California brewer debuts seasonal lager that costs $120 for just a six-pack

Oct 20, 2024

You’ll need beer goggles when checking this price tag.

Hanabi Lager Co. launched a new bougie beer — and bottles of the “grain-forward lager,” are being peddled for $20 each, so a six-pack would cost a staggering $120, reported SF Gate.

“This is the best beer we have ever brewed, and damn, it just tastes like home,” the company explains on its website, citing their seasonal addition, San Juan Island Bere, which is made from “ancient” barley grown organically in San Juan Island, Washington.

The brewer, which is based in Napa, Calif., was founded by Nick Gislason, the director of winemaking at Screaming Eagle, “America’s most expensive wine,” where bottles of its small-batch Cabernet Sauvignon can fetch $5,000 or more.

“Every beer he makes features a single heirloom grain that’s been painstakingly sourced and cared for just like the great wines of the world feature single grape varietals,” the outlet reported.

In late 2020, Gislason debuted his first beer, which sold for $90 a six-pack — $15 per bottle, excluding shipping costs. Since it was classified as a pilsner, it was expected to go for $1 a can.

Now, Hanabi’s beers can sell out in just an hour, the outlet said.

A reporter at SF Gate was there for the release of San Juan Island Bere at Admiral Maltings in Alameda, and gushed over the pricey brew.

“My first sip opened and closed in a beat of clean bitterness, like a song that starts with a single note of a piano key. There were no loud flavors, no flash of tartness like a sour beer or screaming IPA aromas,” he said.

“I tried another sip, and then another, and the beer began to reveal a perfumey mint flavor. It had a subtlety that I think many people would likely miss. But I kept drinking, trying to unravel the beer’s story, and then before I knew it, my glass was empty.”