Whalebone Gets Its First Taste of Montauk Hard Seltzer at The Library
Today, we’ve secretly switched the Whalebone Magazine crew’s regular La Croix and Pellegrino and other fancy sparkling water drinks with Montauk Hard Seltzer from Montauk Brewing Company. Shhhh. Let’s see if they notice their sparkling water has been spiked.
10 a.m.
The crew is pacing the Library excitedly and work is getting done. The Mixed Berry, Black Cherry, Lemon Lime and Raspberry Lime flavors are going down smooth and acting a social lubricant, so the team is jollier than usual. (Yes, this tastes pretty much like normal tasty seltzer, but this does contain alcohol, so please drink responsibly.) Nobody seems to suspect anything.
11 a.m.
Montauk Brew Co. founder Vaughan Cutillo is lurking behind ferns, observing and taking notes as the Whalebone staff drinks the Hard Seltzer. The crew might be getting suspicious about why Vaughan is here, but they don’t let on, probably for fear someone may take away their new light, spritz-y and quaffable best friend.
12 p.m.
They begin to suspect something when Vaughan assembles them for a tasting of “seltzer” out of the crystal stemware we keep in The Library’s sub-basement for special occasions.
The tasting begins and it looks a little something like this:
1 p.m.
A sense of calm has overtaken the room. The energy is palpable though. Something like what the clubhouse of the home team might be like right before they take the field for game one of the World Series.
2 p.m.
New electric hues of blue, purple, yellow and red are entering the designs in the next issue of the magazine. Another can top pops. “If you hold it to your ear you can hear the ocean,” Matt says.
3 p.m.
Each 12 oz. can of Montauk Hard Seltzer is only 95 calories with 1 gram of sugar, 2 carbs and is gluten free. At 4.5% ABV the crew is still working at what we can only assume is their usual pace. There are a few more impromptu dance parties to records than usual.
4 p.m.
Back to work. LCD Soundsystem’s “Dance Yourself Clean” has really soaked up some of the crew’s excess energy and they are strewn across various couches and tables at laptops working hard at the Comedy Issue. We can report it is now 35% funnier. Vaughan is laughing at least.
5 p.m. – Happy Hour
The jig is up. The cat is out of the bag. Elvis has left the building. Also Vaughan has announced to the crew that they are drinking Montauk Brew Co,’s newly launched Montauk Hard Seltzer. The company, which is primarily known for its beer brewing expertise has introduced a spiked sparkling water that, it is quickly decided by all in attendance, will be the beverage of choice at future Whalebone events.
The crew is chanting “Speech, speech, speech,” and Vaughan obliges.
“We’ve been working hard for a long time on developing Montauk Hard Seltzer,” he says. “This didn’t happen quickly and we wanted to get it right for the fans who have been asking for this for quite some time. Getting the flavors right, the packaging and the approvals—it all took a lot of time,” we wouldn’t say he furrowed his brow here, but he winced a bit then brightened, “and we are thrilled with how it turned out.”
He hands out cans to the crew. It’s happy hour now, and everyone cheerses.
“The entire MBC team had a hand in this project, which really made it that much more fun. We had hard seltzer lovers and beer lovers in one room for each trial, it was all hands on deck,” Vaughan continues. “Montauk Brewing Company is a beach driven, lifestyle brand—it’s in our DNA as a company, it’s who we are, so this just made sense. The four styles had to be subtle, but flavorful and clean and crisp was a must. We picked Black Cherry and Mixed Berry for our six packs and the variety 12 packs have those two flavors plus Raspberry Lime and Lemon Lime. It’ll be fun to see which one comes out as the fan favorite, but feedback will take time.”
Lindsey does not wait and offers her feedback: “Gun to my head, I would not be able to choose a favorite. But equal top two are Black Cherry and Mixed Berry,” she says.
Vaughan thanks her kindly for an assessment that begins some debate amongst the staff, but when the ruckus settles down a bit, Vaughan picks up where he left off. “Right now the stuff is flying out of our distributors in New York City and Long Island,” he tells everyone, then does his best to ease fears of a coming shortage of everyone’s new favorite Hard Seltzer. “Just like we do with our beer, we are doing our best to not run out.”
As the slim 12 oz cans speed their ways around the metro area, we also sent a selection to Alyssa, our crew member on the West Coast. Here is actual footage of her and the UPS man when he arrived with the box:
