Meantime, Cali Belgian IPA

The first (I think) of the special editions to come out of Meantime. This was a good beer! Sweaty nose, then a big fizzy gob which tasted not wholly unlike a slightly milder version of a houblon chouffe. Certainly not as strong as that one though and there was a little bit of the signature Meantime wateryness that crept in, but to my mind, this actually benefited this drink, making it light (as opposed to 'weak bodied'), refreshing and quite morish. (Good job I got to drink the whole 750ml to myself whilst watching a couple of episodes of Bron/Broen eh?) I suppose I ought to mention the Tony Naylor Guardian article: I paid £10 for this, no postage (picked it up from the Meantime stall at the South Bank market). To give a price context: at 750ml, I figure that makes somewhere between £4.50 and £5 for a 330ml equivalent. I paid around £4.40 for the Stone Ruination, £3.40 for a 330ml Houblon Chouffe, Kernel IPAs are between £2.80 and £3.25 (depending on where you buy them of course) and Bevertowns and Partizans (London beers) are more or less equivalent. So I suppose the Meantime is 'overpriced' but not by too much. Charging more for a ltd edition is fair tactic I suppose, but by how much makes the difference between it being justified or a piss take. To my mind, the price on the Beavertown barrel aged bottles (£20 in the Draft House) leans towards the latter, the Meantime the former.