In case you missed the news, the New York Times Art Beat is reporting that Ommegang will be creating four beers for the popular HBO series Game of Thrones, based on the A SOng of Ice and Fire books by George R.R. Martin. According to Coming Soon: The Beer of Kings:
The first beer, Iron Throne Blonde Ale, will be inaugurated nationwide in late March, to coincide with the Season 3 premiere of “Game of Thrones,” which is scheduled for March 31. Three more beers are planned, with the second to be released next fall. The others will follow in subsequent seasons.
I’m a fan of the show, and my wife and several relatives have read all the books, but this is certainly some odd marketing. If the goal is to make more people watch the show, I can’t see how this will have any effect. If you already like the show, will you seek out the beer just because of the tie-in? I like the beer that Brewery Ommegang makes, but apart from some press and attention, I can’t see how this will help the brand all that much.
Note: These are not the actual labels that Ommegang will create, but some imagined ones that have been floating around the internet since earlier this year, this collection from Geek Tyrant.
UPDATE 12.18: Ommegang brewmaster Phil Leinhart revealed some additional details about the upcoming Game of Thrones beers in an interview on Guyism. Here’s what he had to say:
[T]he blonde ale is fair in color and soft in appearance, but still holds a complexity and bite.
“With a Lannister currently on the throne, it only made sense to do a delicate, but piercing Golden Blonde Ale with Noble hops,” he said, referring to one of the series’ characters.
Subsequent beers for the collaboration are still being worked on, because the Ommegang team has to wait for the themes and characters to develop in the series’ next season before it can begin crafting the next ale. Capozza said that two additional beers will be released in conjunction with each of the series’ following seasons
And there’s also more about the project came about:
Allison Capozza, a spokeswoman at Ommegang, said that the Game of Thrones creators and producers have long been fans of Brewery Ommegang, whose team happens to enjoy the TV series. HBO, she said, reached out to the brewery about the idea for a collaboration.
“The producers very much resonated with Ommegang’s blend of ‘old world’ and ‘new world’ elements to create something new and unique,” Capozza said.
And below is the official bottle that Ommegang will release next year.
I love Ommegang, well priced thoughtful beer from CNY just 3 hours to my south, but I don’t get this at all. Maybe they are just hardcore nerds and it makes them happy but it is a bit of a sideshow from good beer.
I’m with you on this one, it just doesn’t make a lot of sense unless, as you suggest, they’re just fans and want to do it for a laugh, ala Lagunitas doing the Frank Zappa beers.
I don’t see how this is a “sideshow” at all. Seems to me that it’s just a bit of marketing. Who knows, maybe the show actually inspired them in some way as well. Irregardless, I don’t see anything wrong with a collaboration between a brewery and the creators of a TV show.
It’s just beer people. Relax & have fun with it.
I’ve read 3 of the books, and watched the first two seasons twice. If these beers make it out to the Bay Area, I would indeed buy some. If you are not a fan of the show, however, I can’t see the interest in just picking it up off the shelf.
Well folks, it’s 4 months later and the Ommegang Iron Throne ale for HBO’s Game of Thrones is in the market. First, the ale is an excellent Ommegang take on a 6.5% Belgian Blonde ale, a beer we don’t normally make. Secondly, we had no real idea how well this would work, but it seemed like fun and GOT does have real fans here at the brewery. Third, it then turned out that the production of the beer had to be ramped up to meet advance wholesale orders. When it went to retail, it rocketed out the door. Who knew? Fourth: It seems there is plenty of cross-over between GOT fans and our style of craft beers.
Finally, we’ve all had some fun, we’ve made a really good beer we don’t typically make, we’ve helped bump up our customer awareness and clearly gained new customers, and HBO is quite happy with the beer and the attention. Seems we all came out ahead.
Thanks for the update Larry. Cheers, J