 box was a good introduction to some interesting new craft beers.
While it was great to drink beer from 8 different breweries, one suggestion the boys made was that the box might include a greater range of styles – essentially there were IPAs, some Bitters and some golden/amber ales – but no beers of continental styles (Belgian or German style, for example), no porters or stouts, and none of an experimental nature (this is a very minor point).
Beer52 have kindly offered a discount to readers of Belgian Smaak. To avail of this discount and to claim £10 off your first purchase, use the code ‘BELGIANSMAAK’ when placing your order.
