Sixpoint wants you to say goodbye to waiting in line for hot new beer releases. The brewery announced today that it built an app that lets people buy limited release, small-batch beers straight from the brewery. Once the beers are ordered through the app, you choose a pick up time and there you have it: all the hype of special releases, none of the waiting.
The app goes live on September 22 (you can sign up for a beta version here), and the first beers go on sale at 12 p.m. on September 25. It’s the first app that circumvents the three-tier system and lets consumers buy directly from a brewery via phone.
Sixpoint has been making a lot of changes in the past couple months. It recently hired former Trillium brewer Eric Bachli, and has been hyping big changes to come for a couple weeks. This app is one part of the equation, and another is a new beers. Most notably, the brewery plans on releasing its first hazy New England style IPA called Smoothie, which VinePair had a chance to try out of the tank at the brewery in Brooklyn. It’s thick and juicy, and tastes fruity without being sweet.
Smoothie won’t be ready at the same time as the app, but there will be Toppen-ish, an unfiltered IPA, and Lil’ Raspy, a Berliner Weisse with raspberries.
The app could change the way special releases are handled at other breweries as well. There’s a sense of community among the people who wait for hours to pick up limited beers at breweries. They trade rare beers in line and bond over the experience. But there’s a limited number of people who can spend all day waiting in line for a few cans of beer. An app could open up how many people have the chance to try fresh, special release beer straight from the brewery.
“Competition is driving breweries to innovate with beer styles, adjuncts, and new recipes to stand out, but very few are finding ways to change the experience,” Max Nevins, the vice president of marketing at Sixpoint, says in a press release. “There’s so much potential out there and the way the industry operates is still archaic. We’re just starting to scratch the surface.”
