(Paso Robles, CA) – When Firestone Walker Brewing released its press release for XV Anniversary Ale, myself and others raised the question around using ‘black market’ sales as a bullet point in illustrating the value of one of the brewery’s beers. To be fair, there were also plenty of people who didn’t think twice about the press release’s mention of the secondary market. While an interesting topic, it’s probably not worth having a beer summit over now that we are weeks later…

The issue arises again toward the end of the above video when New School’s Ezra Johnson-Greenough brings it up with Co-Founder/Owner, David Walker. He sounds pretty peeved about the reaction to the PR, saying that it wasn’t an endorsement but just acknowledgment of the passion of beer enthusiasts. He says that he also took a lot of flack for it (from the internet or actual brewers? who knows…).

One thing is clear. Walker is against the sale of his beer in the secondary market, citing concerns around some middle tier making lots of money off of it as well as lack of quality control.

So there you have it.

via the New School: Behind the Pint.