Big Ditch Brewing is taking things to the next level and are upping their can game with the release of their most critically acclaimed beer, Deep Cut Double IPA. The sought after brew will be made available in 16 oz. 4-pack cans (for a tasty price of $14.99) on Saturday, February 4 at 10am at the brewery.
There will be a maximum of 1 case per customer (subject to change), due to the availability of approximately 200 cases (also subject to change). And for those that miss out, Deep Cut will also be on tap for your pint and growler filling pleasure. The brewery has also promised that this will not be the last time that they can Deep Cut, with tentative plans for monthly releases.
Though Deep Cut is the brewery’s fourth offering in aluminum, following the successful release of flagship brews Hayburner IPA, Excavator Brown Ale and Low Bridge Golden Ale, it has been a priority for their canning phase almost since day one.
“Deep Cut isn’t our best selling beer, but it’s our most buzzworthy beer. As soon as we launched our signature beers in cans, the first question people asked was “What about Deep Cut?” When we bring this beer to tastings or festivals, we get lots of interest and questions about it; people want to know if it’s in cans or bottles, etc. It was pretty obvious we needed to can this beer,” Big Ditch President Matt Kahn says.
And what about the old adage of canned beer vs. draft beer? The simple answer would be to try Deep Cut out of a can AND on tap, but if that’s not an option, then Kahn explains there should be no discernable difference in taste from one to the other. He also warns that Deep Cut is best when consumed fresh and not aged, because, you know, it’s an IPA and all.
“If the beer is packaged and stored properly, there should be virtually no difference between draft beer and canned beer,” he adds. “Usually, differences come about due to poor packaging, i.e. ingress of oxygen during packaging, or poor storage conditions, that is, stored warm or exposed to light (in the case of bottles). We don’t anticipate there will be any differences between canned Deep Cut and draft Deep Cut – but be sure to drink as fresh as possible, this beer won’t age well! And, if you must store for a short period of time, store this beer cold.”
If you’re asking yourself why Deep Cut wasn’t the first to come off of Big Ditch’s canning line, the signature beers were a logical initial canned product because Big Ditch considers them a family. And despite more and more breweries canning (and bottling) their products at an increased rate, Kahn believes there is room in the local marketplace for everyone to coexist, succeed and thrive.
“Regarding canning our three signature beers, we think of them like a family. We just couldn’t split them apart. Even before we opened our brewery, there were three parts to our long term plan: 1) Make great beer; 2) Serve it in a comfortable and appealing tap room; 3) Distribute in bottles or cans all over WNY. And so, we had always planned to expand the brewery in order to put the beer on shelves in supermarkets and retail stores.”
“There will always be room for high quality, fresh, local beer. We are going to great lengths to keep it fresh and make the consumer aware of how fresh it is. Not everyone does this. Not only that, but since the beer is made locally, it won’t suffer from the same types of flaws that beer made further away will suffer from. As long as we do our jobs well, we don’t feel we need to worry about what everyone else is doing.”
The canning of Deep Cut brings along with it one natural question, ‘what’s next?’ Could we see the beloved Galaxy Red in cans anytime soon, or fall favorites Fall Black or Cinnamon Apple Amber Ale or maybe Beautiful River Farmhouse Ale perhaps? Well, as Kahn simply puts it, the only thing that’s for sure about Big Ditch is nothing’s for sure.
“Nothing definite yet, but we are looking at trying to can some of our seasonal offerings, potentially as early as this summer. We’re also investigating a series of new IPAs that would mostly be one-off batches that we would can for sale at the brewery. [We’re] still a few months away from doing either of these things though.”
Brian Campbell is a co-founder/Brand Manager of the BNBA’s enthusiast arm, Buffalo Beer League, and writes the weekly Buffalo Beer Buzz column. If you have beer news that should be included in the Beer Buzz, Brian can be reached at buffalobeerleague@aol.com, on Twitter at @buffbeerleague, on Instagram at @buffalobeerleague and on Facebook at @thebuffalobeerleague.
