Tuesday, October 6, 2009

More News on Rock Bottom in Omaha


It appears that it is true that the Rock Bottom going into the Old Market in Omaha will not have a brewery and this will be the start of a new concept for them called "Gold Medal Tap." This comes from recent information from this article.

All the Rock Bottom-brewed beers available at Gold Medal Tap have won the top prize at either the Great American Beer Festival or the World Cup of Beer competition. The other brands of craft beer to be served at the new concept are meant to be beers that Rock Bottom's brewers would drink if they couldn’t imbibe the company hooch, O'Connor said.

Read more: http://www.nrn.com/article.aspx?id=374026#ixzz0TC1uO5O3


So this seems like a pretty cool concept and at least they will have their quality beers on tap. I know in the previous post on this someone commented on the distribution angle of this and I am not certain how that will play out, something to look into I suppose, but having only their "best" beer sounds like a win for Omaha.

"When we were named the 2008 Large Brew Pub of the Year by the Great American Beer Festival, we began to consider new ways of bringing our gold-medal-winning beers to different parts of the country," said Buck Warfield, senior vice president of development for Rock Bottom Restaurants. "This new hybrid concept allows us to serve our great hand-crafted beers to more people in more places. The creative energy and exuberance of Omaha's Old Market District made it the perfect place to debut Rock Bottom Gold Medal Tap.

Read more: http://www.nrn.com/article.aspx?id=374026#ixzz0TC2JxGGI


So, looks like more quality beer could be making it's way to Omaha. I am always of the belief that more beer education is good for everyone in the beer industry and opens the palates of people to other possibilities. I hope this only strengthens the ever emerging beer market in Nebraska.

2 comments:

CJ said...

This sounds interesting. I hope that they are able to implement this idea as true as possible to their press releases.

I think that bringing in beers that have won medals at GABF is cool. I suppose one could argue just how much they value drinking a GABF gold medal beer, but at least it gives one a general standard in which the beer they are drinking should be judged.

I wonder if they will push the local market in any new directions?

nickspies said...

I really like the idea of guest taps. I'm hoping this will add to the push to get more craft beers into Nebraska that have never been here before.

Plus the location is right...walking distance to Upstream, Qwest Center, and other nightlife.