The BEER52 Experiment

At Hoptimist Towers we are always on the look out for interesting beers. We’re also aware that for many readers times are tight, with costs rising across the board, so we like to keep an eye out for good beers at bargain prices. We keep an eye of the discount supermarkets such as Aldi and Lidl who often have good offerings. We also regularly visit the remainder stores who often have great beers in bulk which are sold on a ‘when they’re gone, they’re gone’ basis, these being brewery or wholesaler excess stocks.

As well as cash being tight, for many busy people down time is often in short supply too. This can be seen by the rise of mail order clubs, for anything from gin to razors, where each month you get a delivery of essentials or specially put together selections straight to your door. Beer is no different with several craft breweries producing specials monthly for their club members or dealers who curate a selection box of beers from throughout the world. Many of these are excellent and whilst they may well be fairly priced, they are not exactly cheap and are a regular commitment. Can a tight Yorkshire accountant find a bargain beer selection at a bargain price with no further commitment? Perhaps…

This week a Twitter friend alerted me to a deal on Money Savings Expert (Martin Lewis’) site. This was from Beer 52 offering 24 beers, a couple of snacks and Ferment magazine delivered to your door for £26 (normal full price £74). An offer too good to be true? Well, there is a little more to it. There is a photograph of the beers, but there is the right to substitute different beers and reading the text it is obvious that these are short-dated beers. So, these are surplus stocks they are trying to sell before they reach their expiry date, perfectly drinkable though some may be a little past their best as so many cans seem to be marked drink fresh these days. Seems a decent offer.

Purely in the interests of research I decided to place my order on Wednesday 9 March, £26 for 24 beers, 2 snacks and a magazine to my door. As these are short-dated beers I wondered how long they would take to arrive; the answer was the next day! So, 10 out of 10 for that. I unpacked and inspected the contents and compared them to the photograph in the advert and they were largely the same, a couple of alternatives, a few duplicates but 17 different beers, with some from Croatia, Austria, USA and Australia. A good selection so a strong 9/10 there.  Now to look at the best before dates. There were a couple that needed drinking straight away, 6 in April with the rest in May or June so a solid 8/10. (full itinerary of the beers received can be seen below)

So, judging what was advertised and what arrived I would say a definite 9/10 and at a cracking price, but the real test will be the taste and overall quality of the beer.

So without any further to-do lets get supping!