Karma Citra IPA - Great Lakes Brewery

[Pub Style]

Great news GLB supporters...our fan favourite, Karma Citra IPA, the 2012 & 2013 Gold Medal winning American IPA at the Canadian Brewing Awards, will be available in cans at the GLB retail store this, yes, wait for it, this Friday (May 2nd) between 12pm - 8pm.

We are delaying the regular opening hours of the retail store in order to properly stock and organize our supply of Karma Citra IPA cans, which as you know, is in high-demand. We don't want to leave people hanging, so we figured that we'd open our retail store at 12pm instead of 10am, and stay open until 8pm. That gives you an extra two hours after work to get over here and snag some of our finest before it's gone.

Karma Citra IPA cans will retail for $3.50 or $78.00 a case/24. You can tweet out your purchase using the #KarmaCitraIPA hash tag.

Numerous craft beer bars and restaurants across Ontario will also be getting some in draught format and in cans.

If you have any questions or comments about #KarmaCitraIPA, please contact troy.b@greatlakesbeer.com..

Cheers!

[El Pinguino]

Well, damn.
I had been hoping no great beers would be released during my absence from Canada, it seems I am destined to miss out on Karma Citra again....or, at best, drink it "LCBO import" fresh.
Enjoy folks!

[beerstodiscover]

We don't want to leave people hanging

I got there at 6:30 and it was all sold out. Afterwards I read on Twitter it sold out in 4 hours. I guess I should know better, but I got the impression there would be a lot of this available, what with the extended hours and all. I wish GLB either made a lot more of it or limited cans per person, if they are trying not to leave people hanging.

Not to be denied a taste, I tried in on tap last night at Bellwoods and it was damn good.

[Soods]

I got there at 6:30 and it was all sold out. And I read on Twitter is was sold out in 4 hours. I guess I should know better, but I got the impression there would be a lot of this available, what with the extended hours and all.
Not to be denied a taste, I tried in on tap last night at Bellwoods and it was damn good.

Same experience here. Thought that with them being open until 8pm (which of course they weren't since they sold out earlier) that it would be no problem in picking up some cans. Checked on Twitter before going to the brewery to make sure that it wasn't sold out, only to arrive and told it was sold out hours earlier.

At least it was on tap at Bryden's, so not a total loss.

[icemachine]

Was hoping to go get some after work, but I checked the twitter feed and saw it was sold out before 5. Sucks especially when you saw pics of guys taking cases but will just have to try and grab a pint somewhere. Hopefully Hungry Brew Hops got a keg

[JeffPorter]

I thought this was going to also be an lcbo release...

[Bull_Schott]

Based upon how fast it sold out, and the number of people who got shut out, I think one can only hope they realize the popularity of releases like this and limit the allotment per person in the future. It's common practice at a lot of other breweries, to ensure more beer gets into more peoples' hands and can be drank while prime.

[Pub Style]

Hi Guys,

On behalf of Great Lakes, I would like to extend our apologies for selling out of Karma Citra IPA cans as fast as we did on Friday May 2nd. It took us all by surprise too.

I would also like to thank everyone that made the trip out to The brewery. It was great to see so many familiar faces in the store and we hope that everyone enjoyed the free treats from our friends at the Pie Commission. The GLB staff worked hard to keep the lines moving and the fridges fully stocked.

We chose to release the beer at our retail store at 12:00pm on a weekday thinking that it would help extend the availability throughout the day. Yes, we extended the store hours until 8pm, as it was our intention to sell Karma Citra after normal GLB retail hours to accommodate our out of town supporters, but it was becoming evident by 1pm, an hour after opening, that we might not make it that far. We did our best to keep folks updated via Twitter as the stock was plummeting, but I'm sorry to those that may have missed the update at 4pm advising people that we sold out. Our store was packed for 3 solid hours.

Yes, we chose not to enforce a limit per person as we have done that before with our limited releases and received flack for that. With the Karma Citra release, because we had 2500+ cans, were releasing them during a weekday, and we are located out in sleepy Etobicoke, we thought we'd be able to get to 8pm... craft beer drinkers in this province proved us wrong. We saw individuals from Etobicoke, Toronto, London, Hamilton, Durham region, and more, make the drive to the brewery to get some for themselves and friends. I can assure you that people did not abuse the 'no limit' sales. It simply sold out fast due to many many people coming in droves in the 4 hours after opening.

We can understand how frustrating it may have been for those that drove to the brewery after we sold out, after all, we here at GLB are passionate beer drinkers just like you are. We will take what we have learned this week and use it to better next year’s release, and future Tank Ten releases.

That being said, please find a list of craft beer bars (below) that received kegs and/or cans of Karma Citra IPA around Ontario. We tried to spread the love so beer drinkers in different regions were/are able to drink some.

We'd once again like to apologize for running out so fast and we'd like to thank you for your time and your comments. We welcome your feedback, so please don't hesitate to contact me (troy.b@greatlakesbeer.com.) at your convenience. We sincerely appreciate all of your support for GLB and for your interest in our products.

Toronto:
Bryden's
C'est What
barVolo
Bar Hop
Victory Cafe
Sauce on Danforth
The Wren
Morgans on the Danforth
Brass Taps Danforth
Sarah's Cafe & Bar
The Ceili Cottage
Stack Restaurant
Thirsty and Miserable
Bar Isabel
Bellwoods Brewery
Indie Alehouse
Dukes Refresher
Get Well
Loose Moose
The Only Cafe
Tallboys
The Local
Origin North
Momofuku
Snakes & Lagers
Wvrst
1718
Food & Liquor
The Crest
The Passenger
Northwood
Dominion on Queen
Beer Bistro
Against the Grain (Leaside)

Kitchener/Waterloo:
Imbibe Food and Drink
Jane Bond
The Bent Elbow
Kickoff Lounge
Borealis (Kitchener)

Guelph:
Woolwich Arrow
Baker Street Station
The OX

Hamilton:
The Tavern on George
The Ship
Augusta's Winking Judge
The Brain

London:
Milos' Craft Beer Emporium

Newmarket:
Hungry Brew Hops

Oshawa:
Buster Rhino's

Windsor:
The Barrel House

Bracebridge:
The Griffin Gastropub

Oakville:
Bru Restaurant

Cheers,
Troy Burtch
Sales & Community Management

Great Lakes Brewery
2013 CANADIAN Brewery of the Year
www.greatlakesbeer.tumblr.com
troy.b@greatlakesbeer.com.
Brewery - 416.255.4510

[Malcolm]

I had it at C'est What last week and introduced it to a friend who drank it all night. Great beer, although I prefer a little more malt background in my IPA's, which is fine now that Canucklehead is on cask.

[cratez]

I missed out on the cans but snagged a couple pints at Bar Hop and also grabbed some Apocalypse Later while at the brewery, so it was all good. Considering Karma Citra is far and away the best IPA made in this province, I'm happy to see it move well (it would be strange / concerning if it didn't). Also, while I usually agree with Malcolm, "more malt" is the last thing this beer needs – Karma's intense yet refined hop juice character is what separates it from the rest of the pack.

[Craig]

I missed out on the cans but snagged a couple pints at Bar Hop and also grabbed some Apocalypse Later while at the brewery, so it was all good. Considering Karma Citra is far and away the best IPA made in this province, I'm happy to see it move well (it would be strange / concerning if it didn't). Also, while I usually agree with Malcolm, "more malt" is the last thing this beer needs – Karma's intense yet refined hop juice character is what separates it from the rest of the pack.

Far and away the best IPA? I would have agreed with that when it first came out, but it's probably my fourth or fifth favourite beer in the extended IPA family that Great Lakes makes now.

Which is impressive. Kudos to Lackey.

[cratez]

Far and away the best IPA? I would have agreed with that when it first came out, but it's probably my fourth or fifth favourite beer in the extended IPA family that Great Lakes makes now. Which is impressive. Kudos to Lackey.

Thrust is the only one that comes close to the quality and complexity of Karma IMO. You're free to disagree.

[Craig]

Far and away the best IPA? I would have agreed with that when it first came out, but it's probably my fourth or fifth favourite beer in the extended IPA family that Great Lakes makes now. Which is impressive. Kudos to Lackey.

Thrust is the only one that comes close to the quality and complexity of Karma IMO. You're free to disagree.

Not Lake Effect?

My problem, insofar as a 4/5 can be seen as a problem, with karma citra is I find it a little one dimensional compared to the others. But really I don't think any of the three is head and shoulders above the others.

The others I was thinking of were robohop (this years, I didn't like it as well last year) and Audrey Hopburn (which I freely admit I like more than I should).

[cratez]

Far and away the best IPA? I would have agreed with that when it first came out, but it's probably my fourth or fifth favourite beer in the extended IPA family that Great Lakes makes now. Which is impressive. Kudos to Lackey.

Thrust is the only one that comes close to the quality and complexity of Karma IMO. You're free to disagree.

Not Lake Effect?

My problem, insofar as a 4/5 can be seen as a problem, with karma citra is I find it a little one dimensional compared to the others. But really I don't think any of the three is head and shoulders above the others.

The others I was thinking of were robohop (this years, I didn't like it as well last year) and Audrey Hopburn (which I freely admit I like more than I should).

Lake Effect is very good but I find it has a slightly "waxy" quality, similar to Rogue Brutal IPA and Yellow Snow. The Karma and Thrust have cleaner and more robust hop flavours IMO. RoboHop is a DIPA and Audrey is a Belgian IPA.

[Craig]

Far and away the best IPA? I would have agreed with that when it first came out, but it's probably my fourth or fifth favourite beer in the extended IPA family that Great Lakes makes now. Which is impressive. Kudos to Lackey.

Thrust is the only one that comes close to the quality and complexity of Karma IMO. You're free to disagree.

Not Lake Effect?

My problem, insofar as a 4/5 can be seen as a problem, with karma citra is I find it a little one dimensional compared to the others. But really I don't think any of the three is head and shoulders above the others.

The others I was thinking of were robohop (this years, I didn't like it as well last year) and Audrey Hopburn (which I freely admit I like more than I should).

Lake Effect is very good but I find it has a slightly "waxy" quality, similar to Rogue Brutal IPA and Yellow Snow. The Karma and Thrust have cleaner and more robust hop flavours IMO. RoboHop is a DIPA and Audrey is a Belgian IPA.

That's why I said extended IPA family.