TUPPERS' INDEPENDENCE DAY UPDATE

July 3, 2008-- I remember how Uli Benewitz, who founded the Weeping Radish over 20 years ago, regaled us with stories about how much harder it was to actually brew beer than it should have been.  It hasn't changed much in 20 years even if you don't try to build your own brewery.   But for every step back there has seemed to be two steps forward lately.

We've been assured we can get hops, independently of any brewery.  We may not be able to get the exact hops we used at OD, but we and our source believe we can come very very close.  It will be expensive, but not as awful as we thought.  Our hope is to come so close that we won't be able to tell the difference.  If you can.... too bad.

But that means we're dealing with a different situation with the breweries we've been talking to and we haven't had a chance to see how this supply of hops will change whatever arrangements they had in mind.  So a bit more of a delay, but one that should ensure a product that's much closer to the original Hop Pocket than we thought we could do.

So as we prepare to celebrate Independence Day, it has something of a special meaning for us this year.  The hops free us from whatever hops a given brewery has lying around and didn't want to use on their own products.  And, of course, we look back on the past year and some tough decisions--and continue to be grateful that when we do come back, we'll have our independence -- and full control of what is brewed under our name. 

ARCHIVES

TUPPERS' HOP POCKET ALE II

REVIVAL

June 20, 2008-- We believe that we will complete arrangements within a week to resume production of Tuppers' Hop Pocket Ale.  We cannot obtain at any price the exact hops we used at Old Dominion, but we have found a brewer who actually can obtain high quality hops and that's no small feat these days.   The new version of Tuppers' Hop Pocket will be bottle conditioned, as always.  It will be dry-hopped, as always.  And it will have our signature balance between malt and hops -- hoppy enough for Bob, smooth enough for Ellie.

We haven't been this close, but we have been close, and we're just not ready to give details until the ink is dry on the deal.  But keep looking here-- within a few days we should have it done.

Of course it won't be like the old days.  Expect to pay much more than you did when hops were cheap.  And depending on where you live, it may not be as easy to find, at least for a while.  But it will be, again, a beer like no other on the market

May 22, 2008-- Thanks to everyone who continues to remind us how much you miss the Hop Pocket beers.  We do too.  As the school year draws to a close I have more time to rattle more cages, so we'll see what turns up.  Someone we met recently asked what he could do to get Tuppers' back on the shelf and I rather flippantly replied, "Find us someone with about $3 million he like to use to finance a new brewery."  The reply was much more serious than my offhanded remark, so who knows, if we can't find a brewery maybe we'll make one.

But don't hold your breath on that happening.  The phone hasn't been ringing off the hook since and if it rang today there will be a long delay before the first bottle gets filled. 

There is long term good news.  Hops farmers are returning to hop plantings, apparently in significant numbers.  And there will be a couple of new breweries in the region for whom a Tuppers partnership would make good economic sense.  So I'm pretty sure we'll all by fine by, say, 2012.  Yeah, OK, I'll make some more calls this afternoon.

March 11, 2008 -- Thanks to all who have emailed support over the past few months.  You remind us that we really have to find a way to make these beers again.  We're looking farther afield than we had earlier and hope that will break the log-jam.  We're very lucky in that our bottle conditioned beers have to spend a week conditioning in the bottle before they are ready to be sold.  Those of you who went to the OD tours over the past few years probably saw huge stacks of Tuppers' piled on the floor next to the bottling line.  They sat there until they were conditioned and then were placed in the cooler.  But there's no reason why that week of conditioning can't be spent on a truck (think "India Pale Ale") while it's coming east.  We should be able to get you the beer tasting as fresh as it ever was.

For now, however, I'm afraid that the last sources of Hop Pocket are drying up.  Congratulations to those of your who cellared a spring's worth -- the last batch Old Dominion brewed is holding up as well as any they ever did.  It was a great final chapter to a very good book.

Meanwhile there are lots of good beers around.  We've actually been pretty regular about posting our favorites in the "Beers of the Week" section of this site.  Follow the link in the table at the bottom of our home page or click here.

     Questions?  Feel free to email us using the link on the home page.

        Cheers!

    Bob and Ellie Tupper

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Coming Eventually!  -- ON TAP:  A listing of local craft beers on tap at brewpubs and specialty beer bars.

and...  The Random Rant -- Mostly we celebrate beer, but sometimes brewpubs and beer bars just ought to know better.